No, sweetie, no—it's 40 percent up front and 20 percent on the back end… Hello? Hello?

To the lay person, distinguishing an agent from a manager is not much easier than telling a crocodile from an alligator. In New York, however, that distinction might get even blurrier if/when Gov. Pataki signs Senate Bill 5602.

The legislation would allow managers to seek out work for their clients—essentially acting as agents, but without adhering to agents' strict licensing and regulation standards. And surprise! The Hollywood Reporter writes that actors' unions are still scrambling to organize their protest while the bill sits on the governor's desk in Albany:

After drawing a sharp distinction between agents and managers, the bill states that "any person who is a personal manager may therefore seek employment and engagements for his or her artists, including models."

This language would upend the traditional notion that negotiating and procuring work is the sole provision of agents, who must be licensed, bonded and regulated by state agencies. It also would allow managers to charge far more than the 10% commission to which agents generally are restricted by union and other agreements.

"Why would anyone want to remain an agent at that point? It would allow managers to totally undercut what agents do," one Hollywood labor expert said. "It may make a lot of sense for modeling, but it doesn't make the same amount of sense for motion pictures, television and other entertainment."

Evidently, the Screen Actor's Guild just found out about this and are working to counteract the bill, which Pataki should be endorsing any minute now. Looks like all that time spent on internecine political squabbles between the union's L.A. and New York factions is really paying off now, huh, gang?