Let’s Talk About Talent Agent Contracts

Recently there was a female performer complaining about the money she had to pay to get out of her contract. About 7 years ago she had to pay $1,000 to end her contract. For some reason, despite all the time that has passed she is only now just complaining about it.

I couldn’t help but wonder why, after all these years later was she so upset about it? I’ve followed her on twitter for years and in all that time, she’s never once so much as mentioned the issue.

Why now, 7 years later is she so upset? I mean the truth is, it’s because her boyfriend hates her former agent so he’s probably getting her to do this. But it did bring up a good subject – the subject of contracts in general.

Let's Talk About Talent Agent Contracts

There are many things to complain about when it comes to how some things in our industry is run, but this one has always sort of rubbed me the wrong way.

Why? Because you know going into a deal that you are singing a legal contract and the terms of said contract are defined in advance.

Contracts are not just done in the porn industry.

Ann Curry, for example,  signed a three-year contract with NBC in 2012. They wanted to get rid of her but she had this contract and for them to get rid of her they had to pay her $10 million. Now her contract buyout was obviously more than any porn star contract would be worth, but the concept is still the same.

Whatever party wants out of their contract must be willing to buy it out.

buyout clause or release clause is pretty standard in all contracts – with porn stars, movie stars, news anchors, and famous sports figures.

The buyout refers to a clause in a contract that imposes an obligation on another organization wishing to acquire the services of the person under contract to pay the (usually substantial) fee of the clause to the organization which issued the contract and currently works with.

In November of 2017, Cristiano Ronaldo wanted out of his contract so he could go from working with one team to another. The buyout for his contract was about a billion dollars. Basketball player Reggie Jackson agreed to an $80 million buyout of his contract with the Detroit Pistons so that he could sign with another team.

This kind of thing is extremely common in mainstream.

Porn stars, however, doesn’t usually have such big buyouts. If they sign a contract and want out of it, they usually pay anywhere from $500 to $5,000 depending on the potential value of the girl in question.

We sign contracts for protection. When you want that protection you can refer to the contract. But when you want out of that contract, why are we so quick to demand all the points in the contract be ignored?

I try and warn every girl that I can, never sign a contract without first reading it fully and making sure you fully understand the fine points.

Never agree to sign a multi-year contract. You’d be surprised just how much can change in your life in a year. If you agree to sign a 1-year contract, you can go back and renew that contract a year later if you are both still happy. If not, you smile and part ways — no harm, no foul.

Always take a picture of every contract you sign and keep it. That way you can refer back to it later on. There was once a guy who signed a porn star to a performance agreement when it didn’t go his way he changed the terms of the contract she had actually signed and then sued her when she tried to leave him. Always keep a copy! That way shady shit like this can’t happen.

Know that if you sign a contract and later decide you don’t want to be in that contract, you are going to have to stick to the terms of the contract for the full length of said contract, or be willing to buy your way out of it. It’s just that simple.






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