As I was saying in Stand-Up Comedy 201.2, your booking agent is a very different person than your manager. In some cases, they may be partially the same, but not when you are doing more than 3 nights a week. You will have issues at some point, if you do not have both parties on your team, working as one solid unit.
Your manager will be one of your best friends, but your best friend might not be the right choice as your manager. How many of us have a group of friends that love to tag along and mean well and one of them already expressed interest in being your manager? All of us, right?
Even though they will “want” to do what’s best for you, a real entertainment manager will actually have the ability to accomplish it, due to his or her connections in the field. If you want to hire a friend later to take care of other things, then that is great if the $$$ is there. A real manager will also look out for your best interest; just find the one that fits you.
You could do your own managing and save about 15% of your income. This will more than likely be the only option that you have at first. Your booking agent will guide you in some direction and may even give you a name a person he or she believes you should work with when the time is right. If the agent is good and you trust them, then they probably work well with that manager and it will be a win-win for the both of you.
When will you know the time is right? You will be so busy that you start to forget things on the calendar. You don’t even know what state you are in anymore and you haven’t written new material in 2 months due to yourself managing the workload. This can cause many serious issues for you, including your career. Some of the duties that you are dealing with on a day-to-day basis are the ones that your manager will need to take off your mind. Here are a few of the basics.
Keep in mind that you have to do everything if someone else does not. This could get to be a long page if I listed them all so here are a few…
- Negotiate with the agent about your tour
- Make sure your tour dates don’t overlap each other
- Make sure the cell bill is paid
- Make sure your hotel arrangements are secure
- Handle all of the marketing of yourself
- Arrange photo shoots
- Call the editorial to let them know where you will be playing
- Preparing your presentations
- Making sure that you are moving ahead and not falling behind
- Remind you what city you are in
- Proof read some of your material
- Rub your forehead so you can fall asleep
This is a small list, so if things are moving along, you will certainly need a manager, don’t you think?
The Booking Agent is a different story and can be summed up in a brief sentence. They make sure that you have paying gigs that you need to show up to and make sure they are the best ones available for you at that time of your career, so that everyone makes the most $$$ that can be made. They get between 10-15% of the negotiated purse.
