Value Yourself - Ask For What You Want
by Kevin Urban
As actors, we need to believe in our worth and price ourselves accordingly by asking for what we want. I was reminded of that this week, when my agent sent my check for a print job that I booked in November. The check was nice, but it could have been a lot nicer...if you know what I mean. At the time, I decided that I was not going to discount my services.
This particular shoot was in Philly and the actual client was not there, but a rep from the advertising agency was. While waiting for hair and makeup, the client called and said that he'd like my head to be shaved for the shot.
At first, I was like no way. I'm not shaving my head. They should've specifically cast a bald actor or at least let me know at the casting call. While I was thinking it over, the photographer came up to me and said "Ask for what you want and make it worth your while." HUH! I started to seriously consider it. It was a print job so my agent would get 20% commission. I was already making $3,000 for the job. My agent was going to get $600 and figure 28% would also go toward taxes.
As I started to think about my price, I also started to think about how long I would be bald and how being bald would affect my business. I've been bald before and I know that it would take at least two and a half months for my hair to grow back. In that time, I wouldn't be able to audition for commercials because I wouldn't look like my headshot. $10,000 was the number that jumped in my head. I figured that I would need at least $10,000 to change my look because taxes and my agent's commission would eat up a significant portion of the money. I also wanted to cover my expenses for the two and a half months that I wouldn't be auditioning.
Once I settled on my price, I called my agent, told her the situation and that I would do it for $10,000 plus the $3,000 I was already getting. My agent was so supportive and agreed - $10,000 was the "absolute minimum" because she couldn't send me out until my hair grew back. My agent called the ad executive and told them my number. They got back to their client and he countered with $7,000. I said no. I did the shoot anyway - with a hat on.
At $7,000 I would have had to pay my agent $1,400 making my cut $5,600 before taxes. Financially, the money would have been nice, but all in all, I would've had to have taken 3 months off from auditioning or get new headshots. Neither option really made sense. Don't get me wrong, it was hard to turn down the money, but it was the right decision. More importantly, I really didn't want to shave my head. I knew that it would grow back, but I wouldn't have been happy for two months while waiting for my hair to grow back and not auditioning. I put a number on what I was willing to accept and stuck with it even though the money they offered was nothing to sneeze at. I was willing to walk away rather than take the lesser amount and devalue myself.
Often as an actor, it's easy to discount our services because we want to work. I'd like you to consider "Asking for what You Want and Need". In an industry where there is a need to please others in order to work, we need to remember to please ourselves and make ourselves happy. One way is to Value ourselves. You may ask for it and not get it, but, hey, I've got my hair - and overall that makes me happier than I would have been had I taken their offer.
