Month: February 2016

Current State of the Entertainment Management Industry

Posted on by angadkanwal

My last post, given here, talked mostly about what it takes to break into the field of entertainment law and management. I want to take a different route with this blog and what you all can expect when you break into today’s management environment. To do so I believe it is best to break this post down into three comprehensive sections: details about the top agencies in the country as well as individual job data and facts. Though two differing ideas regarding the entertainment management business, all are integral in understanding the current, and future, nature of this lucrative and growing business.

Top Agencies

Depending on what kind of entertainment management you want to break into: sports, film, literacy, music, etc., top agencies differ. IMG|WME and CAA  are renowned as the leaders of the sports industry, while UTA and CAA are recognized as the top agencies in terms of hollywood film and TV production.

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According to the Hollywood Reporter, IMG and WME, two giants in the management business merged in 2014 for over 2 billion dollars and created one of the largest agencies in the entire world. The company has over 4,000 clients, including the likes of Ben Affleck, Rihanna and Maria Sharapova, as well 5,000 employees spread over 25 countries. Below is an intriguing article regarding the finances behind both companies before and after the 2014 merger, which netted the company over 450 million dollars.

IMG | WME

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The Creative Artists Agency is recognized as one of the giants in the film, television and sports avenues of the entertainment management industry. Since its founding in 1975, CAA has grown into a powerhouse, with over 5,000 clients, 1,500 employees and megastars such as Robert Downey Jr., Peyton Manning and Jennifer Lawrence. As of 2015, the company is noted to be worth about 5.39 billion dollars.

uta-logo

A third powerhouse of the entertainment industry is UTA, which was founded in 1991. With over 3,000 clients and just about 500 employees, the company is less of a monster than both CAA and WME|IMG, but is still one of the world leaders in the film and television business. Some of the most notable clients for the company are Johnny Depp, Angelina Jolie and Channing Tatum.

Individual Job Description

In this individualized section, there are a few things that I would like to touch on, including compensation,  job locations and quality of life. How a talent agent or manager is paid is based on a combination of commission and overall salary. Oftentimes, they are paid a percentage based commission, usually between 5 and 20 percent, of a client’s particular contract, whether it be a film, sports contract, advertising or appearances. However, in accordance to this commission, they are also paid an annual salary. Compensation varies heavily based on experience, title and skill.

“Starting agents can expect to earn $50,000 to $65,000; more senior agents make around $200,000; partners make $400,000 to $700,000; and board members — like CAA’s Bryan Lourd and WME’s Patrick Whitesell and Ari Emanuel — can earn as much as $10 million.”

–Hollywood Reporter

As you can guess, those in the entertainment management business usually operate out of cities where entertainment is the highest. Some of these cities, besides the obvious choice of Los Angeles, include New York City, Miami and Chicago. The location of one’s job relies heavily on what kind of entertainment one is involved with. Just like salary, quality of life while working in this industry is heavily based on seniority and experience. While starting out, managers work extensive hours with low level clients for little money, but once gaining experience and notoriety, quality of life no doubt improves tremendously.

 

Becoming the Next Ari Gold

Posted on by angadkanwal

When thinking of legends like Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Brady and Taylor Swift, I think we can conclusively agree on one thing: they are superstars in their respective fields of entertainment. While talent is integral in order to achieve superstardom in the sports and entertainment industry, doing so is impossible without the dedicated behind the scenes work of agents and managers. Talent agents and managers are typically the people who act as a middle man to work with large studios, sports teams, companies looking for a face to represent them, and anyone else who wants to hire their clients. In this sense, a successful talent representative, usually based in a major city such as New York or Los Angeles, is able to use his or her influence, negotiating skills and overall legal and business knowledge to acquire jobs and opportunities that are in the best interest of the actor, artist, athlete or any talent one may represent.

Being one of these extremely important people is my ultimate career goal. In this sense, it is my hope that my desires, research and passion for this line of work will be translated well enough into this blog that you as a young student audience feel that importance.

Perhaps the most known and powerful representatives that comes to mind for any young college student looking to break into the business is the fictional character Ari Gold from the hit TV show Entourage. The character, though fictional, is built on the absolute reality of what it means to be one of the most successful talent agents in the world. Power, influence, intimidation, charisma and intelligence are all things that Ari Gold utilizes to negotiate successful entertainment deals for his A-list clients in star-studded Los Angeles.

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Ari Gold’s (real) book on how to be a successful talent representative.

While I will discuss more on what it takes to make an impact and become one of the most influential talent representatives in future blog posts, I want to take time and focus on the educational background that makes breaking into this field the easiest. While there are no concrete requirements involving undergraduate major, graduate schooling or work experience, there are educational tracks that will help someone become involved with some of the top talent agencies in the country, such as CAA, WME and United Talent. Specifically, a background in business and economics, as well as a possible background in law would go a long way in instilling the necessary components to successful talent representation. That being said, depending on the type of entertainment one wants to enter, whether it be the movie business, the literary business or even the sports world, different educational vocations may be necessary. For a list of the best entertainment law schools in the country please click here. For a list of the country’s best MBA programs please click here.

With this post, I am just scratching the surface on the inner workings of what makes a successful entertainment talent agent. I hope that you will continue to check in to this blog for some comprehensive insight on a growing career path.