Most of the agents we’ve met working on the Spotlight who broker deals between brands and creators do so on behalf of the brands.
Today’s guest, Reid Pakula, is an exception, working on behalf of creators — including former guest Grant Beene, who Reid pitched us earlier this year.
In this episode:
— Natalia Pérez-González, Assistant Editor
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A talent agency brokering creator deals from $3k to $80k
The first time Reid Pakula tried to build a new division at IF Management, he couldn't convince a single person to sign.
It was his second year at the talent agency, which had made its name representing broadcast journalists and sports personalities. Reid saw an opportunity in college basketball and pitched his boss, Steve Herz, on representing Division I coaches. Herz was for it; he put money behind the idea. And so Reid went recruiting, even courting coaches who would eventually land Division I jobs.
No bites. The agency had no coaches on its books, and without a track record, Reid couldn't convince anyone to become its first.
A few years later, another opportunity caught his attention. A friend had launched an influencer agency, and Reid was watching brand deals proliferate across Instagram and TikTok. The money was compelling, but so was the business itself. IF already knew how to represent talent, so why couldn't that include people who had built their own audiences online?
He took the new idea to Herz, and despite the basketball experiment, Herz was willing to bet on him again. This time, Reid found believers.
The Hulett Brothers, a pair of Virginia creators who film trick shots in their basement, had around 500k to 600k followers when they first signed with IF. They liked Reid and trusted that partnering with the agency would be worthwhile for their growing business.
Four and a half years later, they have 11M followers across platforms and remain among the agency’s biggest clients.
@hulett_brothers This was a fun one🤣 #LFG #letsgo
Their relationship to the agency has grown well beyond just negotiating contracts. Reid attended Daniel Hulett's wedding, and, the week after our interview, accompanied the brothers to London for a brand shoot, spending four days on the ground making sure everything went smoothly.
It's the kind of direct, hands-on work Reid believes a smaller agency can offer, and increasingly, it's the work that occupies most of IF's office.
“A lot of these bigger agencies (…) they have five, six hundred clients and a buyer comes to them, ‘Hey, who do you have in this space?’ And they have 10, 15 people.
Like I said, we have just over 50 creators and they’re in all different categories and all different price points.”
A growing creator agency
By April 2025, three years after signing their first, a whiteboard in the agency's common area listed 11 creator clients. Today, the roster has passed 50. Three of the division's five full-time employees joined in the past year, meaning the team is now the majority of IF's nine-person staff.
Herz, who once knew little about influencers, now tells his industry peers that his broadcast agency is becoming an influencer agency.
The deals have multiplied just as quickly. By August 5, the division had closed 199 brand partnerships for the year. Six weeks later, it was approaching 300, across roughly 150 brands.
These aren't all blockbuster contracts. Reid estimates around 100 deals fell between $3k and $6k, another 100 or so between $6k and $15k, and roughly 50 cleared $15k. A couple of deals paid out $80k for a single post each (read more about Reid’s approach to pricing brand deals below, in our Takeaways section).
Take IF client, comedy creator, and former Spotlight guest Grant Beene, who posts just a handful of videos each year but commands increasingly high prices from brands for the privilege of appearing within even one video.
His last brand integration for Harry’s drew more than 90M organic views across Instagram and TikTok:
@tik_tok_bhadie This one’s on me🍕… w/ @Jericho Mencke with Harry’s Plus, a smooth and comfortable shave 10 years in the making @Harry's #partner
Much of IF’s business comes through agencies representing multiple brands. Win over the people managing one campaign, and they might return months later with another client, another budget, and another opportunity. A single relationship can produce deals across an entire portfolio of advertisers.
For an agency previously accustomed to negotiating two- or three-year broadcast contracts, it's a different rhythm entirely.
Historically, a talent agent’s leverage came from scarcity: there were only so many anchor chairs, and each one was won and then held for years. Reid could land a news anchor a job and spend the next few months helping them settle in.
A creator might have three campaigns running simultaneously, with another three waiting to be negotiated.
Today, more than half of IF’s staff represents talent who built their own audiences, rather than relying on a network to deliver one. Power in entertainment has shifted toward the people who command an audience directly, and agencies like IF are remaking themselves around new kinds of stars, rebuilding themselves to follow the tide.
Learn more about IF Management.
Connect with Reid on LinkedIn and X.
A few notes on pricing a brand deal ✍️
Reid has negotiated for broadcasters and creators alike, and much of his approach comes down to knowing what a brand is actually paying for, and how to leverage that value.
The trick is knowing which terms to push on, where to compromise, and when to walk away.
Know what your work is worth
Views > followers: Reid's first filter for any creator is consistent viewership. He looks for creators pulling at least 30k views per video, regardless of platform. At 6k–7k views, brands generally don't see enough value to pay.
Representation should bring you business you couldn’t get yourself. Reid’s rule of thumb is to seek an agent once you can command $5k or more per deal. (Note: At IF’s 20% commission, a $3k deal earns the agency $600 for all the work involved.)
Before signing, ask what percentage of the agency's deals come from its own outreach versus brands approaching creators directly. For some IF clients, that split is 50/50. The point of representation is to win you new business, not just collect commission on deals you would have landed anyway.
Protect your rate
When negotiating, it’s important to name your rate, then let the brand counter. Reid suggests leading with your typical fee, say $7.5k, and asking what the brand can offer. If they counter with $1k, for example, that’s probably a pass, but a $4k offer could be negotiated up to at least $5.5k–$6k.
Don't assume a big brand has a big budget. Reid has seen major companies spend surprisingly little and smaller ones spend generously.
Don't sell a discount for the promise of more work. Brands may sometimes ask creators to lower their rate on a first video in exchange for a long-term partnership that never materializes. Unless there's an established relationship with the person making that promise, Reid advises pricing the deal in front of you.
Price the whole package
Creative control has a price. Reid will sometimes accept a lower fee if a brand gives the creator full creative control or agrees to five seconds of product placement instead of an entire video built around the product. Fewer revisions also mean less work. His biggest friction with brands comes when they rewrite a creator's concept, then question why the finished video underperforms.
Break the deal into its parts. One of IF's most common packages is a single video distributed across Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube Shorts for around $10k, with 60–90 days of usage.
Every element is negotiable. Reid might turn a $12k offer for one video into $20k for two, charge a couple thousand more for another platform, or bill separately for paid usage. He's also charged $5k for a collab post and negotiated $1k bonuses per million views. The video should be only one item on the invoice.
