Borra Garson

More Work, Less Money, and if You Don’t Twitter, You’re Out

From my agent’s perspective the tough world out there just got tougher. On Monday we were asked by a major broadcaster for chefs to appear on a well known branded cookery show, filming four days for free because it would be good PR for their restaurants. On Tuesday we were asked by a major production company if one of our better known chef clients would please film four episodes of a show in one day, provide all the ingredients, prep it all up the day before and all for a fee that barely hit four figures – and by the way, chef also provides the location. On Wednesday a client of ours was turned down for some lucrative endorsement work because she didn’t have enough Twitter followers. On Thursday a PR firm actually said that our client’s association with their brand would further enhance our client’s PR and visibility so, you guessed it, they could do all that work for free, and Friday I stayed at home and wept into a box of After Eights because I can no longer afford Fazermints ( http://www.fazer.com/Products–Services/Chocolate-and-confectionery/ ). When I started Deborah McKenna Ltd www.deborahmckenna.com 17 years ago there were about seven celebrity chefs on the scene. Needless to say they were all in huge demand. Nowadays, even a chef with no TV experience and a famous restaurant can call him (or her) self a celebrity chef, and get invited to local food festivals to demo their recipes (for a fee I hope!). Nothing is wrong with that, but it does dilute the market somewhat and, following basic economics, supply has exceeded demand and prices are consequently down. So many chefs are competing for the work out there; it’s no surprise that we’re on a slippery slope downwards when you look at fees. Add to that that you now need to create a successful Facebook profile with loads of friends and build up at least 2000 Twitter followers in order to be a player, and you can see that making it these days is an awful lot harder than it used to be. But I like to look at the positive and on the flip side of this doom and gloom, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter have all created platforms where previous unknowns can build up followers and prove their merit, hopefully attracting the media attention that can eventually be converted into an income. Home cook Caroline Mi Li Artiss is a case in point, having built up a fan base who watch her videos on her YouTube channel http://www.youtube.com/user/carolineartiss which are shot in her kitchen – Caroline is now a client of ours with TV and endorsement deals and a book in the pipeline. www.sorted-food.co.uk started out as three students uploading easy recipe videos for students who needed to break out of PNS (Pot Noodle Syndrome), and they are now set to break the 1,000,000 views per month on YouTube. TV prodcos are banging down our door to meet them and we also have a confirmed two book publishing deal for them. Finding a gem of a client on the internet is a real treat, but adding them to the bursting list of talent out there, getting them noticed, and paid a living wage has become a huge challenge. Where will this all lead to in the long term for agencies and their clients who aren’t paying attention to the opportunities that digital media has presented?