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This is the same tenpercentery that starred in Fight For Fame, a 2005 E! Entertainment Television contest show for wannabe actors. 
First there were rumors circulating last week that Acme Talent and Literary had never recovered from the writers strike and was laying off most of its staff. Not true. It’s true that Acme let go the entire adult theatrical division 2 years ago, and they were forced to lose a moneymaker, print agent Tag Turner, several months ago. Recently, the agency did lay off about 5 people and merge its print division (clients include non-union actors and models) with JLA talent agency. Before the end of this year, I understand Acme as a whole will be merging with another tenpercentery, most likely TalentWorks. Acme’s president Adam Lieblein will be getting out of the business for personal reasons.
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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Merging. Going under. All semantics. In order to keep those commercial residuals coming in they need to merge with someone. But I wonder why Harry would even want them?
It wasn’t the strike that ruined Acme.
Acme never recovered from a divorce by the founding couple Adam & Lisa about 5 years ago.
After that they lost all their good talent agents like Gwenn Pepper and Steve Simon. Emily Hope’s commercial dept is the only good thing left there talent-wise.
Then they lost 2/3rds of the lit dept when Cleary & Morris started Content House leaving only Mickey Freiberg as a “Dept of One” for the last few years.
Then came that horrible awful reality show and I stopped caring.
Will they drop an anvil on Hasselhoff’s head?
residuals are non-comissionable….fyi
some residuals are commissionable.
@Frank
Do you have that right? When I worked in commercials, even with Acme for several years, they took their 10% out of my residuals. As did every other top-notch agency I was with. (Okay, Acme wasn’t necessarily top-tier, but they were damn good at getting me out.)
How else would they (or any agency) make any money?
Tag Turner is a kid’s print agent who has bounced between 4 or 5 agencies in less than 6 years. LA Talent, KSA, Acme and then I lost track. Yes all commercial residuals are commissionable as are over scale theatrical commissions.
Tom
Yes. ALL commercial residuals are commissionable. You think CESD, SBV etc. run a charity?
By the way actors – Those commissions to agents are tax deductible.
They (Commercial agencies) wouldn’t survive with out residuals.
Residuals for writers and directors are not commissionable by agents but some actors’ residuals are as well as commercials. I think some managers may commission writers and directors, though…
Tag Turner worked at ACME for five years. When her contract expired she moved to Pantheon. Emily Hope, head of commercial department, is considered one of the best commercial agents in the city and the youth department is very profitable. There are a number of agencies that would be interested in merging with ACME. The owner , Adam Liebein, may just want to get out of the agency business. His brother, a very successful television producer, may be providing a number of options for his brother. In the commercial world all money with no exceptions is commissionable. It is not really a residual but a payment when the commercial airs. If they did not take “residuals” then they would only collect 60 bucks on the session fee. I say Talent works. Peace !!
WHAT A SHAME.IN THIS WORLD SITUATION WE ARE IN, FINANCIALLY AND
BUSINESSS ALL EVERYONE HAS TO DO IS GOSSIP AND MAKE NASTY COMMENTS. IT IS DIFFICULT ENOUGH TO STAY ALIVE AND KEEP THE WORK SITUATION SEMI-NORMAL. FOR ALL OF YOU TO CUT DOWN OTHER PEOPLE AND AGENCIES, SHAME ON YOU. IT IS QUITE DIFFERENT THAN IT WAS QUITE A FEW YEARS AGO AND EVERYONE IS TRYING TO MAKE A LIVING….AS LONG AS ITS AN HONEST LIVING.
RESIDUALS HAVE ALWAYS BEEN DUE THE AGENCY AND MANAGEMENT AND THIS IS NO DIFFERENT.
TRY BUILDING UP YOUR BUSINESS AND DOING WHAT YOU NEED TO DO TO GET IT GOING AGAIN AND SHAME ON ALL OF YOU FOR MAKING THIS A HUGE NEGATIVE SITUATION. I PRAY FOR ALL OF OUR HEALTH GOOD THINGS TO COME….
Reelbusy is so wrong. The agency did not fall apart when Steve Simon left in fact it grew 100%. Since Matt Fletcher arrived to Acme, he has booked so many kids on TV Series and has many top clients on major Feature films. His reputation in this industry has grown so much over the past few years. Casting directors love working with him and respect him a lot. They know that when he pushes a client in for an audition, they can trust him because he is that good at what he does. Please do your homework first before saying a remark like that. Emily is excellent also but the Kids Theatrical Dept. is Top notch.
Puhleez. ACME is a C list agency, even in the kid world. Matt Fletcher spends his weekends going to John Robert Powers and every other scam and “talent competition”/showcase in the country with his wife, an agent at Coast to Coast. His reputation is that he spends more time bilking money from clueless parents on the weekends than he does from client commissions. Going to those events is a sure sign of an agenting career, or an agency, that has jumped the shark.
According to Imdb, Matt has just a couple of theatrical working kids, and just 2 series regulars, both on AFTRA shows that pay next to nothing: Moises Arias (Hannah Montana), and Cherilyn Wilson (90210). Oh yes, and he also reps Meaghan Jette Martin of Camp Rock (cable MOW). That ain’t enough to pay the bills, folks. And it certainly isn’t the stuff of casting director’s respect.
ACME’s youth department had more than a little turnover in recent years. Steven Simon, then Jackie Lewis, and then Molly Sweet for about 2 years. Sweet’s reign was the most financially viable. Fletcher followed her.
Perhaps if the ACME agents had actually stayed in the office and worked for their current clients all week, instead of traveling to weekend scams, the agency might be still be in the money.
David, let’s not play revisionist historian. Some of us have been around long enough to remember the facts.
I gotta say I love the residual debate this blog has spurred.
Look ACME didn’t crumble b/c of a marital split, it didn’t crumble b/c the agents were never in their offices it didn’t crumble b/c Tag Turner did or did not work at more than one agency in her life and it didn’t crumble because commercial dude has been repped by many top-notch agencies including ACME (btw Commercial Dude would you mind citing those top notch agencies alphabetically?) and believes all agents take 10 percent. And as a side note as an actor if you don’t know how much an agent takes of your paycheck you might want to go to something called the SAG website.
I’ll tell you why ACME crumbled — Scott Reed — Scott Reed is the reason ACME fell to the ground he was the eyes, ears and blood of that place.
Scott Reed.
When ACME moved to Wilshire Blvd. they expanded. They went from a small one room office with four agents in cubicles to an entire suite. They had lit agent(s), they had theatrical agent(s). They had a kids theatrical and a kids commercial department, as well as the adult commercial department. Assistants were crawling out of the woodwork. Then things went south.
By the end they no longer had a literal department but one lone lit agent. By the end they had no adult theatrical and not much of a kid’s dept. What they had was commercials. Commercials was the only thing carrying ACME. Emily was the only thing carrying ACME.
That is the bottom line. It’s good she’s “merging” with Talent Works b/c she was and is the best thing to come out of that agency. It’s good for the clients and I believe in the long run (or short) it will be good for her.
Personally, I think it was the letting go of Scott Reed that caused the downfall of this agency. Plain and simple Scott was the glue that held the company together.
Agents and Managers have been scouting talent at weekend showcases for over 20 years…you almost have to go outside of LA to find talent…look at all the amazing out of state kids who were discovered by “weekend” agents traveling to meet them…going to IMDB or IPOP…Disney Channel while may not be the big pay day, they are reknown for developing stars. Many of those kids were discovered out of state. Its just one of the ways this biz is done (and before you comment…the other ways are referrals, mail in submissions, visiting other clients on sets, discovering them at odd locations, etc…)…and the small stipend they may or may not pay the agents for their time doesn’t support the fact that they are doing weekend showcases or workshops for the money or to scam…its to find talent….
Acme has 7 kids on series…not 2….but its really not about how many or who or what, its about the agent , the respect his clients have for him, the respect the casting directors have for him and the relationships he has in the biz….so attacking Matt is like attacking one of the good ones…
And in this biz, when is merging to gain strength a bad thing? By the way I am not playing revisionist historian, I am also just stating the facts since I have been doing this for 23 years now…so I guess I know the facts also.
I worked at Acme with Steve Simon and Kendall Park when
Jackie Lewis came to the agency. In about a year she had destroyed what Steve had Adam had built over 10 years. She was the start of the downfall of Acme then she went to become a commercial agent at Diverse.
Dear John Nico,
I worked at Acme also when you worked there and have no memory or recollection of you. Did you work as the Valet?? or Perhaps as the custodian in the bldg.
from the sounds of the comments here, Acme doesn’t have a good reputation.
well, then, it’s a good thing I was rejected by Acme a few times, huh?
;-D
This certainly is an interesting set of comments. A few are a bit naïve, some are just trying to be funny, and others appear to be former insiders, although not very high up on the food chain. I have a unique connection to the agency myself. I sense that some of the negative comments are being made by former clients or employees of Acme – someone with an axe to grind. Oh, well. Such is the nature of public postings. Regardless, here are some things to think about, if you are interested.
Adam and Lisa started the agency with nothing, and built it to a bi-coastal agency with 18 agents in many departments. The agency business in general was good. A few years ago they celebrated the fact that their clients earnings had surpassed the $200 million dollar mark. Many factors caused this environment to change. The SAG commercial strike, the SAG theatrical strike threat that followed, the WGA strike, the new role that the internet plays in agency submission practices, the lack of a true SAG/ATA/NATR agency franchise agreement, the rise of reality television, the current state of the SAG/AMPTP conflict, and the general economic downturn our country is experiencing…. All these things have caused the agency business in general to be a less lucrative business to be in. Money isn’t flowing the way it once was, and agencies have been forced to change to adapt.
In this environment, mergers will happen. Consolidation. It’s a smart move.
Acme appears to be preparing for that move right now. They have divested themselves of the departments which were struggling, and streamlined their operation to focus on the most successful areas. Their commercial department (Emily Hope Webster and Brian Duensing) is one of the top in the business, as is their kids division (Matt Fletcher). Regardless of the “opinions” of people on this blog, this is absolutely true. Most casting directors will attest to it. These are the areas currently being bid on by other agencies. The literary agent (Mickey Freiberg, former partner of The Artists Agency for 20 years) is actually extremely successful in his own right, and that area may also be in play. A large amount of revenue is due to the agency on literary sales, commercial residuals, and series regulars, which, if negotiated properly, will continue to flow to the merged agency. All things considered, this could be a great move not only for Acme, but for the agency, or agencies, that purchase all or parts of it.
Im sorry to say but Im glad they went under, Lisa was a bitch. Adam was cool.
wow, ReelBusy summed it up perfectly, that was amazing! That is the nutshell of the real story. With all sorts of annoying scandalous asides cut out. Well done!