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What are the advantages and disadvantages of representative negotiation such as the “Too Old to Rock and Roll” case compared to non-representative negotiation?

TOO OLD TO ROCK AND ROLL

Seattle SuperTheater (SST) is a private theater company that stages six productions a year. In the past decade, seven of its productions have moved to on Broadway, more than any other regional theater. Each year SST produces one musical. This year’s musical will be STORMIN’–a new rock musical set at a military medical unit in Saudi Arabia during the Gulf war. Those who’ve seen the script describe it as “a rock and roll M*A*S*H in the desert.” They say it has the potential to be a big commercial hit, but you never can tell in show business. The three lead roles, two romantic leads and the unit commander were cast. The romantic leads are two newcomers , and the unit commander, Colonel Plotter, was Tiny Turner, one of the biggest rock stars of the 70s. But yesterday disaster struck, and Turner pulled out, citing “artistic differences with the director.” A new Colonel must be found soon. SST’s interest quickly focused on Jerry McCarthy, former lead singer of the Bootlegs (one of the biggest, most influential bands of the sixties) and the Ailerons (in the seventies). Jerry has played at SST twice, 5 and 12 years ago, and got good notices. Jerry is the right age for the role, one of the very few active big name rockers who is, and the only one with a track record at SST. Recently, however, Rolling Stone (which is not alone) has started calling Jerry “too old to rock and roll.” Jerry’s old records with the Bootlegs still sell well but the comfort concert offers have become few and far between. SST has 4000 seats, and has scheduled 16 performances. Ticket prices average $40 and have risen 33% in the fast past five years. Average attendance at SST is believed to be about 85% to 90% of capacity over the past five years period, about half of these are presold season tickets, and the rest are bought as single tickets by the general public. While SST fees are confidential, most people know that when Jerry played in Jesus Christ Superstar five years ago, the fee was $40,000 for 16 shows in a featured (i.e. not quite starring) role. 12 years ago, as the star of Tommy, Jerry receives $60,000 for 15 shows. In the past 12 years, fees for stars of musical comedies have quadrupled. In the past five years alone, they have doubled. Although it is difficult to generalize, a lead role like the Colonel might generate a fee twice that of a feature role. A name star in a lead role might expect to get twice what a lesser name would get. Word on the street has it that each of the newcomers in STORMIN’ is getting $90,000 for these 16 shows.

TOO OLD TO ROCK AND ROLL

Confidential information for Jerry McCarthy Your career is fading fast and you need to either make a comeback or retire. You don’t want to quit. STORMIN’ is the best comeback vehicle you have seen in years. YOU WANT THE ROLE.Your new lawyer will be negotiating with SST, but you have doubts. Your last lawyer pushing so hard for a big fee that you lost a chance to be on the 1998 Legends of Rockdom tour. To you, the job is more important than the size of the fee. Nonetheless, you will have an enormous amount of work to do to get ready for opening night. You can do it, because you are an experienced professional, and a quick study, but not many others can master a role as quickly as you can . Thus, for reasons of pride, reputation, and your value to future productions, you would be disappointed if you did not receive at least $150,000.Remember that SST has a good record for sending productions to Broadway. Having seen the script and score, you think STORMIN’ has the potential to be a movie as well. You pay your lawyer 15% of your fees up to $100,000; you pay 30% of amounts in excess of $100,000.