Juliette Wolf-Robin travels the U.S. asking art buyers, editors and industry insiders how artists can market their businesses more effectively. I’ve combed through dozens of podcast interviews Juliette has conducted with influential art buyers and creatives. In this article, art buyers give their perspective on working with agents and reps.
Juliette Wolf-Robin: Does it matter to you if an artist has an agent or works with a rep? Do you sometimes feel more comfortable working through an agent or rep?
“We regularly have photography reps come in and show series of books. It’s kind of a nice way to meet the reps and see new work… You can see how easy a rep is [to work with], how good the dialogue is, how accommodating they are. Some people are really pleasant… flexible and understanding, and others are rather cut and dry and don’t want to bend at all, especially when it comes down to dollars.” – Peter Calandra and Wade Atkinson, Print Producers, Publicis Seattle
“There are a couple of reps that we've love dearly, and we'll always go to them to search for their photographers first.” – Lisa Matthews, Manager of Art Production, Team One Advertising
“It’s nice to be able to talk about money with someone, and separate that completely from talking about creative. But it’s not a deal breaker by any stretch.” – Aylin Koker, Art Producer, Cole + Weber United
“I've had some [art directors] ask that reps not bring photographers with them [to group showings]. I think the art directors feel a bit pressured when a photographer is standing over them, watching them look at their book. – Andrea Mariash, Senior Art Buyer, David & Goliath
“I think the advantage of having a rep is that if I’m doing a quick search, I can just go to some key rep groups [online] that I know have a lot of great photographers. But would I work with somebody who doesn’t have a rep? Absolutely.” – Kim Witczak, Art Buyer, Barrie D’Rozario Murphy
“It kind of depends on that first phone call. If I can get hold of a photographer, at least within a couple of hours… that’s the most important thing… that there is immediate response. If the photographer is able to handle that… great. But, busy photographers don’t have time to revise an estimate 10 times. So, in that respect, it's a lot easier to deal with a rep because that’s what they're there for.” – Lori Walker, Art Buyer, Butler, Shine, Stern, & Partners
“I think there’s some comfort level working with someone who has an agent because you feel like okay, they’re responsible. They have someone who knows how to do the billing. Maybe they’re more on top of it because their agent’s kind of overseeing it and their agent wouldn’t have taken them on if they weren’t responsible and going to show up for the job and that type of thing. But it’s more about the photographer being talented and being the right person for the job.” – Wini Barron, Senior Art Producer, McCann Erickson
“If a photographer is new and up and coming, there's a comfort level with having a rep involved because people wonder if they really know how to produce the job. A lot of times, we're willing to take a risk on a new up and comer if they have a good rep behind them who knows production or who has a production team to back them up.” – Lisa Oropallo, Art Buying Manager, Digitas
“In a way, yes, it's great [if there is no agent] because you have better negotiating power. You don't have to deal with a pushy agent. But at the same time it's difficult. I've worked with photographers who didn't have agents… when you talk money, there's a rejection factor that's really difficult for us to go through. It's painful because you talk to the actual artist directly, and then you have to work with this same person on-set. Sometimes things go wrong and you wish there was a buffer – a person in-between. It depends on the personality of the artist. – Marlene Saunders, Freelance Art Buyer, Saunders Communication Agency
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