WGA/ATA Negotiations: The major talent agencies are victims of their own success. No one REALLY needs an agent to create work or get a job. 99% of that happens through human relations. Managers and lawyers can make introductions too. In the 1960s and 1970s agents had to be seen as the indispensable 'the middle man' in the creation process b/c they didn't really participate in the making of anything. The top agents in town became powerbrokers on their ability to network, talk, schmooze, and deal. Outsized egos and legends formed. Organizations formed around these 'larger than life' figures. Assistants, junior agents, lawyers, and layers of bureaucracy were added. The agencies became enamored with their own brand and how to market themselves. Bigger buildings, Oscar and Emmy extravaganzas, Babylonian largesse, and excessive displays of power/wealth in order to keep the aura of importance around them. There is a reason why the CAA building is referred to as THE DEATH STAR with a mixture of ridicule and envy by others: it is a gilded citadel to flaunt its brand of power, fear, and ego like the scary Evil Empire in Star Wars. Their concern with branding meant that they didn't have time for the details of a) the overall well-being of their clients' career and b) the minutiae of contracts. Artists started hiring the people in the agency backrooms: managers to look after their career and entertainment lawyers who knew the actual law and contract negotiations. Now you have agents, managers, entertainment lawyers: all middlemen in the process to do a very simple thing: connect ppl and negotiate contracts. You only need one middle man...if even that. Some people get by on just having an entertainment lawyer to negotiate contracts, while the rare few artists broker deal themselves.
It's funny b/c once an agency gets you in the door -aka their main job- their power wanes. They lose leverage once you have secured a job, or start to know people in the industry. It is still nice to have them, but they are less and less necessary. I'm not at the level where I can do everything myself and pick up a phone and get a studio exec on the line. But there are plenty of artists who can do that. Steven Spielberg doesn't NEED an agent. Oprah and Leonardo DiCaprio don't need someone to take their 10%. Showrunners already know the executives and have power. If you think about the powerful showrunners and producers in Hollywood that's about 500-600 extremely wealthy writer/producers who could walk away from their agency tomorrow and still keep working. It wouldn't affect their bottom line or their projects, but it would devastate the 'middle man' infrastructure. Not only would agencies be cut off from hundreds of millions of dollars, but the aura of power would also implode...like a Death Star.
It's funny b/c once an agency gets you in the door -aka their main job- their power wanes. They lose leverage once you have secured a job, or start to know people in the industry. It is still nice to have them, but they are less and less necessary. I'm not at the level where I can do everything myself and pick up a phone and get a studio exec on the line. But there are plenty of artists who can do that. Steven Spielberg doesn't NEED an agent. Oprah and Leonardo DiCaprio don't need someone to take their 10%. Showrunners already know the executives and have power. If you think about the powerful showrunners and producers in Hollywood that's about 500-600 extremely wealthy writer/producers who could walk away from their agency tomorrow and still keep working. It wouldn't affect their bottom line or their projects, but it would devastate the 'middle man' infrastructure. Not only would agencies be cut off from hundreds of millions of dollars, but the aura of power would also implode...like a Death Star.
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