It's Hard Marky Mark

I want to go back to the Oscars for a minute and mention something that someone said that fired me up that night.

DJ Marky Mark, who stars in “The Fighter,” apparently also produced the movie. He was interviewed about making the movie and I heard him say a couple of times about how “hard” it was to get the movie made.

Huh? You thought that was hard, Marky Mark? Ya know what would have been hard? If it had been ME to try to get that movie made, or any other shlub like me.

I’ve written five TV show pilots so I have a bit of an idea about what “hard” really is when it comes to this stuff. Marky Mark at least has name recognition and can get a meeting with someone to make his pitch.

Even as a G-list celebrity and all the way that far up the food chain, I have a hard time even getting an agent, who one really needs to make those types of pitches, to RETURN MY PHONE CALL!

As an entertainer, G-list though I may be, I do work with some agents. I don’t have an exclusive agreement with any one agency. I use more than one to get more work; I don’t have the luxury of needing one agent to filter out dozens and dozens of potential offers, like DJ Marky Mark.

I do normally negotiate my own deals with clients so I have less of a daily need for them. These agencies that I mention are booking agencies which potential clients contact to try to find an entertainer to suit their needs. The agencies have a roster of entertainers, many with more than one per category. They will then negotiate the deal and get a fee of usually 5% to book the gig for me.

These arrangements happen to work out rather well. One of them with which I work in Texas booked the Las Vegas show for me. I wouldn’t have booked that one without being on their roster.

So I recently sent out a bunch of press kits to some larger firms since I have more material to show, a larger list of former clients, and a better overall show.

Even with that, I still find it hard to get a phone call in return, which is just rude as far as I am concerned, but I did get one this week from a Los Angeles agency of note.

This one, which will remain nameless, is proving to be a bit of a challenge. The guy has been going through my videos and he obviously likes what he has seen, which is why he would call me to add me to his entertainer roster.
I have a whole boat load of videos out there and on my site. One thing to know is that when someone posts a video on YouTube and it gets a certain amount of traffic, it becomes eligible for revenue sharing. Ideally, I would just post a video or two which showcases my work and perhaps switch it out now and then. But when I found that I could generate a little extra cash my leaving them posted, that is what I did.

I then started to get requests for more video so I obliged and posted more. Then there were more views, more placed into the revenue sharing program and a little more money.

I also produce video professionally, although what I shoot for these shoots is not done in a way that I do one to sell copies of it. They really are shot more for my analysis later and perhaps even to pull out some highlights and post. The videos then posted are simply to fill that need.

Now this agent is going through what is now hours of video, decides he likes what I do, and calls me. What does he do? He pretty much tells me that my videos suck and that he would like to work with me but needs better video.

The reason he says that I need better video is because the video I have posted won’t get me any work.

Huh?

So after letting him know that he has just insulted me I reminded him that he just called me to give me work based on what he just saw.

He is not incorrect that the presentations could be better produced. I know that for the reasons that I wrote above in this piece. It’s more that his crappy approach with me was pissing me off. There was a less offensive way to do it.

The dude is from LA though so I bit my tongue a bit and told him that I would do whatever I could to produce something more to his liking, but I don’t really think he even understands what he is watching with a hypnosis show. So it will be a bit of a greater challenge.  

But not as great a challenge as it is to try to get my TV shows even read by a TV producer; that is for sure.

My in-home podcast studio will be up and running by the middle of next week. Most likely I will just do the first couple of shows by myself, keep them short, and just lay the ground work for what I want to do with them. Sort of like writing the rules, I guess you can say.

Here are three working titles for this show. I’d like more feedback or even some suggestions for new names so drop me a line at dehypno@verizon.net.

Sleepin with Marshal
The Dungeon of Manlove

From the Bowels of Hellaware

I am growing more partial to the last one with segments included that are titled with the other two. But then again, I think I need one of my names in there and I can always include a segment titled with the third.

Feel free to let me know.

Done.