On Representation: NYC Hairstylist Eric R. Williams
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The Producer: Do you have an agent now?
Eric R. Williams: No I’m actually on my own.
TP: How does that work for you, do you prefer to work independently or to have an agent?
ERW: At one point, I did prefer to have an agent, but the thing is, you want the right agent. I think that sometimes we’re living in an industry where a lot of freelance people feel they want an agent, they need an agent and I had that same feeling for years, like “Oh I need an agent, what am I going to do? I need an agent!” But I realized that if you make great connections, you can work this business without one. I feel like it’s almost better to wait to find that perfect person or agency, because you don’t want to jump around too much.
TP: Well it’s a relationship that you’re entering into, whether you see it as a business relationship, as it can also be very personal. It can greatly affect so many aspects of your life. Smart to take it slow and find the right fit. And until then, uou just focus on your sincere relationships and connections with existing clients and potential future clients-
ERW: And they refer you! I think if you have a great attitude and you bring the right energy, people will respect you, people will love you. I always try to be a team player and have a great attitude on set. At times, it’s hard but I have to realize that people are always watching. You’ve got to be mindful of every little thing you do, the things you say.
There's a particular kind of confusion that shows up in production offices lately, and it isn't about budgets or call times. It's about a handful of terms — usage rights, likeness rights, digital replicas, AI training, derivative content — that have started appearing in the same paragraph of a contract, often used as though they mean roughly the same thing.
They don't. And the gap between them is quickly becoming one of the more consequential distinctions in commercial production.
This vocabulary comes largely from entertainment law, a world most photographers, stylists, producers, and models were never trained to navigate. It's being absorbed into advertising and commercial contracts faster than most of the industry has had time to build a shared, plain-language understanding of what it actually covers. The result is a lot of very careful people signing very specific language without a clear sense of what they've agreed to.
So it's worth slowing down and taking each term on its own.