The Business
TV Package Fees: A Boon for Agencies, a Bummer for Others
If you came up with a hit TV show, would you want your agent to make more money than you? According to agent-turned-producer Gavin Polone, that's exactly what can happen thanks to what's known as the TV package fee. Polone and writer-producer Rob Long help us examine the long-standing system of fees.
By Kim Masters • • 29m ListenGavin Polone used to be an agent. Now he's a producer, so he knows the ins and outs of the mysterious world of TV package fees. In decades gone by, agencies were rewarded for bringing together different elements of a TV show--combining writers, producers and actors on a project that they would take to a studio and a network. Today, agencies demand a package fee even if they had nothing to do with assembling those elements. Polone and veteran TV writer-producer Rob Long explain how these fees work and why no one resists paying them.
Photo: Gavin Polone
