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EntertainmentIndustry.name
Agents are often portrayed as fast talking, bullshitting, lying bastards — but most writers would give up their labor of love script to get one.
Often Armani suit-clad, luxury car-driving and sporting the hippest electronic gadgets, agents spend their days wining and dining, wooing and schmoozing. They roll calls to generate new business, maintain relationships and check in with clients. They pick up most tabs, buy elaborate gifts for their clients — and clients’ assistants. They pitch, pitch, pitch and negotiate, negotiate, negotiate.
Most agents have college degrees, most typically in English, law, business or film. Some recent law school grads enter the trainee programs while practicing lawyers can make the shift directly into representation, especially if they’ve been working for a studio or major production company in business affairs or perhaps are bringing a slate of clients with them from having represented them as their entertainment attorney.
Even some development execs, studio execs and producers make the shift over to agent, as well, again, bringing their client base with them. These lateral moves can usually result in a six figure income the first year out of the gate, but for most, they work their way up from the Mailroom.
Most major agencies, often called the three letter agencies (CAA, WMA, ICM, UTA — and ENDEAVOR) start prospective agent trainees out in the mailroom with a weekly salary of $330 — $425. Some pay overtime, plenty cap the overtime income but make little to no effort to honor the laws of eight or even twelve-hour days.
14- to sometimes 20-hour trainee days are filled mostly with sorting and delivering mail by hand and driving all over the city doing “dispatch” — delivering scripts and performing countless bizarre and sometimes legendary personal errands for agents and their clients — or other people somehow loosely affiliated.
Smart, albeit exhausted trainees attend as many screenings as they can, clandestinely read as much of the mail as they can, network with other assistants to build their rolodexes. When they get moved into the trainee rotation, they will spend about a year or two “floating” from desk to desk to get a taste of everything.
Agent trainees usually work covering a department head’s desk. A Department Head Agent is in charge of a specific department — Motion Picture Literary, Television Literary, Motion Picture Talent, TV Talent, Music, etc.
It takes about two to four years to move up the ranks from the mailroom to become a bonafide agent. To get a glimpse of what life is like inside the agent “trainee” program, read The Mailroom: Hollywood History from the Bottom Up by David Resin.
Often, as yet another one of Hollywood’s Catch-22’s, an agent trainee must bring in a client before they are an agent in order to get bumped up to their own desk.
They may thus “hip pocket” unofficial clients and do favors for them with the uncontracted understanding that if anything gets sold or set up, they’d get the commission. They struggle to steal clients from other agencies or find undiscovered talent — friends of friends — to sign with their agency and become clients — in order to earn them an agent’s desk.
The Friedman Agency places clients in CAA, ICM, WMA’s mailroom. Usually, if you can network your way into the interview, you’ve usually got the job (mailroom duties aren’t brain surgery).
- Talent Agents rep actors and work with casting directors
- Music Agents rep musicians, soundtracks and music supervisors
- Literary Agents rep writers
- Packaging Agents represent the elements for TV shows or features, sometimes including the financing.
- Below the Line Agents rep below-the-line talent.
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