OP/ED by Misti Dawn
I’m actually very happy you asked me about this. It’s been a very big complaint of mine and most "alt" girls. As that agents never know how to market us so we end up filler on their sites that are ignored.
My first experience with an agent was gold star modeling. They signed me while I was traveling back and forth for work from Kentucky. Now they seemed fine at first but once they had my photos and paper work they would never respond to my emails or phone calls. I was signing at the AEEs last January and my agent who I had never even met or knew what he looked like screams my name, my full legal name, as I’m walking down the hallway to the entrance of the convention. So in front of everyone he’s says my legal name. Then he proceeds to tell me I’m much prettier and person and he’s sorry for not getting back with me. Promises the opposite of what he had been doing. And I never heard from him again. And not a single job came from this.
My second agent is from this past summer when I fully moved to LA. Big love alt. First I never meet Chris nor did he ever have me fill out paper work before putting me on the site. He never even asked so much for my I’d to prove my age. He too was impossible to reach. Nothing came of this either. Then I heard from a friend that worked there, after telling him over and over the alt page for the "alt" girls was a terrible idea because they weren’t promoting it and it was hard to find them off the main page. Come to find out its because he said that he did not want the tattooed girls to litter the real porn girls on his site so he kept us separate. I asked him to take me off the site. 3 months with him. No work
Next was vanguard. Darby was great. He’s the first agent I had that actually meet me in person. We kept in contact although he never found me a single job either. He did find me one thing for kink.com. After I told him 3 times I was home in Kentucky for thanksgiving. The job was the day before thanksgiving and I got two days notice. After I was already home. So that never happened and I kept asking him to rebook it with no luck. So when I got home he said he’s tried everyone he could and can’t get me work and took me off the site
My last dealing with an agent. I’ll leave the name out for this one but it’s a large agent that carries my boyfriend Michael Vegas. While I was never with them I had some close encounters. A couple months prior Michael got me on a shoot for erotic network in Arizona with him. He ended up getting In trouble for not suggesting one of "their" girls. But if they hadn’t turned me away before they would have made money of me then. Later while Signing at the NJ exxxotica this agency had a booth and approached me for a scene someone was filming and they wanted a tattooed girl. I agreed even though I had to pay their agency fee even though I’m not on their agency. My stipulation was you have to carry me when I return to la. Needless to say they took my money and have avoided me well since.
That’s my experience with agents. Keep In mind I’ve been in the business for two years. Have 3 avn noms this year alone. Worked for belladonna ent, evil angel, burning angel, erotic network, venom, and countless more. I’ve been on international magazines. Cbnc, showtime, and g4 three times. And ive been asked to sign at every convention. All this work I’ve done with no agent. I do anything on camera because I actually enjoy it but agents can’t find me a single job?
UPDATE-I actually have a slight amendment to my story. My last paragraph. I ended up getting signed by LA Direct today after going thru all those other agents. They were very nice and seemed enthusiastic about signing me. I’m just as shocked as you are. Maybe someone caught wind of my story.
NL-If your a adult performer, Please drop me a line and a picture of yourself along with your experience to Cindi@lukeisback.com about AGENTS & PUBLICISTS-: "The Good Ones, The Bad Ones" is also a story I’m compiling info and doing research on. Please send me your opinons and stories about what happened to you. The last few girls I’ve interviewed have had great things to say about their agents. And there are a number of really GREAT publicists out there. I don’t want you to get the idea I am doing this story to trash people, I want to shed light on the good & the bad.I’d also like to hear the experiences of Agents and Publicists.
Hey! Thank you so much for approaching me about this topic.
Im glad it ended with a happy ending 🙂 So far LA Direct has been amazzzzzzing and so very helpful! Heck they met me in person which is more than most ha.
Thanks again to you Cindi and Thank you to the wonderful people at LA Direct
Everyone has their own likes and dislikes. Variety is what makes this a wonderful world. Myself I don’t care for girls with lots of tattoos. Janine Lindemulder is gorgeous except all that ink draws me away from apprecating her beauty (Velicity Von and Gianna Michaels are approaching that “too many tattoos” ranking for me as well). Generally I skip over or ignore any girl with lots of tattoos.
I prefer Euro girls mostly because they keep the tats to a minimum (even tho I like Dominno and she has quite a few). Some of the most popular girls in porn I have no interest in because they went crazy with tattoos. To each their own just know I won’t be buying any of your DVDs.
Well for everyone person who feels that way about tattoos there is another that doesnt share the same opinion 🙂 I think has the market becomes refreshed as this generation gets settled tattoos will be come much more marketable. it already has in mainstream entertainment. I.e. david beckam, rianna, LA Ink, Miami Ink, Suicide girls, etc..
LA Direct seems to run a really good shop. It appears Derek is very professional.
What happen to their porn actress Audrey Bitoni, it appears no longer with them??
She found out the truth?
Direct is a great Agency for girls who are not self sufficient and need to have their hands held because they cant do anything by themselves. If you have any sort of common sense Direct is not for you.
Here are things Direct does that is my logic for the statement
DVDS you are forbidden to get your own dvds,you have to go through Direct and pay a premium price so they get a cut.
8x10s/promo has to go through Direct at a huge markup.
All promotions must go through them you cant do anything on your own and they will block you if they don’t get a cut.
Websites- they buy all your domain names when you sign up and many other web problems,
Direct is great for a girl who has no clue what to do and doesnt mind having no control of her career, but for anyone who can run around Chatsworth and get DVDS and knows where to get 8x10s printed and knows how to market herself. You will feel trapped and suffocated in months.
It seems to me that La Direct provides a good structure at the beginning. i am sure they would be flexible and waive certain fees if profitable for both. keep in mind la direct pays rent,electric, salaries, etc. The y are an agency just as ICM is a mainstream agency.
As for Audrey Bitoni i believe that Derrick probably is better off considering her escort past.
Almost all porn stars also escort. Its just a fact of the business and lifestyle. In fact most of them make more money escorting then doing porn work. Its easier (most so happy to be fucking their favorite porn star come quickly), the clients treat them well, and they can make in an hour or two what they make all day on a movie set.
Some stars have even said they did porn to raise their name value for escorting. Cutting a girl loose just for escorting on the side seems like its not good business sense. There has to be more to it then that.
First off in regards to escorting this is where i believe the industry is getting problems with diseases. remember just touching up against ones genitals can transmit a disease, and i don’t believe the john has to show testing results like in industry. Well i did read and you can read this Bitoni’s twitter that she did community service in vegas, so it appears she was arrested.
Also chase evans is no longer i think with la direct.
Last year I wrote a piece on this very subject and got mixed reactions to it. I went 2 years without an agency and did just fine. I worked as much as I wanted to and found that it isn’t hard to deal directly with the people who do bookings and many of them are relieved to not have to deal with an agency and pay booking fees.
I came to the conclusion that if you want to go beyond porn you need an agency for mainstream stuff and big event gigs, but I found out that you don’t. It’s no different. You become one of the many and if someone doesn’t like you or your look at the agency you are ignored.
I am sorry to hear that you have had a bad experience. I would suggest spending some time getting the contact information for the people who do the booking for the types of jobs you are looking to do…and then hammer them with well-written emails with photos and samples of your scenes. Get a Model Mayhem and One Model Place page and contact all the companies via Twitter. If that doesn’t work then take a hint then I don’t know what to tell you.
I would contact Joanna Angel and ask her to dinner or coffee and then I’d pick her brain. Pay her to meet with you if you have to.
It is my belief that agents in porn will be a thing of the past. i agree i don’t think you really need them anymore. maybe a few will be left, to help structure the some of the girls. because the girls in this industry are quite unstable to begin with.
And that is where i really really believe you need to give Derrick credit. No take a deep breath and think about a young 19 21 year old gets undressed, has all types of sex with strangers, and on camera. Not something that a well adjusted girl does. unless abused, on drugs, psychiatric condition, not limited to personality disorder. It is scary for the girls.
I could be wrong but i recall that mariah when living in california met a guy at a supermarket and established a normal relationship, and then he found out she was in porn, and he dumped her. It is a stigma for the rest of ones life. That is why most have difficulties later on.
you are very wrong…wtf are you talking about? lol
it’s always girls that are weird when they find out I’m in porn…guys always love it at first then they get weird if it goes beyond a couple of times seeing each other.
Exactly it becomes weird for the male. A male with a respectful position would not go out seriously with a porn actress. look at charlie sheen. he does not have to pay a porn actress, if he wanted to pick one up and develop a relationship he could. The fact his his family would never accept it, and he would not. It is damaging to a career and life. I don’t know any successful porn actress life including jenna jameson’s. Also look at sunny leone was with a guy who later left her. No male would want to be serious with her.