Which questions should I ask an entertainment agency?
Four: what are your selection criteria, who applies them, has anyone ever been removed, and what do you keep from the fee. Most agencies cannot answer the fourth.
Matteo Cammisa
Founder, MAGIQ. Twenty years performing close-up and stage magic.
Every agency in this category says it is selective. Almost none will tell you what selective means when asked directly, and the asking takes about four minutes.
1. What are your selection criteria?
You are listening for something specific and checkable. “We only work with the very best” is not a criterion — it carries no information and cannot be wrong. “Five verifiable engagements, two contactable references, current public liability insurance” is a criterion.
If the criteria are not written down anywhere you can read, they are not criteria. They are a preference.
2. Who applies them?
Someone assessed this performer's craft. Ask who, and what qualifies them. In a category where the work is deliberately hard to evaluate, an agency staffed entirely by account managers is selling you a judgement nobody in the building is equipped to make.
3. Has anyone ever been removed?
This is the question that separates curation from a mailing list. A roster nobody has ever left is a list, and if the answer is no — or a pause — you have learned that the selection happens once, at the start, and never again.
A standard that cannot be withdrawn is a badge. Anything that can be revoked has value precisely because it can be.
4. What do you keep from the fee?
Most agencies take twenty to thirty per cent out of the performer's fee, and most will not volunteer it. That is not automatically wrong, but you should know two things: how much of your money reaches the person performing, and whether the agency earns more if you choose the more expensive option.
The second matters more than the first. If the fee moves with the recommendation, then every shortlist you are handed has a financial interest in it, however well-intentioned the person writing it.
Three more, if you have time
| Ask | What you are listening for |
|---|---|
| How many options will I get? | Two or three, with a stated recommendation. One is selling. Twenty is a directory that has handed you back the decision and the risk. |
| What happens if the performer cannot appear? | A specific commitment with a scope, not reassurance. Ask what it does not cover. |
| When have you turned down a booking? | A real example. An agency that has never declined a brief is telling you something about how it chooses. |
None of these questions requires you to know anything about magic. That is the point — they are all about how the company works, which is the part you can actually assess.
Would you rather we did it?
Describe the event and we will apply this framework for you, with the reasoning written down and our fee quoted before any shortlist exists.