I had high hopes when I signed up. I was disappointed, however, when she turned on me a couple weeks into my contract, and began to show an ugly side.
This agen'ts contract is Exclusive. It is best to go Non-Exclusive, but that is all she would do. I was desperate, with no other opportunities, so I did it anyway. This "agency" allegedly charges up-front fees, (her headbook fee) or will enslave you to work as a temp in their office, making cold sales calls to other victims. As I was unemployed at the time and desperate, I signed on for a year and agreed to work for a couple weeks in her office. The work dragged on for a month, then I quit, as I could not afford to drive the hour to Boardman and back, without pay.
In the beginning, I was coerced to be cast as an "extra" on a bad -and canceled - television show, in an attempt by her, to make it look as if she was real, to lure me into working with her.
Then, she began to 'turn' on me and became mean and nasty towards me, and would forbid me from giving out any contact information when I tried to network with other professionals in the industry. (she even snatched a business card out of my hand, in public and yelled at me, right in front of thousands of people, as I tried to do so.) She would not book me for other work such as concerts, either, (except for low or no-pay)... And booking for good quality paying shows, was the primary reason I signed up. She was allegedy to be producing a "battle of the bands" show on ABC. It did not pan out. I was supposed to be a talent judge on that show, along side, allegedly, of J-Lo and Diddy, or someone of that sort.
I did get paid, from the extra gig on the other canceled television show, but she took the lion's share of the pay for herself, for her 'headbook fee' (even though I 'worked off' my debt in her office) and i made zero profit.
I just walked away from that.
A reputable agency would not charge up-front fees, but would only take commission (ten to twenty percent) and would not interfere, should artist or actor network to further his or her career, and would want to help the artist or actor to get booked the best quality gigs as possible, as the more the talent makes, the more the agent makes, in commission.
Sadly, this one did not do that for me.
I have been in the record industry for twenty years, I have had a great agent, for my first few years, who did wonders for me. They took a ten percent commission, AFTER I was paid for my shows. That is how it is supposed to work. Legally, it is OK to take twenty percent, but they took only ten. After they went out of business, when the agent retired, I worked without an agent, but later on, especially after y2k, it became evident that I needed an agent to be able to work as before, and that was when I tried Lemodeln, as they were the only local agency around that I was aware of.
I later, in tried another agent, Tradewinds Success, run by Richard Cooks, based in another state, Hawaii, and although they did not charge fees, i had bad results with them also, as they did not get me any work, and someone in his office would not forward my email messages, so, I am looking for another agent, again.
I don't recommend signing to Lemoden... If you do, beware.
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