...with
Brad Steinke.
To
agent or not to agent?
It is an age old question in sports broadcasting. At what stage of your
career do you take the plunge and hire an agent? As you
toil away in
smaller markets--perfecting your skills and dreaming of
one day reaching the
big time and the big time cash that goes with it-- an agent
seems to make
all the sense in the world. But before you sign up for two
or three years
and give up the hefty 8-10% of your hard earned paycheck,
stop and think,
what exactly can an agent do for me?
With websites like this and the internet in general,
finding out about
openings in attractive markets is no longer such drudgery.
And even if it
is a pain in the butt, it's your career we're talking
about. What's so
tough about spending a few minutes each week tracking
down leads and making
phone calls. Sure, some agents have ins with certain news
directors in
certain markets. But talk to a lot of news directors and
they'll tell you
working with agents is one of their least favorite things
to do. Many
agents will paint you as the perfect candidate for the
job to your
face--then ship a box full of his other clients as well.
Hey, it's a volume
business and an agent only gets paid when his client gets
the job, so the
more candidates the better.
Another aspect of an agent you have to consider--how
interactive will they
be? Do they encourage you sending them tapes so they can
continue to
critique and offer suggestions to make you more marketable
or once you land
the job is it "just send me the money"? I've
heard horror stories of agents
who do a helluva job courting you but after you sign it's
tough even to get
a return phone call. Do your research, talk with other
sportscasters, talk
with news directors, get some recommendations on quality
agents.
Agents tidy up the deal once the hiring takes place.
But most contracts
these days are boiler plate specials, everything is in
favor of the station
and most aren't willing to tweak their standard contracts.
The last two
jobs I've taken I've paid an agent a flat rate to complete
the deal after I
interviewed and was offered the job. It was a clean transaction
and took me
out of the give and take negotiations. But the best part
was saving all
that dough during the course of the contract. I've had
friends in the
business who found the job on their own, got the job on
their own yet for
the length of the deal were stuck paying a pretty hefty
chunk of change to
an agent.
Bottom line for small market sportscasters looking to
move up--map out where
you want to go, what you want to do, then decide if an
agent is the best
plan for getting you there. No one will ever have your
interest more at
stake than you and think of all that cash you'll save.
Brad Steinke is currently the weekday anchor for Fox
Sports Net based in
Atlanta. He is a 17-year veteran of the sportscasting
business, winning
five EMMY awards in stops in Salt Lake City, Phoenix,
Miami and Atlanta. He
has done college basketball play-by play, NBA sideline
reporting as well as
extensive production of documentaries. He thanks Dave
Benz for keeping this
dorky picture of him wearing Joe DiMaggio's San Francisco
Seals uniform.
React to this week's commentary in
THE ENDZONE!
Back
to Round the Horn >
|
