How To Chose The Right Agent

BY JONATHAN MORGAN

Choosing the right agent in the exciting world of Adult Entertainment is one of the most important decisions any performer can make, yet it’s a decision that is often made nearly blind and with very little thought. When it comes to a career in the Porn World, the right agent will have a huge impact on helping a performer achieve not only their professional goals, but also their financial goals as well. With the right agent or agency supporting / guiding / advising a performer, that performer can reach a level of success that would be nearly imposable to achieve alone. In my 26 years in the Porn World I have seen every type of adult talent agent, ranging from the great ones to the ones that are downright awful and I have decided to write down a helpful guild to any performers ( new or old ) that need help in selecting the right agent that will best fit their needs and help them achieve the highest level of success.

Here are six things that you need to look for when choosing the right agent. These six useful tips will help any performer navigate through the sea of adult talent agencies that are out there and be able to properly select the best agent for them and help them achieve the highest level of success.

#1 MAKE SURE YOUR FUTURE AGENT IS LICENSED AND BONDED One of the first things you want to look for when choosing the right agent is to make sure that the agent is properly licensed and bonded. To legally call yourself a talent agent you must go through a long process of applying for and achieving a license to legally represent performers. Any agent that is not licensed and bonded has no legal rights to represent you or charge any percentage of compensation from you. Ask yourself this, do you really want someone guiding your career who is only playing the part of an agent or one who is legally licensed to do so.

#2 DOES YOUR FUTURE PORN AGENT HAVE ANY PORN EXPERIENCE In my dealing with many porn agents as a director for one of the largest adult studios, I found it shocking that a large number of agents had very little to no hands on experience when it came to either knowing how a porn movie is made, what an adult director is looking for in the talent he hires, or how to even properly advise said performer on how to be successful in an over saturated field of adult performers. Signing up with an ill experienced porn agent is like learning to be the best at Kung Fu from a guy who knows nothing about Kung Fu but did know where to buy a black belt. Do your research and find out as much as possible on your future agent before signing up with him. Don’t be afraid to ask the simple question like, “what did you do before becoming an agent”. The best porn agent is someone that was in the Adult Entertainment Industry before becoming an agent and not some guy who was a dishwasher and now wants to be an agent because he likes watching porn or being surrounded by beautiful women.

#3 WHAT TYPE OF REPUTATION OR STANDING DOES YOUR FUTURE AGENT HAVE As I mentioned, most agents have zero experience on how to be an exceptional agent and as a direct result of that, several major adult companies and top directors refused to hire performers from certain talent agencies because they do not want to deal said agent. Imagine missing out on several possible

job offers because your agent is hated by most of the adult industry. You can easily find out the reputation of most agents by either “Googling” them, asking the opinion of top directors in the adult film, or even just hitting up girls on the roster of said agent. Do your leg-work and find out who most people are recommending as a top agent or agency. If you know nothing about who represents you, then you could be easily stuck in a situation that could be very difficult to get out of.

#4 DOES YOUR FUTURE AGENT CHARGE A “BUY OUT” FEE Again, as mentioned earlier, you never want to get yourself in a situation that you can’t get out of, so when signing up with a potential adult agency, always ask this very simple question, “If I wish to end or terminate our working relationship before the end of our agreed length of our contract, will I have to pay any type of “Buy Out” fee?”. In case you have never heard of the term “Buy Out”, let me clearly explain what it is. This is a term that was made up by agents to extort money from a performer who is unhappy with the service that said agent is providing and upon wanting to move on to greener pastures they must pay a completely made up amount of money deemed by the agent. Imagine if you worked at McDonalds and after a few months wanted to leave McDonalds for a better paying job but was told that you had to pay McDonalds $2500 in order to leave. This is exactly what the term “Buy Out” means and if you knew ahead of time that your future agent charges this, would you still want to sign with them?

#5 WHAT TYPE OF SERVICE DOES YOUR FUTURE AGENT PROVIDE There are very few agencies in the porn world that do, in my opinion, an exceptional job. Most will do the bare minimum while asking for the maximum in commission. Most agents sit around their office and simply wait for the phone to ring with a potential job offer and do nothing in terms of making that phone ring off the hook for their clients. A good agent will always provide these types of services for their clients with no additional costs other than the agreed upon commission.

1 Some type of in house PR department to help push and promote your career 2 A photographer to shoot modeling shots needed to send out to potential directors and company

owners to garner future work 3 An experienced mentor for all questions or advice needed as you journey into the world of Adult

Entertainment 4 A hassle free app system to receive all needed information concerning future jobs or bookings 5 Daily efforts using social media, personal contacts or other means to generate quality job offers

#6 WHAT DOES YOUR INSTINCTS TELL YOU ABOUT YOUR FUTURE AGENT The last thing is the simplest, yet most dependable... your gut feeling. Always meet the agent your thinking about having represent you face to face. This will allow your natural instinct to kick in and you can get a gut feeling on whether or not this will be a good fit for you. If you don’t take the time to select the best agent, then the one you choose could turn out to be the worse fit and possibly ruin any chance you have for success.

There you have it, my six simple steps on selecting your future agent. Remember to take your time when it comes to making what could be the most important decision of your porn career.

Full disclosure, Jonathan Morgan is the co-owner of Nexxxt Level Talent agency in addition to being a contract director for Wicked Pictures.