Rejoinder to "unscrupulous talent agent"

Apropos my previous blog “Unscrupulous Agent” I remember a related incident which took place in February this year. It was a TV Commercial shoot for a deodorant at the World Trade Center. One of my male talents was part of it. The moment we set foot on the shoot location I already noticed the other agents giving him the look-see type of stares.

As the shoot progressed someone told me that this she-male agent from one of the well known agencies commented that my talent was Class A, which he really is anyway. Later on, in an act very unbecoming of someone in this industry asked my co-agent, “puwede na ba ng P1000 a night yan?” referring to my talent. Fortunately for him I did not overhear him. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have let him get away with it just like that.

Much later, during a break in the shoot, from afar I saw this female talent of that particular agent asking for my talent’s number. Obviously, she was asked by her agent to get it so as not to raise any suspicion that he was the one who wanted my talent’s number. When I got the chance I confronted the female talent to confirm who had asked her to get my talent’s number.

At first she was obviously fabricating excuses but she kept on looking at her agent who was a few feet away from us, that all the more gave her away. I knew she was lying to her teeth and I was really getting pissed off. So I told her that if she didn’t tell me there would be trouble right there and then. Sensing perhaps the seriousness in my voice, she gave in and admitted that it was the group of her agent and two others (one was a former male talent who now works for a casting agency and the other a male talent who appears as extra in TVCs but also moonlights as agent, all three did have a reputation for pirating talents).

I then told her to erase my talent’s number from her celfone in front of me, which she did. After that confrontation, they started giving me dagger looks. And I couldn’t care less, for I know I did the right thing and that they were just among the many unprincipled, deceitful, crooked, unethical, scheming, dishonest and undesirable characters in this industry.

If these things are rampant in the industry it’s because most people do nothing to correct them. We should not let these people get away with it. Ako I will give them what they deserve.