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Dear John

Can auditions stop from agent swap?

Question:
I have been following my son's theatre career with interest but a potential problem has arisen.

He has changed his agent of some years after feeling he has outgrown the relationship. He appears to be having more interest with his new agent but has received correspondence from his ex advising him that he cannot reaudition for anything he had been put up for while under their representation for a period of 18 months, effectively disqualifying him from any show auditions his new agent has put him up for.

Without interfering I wish to find out if there is any legal binding to this 'advice' as he has never signed a contract and each job was paid for on a one-off basis.

I find it hard to believe he may have to turn down some of the offers he could receive because of the introduction associations with previous contacts. After all doesn't everyone know everyone in this business?

Answer:
It will probably come as no surprise that many of the cries for help I deal with via this column, on radio or in my private practise, concern agent/artist relations.

Having worn both hats myself in the past, any extra insight that trying to sort out people's affairs gives me usually serves to confirm my own personal experience that most artist/agent problems simply involve two basically honest people having very different expectations of what their relationship actually entails and not communicating very well with each other.

There are common faults on both sides. Some artists expect agents to manage their careers (and occasionally their lives) when all their agent is actually equipped to do is try to get them auditions and then negotiate terms if they get the job. Equally, I've heard an agent describe their relationship with an artist as "like parenting a spoiled child, except that occasionally a child asks how you are''.

This unique symbiotic relationship means that what should be a simple business arrangement often also takes on the elements of a friendship or even a marriage - so its not surprising that break ups and partner changes are fairly common.

If the relationship is started on a business footing with proper contracts and letters of agreement it shouldn't be too difficult to manage affairs in a way that is fair to both parties when it comes to an end. Sadly, many people reading this will not have that kind of relationship and despite all the warnings displayed in this paper and elsewhere, many others may well be contemplating getting into arrangements with agents, music producers or other individuals on a 'handshake' basis. Your son's situation is a good example of where this can end up. Thankfully the people most annoyed by misbehaving agents are legitimate agents - Mary Eliot Nelson of Gray's is one of the latter. Here is her take on your query: "The attitude of this ex-agent sounds absurd to me. I do not believe that there is any basis at all for such a ludicrous assertion. One agent from whom I gained a client even passed an enquiry on to us when it came from a series that the actor had been cast in while with them. He did another episode and we split the commission with them as a gesture of goodwill and to show our appreciation of their goodwill.

Legally, as you know, an actor employs the agent, not the other way around, so there is no legal case for an agent claiming ownership of an actor's contacts.

The only ongoing relationship with any previous agent is in contracts negotiated by them, such as TV repeat fees, additional series' options, commercial and extensions of existing theatre contracts (for example another year in a show such as Les Mis if based on a previous contract). Otherwise, the actor is free to audition for and work for whoever he pleases.''

I hope Mary's opinion helps in your individual case but more to the point I hope that your letter serves to remind other performers yet again that every showbusiness relationship is a business relationship and whether between performer and agent, musician and producer, writer and co-writer, should always start with a written agreement which covers not just the ongoing relationship but also what has been agreed will happen should the arrangement break up. It really is in everybody's interest - which is precisely why getting into business with someone who has a problem with your asking for a written contract is never a good idea.