August 25, 2023 • 26 mins
Have you ever found yourself wondering why your agent's payment of your session fee or residuals is arriving late? Has it been happening more often than expected? Are agents facing financial setbacks due to commercial and television downgrades? It's natural to question whether agents are holding actors' monies until they collect big monthly payouts in interest.
Tiwana Floyd recounts a recent experience that led her to switch commercial agents due to $13,000 in residuals taking 60 days to reach her. This episode is an enlightening journey through the process of tracking down those elusive payments, interacting with payroll companies, and the absolute necessity to take action when something is a rye.
eP 130
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hey there, welcome back to Acting Lessons Learned.
I'm Tuana Floyd and I'm justgonna jump right into the story
I recently signed with a newcommercial agent in March of
2023.
Now, I'm not one to changeagents.
Often.
I actually find the process tobe exhausting.
I try to stay with agents for along time, but not too like a
(00:22):
codependent, underprivileged way, or like when it's a good fit,
like a marriage until death dous part kind of way.
I mean I have yet to have anagent die on me, thankfully, but
I often leave when I feel therelationship has either run its
course, when I don't feel thelove, or maybe the agent has
(00:42):
gotten me as far as they can getme, or if they have too much
turnover in their office,because being under a new agent
means that person has to get upto speed to learn how to submit
me, and it's not guaranteed theywill like me as much as the
previous agent, and the reverseis true.
I may not like them as a personor their communication style,
(01:04):
and more than likely, I didn'tchoose them as an agent.
So I feel like I'm being forcedto accept this new person like
a stepmother or stepfather.
I mean, do I get a choice.
I also leave an agency whenthere has been a significant
disturbance in their order ofoperations.
There are so many variablesinvolved for all three of these
(01:25):
reasons, but once I've decidedto leave an agency, it's been
well thought out.
In my 18 years living in LosAngeles, I've had four
commercial agents, making threeoccasions where I had to
terminate and, as I've mentionedin my two previous episodes on
agent termination, releasing anagent is a hard decision to make
(01:46):
.
It's discomforting and there'salways the what-ifs that come up
for me, like what if I'moverreacting, or what if I can't
find a better agent, or what ifI leave and never work again?
And I don't make a habit ofgoing back, because who wants to
work with someone who quit onthem?
Although there is onetheatrical agent I return to
after leaving, but I'll sharethat story another time.
(02:08):
Prior to signing with my newagent, I experienced a
significant disturbance in theorder of operations of my
previous agent financialproblems due to delayed payments
of checks.
Although they were not stealingfrom me, my checks were
arriving almost two months late.
I had a national commercialrunning all of the Christmas
(02:30):
season from November 2022 toJanuary 2023, and it ran fast
and furious, but my checks werenot coming as expected once the
new year started and the oldagent was back in their office.
Now I had been with them forsix years and I knew their
process and the timing of howchecks were distributed at the
top of the year I was initiallypassive about inquiring about
(02:53):
the lateness of the checks.
I mean, I trusted that theywould send my residual checks as
usual once they had receivedthem.
As we got into that secondmonth I needed my money and
these egregious late checkarrivals disadvantaged me
because I couldn't include thefunds in my gross income tax
collections due to the delay.
I'm a loan out company.
All of my acting income is paiddirectly to my S-Corp and from
(03:17):
there my S-Corp pays me and thenthe S-Corp reports the earnings
to EDD unemployment.
So I do all this via my CPA.
We do these calculations tomeet my business entity
tax-required deadlines inDecember.
Reporting the minimum incomethreshold helps me to qualify
for the maximum payment ofunemployment, which is $4.50 a
(03:38):
week, and I know it's not a lotof money, but still it's enough
to supplement an actor's incometo have more time to audition
instead of working a survivaljob that's energetically taxing
and puts constraints on one'savailability to audition more
often.
Now, if you don't know howunemployment works, it can truly
be a saving grace for artists.
(03:58):
But now some creators have amisconception that unemployment
is like welfare.
It is not.
Whenever you take a job andyou're an employee paid on a W-4
tax form, the company pays intounemployment insurance on your
behalf, so you are entitled tothat unemployment if you're laid
off.
Now that's a really broadexplanation of how unemployment
(04:18):
works, and to better understandit, visit the EDD website in
California or the unemploymentsites in your state.
Long story short, unemploymentearnings supplement my income,
especially during slow monthsand when I have revenue from
booking jobs or receivingresidual checks.
I claim those earnings with EDD, which is mandatory to make the
(04:38):
allotted six-month term ofunemployment earnings last
longer.
And a disclaimer EDD tracks allof your earnings, so if you
falsify claims saying you didn'tearn money when you did, you
will be flagged for fraud, whichcomes with problems you really
don't want to deal with.
So just claim your earnings.
It's easier.
Now, instead of me accusing myex-agents of purposely
(05:02):
withholding the checks, I gavethem the benefit of the doubt
and assumed that the checks werelost.
Maybe there was an error on thepayroll company's end.
Now I had yet to learn how manychecks were missing.
I figured maybe one, two andmaybe $4,000 the most.
To keep track of my income, Iuse a spreadsheet, so when I
compare the year-to-date columnon my last check from the agency
(05:25):
to my spreadsheet, I noticedthat the year-to-date didn't
match.
The best thing I could think ofwas to contact the payroll
company.
I called them multiple times torequest a year-end summary of
my earnings, but unfortunately Icouldn't get anyone on the
phone Now at this time.
I had received one check fromthe agent in January and when I
looked at the check, the checkwas dated December 19, 2022.
(05:49):
However, the US post-it stampdate was January 5, 2023.
Now I figured maybe the checkcame in before the agents left
for hiatus and then when theycame back on the 4th or 5th,
that's probably when they putthe stamp on.
But the postal mark date wasJanuary 19, 2023.
(06:11):
So I was confused as to why thecheck, which was presumably cut
on 1219, would be mailed outalmost actually a month to the
date later, on January 19,especially since the agent had
returned to the office onJanuary 5th of 2023.
So this was giving me anxiety.
I had some late payment issueswith the agents three years
(06:32):
prior and it was right beforeChristmas break.
But I brought it to theattention of one of the owners.
Not only did she apologizeprofusely about the check being
late, but she was able to cut acheck for me that day that I was
able to come and pick up.
It was the first time that ithad happened.
So I can make an allowance fora mishap, because we're humans
and computers err.
But now this.
(06:52):
This was a huge era, but still Iwanted to have all of my facts
in order before making theinquiry.
I emailed the head accountantat the agency.
I was used to dealing with heraround money and anytime my
commercial was released, we hada report.
I requested that she send me ayear-end summary of my
commissions and my earnings,which I do every year, to make
(07:15):
sure the math was math.
They sent me the summary, andnot only was the math not math.
There were 12 checks they hadlisted on the summary that were
not in my possession, to thetune of almost $13,000.
Ten of those checks were fromthe months of January 2023, when
the agents were back in theoffice.
(07:35):
Two of the checks were missingfrom October and November of
2022.
This was alarming for me.
I needed that summary from thepayroll company because it would
tell me when the checks weresent.
Still, I couldn't get anyone onthe phone and there was no
email address listed on thewebsite.
So I reached out to mycommunity of actors and I asked
(07:56):
if anyone had a direct contactto the payroll company.
Someone did, and they gave me adifferent link for the site
that had not come up in myGoogle search.
I went to the site first and Ilearned that I already had an
account on there.
By virtue of being in theirpayroll system, I was able to
pull up my account and listedwith every check that had been
(08:18):
paid to me over the past tenyears.
When I looked at the twelvemissing checks, my face dropped.
My stomach sank.
I couldn't believe what I wasreading.
My account showed the dates ofwhen all twelve checks were
cashed.
The October and November checkswere cashed in those months,
(08:39):
but the bulk of the other checkswere cashed January 4th and
January 13th, and this wasFebruary 1st.
I had all the proof.
I needed to present evidence tothe agency that there was
presumably a mismanagement offunds.
This wasn't time foraccusations or to be outwardly
(08:59):
emotional or belligerent.
After all, this is still abusiness and computers error.
So I still extended the benefitof the doubt to the agency,
composing an email detailing thedate and amount of the check,
the buyer reference number, theagency reference number, the
date the check cleared, theadvertising agency and the name
(09:19):
of the spot.
I didn't want there to be anyconfusion in my claim.
I inquired about the missingfunds and that they explained
their check processing anddistribution structure to me.
I sent this email to thedirector of talent payment.
Now I know I should have cc'dall of the partners and my
agents as well, but I guess Ijust assumed this is their
(09:41):
business, so they should knowalready.
Right?
The director of talent paymentgot back to me immediately
offering to reissue the checks.
She didn't make any apologiesfor anything, as that would be
an admission of guilt and, likeI said, maybe they weren't
guilty of anything.
What was missing from the emailwas the explanation of the
check processing distribution.
So I followed up with an emailand asked again.
(10:03):
She gave me a broad explanation.
But what do I expect?
Right?
Why would they give me intel onhow they do their business?
Two days after the emailcorrespondence I received a big
pack with most of the checks.
But this is where my eyebrowraised, because when agents send
me my checks, they also sendthe original checkstub.
(10:26):
If the checks were missing inthe mail, I would not receive
original checkstubs for thereissue check.
I would receive photocopies ofthe stubs, but this packet of
checks had the originalcheckstubs, which I had to
believe the checks had beensitting in their office and I
don't know if, maybe because Isent an email, they tried to
rush to send them out, but stillI just didn't want to believe
(10:47):
that there was any malintent ontheir end.
So I assumed perhaps there wasa tray of checks sitting in
someone's car waiting to bemailed out.
Maybe some assistant or someassociate or an intern or maybe
a new accounting person forgotto press the button to release
all the checks.
Look, I really didn't want tobelieve these people were
holding my money, okay, but Idid wonder if this was an
(11:07):
isolated incident.
Was it just me?
Was it other actors?
The director of talent paymentdidn't seem like it was a big
deal and that bothered me also.
But what I was most bothered bywas my business had been
negatively impacted by thesedelayed checks.
As I started thinking about,what would Italian mob bosses or
any mob boss do, or any kingpin, drug kingpin, what would they
(11:31):
do when the money is funny and Iwas like you know, they would
do more for less, like if you'relate with what?
$200, you're losing a pinky ora tooth or getting gut punches.
So I had a hard decision tomake, but I wasn't in the mood
to look for a new agent.
This whole thing wasn't sittingwell with me, but what if this
happened again?
I mean, we just came out of aquarantine.
(11:54):
Streaming and new media haschanged the game on residuals.
What if this was the beginningof on set financial issues?
And if I stayed?
I'll look back on this time as,like Tawana, you should have
left the what-ifs that I talkedabout earlier.
I was having a conversation withtwo fellow actors who have been
working as long as me andlonger than me, actually and I
(12:16):
shared what I had justexperienced to make sure I
wasn't overreacting.
It's so helpful to have acommunity of working actors to
share information with and tosupport one another.
One of many things I amthankful for is the community of
great actors that I have,because, look, sometimes I take
things out of context and I needa second ear to hear what I may
(12:37):
not have heard, andoccasionally I learn that I am
not the only one dealing with anissue with an agent or a
casting director or the industryat large.
When you've been in thisindustry for as long as I have,
or longer, you easily recognizethe actors who are unwilling to
share information or who act outof self-interest, trying to get
as much information from youbut never reciprocating value.
(12:59):
I really believe reciprocity isessential in all relationships
and I'm good at eliminating thecrab and the barrel types.
I'm so grateful for mycommunity of savvy actors.
I know it keeps saying that,but it's true.
I appreciate them.
So during my discussion withboth of these actors, they
expressed their past experiencesand concerns about the issue I
(13:19):
had encountered with themishandling of money.
They highlighted some potentialnegative impact that could
affect my career in the future,which helped me to realize the
seriousness of the situation.
They reminded me of themandatory 14-day check
disbursement agents are supposedto follow.
One of the actors was soannoyed with what I had
(13:40):
experienced that she said look,tawana, no pressure, but if
you're considering changingagents, I'd be happy to refer
you to my agent for a meeting.
Damn, yeah, I have a problemhere.
Somebody else is seeing it wayclearer than I.
Am my first acting teacher in LA, stuart K Robinson, the CEO of
BBR.
He advised me way back in 2005to always take a meeting if
(14:03):
offered, because there's alwayssomething to learn and it's good
to connect with someone I maynot have access to prior, and
I've never forgotten that advice.
But let me backtrack for amoment.
I had considered leaving theex-agent before this referral
was given to me and there wasonly one office that I was
considering, because I have beenhearing great things about them
(14:25):
for my entire 18 years livingin Los Angeles and I knew a lot
of their actors and most of themwork often.
But I needed to go deeper andto researching them and it
wouldn't make sense to onlyconsider one office if I wasn't
prepared to start the wholerepresentation race.
I asked my fellow actor whotheir agent was.
It was the same agency, the one, the sole agency that I was
(14:49):
considering.
That to me is serendipitous.
That to me is fate.
I accepted her referral to meetwith the agents if they were
interested.
The thing about receivingreferrals, especially one that I
didn't ask for is meaningful tome because it's a great honor.
It shows that the person who'sreferring me or wanting to refer
me, or has faith in myabilities and respects me as a
(15:12):
professional.
Wise actors are very carefulabout referring other actors to
their agents.
I'm very careful aboutreferring other actors to my
agents because not all actorshave the temperament, the
business acumen or even thetalent to maintain a healthy
relationship with agents, whichcan reflect poorly on a person
who is referring them.
(15:33):
And a little advice between meand you Don't refer just any
actor to your agent.
Pay attention to how thatperson operates.
Ask them questions on how theywork with their agents, how they
communicate with their agents.
Do they expect their agents todo everything?
Do they think that their agentworks for them?
Well, the agent doesn't reallykind of work for us.
(15:53):
They actually work for theagency, but we are clients and
they do help us to move theneedle forward.
Anyway, but I digress, my fellowactor friend sent my materials
to her agents to see if therewas any interest.
The following day she got backto me and informed me that her
agents were interested inmeeting with me.
So I contacted them asrequested and we set up a
(16:16):
meeting via Zoom.
Then I got nervous.
I thought, oh gosh, like whatdo I say regarding the so why
are you leaving?
Question?
I mean, look, I know not tobadmouth anyone because, look,
both of those agents could befriends, but also I don't want
to defame anyone's name.
La is a litigious town and I'drather watch courtroom drama on
(16:38):
TV than it be in my life.
So I decided that I wouldbroadly state the truth.
When I connected with the twoagents on Zoom, I appreciated
their friendly, welcomingattitude.
They didn't seem distant andformal like my previous agent,
who were more corporateexecutive types.
We chatted about our mutualacquaintance with the fellow
(16:59):
actor who referred me, exchangedpleasantries and then got down
to business.
Agent 1 explained that if Iwere looking for more auditions,
their agency was probably onpar with my previous one.
I let her know that that wasn'tthe reason why I was leaving.
I acknowledged that there was adecline in union jobs due to
concerns about non-union work,but I also knew that there were
(17:20):
other factors at play.
I shared my recent achievementof receiving a certificate from
a renowned media program andthat I learned advertising
agencies were eitherestablishing new media
departments or redistributingmore than 50% of their budgeted
funds to social mediadepartments.
I elaborated on how thisinformation gave me a better
understanding of the currentmarket and the traditional
(17:41):
marketing, such as nationalcommercials, and how it was
going to continue to decline.
Both of the agents appearedimpressed that I was watching
the market in a way that theymay not be aware of and,
additionally, I didn't approachthem with any complaints about
wanting more auditions.
That's not what I was there for.
I was looking for a trustedhome with a proven track record
(18:02):
in the industry, people whorepresent commercial actors
whose work I admire, who areinnovative and open-minded,
believing in limitlesspossibilities and recognize the
value that I can bring as anational Class A contract actor.
Ultimately, I was looking for astrategic commercial agent who
loves what they do and a softplace to land that would make
(18:24):
sure that I continue to auditionfor the roles that suit me.
And then the question came soif it's not more auditions
you're looking for, then why areyou leaving?
I simply said because of amishandling of funds.
They looked uncomfortable andI'm sure they knew who I was
repped by.
I mean, it was still on my IMDBpage at the time, but I didn't
(18:47):
go into full detail.
I explained that it had allbeen remedied and whether it was
unintentional.
It left a bad taste in my mouth.
They understood and we moved on.
They told me about their officeand then they said we don't have
anybody like you, tuana.
We're a boutique agency onpurpose, because it allows us to
have a better handle on gettingour clients opportunities, and
(19:08):
that really spoke to me.
I'm older.
When the older you get inHollywood, especially when
you're a woman, especially whenyou're a black woman, the
opportunities can start todwindle.
So I really liked the idea ofbeing represented by a warm or
smaller office.
They made an offer to representme and I knew immediately that I
was going to work with them.
I accepted their offer and Ilet them know I was out of
(19:30):
contract and I had to go throughthe proper protocol to
terminate the old agent.
And once we entered the call, Ityped up a proper email to the
soon to be ex-agent and I sentit certified mail that day.
Then I sent them an email tolet them know that I was leaving
, so they wouldn't be reallytaken by surprise by a cold
letter.
Instead they were getting thecold email.
(19:50):
Here's the letter that I wroteDear agents there are three of
them I have decided to move onfrom your agency.
As I understand, the terminationclause in our agreement states
that either of us may terminatethe relationship after four
years of vacant job offers.
I am choosing to do so withimmediate effect.
I sincerely appreciate thesuccess we've enjoyed over the
(20:12):
past six years, but recentevents of late payments of funds
disadvantage my business forthe 2022 tax year.
Still uncertain as to whattranspired and what caused
almost $13,000 to take over 60days to pay out in February.
Although the checks cleared onyour end in early December, it
is no longer mutually beneficialfor me to continue partnership
(20:34):
with your agency For thecontract.
I will send this letter viacertified mail for your records.
Thank you very much for all ofyour work on my behalf over the
last six years.
I know you worked diligentlyand I very much appreciate each
of you, and I will make surethat any future commissions for
work you helped me procure arepaid to you.
Thank you again and all thebest to WanaFloid.
(20:58):
I won't read their response, butit was very kind.
They were saddened that I hadwished to leave, but understood
why, and they wished that theyhad the opportunity to work this
through Because, as I saidbefore, I hadn't CC the owners
or the agents on all of thecorrespondence that I've had
with the director of talentpayment and if I had to do this
(21:20):
all over again and I hope that Idon't I'll be sure to make sure
everyone is aware.
They called me a class act fromthe start and how they were
proud to represent me.
I keep saying they.
While there were three agents,this email came from one person
representing all three.
Ugh, such a gut punch.
You know, I didn't know that.
They thought that I was a classact and I was again wondering
(21:44):
did I make the wrong decision?
But the offer to be repped by anew agent was so easy and
effortless and it was the oneagency that I was looking for
and I really love the idea ofbeing repped by a smaller agency
who is equally as competitivein the commercial business with
no one like me.
So, yeah, I think I made theright decision.
(22:06):
And then I got the sign thattold me I definitely did.
When I saw that one of theagents not the one who wrote the
letter, who I thought I wascool with unfollowed me on
Instagram, I said beeeeeeeehLike, really.
And the reason why I know thatis because I have an unfollowing
app on my phone, so I know whenpeople unfollow me right away,
(22:29):
and that, to me, spoke volumeswhy the need to unfollow me on
Instagram Doesn't matter.
It was great while it lasted.
But if any agency is making itmandatory to accept checks on my
behalf and just so we all knowthat is not even a law, it's an
agreement the very least theycan do is make sure that they
(22:51):
pay me on time.
This happened at the top of theyear I believe it was the end
of February and the reason whyI'm even talking about it now
because I wasn't going to sharethis story.
But the other day I was at anaudition and ran into a
colleague who is also with mynew agent and she was welcoming
(23:11):
me.
She asked me why I had left theother agency, who I had left,
and I told her and sheimmediately said oh, were they
withholding your money too?
It's almost like a movie whenyou're watching the whole thing
and you're really believing thateverybody is upright and
upstanding, and then you get tothe end and find out that they
weren't.
Now, this is hearsay.
(23:33):
I recognize that, but I have ahard time believing this was an
isolated incident.
I like my new agency.
I had my first avail with themthis past week.
I'm still hearing great thingsabout the agency from my peers
and they have been welcoming me,sending me Facebook messages.
Hey, I hear you're over herenow.
Welcome, you're going to loveit here.
(23:56):
It's not easy making thedecision to leave an agency.
I say this all the time, I'mgoing to continue to say it and
sometimes it's really hard todiscern if something bad is
happening or if it's just aclerical era.
But this was such a harshmishap that I just couldn't
ignore it.
And because I'm an S corp now Ihave to treat everything as if
(24:20):
my business is my child, in away that I've never treated my
business before.
Having those checks be delayedas long as they were for the
amount that they were really putme in a place where now, here
it is, in 2023, I'm not evengoing to file for unemployment
because I don't have enoughfunds to make the maximum and it
(24:40):
just doesn't make sense to doso now.
But here we are in a strike andI really could use that
supplemental income.
So I'm very glad that I decidedto leave.
I hope this story was helpfulfor you.
I will never tell anybody howto run their business, even
though I say you should do that,but the truth is the decision
(25:02):
is up for us to make, and so ifthere's any time that you feel
like something is not right inyour gut, the way I did, really
examine that and figure out whatworks best for you.
Thank you for listening.
That is the end of ActingLessons Learned, episode 130.
And hey, if you'll do me afavor, would you please either
(25:23):
rate this podcast five stars orleave a kind review.
Acting Lessons Learned iswritten, directed, produced,
edited and marketed byTuatahaloid me.
I do all the things.
If you like what I do here andyou want to buy me a coffee,
please do so.
The link is in the description,along with my Instagram and my
TikTok and YouTube.
(25:43):
I'll be back in two weeks andwe'll talk again, or I'll talk
to you and you'll be listening,but you'll probably be talking
to me in the car or somethingwhen you hear me speaking.
Anyway, be well, just stay ingood spirits.
Bye.
Hey there, welcome back to Acting Lessons Learned.
I'm Tuana Floyd and I'm justgonna jump right into the story
I recently signed with a newcommercial agent in March of
2023.
Now, I'm not one to changeagents.
Often.
I actually find the process tobe exhausting.
I try to stay with agents for along time, but not too like a
(00:22):
codependent, underprivileged way, or like when it's a good fit,
like a marriage until death dous part kind of way.
I mean I have yet to have anagent die on me, thankfully, but
I often leave when I feel therelationship has either run its
course, when I don't feel thelove, or maybe the agent has
(00:42):
gotten me as far as they can getme, or if they have too much
turnover in their office,because being under a new agent
means that person has to get upto speed to learn how to submit
me, and it's not guaranteed theywill like me as much as the
previous agent, and the reverseis true.
I may not like them as a personor their communication style,
(01:04):
and more than likely, I didn'tchoose them as an agent.
So I feel like I'm being forcedto accept this new person like
a stepmother or stepfather.
I mean, do I get a choice.
I also leave an agency whenthere has been a significant
disturbance in their order ofoperations.
There are so many variablesinvolved for all three of these
(01:25):
reasons, but once I've decidedto leave an agency, it's been
well thought out.
In my 18 years living in LosAngeles, I've had four
commercial agents, making threeoccasions where I had to
terminate and, as I've mentionedin my two previous episodes on
agent termination, releasing anagent is a hard decision to make
(01:46):
.
It's discomforting and there'salways the what-ifs that come up
for me, like what if I'moverreacting, or what if I can't
find a better agent, or what ifI leave and never work again?
And I don't make a habit ofgoing back, because who wants to
work with someone who quit onthem?
Although there is onetheatrical agent I return to
after leaving, but I'll sharethat story another time.
(02:08):
Prior to signing with my newagent, I experienced a
significant disturbance in theorder of operations of my
previous agent financialproblems due to delayed payments
of checks.
Although they were not stealingfrom me, my checks were
arriving almost two months late.
I had a national commercialrunning all of the Christmas
(02:30):
season from November 2022 toJanuary 2023, and it ran fast
and furious, but my checks werenot coming as expected once the
new year started and the oldagent was back in their office.
Now I had been with them forsix years and I knew their
process and the timing of howchecks were distributed at the
top of the year I was initiallypassive about inquiring about
(02:53):
the lateness of the checks.
I mean, I trusted that theywould send my residual checks as
usual once they had receivedthem.
As we got into that secondmonth I needed my money and
these egregious late checkarrivals disadvantaged me
because I couldn't include thefunds in my gross income tax
collections due to the delay.
I'm a loan out company.
All of my acting income is paiddirectly to my S-Corp and from
(03:17):
there my S-Corp pays me and thenthe S-Corp reports the earnings
to EDD unemployment.
So I do all this via my CPA.
We do these calculations tomeet my business entity
tax-required deadlines inDecember.
Reporting the minimum incomethreshold helps me to qualify
for the maximum payment ofunemployment, which is $4.50 a
(03:38):
week, and I know it's not a lotof money, but still it's enough
to supplement an actor's incometo have more time to audition
instead of working a survivaljob that's energetically taxing
and puts constraints on one'savailability to audition more
often.
Now, if you don't know howunemployment works, it can truly
be a saving grace for artists.
(03:58):
But now some creators have amisconception that unemployment
is like welfare.
It is not.
Whenever you take a job andyou're an employee paid on a W-4
tax form, the company pays intounemployment insurance on your
behalf, so you are entitled tothat unemployment if you're laid
off.
Now that's a really broadexplanation of how unemployment
(04:18):
works, and to better understandit, visit the EDD website in
California or the unemploymentsites in your state.
Long story short, unemploymentearnings supplement my income,
especially during slow monthsand when I have revenue from
booking jobs or receivingresidual checks.
I claim those earnings with EDD, which is mandatory to make the
(04:38):
allotted six-month term ofunemployment earnings last
longer.
And a disclaimer EDD tracks allof your earnings, so if you
falsify claims saying you didn'tearn money when you did, you
will be flagged for fraud, whichcomes with problems you really
don't want to deal with.
So just claim your earnings.
It's easier.
Now, instead of me accusing myex-agents of purposely
(05:02):
withholding the checks, I gavethem the benefit of the doubt
and assumed that the checks werelost.
Maybe there was an error on thepayroll company's end.
Now I had yet to learn how manychecks were missing.
I figured maybe one, two andmaybe $4,000 the most.
To keep track of my income, Iuse a spreadsheet, so when I
compare the year-to-date columnon my last check from the agency
(05:25):
to my spreadsheet, I noticedthat the year-to-date didn't
match.
The best thing I could think ofwas to contact the payroll
company.
I called them multiple times torequest a year-end summary of
my earnings, but unfortunately Icouldn't get anyone on the
phone Now at this time.
I had received one check fromthe agent in January and when I
looked at the check, the checkwas dated December 19, 2022.
(05:49):
However, the US post-it stampdate was January 5, 2023.
Now I figured maybe the checkcame in before the agents left
for hiatus and then when theycame back on the 4th or 5th,
that's probably when they putthe stamp on.
But the postal mark date wasJanuary 19, 2023.
(06:11):
So I was confused as to why thecheck, which was presumably cut
on 1219, would be mailed outalmost actually a month to the
date later, on January 19,especially since the agent had
returned to the office onJanuary 5th of 2023.
So this was giving me anxiety.
I had some late payment issueswith the agents three years
(06:32):
prior and it was right beforeChristmas break.
But I brought it to theattention of one of the owners.
Not only did she apologizeprofusely about the check being
late, but she was able to cut acheck for me that day that I was
able to come and pick up.
It was the first time that ithad happened.
So I can make an allowance fora mishap, because we're humans
and computers err.
But now this.
(06:52):
This was a huge era, but still Iwanted to have all of my facts
in order before making theinquiry.
I emailed the head accountantat the agency.
I was used to dealing with heraround money and anytime my
commercial was released, we hada report.
I requested that she send me ayear-end summary of my
commissions and my earnings,which I do every year, to make
(07:15):
sure the math was math.
They sent me the summary, andnot only was the math not math.
There were 12 checks they hadlisted on the summary that were
not in my possession, to thetune of almost $13,000.
Ten of those checks were fromthe months of January 2023, when
the agents were back in theoffice.
(07:35):
Two of the checks were missingfrom October and November of
2022.
This was alarming for me.
I needed that summary from thepayroll company because it would
tell me when the checks weresent.
Still, I couldn't get anyone onthe phone and there was no
email address listed on thewebsite.
So I reached out to mycommunity of actors and I asked
(07:56):
if anyone had a direct contactto the payroll company.
Someone did, and they gave me adifferent link for the site
that had not come up in myGoogle search.
I went to the site first and Ilearned that I already had an
account on there.
By virtue of being in theirpayroll system, I was able to
pull up my account and listedwith every check that had been
(08:18):
paid to me over the past tenyears.
When I looked at the twelvemissing checks, my face dropped.
My stomach sank.
I couldn't believe what I wasreading.
My account showed the dates ofwhen all twelve checks were
cashed.
The October and November checkswere cashed in those months,
(08:39):
but the bulk of the other checkswere cashed January 4th and
January 13th, and this wasFebruary 1st.
I had all the proof.
I needed to present evidence tothe agency that there was
presumably a mismanagement offunds.
This wasn't time foraccusations or to be outwardly
(08:59):
emotional or belligerent.
After all, this is still abusiness and computers error.
So I still extended the benefitof the doubt to the agency,
composing an email detailing thedate and amount of the check,
the buyer reference number, theagency reference number, the
date the check cleared, theadvertising agency and the name
(09:19):
of the spot.
I didn't want there to be anyconfusion in my claim.
I inquired about the missingfunds and that they explained
their check processing anddistribution structure to me.
I sent this email to thedirector of talent payment.
Now I know I should have cc'dall of the partners and my
agents as well, but I guess Ijust assumed this is their
(09:41):
business, so they should knowalready.
Right?
The director of talent paymentgot back to me immediately
offering to reissue the checks.
She didn't make any apologiesfor anything, as that would be
an admission of guilt and, likeI said, maybe they weren't
guilty of anything.
What was missing from the emailwas the explanation of the
check processing distribution.
So I followed up with an emailand asked again.
(10:03):
She gave me a broad explanation.
But what do I expect?
Right?
Why would they give me intel onhow they do their business?
Two days after the emailcorrespondence I received a big
pack with most of the checks.
But this is where my eyebrowraised, because when agents send
me my checks, they also sendthe original checkstub.
(10:26):
If the checks were missing inthe mail, I would not receive
original checkstubs for thereissue check.
I would receive photocopies ofthe stubs, but this packet of
checks had the originalcheckstubs, which I had to
believe the checks had beensitting in their office and I
don't know if, maybe because Isent an email, they tried to
rush to send them out, but stillI just didn't want to believe
(10:47):
that there was any malintent ontheir end.
So I assumed perhaps there wasa tray of checks sitting in
someone's car waiting to bemailed out.
Maybe some assistant or someassociate or an intern or maybe
a new accounting person forgotto press the button to release
all the checks.
Look, I really didn't want tobelieve these people were
holding my money, okay, but Idid wonder if this was an
(11:07):
isolated incident.
Was it just me?
Was it other actors?
The director of talent paymentdidn't seem like it was a big
deal and that bothered me also.
But what I was most bothered bywas my business had been
negatively impacted by thesedelayed checks.
As I started thinking about,what would Italian mob bosses or
any mob boss do, or any kingpin, drug kingpin, what would they
(11:31):
do when the money is funny and Iwas like you know, they would
do more for less, like if you'relate with what?
$200, you're losing a pinky ora tooth or getting gut punches.
So I had a hard decision tomake, but I wasn't in the mood
to look for a new agent.
This whole thing wasn't sittingwell with me, but what if this
happened again?
I mean, we just came out of aquarantine.
(11:54):
Streaming and new media haschanged the game on residuals.
What if this was the beginningof on set financial issues?
And if I stayed?
I'll look back on this time as,like Tawana, you should have
left the what-ifs that I talkedabout earlier.
I was having a conversation withtwo fellow actors who have been
working as long as me andlonger than me, actually and I
(12:16):
shared what I had justexperienced to make sure I
wasn't overreacting.
It's so helpful to have acommunity of working actors to
share information with and tosupport one another.
One of many things I amthankful for is the community of
great actors that I have,because, look, sometimes I take
things out of context and I needa second ear to hear what I may
(12:37):
not have heard, andoccasionally I learn that I am
not the only one dealing with anissue with an agent or a
casting director or the industryat large.
When you've been in thisindustry for as long as I have,
or longer, you easily recognizethe actors who are unwilling to
share information or who act outof self-interest, trying to get
as much information from youbut never reciprocating value.
(12:59):
I really believe reciprocity isessential in all relationships
and I'm good at eliminating thecrab and the barrel types.
I'm so grateful for mycommunity of savvy actors.
I know it keeps saying that,but it's true.
I appreciate them.
So during my discussion withboth of these actors, they
expressed their past experiencesand concerns about the issue I
(13:19):
had encountered with themishandling of money.
They highlighted some potentialnegative impact that could
affect my career in the future,which helped me to realize the
seriousness of the situation.
They reminded me of themandatory 14-day check
disbursement agents are supposedto follow.
One of the actors was soannoyed with what I had
(13:40):
experienced that she said look,tawana, no pressure, but if
you're considering changingagents, I'd be happy to refer
you to my agent for a meeting.
Damn, yeah, I have a problemhere.
Somebody else is seeing it wayclearer than I.
Am my first acting teacher in LA, stuart K Robinson, the CEO of
BBR.
He advised me way back in 2005to always take a meeting if
(14:03):
offered, because there's alwayssomething to learn and it's good
to connect with someone I maynot have access to prior, and
I've never forgotten that advice.
But let me backtrack for amoment.
I had considered leaving theex-agent before this referral
was given to me and there wasonly one office that I was
considering, because I have beenhearing great things about them
(14:25):
for my entire 18 years livingin Los Angeles and I knew a lot
of their actors and most of themwork often.
But I needed to go deeper andto researching them and it
wouldn't make sense to onlyconsider one office if I wasn't
prepared to start the wholerepresentation race.
I asked my fellow actor whotheir agent was.
It was the same agency, the one, the sole agency that I was
(14:49):
considering.
That to me is serendipitous.
That to me is fate.
I accepted her referral to meetwith the agents if they were
interested.
The thing about receivingreferrals, especially one that I
didn't ask for is meaningful tome because it's a great honor.
It shows that the person who'sreferring me or wanting to refer
me, or has faith in myabilities and respects me as a
(15:12):
professional.
Wise actors are very carefulabout referring other actors to
their agents.
I'm very careful aboutreferring other actors to my
agents because not all actorshave the temperament, the
business acumen or even thetalent to maintain a healthy
relationship with agents, whichcan reflect poorly on a person
who is referring them.
(15:33):
And a little advice between meand you Don't refer just any
actor to your agent.
Pay attention to how thatperson operates.
Ask them questions on how theywork with their agents, how they
communicate with their agents.
Do they expect their agents todo everything?
Do they think that their agentworks for them?
Well, the agent doesn't reallykind of work for us.
(15:53):
They actually work for theagency, but we are clients and
they do help us to move theneedle forward.
Anyway, but I digress, my fellowactor friend sent my materials
to her agents to see if therewas any interest.
The following day she got backto me and informed me that her
agents were interested inmeeting with me.
So I contacted them asrequested and we set up a
(16:16):
meeting via Zoom.
Then I got nervous.
I thought, oh gosh, like whatdo I say regarding the so why
are you leaving?
Question?
I mean, look, I know not tobadmouth anyone because, look,
both of those agents could befriends, but also I don't want
to defame anyone's name.
La is a litigious town and I'drather watch courtroom drama on
(16:38):
TV than it be in my life.
So I decided that I wouldbroadly state the truth.
When I connected with the twoagents on Zoom, I appreciated
their friendly, welcomingattitude.
They didn't seem distant andformal like my previous agent,
who were more corporateexecutive types.
We chatted about our mutualacquaintance with the fellow
(16:59):
actor who referred me, exchangedpleasantries and then got down
to business.
Agent 1 explained that if Iwere looking for more auditions,
their agency was probably onpar with my previous one.
I let her know that that wasn'tthe reason why I was leaving.
I acknowledged that there was adecline in union jobs due to
concerns about non-union work,but I also knew that there were
(17:20):
other factors at play.
I shared my recent achievementof receiving a certificate from
a renowned media program andthat I learned advertising
agencies were eitherestablishing new media
departments or redistributingmore than 50% of their budgeted
funds to social mediadepartments.
I elaborated on how thisinformation gave me a better
understanding of the currentmarket and the traditional
(17:41):
marketing, such as nationalcommercials, and how it was
going to continue to decline.
Both of the agents appearedimpressed that I was watching
the market in a way that theymay not be aware of and,
additionally, I didn't approachthem with any complaints about
wanting more auditions.
That's not what I was there for.
I was looking for a trustedhome with a proven track record
(18:02):
in the industry, people whorepresent commercial actors
whose work I admire, who areinnovative and open-minded,
believing in limitlesspossibilities and recognize the
value that I can bring as anational Class A contract actor.
Ultimately, I was looking for astrategic commercial agent who
loves what they do and a softplace to land that would make
(18:24):
sure that I continue to auditionfor the roles that suit me.
And then the question came soif it's not more auditions
you're looking for, then why areyou leaving?
I simply said because of amishandling of funds.
They looked uncomfortable andI'm sure they knew who I was
repped by.
I mean, it was still on my IMDBpage at the time, but I didn't
(18:47):
go into full detail.
I explained that it had allbeen remedied and whether it was
unintentional.
It left a bad taste in my mouth.
They understood and we moved on.
They told me about their officeand then they said we don't have
anybody like you, tuana.
We're a boutique agency onpurpose, because it allows us to
have a better handle on gettingour clients opportunities, and
(19:08):
that really spoke to me.
I'm older.
When the older you get inHollywood, especially when
you're a woman, especially whenyou're a black woman, the
opportunities can start todwindle.
So I really liked the idea ofbeing represented by a warm or
smaller office.
They made an offer to representme and I knew immediately that I
was going to work with them.
I accepted their offer and Ilet them know I was out of
(19:30):
contract and I had to go throughthe proper protocol to
terminate the old agent.
And once we entered the call, Ityped up a proper email to the
soon to be ex-agent and I sentit certified mail that day.
Then I sent them an email tolet them know that I was leaving
, so they wouldn't be reallytaken by surprise by a cold
letter.
Instead they were getting thecold email.
(19:50):
Here's the letter that I wroteDear agents there are three of
them I have decided to move onfrom your agency.
As I understand, the terminationclause in our agreement states
that either of us may terminatethe relationship after four
years of vacant job offers.
I am choosing to do so withimmediate effect.
I sincerely appreciate thesuccess we've enjoyed over the
(20:12):
past six years, but recentevents of late payments of funds
disadvantage my business forthe 2022 tax year.
Still uncertain as to whattranspired and what caused
almost $13,000 to take over 60days to pay out in February.
Although the checks cleared onyour end in early December, it
is no longer mutually beneficialfor me to continue partnership
(20:34):
with your agency For thecontract.
I will send this letter viacertified mail for your records.
Thank you very much for all ofyour work on my behalf over the
last six years.
I know you worked diligentlyand I very much appreciate each
of you, and I will make surethat any future commissions for
work you helped me procure arepaid to you.
Thank you again and all thebest to WanaFloid.
(20:58):
I won't read their response, butit was very kind.
They were saddened that I hadwished to leave, but understood
why, and they wished that theyhad the opportunity to work this
through Because, as I saidbefore, I hadn't CC the owners
or the agents on all of thecorrespondence that I've had
with the director of talentpayment and if I had to do this
(21:20):
all over again and I hope that Idon't I'll be sure to make sure
everyone is aware.
They called me a class act fromthe start and how they were
proud to represent me.
I keep saying they.
While there were three agents,this email came from one person
representing all three.
Ugh, such a gut punch.
You know, I didn't know that.
They thought that I was a classact and I was again wondering
(21:44):
did I make the wrong decision?
But the offer to be repped by anew agent was so easy and
effortless and it was the oneagency that I was looking for
and I really love the idea ofbeing repped by a smaller agency
who is equally as competitivein the commercial business with
no one like me.
So, yeah, I think I made theright decision.
(22:06):
And then I got the sign thattold me I definitely did.
When I saw that one of theagents not the one who wrote the
letter, who I thought I wascool with unfollowed me on
Instagram, I said beeeeeeeehLike, really.
And the reason why I know thatis because I have an unfollowing
app on my phone, so I know whenpeople unfollow me right away,
(22:29):
and that, to me, spoke volumeswhy the need to unfollow me on
Instagram Doesn't matter.
It was great while it lasted.
But if any agency is making itmandatory to accept checks on my
behalf and just so we all knowthat is not even a law, it's an
agreement the very least theycan do is make sure that they
(22:51):
pay me on time.
This happened at the top of theyear I believe it was the end
of February and the reason whyI'm even talking about it now
because I wasn't going to sharethis story.
But the other day I was at anaudition and ran into a
colleague who is also with mynew agent and she was welcoming
(23:11):
me.
She asked me why I had left theother agency, who I had left,
and I told her and sheimmediately said oh, were they
withholding your money too?
It's almost like a movie whenyou're watching the whole thing
and you're really believing thateverybody is upright and
upstanding, and then you get tothe end and find out that they
weren't.
Now, this is hearsay.
(23:33):
I recognize that, but I have ahard time believing this was an
isolated incident.
I like my new agency.
I had my first avail with themthis past week.
I'm still hearing great thingsabout the agency from my peers
and they have been welcoming me,sending me Facebook messages.
Hey, I hear you're over herenow.
Welcome, you're going to loveit here.
(23:56):
It's not easy making thedecision to leave an agency.
I say this all the time, I'mgoing to continue to say it and
sometimes it's really hard todiscern if something bad is
happening or if it's just aclerical era.
But this was such a harshmishap that I just couldn't
ignore it.
And because I'm an S corp now Ihave to treat everything as if
(24:20):
my business is my child, in away that I've never treated my
business before.
Having those checks be delayedas long as they were for the
amount that they were really putme in a place where now, here
it is, in 2023, I'm not evengoing to file for unemployment
because I don't have enoughfunds to make the maximum and it
(24:40):
just doesn't make sense to doso now.
But here we are in a strike andI really could use that
supplemental income.
So I'm very glad that I decidedto leave.
I hope this story was helpfulfor you.
I will never tell anybody howto run their business, even
though I say you should do that,but the truth is the decision
(25:02):
is up for us to make, and so ifthere's any time that you feel
like something is not right inyour gut, the way I did, really
examine that and figure out whatworks best for you.
Thank you for listening.
That is the end of ActingLessons Learned, episode 130.
And hey, if you'll do me afavor, would you please either
(25:23):
rate this podcast five stars orleave a kind review.
Acting Lessons Learned iswritten, directed, produced,
edited and marketed byTuatahaloid me.
I do all the things.
If you like what I do here andyou want to buy me a coffee,
please do so.
The link is in the description,along with my Instagram and my
TikTok and YouTube.
(25:43):
I'll be back in two weeks andwe'll talk again, or I'll talk
to you and you'll be listening,but you'll probably be talking
to me in the car or somethingwhen you hear me speaking.
Anyway, be well, just stay ingood spirits.
Bye.
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