In this third part of the blog I’ll going to be continuing to address what the feature schools should be teaching you, & what the agents will expect of you.
As I said before, there are 12 main points that I believe feature training should address:
1. Contract agreements
2. Insurance
3. Costuming
4. Physical appearance
5. Entertainment
6. Dealing with the clubs
7. Personal & club safety
8. Promo photos & products
9. Sales
10. Traveling
11. Business organization
12. Earning credits
In the last blog I gave detailed information of points one through five. In this blog I’ll be addressing points six through 12.
6. Dealing With the Clubs
After going through a bad experience with a club owner, & a second club, I once had a lawyer who knew the first owner tell me:
“Even with a contract, you shouldn’t do business with someone
unless you know enough about the person to trust them.”
Many of the agents are no longer looking out for the interests of both the clubs & the entertainers. I’ve been booked at terrible clubs where I was the first one to be sent out, I reported numerous issues to both the club manager & the agent, & even had something happen that could have landed me in the emergency room. After all of that the agent(s) still sent numerous entertainers I know to the same club! If any of the entertainers had asked me about the club I could have shared my experiences & warned them not to take the booking. Instead, one entertainer was bullied by the house entertainers, one didn’t get to finish her shows & was sent home without explanation, & one ended up in the hospital & needed stitches above her eye after a house entertainer got oil on the stage & messed with her prop chair! Do not just take the word of your agent… check recent references from other entertainers – even outside your agency! Once your reference checks come back positive, then get the entire agreement in a written contract. Do not go anywhere without a contract, & be sure to keep two copies with you.
One week to one & a half weeks prior to the club booking be sure to call the club to confirm your booking. You would be amazed how disorganized the clubs can be, so its good to remind them that you are coming. Encourage them to book your hotel room that day if they have not already done so, & to let you know who will pick you up from the airport as well as where you will be staying. I’ve literally sat at the airport for 3 hrs before waiting for someone from the club to pick me up. I’ve also driven to bookings only to show up at the hotel & find out that they never booked my room! I waited in the lobby for two hours not able to reach the agent or the club manager… after a 6 hour drive. That’s also why it’s good for you to ask for a confirmation of the booking.
Before you go to the club make sure you are familiar with the laws. I feel like I preach about this all the time, but entertainers need to take responsibility for themselves! If you aren’t good at doing research on local laws, then get a lawyer to help you out… but don’t just take the word of the club for what is allowed & what isn’t. It’s sad to say, but some clubs really don’t know the laws, & others just don’t care! Make sure you know what the laws are for obscenity, striptease, adult entertainment, & prostitution. A good way to research local laws is through Municode. Do not go outside the bounds of the law, even if the club encourages you to. While sometimes a club owner may pay any fees related to tickets, the ticket will still go on your record, & that can make it hard to get an adult entertainer’s license in other cities. Its also a good idea to keep a lawyer on retainer just incase something happens. A retainer for a lawyer can run anywhere from $2,000 to $8,000. The last thing you want to do though is get yourself into a position where you are in dire need of help, possibly haven’t been paid yet, & need a lawyer… which is why it’s good to have a lawyer on retainer.
Once you are at the club make an effort to introduce yourself to the club owner, manager & all of the club staff if possible. Being friendly & courteous can make or break you at a club. Do not act like a diva, do not be demanding, & let them know that you are thankful to be there as their guest. If you encounter a problem, let the manager know first, but if it isn’t resolved be sure to let your agent know. Some features will do things like bring miniature cup cakes into the dressing room for the house entertainers & just say that they are looking forward to getting to know everyone, which is a good approach. Another thing to be aware of is that as the feature you are probably twice as likely to have the staff, manager, or owner try to flirt with you. Keep you head tied on straight & don’t get distracted! You are there to work, & chances are that if they do that to you they either have or will do the same with others as well. It’s not professional, & if you want to be respected in this industry then you must act friendly yet professional at all times.
Do your best before you go to the club, while you are there, & after you leave the club to promote the club. The reason they brought you in was to attract more customers, so try to help them do that. This can be done through social networking, or lining up local interviews if the club hasn’t set them up.
When you leave, be sure to thank the club staff for having you as their guest. You can do this personally, or simply by sending a greeting card. While calling the club owner or manager in person can be good to get feedback on your shows, it doesn’t include the local house entertainers, so if you use the phone method be sure to also send the girls a card or something so that you are the feature they remember as being nice & look forward to having back.
7. Personal & club safety
While I’ve gone over a lot of this, in the last blog (contract agreements, insurance, & entertainment) some of it I have not.
One of the best things you can do for your own personal safety is to travel with a roadie, also known jokingly as the “suitcase pimp” or “panty picker-upper”. This person can help you with getting your bags back & forth, watching your things, helping you with stage shows, etc. There are a number of issues to consider with this though. A lot of features make the mistake of assuming that their husband or boyfriend can roadie for them. This can bring up a lot of jealousy issues though, or just might have mistakes in judgement based on something personal. A significant other is often simply not be the best person for the job. Most of us have seen the movie The Bodyguard, sometimes issues arise when the person who is supposed to be protecting you & the person you are being intimate with are the same person. On the opposite end, a lot of features end up with horrible roadies who have no experience, are lazy, crazy, or have substance abuse problems & simply end up being a burden to the feature. While roadies aren’t required, they are suggested. Your agent should be able to give you the names of some reliable roadies, otherwise look into people with a background in personal security – preferably with a license to carry a gun in-case there is ever a major problem. Be sure to do a thorough background check on whomever you hire, because some people who are attracted to those positions can be odd & aggressive. You’ll want to make sure they don’t do any drugs, they aren’t heavy drinkers, are typically mellow & easy to get along with. The person should however look like they could protect you if needed. If they can’t make an impression on an out of control customer, then they probably aren’t much good. I generally pay anyone who does security/roadie type work for me about $25/hr, which is on the high end. Some entertainers pay per show ($10-$25), some pay percentages, & some entertainers have unemployed friends who they pay in the form of travel, expenses & beer. You’ll need to decide with your roadie what pay systems works best for both of you. In the worst case scenarios the clubs often will assign someone to help you out, but you’ll need to pay that person yourself. Your roadie should be like your shadow, reliable, able to keep a secret & always at your side… because you never know when you might encounter a problem even with club staff.
As you are traveling be sure not to make anything too routine & not to give people information… including the club staff. After years on the road one of the things I’ve figured out is not to ever even mention to the club security where I am staying or what room I am in. A lot of times they will pick you up from the hotel or drop you off, & may walk you to your room. I’ve discovered that about 7 times out of 10 they can’t keep the details of where the entertainers are staying & what hotel room they are in to themselves… they share the information with regular customers, their buddies, etc. Within less than a day practically all the customers know where you are staying & in what room. Do not even give them the option of putting your security at risk “accidentally”. Take your own roadie if you can, take a different way home each night, vary your schedule, don’t go out alone, & if possible don’t have the club staff walk you to your room!
Once you are in your room, check everything! The hotel staff often know who the features are, & we become targets for theft because they know that we often have large amounts of cash on us or simply nice items. Do not leave your things out everywhere, & travel with your own safe! Do not trust the safes at the hotels because often the hotel staff know how to access them even if they are locked.
The same rules from above apply at the club as well. Generally the feature will have her own dressing room, but if not then she’s often forced to leave her things in the manager’s office… even if there are people continuously going in & out. For that reason it is best not to tempt people by keeping your things picked up, plus you cash & jewelry in a small portable safe… particularly one that you can lock down to something. I use two safes, one inside the other, which are small & portable enough to take as carry-on items on an airplane.
Finally, stop “checking-in”… put your cell phone & computer down because it could cost you your safety. I can’t tell you the number of features I’ve seen who have digitally “checked-in” to a hotel/restaurant/etc via four-square or facebook, which also announces it to the world via Twitter. Its dangerous to be announcing where you are at. Even if someone doesn’t do something directly to you, it lets them know where your car might be, or that you are away from your hotel room. In some instances people also can track cell phones using the GPS in your phone. Turn your GPS off if you aren’t using it, & stop letting people know where you are online for your own safety.
8. Promo Photos & Products
One of the first things you’ll need, even before you begin taking bookings as a feature entertainer, are 3-5 promotional photos of yourself – from different photo sets. The agent will ask you for photos first thing. Often when a club is deciding to book a feature the agent will send them photos of all the entertainers they believe might be a good match. That means your photos are your first visual impression, so you’ll want them to be top notch & really represent you. A good photoshoot with rights to use the images for promotional purposes & to print the images for giveaways, autographed copies, etc can cost anywhere from $400 – $1,200 depending on the photographer & what you want. Don’t feel limited on who you work with just because of your budget, as many photographers will work on payment plans, trades, or partial trades. Networking sites such as Model Mayhem & One Model Place can be great resources for finding a really great local photographer. Some photographers I’d recommend are:
b. Rich Cutrone
e. Ken Marcus
Be sure that whomever you have do your photos is professional, because if you don’t represent yourself as a professional, chances are that you’ll get started featuring at the lower end amateur rates. A good professional will probably recommend a make-up artist familiar with make-up that reacts well to photo lights, a hair stylist, & possibly a wardrobe stylist as well.
If your photographer doesn’t know how to use an image editing program in-depth, or gives you some excuse on why editing isn’t needed, steer clear of that photographer! Yes, images can be over-edited, & it takes a talented editor to get a natural effect, which is what you should be going for. The point of editing though is that in person, & due to movement, our eyes are much more forgiving of physical flaws in people. Pictures do not move though, & the mind is able to quickly process any & all flaws, so we should be editing out anything we know the mind would probably skip-over or “edit out” in person. However, if the flaw is something that is quickly & easily noticeable in person, then it probably shouldn’t be edited out in the images because you also don’t want a club owner, or manager to feel deceived or to send you home from a booking because you don’t look like your photos. A true example of this is that I know a very well known feature with some very rough/dented skin on her face from a battle with acne as a teenager, yet her photos always look totally flawless, & because of that the first time I met her in person I didn’t even recognize her! Yes, she’s trying to make herself look better, but the point of photos is to represent you at your best… not to have an image that doesn’t even look like you. On the other hand I’ve heard many features told things like “Wow, you are so much prettier in person than what I thought from seeing your photos”. That is a really horrible thing because it means the feature could be losing out on feature bookings because her photos don’t even come close to doing her justice. By all means make sure your photos are edited… but keep it natural & don’t go overboard!
If possible, it’s also best to work with a photographer who also offers videography services, & can create a demo reel for you. While I don’t suggest posting any full length performance show online, the agents can send out commercial type demo reels to potential clubs along with your photos. The demo reel can be numerous short clips of your shows put together into a sort of personal commercial. This shows the clubs that you look the same as your photos, since most videos don’t edit as much as photos, as well as what to expect from you in terms of costuming & performance style. Having a demo reel made is a really wise decision to make.
Going back to the photos though, many features use their photos for:
a. 8×10 prints
b. 5×7 prints
d. T-shirts
e. Shot glasses
f. Cigarette lighters
g. Keychains
h. Posters
You can probably find a good local printer to get these items from, but if you have problems sign-up with PhotoReflect.com. I have connections to their business department & have personally been assured that they don’t restrict adult content. Although you will find a list of prices on their website, they are common market prices only! Once you sign-up, you will have the option to select your own printer from many across the country, & by clicking on each one you can see the individual printer rates for over 100 printers! Photoreflect is also great because you can set it up on your website for customers to purchase prints from, & even decide for each individual item if the order should ship directly to the customer, or to you first. That means that if a person orders an autographed 8×10, you can set Photoreflect up to ship the print to you to be autographed, & then you ship it to the customer. If the customer just wants the 8×10 though, without an autograph, then you can have it shipped directly to the customer.
Instant Polaroid photos were once all the rage for customers wanting photos with features, & there is still a small market for that. Polaroid now makes a technology called Zink that a lot of people like, but I’m going to be honest… stay away. Yes, the prints look great, but they take far too long to print! I don’t care who you are, customers don’t like sitting around waiting that long. Polaroid had originally borrowed (with permission) the technology for instant prints from Fuji, & now both companies make a new version of the camera. If you want to offer your customers photos with you, I’d recommend getting a Fuji camera that creates instant prints with the borders for autographing. Another option, for customers who don’t care about the autograph, is to allow them to take a photo with their camera phone for a heavily discounted price. Just be aware that many of the cameras built into phones aren’t the best. Either way, technology has offered us new options.
9. Sales
After most shows the feature entertainer will retreat to her dressing room, quickly change into something to greet customers & have photos taken in, then return to the club sales floor to set up her merchandise table. Along with any items you are selling it’s good to have a cash change box. On most nights you won’t have too much of a line for customers wanting to purchase items or talk to you. A lot of features have become really anti-social & make a lot less than they really could. I even know at least one feature school instructor who is known to be pretty snobby acting, & will just walk away from a line of customers… which translates to losing out on money. Check with the club first to make sure this is okay, but once you get through your line I would encourage you to go out & talk to the customers the same way the house dancers do! Thank them for coming into the club, ask what brought them in, spend time getting to know them & encourage them to tip & buy dances. You can even go so far as to tell them you’ll sit at the stage & tip another dancer with them… the house dancers usually really appreciate that!
The general rule for pricing merchandise is to mark up 2-3x the cost, & dances are usually 1.5x to 3x. For example, let’s say you are selling shot glasses. Your screenprinting setup cost might be $42, & the company is going to charge you $2.09 per glass for 71 glasses ($148.39), so that makes your initial cost $190.39 or $2.68 per shotglass. If the cost for you is $2.68 per shotglass, & you mark the shotglass up 2x-3x, then the price for the customer is going to be $5.39 or $8.04. In clubs though we don’t generally deal with change, so its best to have a nice rounded number, in this case either $6 or $7 would probably be an appropriate cost for a shotglass. The cost of private dances is typically set by the club & included in the contract. If a regular single song lap dance sells for $20 then the club will ask the feature to charge between $30 – $60 for a single song, & may ask to take a portion of the fee the same way they may take $5 – $10 out of a house dancer’ lapdance. I do know features who refuse to give lapdances, & that does seem to cause problems with customers & can make them lose fans… so think before going that route about how important lapdances really are to you.
One thing you should do for sure is track what your earn! Many features keep a binder or sheets of paper to track their merchandise sales & earnings (using hash-marks) from shows. If you choose to do this you will be making your accountant’s life a lot easier, & he/she will be thankful. Plus, people steal things, so these sheets will help you know if theft is occurring. The sales tracking sheet might look something like this:
Club Name
City, State
Today’s Date
Merchandise # Available Charging Sold Total
8×10 5 $10 ll $20
8×10 – signed 3 $15 lll $45
Shotglass 4 $10 ll $20
Shotglass unlimited $30 lllll $150
—————————————————————————————-
—————————————————————– Subtotal $235
10. Traveling
The first thing to know is don’t go anywhere without a contract, & don’t pay anything to book a ticket until you have the signed contract in your hands! Clubs & agents can have your days wrong, & then you book your ticket & have to change the dates. If you are paying your own travel then that often means shelling out an extra $150 to change your flights… plus the cost difference between the flights. If you have a contract in writing though, & the club is asking you to come out on different dates than agreed to in the contract, they need to take the responsibility for paying to change your flight & making sure that a new contract is signed.
Don’t be one of the entertainers living paycheck to paycheck on the road. I’ve had some of the oddest things happen, including having a club catch fire the night before I was supposed to get on an airplane to fly out to the club. Now granted, a situation like that can’t be controlled & it was neither the club’s fault nor mine, but if I had been dependent on working at that club then I could have really been in a bad spot. You also need to realize that things can & do go wrong during bookings. I had multiple bookings in a row that turned out bad. One of the things I was grateful though was that I was always able to get myself out of the situation… but only because I wasn’t broke. Some of these clubs can be three hours from an airport. That means if something goes wrong & you need to leave the next day, you may be paying for a 3 hour cab ride &/or booking a ticket the day of that might cost you $600 or more. The moral of the story is don’t be dependent on a single booking, & have money to take care of yourself if something goes really wrong.
If you book through the agencies don’t be surprised if they try to lure you in during the beginning & then leave you out to dry later. On your first booking you might be totally treated to a first class airplane ticket, & a suite at a swank hotel. A year later it’s just as likely that you’ll end up having to pay for your own airline ticket flying coach, & show up only to find out that the club has arranged for you to stay in some scuzzy hotel that doesn’t meet the contract outlines. The best thing I can say is to stay on top of the agents about this. It’s the give a mouse a cookie scenario, when you are super sweet & always giving they assume you can & will handle anything… but that doesn’t mean you should! For example, two agencies last fall were booking for the same club which required features to stay in a place which was infested with fleas & bed bugs… there is no excuse for that! After talking to other features I learned at one point this same place had rats. I know multiple entertainers who left the booking without fulfilling their contracts, but in my opinion if a club can’t provide reasonable accommodations as per the contract, then why should the entertain fulfill her end of the deal? I had one agent send out an e-mail to all the talent they booked asking the girls not to discuss clubs & bookings with other girls too. Why you ask? Some of the agents know that they book bad clubs, & an entertainer won’t want to go if they know its going to be a bad booking, which means the agent will lose out on money! Always do your own research on clubs, don’t just trust everything the agent tells you, but look for trends that others have with the club. If one entertainer is always having problems though, it’s probably her & not the club. If she has mixed reviews of different clubs, then chances are she’s reasonable in what she tells you about. Agencies will often say that earning potentials are higher than they really are too, so don’t be misled by that. If you show the agencies that you deserve to be treated good, & you demand the respect you deserve, then the agencies will treat you better.
When you travel its also good to have at least one costume, one regular “civilian” outfit, some merchandise, & anything needed for an overnight stay in a carry-on bag… because inevitably at some point your bags will get lost or miss a transfer. Before I get too much into lost bags though, be aware that due to certain laws sometimes porn isn’t allowed to be transported by luggage from one state to another, so if you plan to sell DVDs or adult style photos, check to see if you will need to ship those directly to the club via USPS or FedEx in advance. Going back to the luggage though, most of the time the bags will show up the next day, & you should have them by evening time. To help the process though I recommend a few things. First, inside your check-in luggage keep an 8.5″x11″ sheet of paper on top of your belongs with all your updated contact information on it. Sometimes the tags on the outside of the bag can tear off, so this just helps the chances that you will get your bag back. Second, make sure that you keep your outside baggage tags up to date with your phone number as well as e-mail address. Third, if your bag goes missing report it right away from the airport, & try to give them as much detail as possible to identify the bag including brand, color, style, etc. It might even be a good idea to keep a picture of the bag on your phone or e-mail that you can send to the airline’s customer service if the bag gets lost. I’d also recommend keeping a list of your song sets on Google Docs or your e-mail, & some simple costume ideas – again just in-case the bags get lost. Almost every little city has a Wal-mart, or in cases of super small cities Pamida, & usually you can throw together some shows from clothes found there if you really don’t get you bag in time. The key to all of this is planning in advance, & being able to keep your cool under pressure.
Traveling via airplane versus vehicle is also a huge difference. First off, I know multiple entertainers (myself included) who at one point or another were not reimbursed the gas mileage they were promised. Second, if an airplane can’t get out due to bad weather, or is running late, no one is going to blame the feature for that. Plus, as I’ve mentioned one entertainer had the car that was transporting the costumes blow-up, & multiple have had their trailers stolen. Last winter I had a friend who was featuring in Texas & traveling there with another mutual friend by truck. Needless to say the truck broke down multiple states away from Texas, & the two hardly had enough money to catch the bus to Texas. When all was said & done the agent was so mad that I think my friend is now having a tough time getting the agent to book her anywhere else. In my opinion, driving to clubs is not worth the headache most of the time… especially for anything more than 12 hours away. The exception to that is if the club is in the middle of no-where, but even then having out of state plates can signal to people which car is yours, & that puts your car at risk of having someone do something malicious to it, which I had happen once in Wisconsin. Flying also has set-backs such as disappearing luggage, but I’ve not yet heard of a feature having her luggage permanently lost, blown-up, or stolen from an airplane or airport. Do keep in mind that if the club or agency is in charge of booking your flight, they will probably book the cheapest flight possible… which means you’ll leave early in the morning, have transfers or layovers (often multiple), & then be expected to perform within 2-3 hours of arriving. Getting to your destination early, & getting some good rest before work is one reason you may simply want to ask for travel reimbursement so you can book a flight that fits your schedule better & allows more flexibility if a flight runs late. Others I know take Greyhound buses or Amtrak trains, which are also options. They’ve become pretty technologically savvy & these days you can often plug in your laptop or phone to work on or charge while traveling! Even with jet lag, after a nap I always feel like flying is so much better than driving, but really I think anything other than driving is better most of the time.
11. Business Organization
First off there are a number of people who you can work with on a regular basis as a feature entertainer that may make things easier for you:
a. Agent
b. Manager
c. Publicist/Public Relations Manager
d. Web designer
e. Social Media Consultant
f. Lawyer
g. Accountant
h. Roadie
Some of these people we’ve already discussed, so I don’t feel the need to reiterate what they do & why they are important. I’m going to instead focus on the ones whom most people don’t know the difference between.
An agent is someone who has lots of contacts for work. Basically they act like a professional headhunter connecting talent to available jobs… for a commission generally between 15-18% of the entertainer’s booking fee. This commission is paid for by the talent. The agent may act friendly towards you, but its rare that they would really view you as a equal & a friend, so be careful how you deal with them. They generally will work the hardest to book entertainers who work exclusively with them. Most entertainers however work with multiple agents. One reason for this is that working with multiple agencies can allow you greater variety in bookings. Another reason is that if you invest all your energy into one agent, & they start taking advantage of you or keep messing up, then you don’t feel like you have to start over again from step number one of building trust with a new agent… & it makes it harder for them to soil your reputation. Very few features are exclusive to one agent, & its really up to you which route you want to take on that.
A manager is the person who helps you form your career. Honestly, there really need to be more people devoted to talent management in this industry, but sadly there just aren’t. Some of the agents will try to act like talent managers, but generally everything with them goes back to how much money they can make off of you in commission right then. Managers however see the bigger picture, they know that turning you into a profitable brand means that you’ll be in business longer, which keeps them in business with you longer. Managers can help find you the best team of people to work with, so that in the long run you will be successful.
A publicist or public relations manager is the one who helps you figure out how to market yourself through press releases, & how to respond to difficult situations where your reputation might be at risk. These people are priceless! It’s amazing what a little publicity can do, & how you spin it can effect the outcome. For example, one feature I know was recently caught in a political scandal which wasn’t her fault, but due to her lawyer’s advice about not discussing the case with anyone the agency completely dropped her! If the lawyer had been in contact with a publicist they probably could have come up with a better plan of action because the publicist could have predicted that the agency would drop her. Instead the lawyer & publicist could have put together a statement over the situation much faster, which would have kept the feature in the good graces of the agency, & probably even gained her more bookings because so many people around the country were curious about her. I live thousands of miles away & I still hear people discuss her, even last week at a comedy show I was hearing jokes about the situation… & then I have to turn around & admit that not only do I know her but that between the politician & the lawyer her career took a beating that wasn’t necessary. Many features don’t take on a publicist, but they should. There are a number of good publicists & public relations managers out there including:
a. Fine Ass Marketing
b Monstar PR
c. Black & Blue Media
d. The Rub PR
Many people will tell you that in this day in age if you don’t have a website… you don’t exist. While you actually do exist, for all intensive purposes without a website you’ll have to work about twice as hard to build your reputation. Having a professionally designed website signals to others that you want to be working, are decently business oriented, & professional. A good website can also help you to build a fan base & get people excited to meet you in person. Plus, it’s a great way to showcase your social networking websites, blog, & let people know if shows have been cancelled. There are tons of web designers out there, so just ask around. The best advice I have though is to have a professional design the website & show you how to update it on your own, or find a web designer willing to let you update via Adobe Contribute. Also make sure that whomever you hire is good with search engine optimization (S.E.O.) since those are like keywords that help search engines like Google find your website. The most important thing on your website though is content, which is what you provide in your text & images. Try to get your website started before you ever get on the road featuring, because you’ll build fans quickly the minute you are on the road, & you’ll want them to stay up to date on when & where they can see you! I do all of my own web design, so I’m not that familiar with designers. Just get a few references before working with anyone.
A social media consultant is sort of like your PR person on the web. They help you build your fan base online through websites like Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Xpeeps, etc. They can set up your pages to interact so you don’t have to post each update multiple times, they can help approve friends, sort your friends, send out notifications of new blogs or travel plans, & generally make posts on a more up-to-date basis so that people don’t forget about you. A social media consultant does not replace a PR person, but early on in your career you may find that the social media consultant can be more helpful in gaining fans whereas the PR might be more helpful in shaping your brand to get more club bookings. For social media I recommend 7 Veils social media, whom I can say I had the honor of pulling into the industry.
Obviously for numerous reasons I’ve already mentioned you will want to have a lawyer. Having one that is familiar with similar situations that you might run into has a lot of advantages, because they’ll know what is likely to happen based on the outcomes of other cases. Here are a few lawyers are already part of the adult entertainment industry:
a. Michael Fattorosi
b. Corey Silverstein
c. David Pierce
d. Eric M. Bernstein
e. J.D. Odenberger
Accountants are another great resource to have, particularly for keeping your business on the up-&-up, as well as to guide you on consideration for who to work with for investments. Many features, particularly showgirls, only spend 2-5 years working as a feature. The first year is almost nothing but putting money back into your business, you won’t really turn much of a profit. After the initial year you’ll have taxes to file, & you’ll want to start saving & investing. Be sure to have an accountant lined up before you begin featuring, that way you’ll know what receipts to save for tax write-offs. It’s generally best to find a local accountant who is familiar with the industry, but there are people who specialize in adult industry taxes such as:
Make sure that whomever you get is a CPA. You can find CPAs through the American Institute of CPAs, the institute that administers the CPA exams. Sometimes you can also find a CPA by asking owners or managers of other clubs. Just don’t use the same CPA as any club you regularly work, as it can be a conflict of interest that could lead to you being in the hot seat with the IRS.
12. Earning Credits
Clubs book talent that they believe have a name or credits to attract in large numbers of customers, or at least more than usual, so in order to get booked you need credits. The credits generally come from pageant titles, modeling, acting, or a combination of the previous three. Currently there are really four types of features:
a. Showgirls
b. Adult Video Actresses/Actors
c. Reality Television Celebrities
d. Models
I’m going to discuss showgirls first, because they are the ones with the most controversy over the pageant scams. Showgirls earn their credits by putting on quality feature shows that the others don’t, & winning pageant titles. Just like in any other sort of pageant there are entry fees, which is part of what everyone thinks is a scam. This really drives me batty. People say showgirls pay for our titles, well we don’t… we pay to compete in a pageant because pageants cost money to put on. If you competed in Miss America, Miss United States or any other pageant you would still have to pay to compete. The difference is that a lot of those women often find sponsors so that they don’t end up paying out of pocket. The pageant directors in our industry don’t really talk about sponsors, because no one really uses them… but that doesn’t mean that you can’t. You can’t really knock the pageant directors for charging, because they are spending time to organize these & also deserve to make a living. Many times the pageant directors find new talent to compete through the agents, & of course for the reference the agents want a commission… sometimes up to 1/2 of what the entertainer paid the pageant director to compete! On top of this the pageant director still has to put out money for the crowns, sashes/banners, & certificates, all of which can easily end up totaling over $100 per entrant. Pageant directors sometimes charge the clubs to hold the pageants there, which is part of why some clubs choose to host their own pageants, basically to cut out the middleman. I will say not to ever go in expecting to win a certain title… no matter what anyone tells you. People unexpectedly show up last minute, whom may be better performers. Pageant directors change their minds about things, which can change what you win. Some people complain that the judge score sheets don’t always match who wins what… well that’s true but there’s a reason for that. There’s pretty much no way to have a fair competition. Either you’ll have people judging who don’t know jack squat about what they are judging, or you have experts who also know the industry so well that they know every entrant… thus they are likely to score people they like higher even if it’s subconscious. To overcome this one of the pageant directors just auctions of the judge seats to this highest bidders, thus earning more money for the pageant, then when reviewing the score sheets adjusts them accordingly if something seems way out of place. The highest & lowest scores are generally tossed out, plus anything that seems “fishy”. This is referred to as adjusting for the “home-girl advantage” because generally the local competitors always score higher than the competitors from other clubs. If the scores show to much of a home-girl advantage, then sometimes the local entertainers will be put into a separate category from those who traveled to compete. So in a not so perfect world just remember that we all have to put in our time. Yes, there may still be some things out there that seem really unfair… like people that win the same pageant time & time again (its is suspicious I agree), but one day those people will have retired & moved on. Think of it this way, if some brand new girl walked in off the street & won a large title, people would also be suspicious. Don’t get worked into a tizzy about it any of it. If it really bothers you, don’t compete in that same pageant until the person stops competing in it.
I’ve also heard plenty about pageant titles being “made-up”, & I won’t argue that it does happen but again its not typically just at random. Theoretically a feature could make up her own & reserve the rights to the name, but it’s a process & would require some work to hide the entertainer’s legal name. More often than not what happens is the feature did something to help a pageant director out, & the director is returning the favor by bestowing on her a fitting title. I know features who have titles because no one else competed in the division they registered for, titles for helping out last minute at another pageant as something like a judging last minute, & titles that were given in advance under the “you owe me” scenario. Some features who gain titles this way are actually ashamed to use them, but the reality is that they did earn them, & if they choose not to use the titles they will still be competing against others who do use the titles for paid bookings. Again, nothing is free… you still have to earn it or pay for it in some format.
As far as the actual competitions go, the best things to know are: stay flexible, plan ahead, be prepared for the worst & have fun. The first time I entered a pageant was a bit of a disaster. The director hadn’t signed a formal contract with the club, & the club forgot they were supposed to host the event. What followed was a roller coaster ride of if the pageant was even going to take place, on what days, & where. When all was said & done I had accumulated an extra $800 in airline fees between ticket change fees & high prices from last minute flight costs… on top of the $400 I had initially spent for my ticket! The issue is that at one point we thought the pageant might need to be held a different day & at a different venue than originally intended, so its a good thing I didn’t have any bookings lined up the week before or after the pageant! Another issue is that the show title had the word “nude” in it, when in fact we had to keep our nipples covered & wear boy-cut shorts on the floor in order to sell dances… something none of us were prepared for! These days I try to make sure I always have a pair of pasties with me & some boy-cut shorts to match my outfits. Pageants are also a great way to make friends. Along with other experienced features who you can learn from, pageants almost always have some fresh faces, & the people who you will want to know in the future. Spend time getting to know the pageant director, other entrants, & club staff… because you never know where those connections will take you!
Adult video actresses & actors tend to be booked the most by clubs & for higher rates than the other categories, but you need to decide if that’s really what you want to do. With a few exceptions there are a lot of jokes in the industry about the fact that porn stars can’t dance, but the reality is that most of them have no dance experience so they shouldn’t be expected to be great dancers. What they do have though is fans… & lots of them. A few years ago women in boy/girl scene were getting paid an average of $500-$800 per scene, but the numbers have gone down. A decently well known video actress booking as a feature will get paid about $150-$200 per booking stage show. Many features have a $1,500 booking rate through the agencies, & then depending on how well known they are they may need to do more or less shows, so if a girl is getting paid $200 per show from a $1,500 booking, that means she has to put on 7-8 shows. Generally clubs run 3 shows per night, so that means working 2.5 nights at least. People always debate whether feature dancing is better than porn, well I really think it depends on the entertainer. The feature is getting paid basically a set $500 fee per day to perform at a club versus $500 for one boy/girl video scene that could end up taking 6 – 8 hours anyhow. The pay is essentially the same, but there is travel involved in featuring, the upside though is the chances of catching a disease are a lot less & you make more money off of tips & merchandise plus build a live fan base that you can keep for the rest of your career. All of these reasons are part of why adult video actresses often choose to feature dance & do other work on the side. Why don’t they just dance though? While a few may really love porn, the majority probably feel like porn is the shortcut to better pay as a feature entertainer, in an industry that often eats young women up & spits them out – the clock is always ticking away the seconds as the assets are failing.
If you decide to go the route of porn the first people you’ll want to find are a talent manager (not necessarily an agent), & someone who does public relations. New faces are always turning up in the world of porn, so you’ll want to make use of the spotlight early on & have your career headed in the right direction. Remember that talent agents often see the short-term picture, talent managers see the long-term picture. A good manager will get you set up with good agents & tell you what will be better for your career, not just what will make you the most money. There are lots of niche markets, but sometimes the niche that an actress becomes known for scares away her more mainstream fans. I hate talking about this, I really do, because there is one big one I don’t want to mention but I guarantee your talent manager will. Other things like “scat” can also cause loss of popularity with fans, so think long term about what you want. Most adult video actresses don’t really make it big as feature entertainers until they’ve done about 200 films, landed a few box covers & won various industry awards… that’s a lot of “putting yourself out there” & can take time.
Moving onto reality television celebrities, again they are a lot like adult video actresses in that they have a fan base, are less likely to be talented dancers, & people don’t expect as much from them. In all honesty I have heard about the reality television features, but I’ve not actually seen any. In order to do this though you’ll need to devote some time to finding something appropriate for you, being able to film, & realizing you’ll need to put your life at home on “hold” often times for up to a month. The good thing is that you don’t always have to head to Los Angeles to participate. Many shows film in Florida, Albuquerque, Austin & other various cities across the country. Besides websites devoted to reality casting, keep an eye out on Craigslist.org in the “gigs” section & “film” section. Also realize that one show on television will often not be enough credit to get you out dancing on the feature circuit… unless you stole the show!
The final category are models. The biggest thing to know here is that in an age where the internet has taken over, it’s even more important than ever to get into print & live events! It’s almost like the early day differences between the internet articles versus books when your teacher said your sources couldn’t come from the internet because anyone can publish on the internet. Print still has credibility that the internet doesn’t. Its okay to do both, & sometimes the photos online are better, but hundreds of thousands of models are featured on the internet every year – but only the most professional generally make it into print publications & live events. There’s a heirarchy to the magazines that for features pretty much is:
1. Playboy
2. Penthouse
3. Maxim/Curves/FHM
4. Hustler
5. Gent/Barely Legal
6. Private Dancer/Xcitement/Exotic Dancer/Cheri
Keep in mind that sometimes the magazines will not allow you to use your affiliation with them for self promotion… so they may not even be worth pursuing.
As far as live events & modeling goes, again check Craigslist.org & Backpage.com. Be honest with those you get involved with about working in gentlemen’s clubs, & you’ll eventually find the right matches for you. Good matches include lingerie & bikini companies, liquor manufacturers, furniture manufacturers, automobiles, & many more.
Check back in a few days, as I hope to have the interview questions back going over some old feature school history, another historical interview about feature, & more discussion of agents!
