Amanda Seyfried said it best “Everybody needs to be compensated for their work. That’s f*cking easy.” She said this in reference to the recent WGA strikes happening in Hollywood. However, I would like to take her quote and apply it to what I’ve noticed the issues are with how the entertainment industry is ran here in Florida.
After working in the entertainment industry for over 10 years in New York City, I expected some things to be handled differently in Florida but not to the extent that I have witnessed. The biggest issue here is that people are, simply, not compensated for their work.
Let’s start off with, how Florida does not see the value in models. Business owners believe that if they provide you with a free item from, let’s say their restaurant, so a cocktail, that’s enough compensation to use your likeness and image in perpetuity on all mediums and formats. This is so wrong. Modeling is a profession and it should be treated as such.
Since living in Florida, I’ve learned about what a “content shoot” is. Now, let me inform you about this horrendous concept, this is when a business has monetary funds to hire a photographer but will bring “influencers” or models in to work for the same period of time and while the photographer will be getting paid monetarily, the influencers are paid with a drink and a meal. The real kicker is that the influencers aren’t done “working,” they also have to post on their accounts promoting the brand they are being photographed for. So the influencers/models are not getting compensated for their image being used on the brand’s sites, etc. but they are also not getting compensated for the social posts they are having to put out on their personal accounts. This is wrong on so many levels. These influencers/models are being taken advantage of so badly.
Whether you are a professional model or an influencer being used as a model, you deserve to be respected and compensated properly. If your face or hands are being used to help make a business money, you are entitled to be compensated and make money as well. If a company has the budget to hire a photographer, they should have enough room in that budget to hire models.
The other thing I have experienced while living in Florida is that production companies and talent agencies are not transparent or specific enough about usage. I have experienced companies being vague on what the usage of a shoot is being used for to keep costs down for their client and so they do not have to properly compensate talent nor the talent agencies that the talent came from. The worst part about situations like these, is that the talent agencies that are supposed to have the talent’s back are also blind-sided by the vagueness or they don’t go to bat for the talent because they’ve been letting the agencies get away with this behavior for so long. You really don’t know who is in cahoots with who.
For example, why is a major company like Universal Studios having a full day shoot where talent is being compensated an insignificant amount, while they have the right to use the images in “All media, all formats, in perpetuity. - in any manner, worldwide, and in perpetuity, in all media currently existing or hereafter created, including but not limited to printed materials, theatrical, non-theatrical, television, and all electronic media, including Internet usage and any use to which the same or any material therein may hereinafter be put, applied, or adapted by the Universal Entities.” I would think for something of this scale, the talent being hired would be compensated appropriately, which one would think would be in the thousands of dollars range, if not more. But nope, not the case for this specific shoot.
Or here's another example, you're booked on a shoot expecting it to only be a photoshoot and then you get there and you find out you're talking on camera, which is obviously more than just participating in a photoshoot, which requires more compensation. So you go to your talent agency and they claim they were not aware that you were supposed to do both, but oh well, we can't get you any more money for doing both tasks because this was what was arranged in advance.
When I was first starting out in the industry in New York City, I booked a non-speaking on-camera role and when I showed up to set that morning, production came to me and asked if a kissing scene was discussed with me in advance. I told them no and I said if they wanted me to kiss my co-star they were going to need to pay me more. Production agreed to pay me more. I went home from set that day and informed my talent agent about what happened and their reaction was that they were proud of me and they said that they would only be taking their commission on the original rate and not on the additional compensation I negotiated on my own. I never forgot that they did that because that spoke so highly of BiCoastal Management and the type of talent agency they are and how they care for and treat their talent. Not in a million years, do I think a talent agency in Florida would do something like that.
I know Florida is a right to work state but there is no reason for the entertainment industry to be treated like the Wild West, where there is no protection or regulation even if it is a non-union shoot.
So my question is, is this only happening in Florida? Why are productions and agencies able to get away with this here? Why isn’t anyone stopping this from happening?
Well that’s what I’m trying to do with this article. Just like Amanda said, everyone should be compensated for their work, whether that is photography, modeling, hosting, writing, ANYTHING. People should be compensated for their work and it should be done properly, equitably and above board.
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