Build it yourself. Know when help is worth the percentage.
You can write, book, route, promote, travel, sell tickets, settle the room and move your own career forward without waiting to be “discovered.” But there is a point where doing everything yourself costs more than getting help. The goal is not representation. The goal is leverage.
Eight jobs, and who they work for
Titles blur in entertainment; the contract matters more than the business card. Six of these work for you; the booker works for the room and the promoter for the event — the booker is the person you pitch, not a person you hire.
Who books you, and when
Work comes from somewhere specific: rooms you find and book yourself, club bookers who hire for a role, promoters who hold a city, buyers outside the clubs, agents who sell you to buyers, and managers who shape the career — in a hybrid career, several at once (Topic 303). The club booker, the agent and the manager are on Who does what; these are the other ways in. The routes the clubs publish are in the Club Directory — tick “Says how to get booked”.
How three markets book a campus conference, a cruise line and an event agency, as each describes it
The fees and terms are each organization's own, as its page gave them on 28 September 2026; check the page before you pay or sign anything.
A workload test, not a status test
Tick what is true right now. It points at the help that fits each problem — nothing is sent anywhere and nothing is saved. The book: “If no opportunities exist yet, representation may have nothing to manage” (Topic 297).
What would they actually fix? the bottleneck, and the first place to look
Worked out, before you sign
“Commission language is math with legal consequences,” and “If you cannot calculate it, do not sign yet” (Topic 300). The numbers below are an example — put in a year of your own income, tick what each agreement says it takes a share of, and set the rates it names.
- The base: “Gross compensation, net compensation, specific entertainment income, or all professional income are very different commission bases.” “Definitions control the math.” (Topic 300)
- After the term: “Know whether commissions continue on work booked during the term” (Topic 291) — and on work you already had.
- Two reps, one dollar: when an agent and a manager both take from the same income, add their rates together. “Map jurisdictions before adding another representative” (Topic 301).
The percentage is only one line
Scope, length and the way out can matter more. Nine questions to have answered in writing, and six red flags worth slowing down for. Practical information, not legal advice — a contract that matters gets a lawyer’s eyes.
Red flags worth slowing down for
The DIY path still works
Representation should be an upgrade to a system that already works, not a substitute for knowing how your own business runs. “Self-booking gives control and information; representation gives scale, access, negotiation help, and administrative leverage when it works well” (Topic 303).
Knowing your audience, knowing what a show earns, knowing the buyer, knowing your contracts, keeping your own records, keeping access to your own accounts, and understanding what everybody on the team is being paid to do. The book: “You still need to know your calendar, business terms, materials, and audience data” (Topic 297).
A directory, state by state
Businesses that say on their own websites that they do one of these jobs, each checked there on the date its card carries. Pick a job and a state; Find now opens the page on their site where you would start, and on a theater's or casino's card Their comedy calendar opens its public listing of shows. A listing is free, and D.O.C. doesn't rank or vouch for any of them; a business can pay to add its own words and a page of its own, and that card is marked Paid listing and keeps its place in the order. Read Before you sign before you agree to anything.
Representation usually follows work an agent or a manager can already see: a showcase is a short set “that may be evaluated by bookers, producers, agents, managers, or festival staff” (Topic 109), and “If no opportunities exist yet, representation may have nothing to manage” (Topic 297). Where a business's own site says it takes inquiries or works only by referral, its card says so. Your act, your terms and your fee sit in one place in Your SUCDb record.
Run one of these businesses, or one that belongs here? The standard listing is free. Enhance a Listing adds your own words to your card and a page of your own.
Sources
Quoted guidance comes from D.O.C.'s companion book, Stand-Up Comedy: From Writing to Touring: Chapter 13, Representation (Topics 290–303), with Topic 131 on building a team, Topic 253 on tracking money, and Topics 288–289 on contracts; Where the work comes from quotes Topics 91, 97, 109–110, 114, 170–171, 173, 197, 199, 210–212, 293 and 303. Each quotation names its topic. SAG-AFTRA's guidance is quoted from its Agents and Managers FAQ (archived 28 March 2025); California's rules come from the Labor Commissioner's office; tax references are from the IRS. All were consulted on 26 September 2026. How colleges, cruise ships and event agencies book is from the National Association for Campus Activities', Carnival Entertainment's and Booking Entertainment's own pages, consulted on 28 September 2026. Up-front fees, “pay if you slay” offers and other common traps are covered in The Hollywood Effect. This page offers practical information, not legal or tax advice.