The model
Why this costs less without being worse.
The short answer is that we're not cutting the talent. We're cutting what sits on top of it.
The problem
An agency bills the structure, not just the work.
When you hire an agency, you hire good people — and you also hire the office they sit in, the account manager who coordinates them, the director who approves, the sales team that sold you the project, and the margin that keeps all of it standing.
None of that is dishonest. It's the cost of keeping a structure running, and there are projects where that structure is worth what it costs: campaigns with dozens of moving parts, accounts that need someone available every day, work where liability has to sit with one entity.
But most projects aren't like that. Most need two or three very good people, for a few weeks.
What we do
We keep the judgement. We remove the layers.
An agency's value isn't in the structure — it's in the judgement of whoever picks the people. It's knowing that this art director is right for this brand, and that this developer can take a tight deadline without breaking anything.
That judgement is what Scallent keeps. We select, we review portfolios, we talk to references and we stay close to the work. What stops existing is the structure you would have to pay for to get it - not the layer between you and whoever executes, which is us.
You talk directly to the person doing the work. You know what they charge and what we charge on top. There isn't a line on the invoice you can't account for.
Transparency
Twenty per cent, and that's it.
Our commission is 20% of the talent's value. It doesn't change with the client, it doesn't change with the project, and it isn't hidden inside a "management" line.
The talent sets their rate and receives it in full. We add the commission on top — we don't take it out. That matters, because it means we have no incentive to push whoever charges least: we have an incentive to propose whoever solves the problem.
And if the project needs project management from us, that's a separate line you accept or decline. It doesn't come wrapped in.
The limits
When we're not the right call.
We're upfront about this because the alternative wastes both our time.
If you need a coordinated team of ten for a year, with someone on call every day and contractual liability concentrated in one entity, an agency serves you better. If your procurement process requires three competing bids with formal presentations, our model doesn't fit. And if what you want is the cheapest available, there are freelancer marketplaces for that — where the screening is your problem.
What we do well is put two or three very good people on your problem, quickly, without bureaucracy.
Tell us the problem. We'll tell you who solves it.
Half an hour of conversation. If it isn't work for us, we say so in that conversation.