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Friday, 31 October 2014

Getting to keep 10% of everything you earn

This is a brief snippet from an old BBC sitcom, Hancock's Half Hour:

Sid James: “You’ve forgotten something, mate. I’m your agent, remember? I got a contract with you.”

Hancock: “Contract? You’ve been holding that thing over my head for five years now, allowing me to keep 10% of everything that I earn.” 

Audience laughter at the rapacity of Sid James and Hancock’s gullibility.

Now imagine Sid as a publisher, and Hancock as a writer, and suddenly it's normal and accepted and nobody laughs. (And his literary agent would take 15% 0f the 10%...)

4 comments:

  1. I used to listen regularly to the radio version ..... they never failed to make me laugh. Such a shame when Hancock split up with Sid. I think they could have been hilarious as author and agent. They might even have given you a consultative walk on role Lexi .... I'm sure they would have been more respectful than Morecombe and Wise with famous guests! (*grin*)

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  2. Yes; Spike Milligan said that Hancock got rid of everyone, and finally got rid of himself.

    Do you listen to John Finnemore? I loved his recent sketch of a politician trying to make a deal with Genghis Khan: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04mgyps.

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  3. One of the first French maxims that seemed worth learning was "plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose". And that's the phrase that came to mind when I read this blog post, Lexi. So true.

    John Finnemore? Well, of course. I'm listening to one of his CDs each night at bedtime! I'm just off now to follow your link. He's great.

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  4. I'm trying to think of an English equivalent to "plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose".

    The best I can come up with is, "So no change there, then," which is, I think, Angus Deayton in Have I got News for You.

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