Renee Anjanette is a food & drink and motion photographer from Santa Monica, California who came to us for help finding an agent. Looking at her background, years of photography experience, and the level of clientele she has worked for convinced me that she was ready for a rep.
One of the benefits Renee sought in a rep was help in gaining new clients as well as with marketing efforts. The year 2019 was fruitful for Renee; she was continually shooting and creating more work. She has shot for clients such as Halo Top, Sunkist, Chipotle, and Blue Diamond Almonds, to name a few.
I began by reviewing Renee’s consulting questionnaire and scheduling a call with her to determine which agents would be a good match for her based on location, roster of other photographers, what they could offer, and specialties they work with. For this specific case, we discussed updating her bio page so to make it more current and appealing — an easier read for prospective clients and agents. After Renee revised her bio and portions of her website, it was bound to get attention.
At first, I considered mostly West Coast agents with a few East Coast sprinkled in. Then, I crafted an initial email along with a beautifully designed pdf attachment that Renee and I worked on together to send out. An attachment isn’t necessary but it’s a nice way of showing off your work in a presentation specifically for the agent, other than your website.
My job is to help create an email that describes the photographer’s skills along with attracting the interest of a potential agent! This part is fun because I can get creative and focus on our end goal. Renee gave me a lot of information about her, her studio, and her process. This was so helpful and probably what garnered the most attention in the emails.
She had a fantastic response to our efforts. I sent a total of 50 emails and Renee had an 82% open rate and 47% reply rate.
There were 2 agents very interested in working with Renee. She ended up going with Cory from Line Management in Chicago. “He wanted to sign me in a restricted area — for Chicago and Minneapolis, the Midwest.”
I actually thought it was a great idea because most of my clients are on the West Coast, and I thought having management in the middle where there is so much food agency work might be great for me. So I contacted him and decided to go with a Chicago rep!
Renee had this to say about working with us on Finding A Rep:
I can’t thank you enough for all the positive feedback and response. I am so busy today but want to capture it all and write everyone back asap, WOW.
While not every photographer is ready for a rep/agent and we cannot guarantee everyone will find a rep, those that are ready and commit to the process have every chance of securing those relationships. Essentially, you have to shop around until you find the right fit with our expansive, detailed client lists. That is what our Finding A Rep service can help you accomplish.
Further Reading:
Wonderful Machine: Expert Advice: The Photographer/Agent Relationship
Wonderful Machine: Expert Advice: Agent Contracts
Wonderful Machine: Guide: Find Agents