Well, you heard of the Scarlet Letter. This one's about the Scarlet Sign that was posted at World Modeling. Jim South of World Modeling posted signs informing one and all that his agency wasn't doing business with Extreme Associates. South explains why.
South: "We had signs everywhere but in the kitchen. But I had a meeting Tuesday afternoon with Lazie [Extreme's general manager], and I think we worked it out. What they wanted us to do was to get our money out of the talents' money. We don't do that. We've never done that. It's even on file when we applied for a license 24 years ago that our money has nothing to do with their money and it's not a percentage. Extreme held with that and I just did not go along with that. It was finally left with that's the way it's going to be. So we put up signs since all of our male talent seem to be finders and agents for everybody, not just Extreme. The sign simply said that we do not deal with Extreme Video. They want us to get our fee from your money. Since we have a policy of not costing you any money, we decline. But the signs did come down yesterday."
South says negotiations are on the table. Lazie went back and talked to Rob Black. "I'm of the understanding that this got worked out by Tom Byron," South said. "He said, 'Hey, we got to pay World Modeling; I've known the guy [South] for 18 years.' I'm pretty sure it's worked out. Not to the 'T' but close."
Lazie said everything's great with him and South. "I love him like the father I never had or wanted," Lazie added. "Our biggest thing was paying for contract people. We don't mind paying for talent that we use."
Lazie: "When you have contract people long enough they become family. If we use someone under the proverbial wing of Jim South, we don't mind paying that. When Jessica Darlin needs $6,000 to put down on a new car does she call Jim South? No. She calls us. When Kristi needs money for a down payment on a house does she call Jim South. No. On top of all this we have to pay him for using them monthly. It's kind of ridiculous. I love Jim. He's a nice guy, but business is business. After five o'clock I'll go out with Jim and square dance or do whatever he likes to do. But between 9 and 5 he has to do the best thing for his company, and I have to do the best thing for our company. We worked out an agreement. We need Jim and World Modeling as much as Jim needs us. We both agreed on that. They had signs in there that were actually pretty funny. I took one down and have got it up in my office."
