The Roundtable
WME’s Sharon Jackson, Gersh’s Leslie Siebert, CAA’s Maha Dakhil, UTA’s Blair Kohan, Paradigm’s Debbee Klein and ICM Partners’ Lorrie Bartlett gathered for THR’s first-ever on-the-record conversation with top agents.
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Image Credit: Photo Credit: Austin Hargave -
UTA’s Blair Kohan
Image Credit: Photo Credit: Austin Hargave "I once got fired from a job when someone said, 'You’d be better off selling cosmetics at Neiman Marcus,'" said UTA's Blair Kohan. "I was in my 20s and not necessarily focused or great at my job at the time. But that advice was also the moment that crystallized the fire in my belly to prove this person wrong."
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ICM Partners’ Lorrie Bartlett
Image Credit: Photo Credit: Austin Hargave "It’s incumbent upon us to mentor younger women in our companies," said ICM Partners' Lorrie Bartlett, whose client list includes Zoe Saldana, Eric Stonestreet, Emmy Rossum, and Josh Duhamel.
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Paradigm’s Debbee Klein
Image Credit: Photo Credit: Austin Hargave "The best advice I’ve received is: self-educate. You can’t just be a lit agent or a talent agent anymore. You have to selfeducate, whether that’s taking home and reading the boilerplate contracts or reading scripts," said Paradigm's Debbee Klein.
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Gersh’s Leslie Siebert
Image Credit: Photo Credit: Austin Hargave “People who don’t know the business think it’s a fantasy job. … But it’s not fantasy. It’s hard work.” said Gersh's Leslie Siebert, on the challenges that come with agenting.
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WME’s Sharon Jackson
Image Credit: Photo Credit: Austin Hargave "The typical idea of an agent is extremely masculine," said WME's Sharon Jackson. "It’s hard for women to break through because we’re not permitted to have that behavior — and if we do, we get punished for it. So it’s hard for women to come up in that and be able to shine without mimicking behavior."
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CAA’s Maha Dakhil
Image Credit: Photo Credit: Austin Hargave "We’re always communicating; we’re always switched on," said CAA's Maha Dakhil of talking with clients. "I feel this umbilical cord to what I do, whether on the phone or e-mail, and it starts really early in the morning. A lot of us have overseas clients — I definitely do — and it just continues."
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The Role of an Agent
“Our job is to be invisible. everything has to look effortless. I can’t imagine ever admitting to a tough decision," said Jackson, on the role of an agent.
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One Day at a Time
"The victory or defeat of one day just quickly evolves into the next thing," says Dakhil. "Hopefully everyone’s keeping memoirs and journals."
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Misconceptions About Agents
"People who don’t know the business think it’s a fantasy job. It’s like: 'Oh, my God, it’s the best job ever. You get to talk to movie stars and go to premieres.' And it’s like, 'It’s really not that fun,'" says Siebert about the misconception of what agents do. She added, "In case any of my clients are reading this, I still love what I do. But it’s not a fantasy. It’s hard work."
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A Worrying Business Trend
"The biggest threat might be the greatest opportunity — different revenue streams, sources of distribution, financing opportunities. It demands that we each do our homework," said Klein.
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Delegating Dinner Meetings
"Dinner meetings," Klein replied when asked about which aspect of her job she would like to delegate. "I like to be home; I like to be with my kids. I try very hard to balance the parenting and my family, my parents, my husband and the job. I’m fine to be on the phone till God-knows-what hour, but I don’t love to be out physically in the evening."
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A Gender Disparity Among Agents
"I never look at it and think, 'My God, we really don’t have a lot of women,' until someone brings it to my attention," said Siebert about the disparity between the number of men and women agents in the industry. "We hire and promote the best people regardless of gender."
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The First Client
"My first client was Melanie Griffith. I didn’t know what I was doing! I remember they offered me top-of-show [a television pay rate]. I thought that was fabulous. We were about the same age. She was very patient. I felt 'arrived' when I handled her," said Klein.
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The First Deal
"One of the first deals I made was booking Anthony Perkins in some awful B-movie. I was so proud, I took the deal slip to my grandparents’ house and put it on their bulletin board like, 'Look what I did.' Looking back years later, it’s like, 'Oh, my God, what did I do?,'" said Siebert.