By Sean Lewis, NLGJA Member & Anchor/Reporter, CLTV/WGN-TV Sean Bartel is looking for a new job in television news. In the past, that would have meant whipping up a reel of his favorite work, shipping it off to an agent and, watching the agent’s commission disappear from his bank account with no guarantee of success.
But after several years of working with an agent, Bartel decided to go out on his own almost a year ago to secure his next job. He is part of a growing group of young broadcast journalists opting out of traditional representation.
It wasn't long ago that agents ruled the roost when it came to getting their clients in the door of bigger market stations and into higher paying jobs. They paid a premium though - up to ten percent of their salaries - to have that access and experience in contract negotiations.
Instead, Bartel let technology work for him. He had his reel uploaded to Web sites such as MediaLine, Collective Talent and Journalist Junction. He also enlisted a friend to design his own Web site, seanbartel.com, to showcase his work. "It's so much easier for the reporter to reach a news director than 10 to 15 years ago," Bartel said.
Lindsay Radford agrees. She’s the news director at KSTP-TV in Minneapolis/St. Paul, and half of her staff works without professional representation. “I don't care if the tape comes from an agent or from an individual,” Radford said. “I care about the first 20 seconds the most.”
Radford gathers talent recommendations through word-of-mouth from colleagues, as well as from her station’s consultant. Consultant services such as Frank N. Magid and Talent Dynamics can serve as a clearinghouse for newsroom talent, both on air and off. It costs nothing to send a reel into such a service. “I can tell them what I'm looking for and get several choices that match that,” Radford said.
However, there’s more to finding a job than sending out a reel. Agents like Rob Jordan say as newsrooms across the country contract, and competition for jobs goes up, they can provide that extra help. “Our job is to ferret out the marketplace, find the jobs, pitch the clients and do the follow-up,” Jordan says.
But as tough economic times drive down salaries in TV newsrooms, Jordan acknowledged that it will soon be difficult for agents to charge their traditional ten percent fee for services. “I’ve addressed it with my clients and I always want them to feel as though they are getting a good value from employing me,” he said.
And while he acknowledged that reports don’t need professional representation, he suggested that an agent can also give that extra leg up in a more competitive job environment. “I find that most news directors in the top markets prefer to negotiate with agents,” he said.
Bartel agreed that agents can provide valuable services, but that those services just got too expensive for him. “I was paying seven percent, but that would escalate to ten percent if I made over $45,000 in base salary,” he said, “If somehow they could negotiate ten percent more in salary, then it would be worth it.”
So how’s his job search going without an agent? Bartel says he has secured seven interviews in the last five months, which is more than he had in all of 2007.
Bartel believes the biggest lesson others can learn from his agent experience is to remember commission rates are negotiable, to some extent. And he will not rule out hiring another agent in the future, but on very different terms.
“If I could get a deal where the base was between 3 to 5 percent, and it's waived if I get the job myself? Maybe,” he said.
“But no agent on Earth will agree to that.”
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