Next Gen 2010: Hollywood's Young Guns

When he was 14, Bartlett moved by himself from his hometown of Basildon, England, to Mesa, Ariz., to pursue professional tennis. "That obviously didn't work out," he says with a laugh. Although he still manages to squeeze in the occasional tennis match, Bartlett mostly enjoys volleying of a different kind these days. At Paradigm, he's carved out a niche for the youth market, negotiating seven-figure salaries for Twilight actors Jackson Rathbone, Peter Facinelli and Nikki Reed and placing ABC Family teen star Shailene Woodley in the high-profile drama The Descendants opposite George Clooney. It's a huge boost for the former USC film student who, at 28, switched careers after working in acquisitions at Fox 2000, among others. He landed as an assistant in Paradigm's lit department, where late-hour chats with talent co-head Steve Small got him thinking. "He said: 'What are you doing in lit? You've got talent agent written all over you.' "