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2ND UPDATE: WMA is so sensitive to my publicity surrounding this wave of leavings and layoffs (see my previous, William Morris Starts Laying Off Agents…) that the agency gave me info that was flat-out wrong. A Morris executive last night claimed that, since January 2007 and despite the writers strike, only 5 tenpercenters have departed Morris — while, in the same period, double-digit numbers of agents have left CAA and ICM, and single-digit numbers of agents have exited UTA. But that’s false.
I’ve since discovered that at least 14 agents have exited WMA since January 2007 — Holly Baril, Louise Ward, Ken Freimann, Theresa Peters, Jack Tantleff, Caroline Michel, Ed Bicknell, Jeff Kolodny, Marc Provissierro, Marcus Wiley, Kenny Goodman, Phil Alberstat, Scott Lonker, Brian Stern, and more may be out the door (like Brian DePersia even though he just argued his way back in). ”It wasn’t intentional,” the source said. And those numbers don’t include the wholesale firings and hirings that have rocked WMA for years after Jim Wiatt and Dave Wirtschafter took over in 1999.
It’s time for everyone to level: I have been stunned by the overwhelmingly negative comments flooding in to DHD about the William Morris Agency since this round of layoffs began. I haven’t been able to post 50% of them because they contain unsavory allegations of personal and professional conduct. (But I plan to examine each and every one.) This hate-spewing is far worse than anything I’ve received about an agency previously and has come from many different people inside and outside WMA. I really think that Morris needs to take a long hard look at itself. These layoffs and leavings have further widened what seems to be a huge schism between who’s inside the favored clique and who’s not. And the divide appears to be based more on cronyism than merit. Look, all the agencies have to deal with allegations of sexual harassment, professional liasons, bullying behavior, etc. But perhaps the time has come for WMA to hire a business therapist like many tenpercenteries have done to right what’s wrong.
UPDATE: Every Hollywood agency is after Theresa Peters now though she may already be headed to United Talent. Bonehead move by Morris. And now Brian DePersia may wind up leaving WMA anyway of his own volition. What the heck is going on there?
The drip, drip, drip at WMA continues. I’ve confirmed that the William Morris Agency and Theresa Peters have parted ways because she and the agency couldn’t agree on a new contract. The talent agent has chosen to ”move on” with her excellent client list, including James McAvoy, Mandy Moore, Kirsten Dunst and others. So that makes 3 female agents exiting, but only one male. There was a second male agent axed, Brian DePersia. But get this: he was rehired after he did a presentation to the bosses and made the case why he should stay. As one insider told me, “He agented his way back in.”
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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and this matters because… ???
WMA is such an effin’ gong show…even relative to the fact it’s an agency.
There are too many out of work actors/writes in town but there are also too many agencies. The entire agency sector cries out for less is more.
Just let CAA suck up all the dull high earners, let Endeavor grab the talented mid earners, let WMA, ICM, and UTA get sucked into the end of the earth…and we can have a fun, fun agency picnic with Lovett and Lourd sharing a salad with Whitesell and Emanuel while they giggle about the “old times” and what a crazy boss Ovitz was.
They also got Steve Weiss – Lou Weiss’s son. Steve had spent 20+ years at the agency. He had devoted his life. He is a tremendously smart and honest guy. Wiatt and Weintraub treated him with utmost disrespect. They screwed him royally.
Nikki – start doing the math. They are outright lying to you. The place is a disaster – with idiots at the helm.
And you had previously indicated that they got rid of agents who don’t make money – Let’s start with the mopic talent department, move on to Maas (what does the guy do?), China, Miami, etc. etc. etc. Accountability. There is none. Favoritism.
I am a bit surprised by all the negativity about WMA – between the comments on this post and the other.
While there is a lot of hate about Cassian, he still has packaged a lot of films and WMA independent division is still fundamentally a great one – especially pound for pound when you figure the relative weakness of their WMA client list versus CAA.
Though a lot of posts have dissed Cassian, every independent film packager has films fall apart or major misses – but he’s still hitting better than par. WMA’s attention to packaging should be applauded and frankly, I have seen it pay benefits for them in terms of signings – though independent film divisions are a double edged sword as they both self generate projects, and also self generate failed projects – unfortunately sometimes in equal measure given the frailty of the packaging process.
Most agencies under utilizes their indy divisions, but they generally are under rated expenditures – as this is where clients (and potential clients) pet projects can take wings. Plus I’ve seen WMA retain a client (at least for a while) by giving them an outlet through a Cassian packaged project.
I also have to give Cassian credit for sticking with the model of packaging lots of small films in large quantities while other independent divisions have focused on packaging fewer high budget films.
As for WMA long term success, I think they have made some great long term decisions as of late – though I don’t know these specific agents business well enough to decide if it made financial sense and certainly feel bad for anyone laid off.
Nevertheless, I will say, their acquisition of Bonnie Liedtke and focus on young talent was a coup. She gave them an infusion of young talent names and I think her acquisition will pay long term benefits. With the rise of the youth megastar, (i.e. Hannah Montana, Jonas Brothers, etc.) its a major mistake that other big agencies aren’t trying to home grow that young talent – or acquire youth agencies – as the youth talent market operates almost entirely sans-credits, yet by the time these youth stars get credits, they are too established to steal – or will bolt to CAA.
Plus, I think WMA was smart in acquiring Limato as they had the unique pieces in place to take advantage of his client list and he added the name value they need.
WMA’s biggest problems are all indirectly or directly tied to infrastructure deficiencies – particularly its weaknesses in information technology and information sharing. They have a lot of great agents, and frankly I think they are turning a corner and really will be well positioned once they move to the new building.
But one thing I’m surprised hasn’t been mentioned – $140m+, layoffs? Can you say UTA merger in the works? I have no specific information to suggest this, but the writing seems to be on the wall. Jim Berkus has been in talks it seems with every agency before things would fall apart. Supposedly he was 11th hour on a merger with CAA in 2006 – a fact that don’t think ever came out.
Jim Wiatt has had a friendship with Berkus since both were at USC! WMA suddenly gets a $140M+ off real estate and lays off 6 agents and no one brings this up as a strong possibility? I think this is a done deal within six months, if not sooner.
It only makes me too happy to see WMA suffer. As a successful writer who is still working long after my years of pain at WMA ended, I can honestly say the lay offs couldn’t happen to a more rotten group of people. While agents, by definition, are scumbags, agents at William Morris don’t even try to hide their lack of soul. For years I hoped they would all burn in hell, but watching the agency self-destruct is not a bad consolation prize.
truth be told, karma is a bitch! Scott Lambert will exit soon. WMA is what it is, another pile of an agency.
Im a former WMA Trainee. I spent time on Jim and Dave’s desk. I observed – and listened in – on many conversations with both Dave, Jim and Irv. Their management and development of up-and-coming agents is horrible. Their internal and external relationships – with the exception of those favored souls (if they had any) is reprehensible. They are not accountable to anyone. I had read all the books about agents – and WMA – prior to my arrival. They are a truly sad – and insecure – group of untalented exec. Put them in any other major company and they wouldn’t be riding on private planes. They’d likely be outta work.
Nikki -
Did you hear about the emergency meeting Jim, Dave and John Fogelman had with the assistants yesterday? You really make them nervous. I was told that the meeting was all about look how great WMA is…we’ve been around for over 100 years…the best part was the fact that in their eyes, the point of firing these agents was to make room for the next batch of trainees and assistants who are the possible future of WMA…after the meeting, we all laughed so hard at that one.
Everything on these comments are true…please take it from someone who knows.
The smartest post here was the UTA / WMA merger. With UTA losing 10 of their top clients (Jack Black, Ben Stiller, Night Shamylan, David Dobkin, Will Ferrell, Chris Nolan, Tom Shadyac, Jim Carrey, Brian Robbins, etc), many of their historical players slowing down or leaving (Dick Wolf, David Chase, Tom Fontana, Bruce Helford, Steve Levitan, etc), and key young agents departing (Dan Aloni, Sue Naegle, Mark Korman, Sharon SHeinwold, Nick Stevens) … that place is cash rich from package revenues, agent settlements, and unexpired deals. And, the key guys at the top — Berkus, Zimmer, Sures, Benedek — are looking for the next move. Insider David Kramer wants to run the place. But it seems more likely that they’d isolate their package revenues and sell the rest of the shop to WMA for an easy exit.
Consolidation is good for the agency biz. Six agencies becomes four. then more kids inside will bristle at the corporate speak and depart. that’s how we got CAA, ENdevor and Broder in the first place.
it’s a cycle.
There are lots of others missing from that list of 14 including Jack Tantiloff, Adam Sher, Stephanie Miles, Jessica Drood, etc. Did they really think nobody would notice when they said they only lost 5 agents and the real number is more like 20some? As if the community wouldn’t notice when about 75% of the people are missing and unaccounted for in their statistic. Speaks volumes about their character or rather lack thereof.
The problem is that a place once known for its character and morals is now void of both. How can you influence the next generation when you have no morals?
Conan Smith add to the list.
Come on, Ex ICMer, you “think WMA was smart in acquiring Limato as they had the unique pieces in place to take advantage of his client list and he added the name value they need.”
What were they when they let him walk out the door in 1988 with essentially the same list, but when it REALLY meant something? Their timing is a bit off, no?
You probably think they would be even smarter if they bring back Sue Mengers too.
The gentlemen who posted the potential UTA / WMA merger presented good analysis but I’d like to add and rebut the following:
I believe that the idea of a merger is certainly being discussed, especially when you consider the FACT that in 2004/2005, WMA and Endeavor almost merged…it failed in the end because an agreement could not be reached on Ari Emmanuel’s title, status and succession. What is obvious and really sad is that, today, the current management is reaping the benefit of the foresight of Abe Lastfogel. He foresaw the value of ownership of the land, and since the “new” leadership took over, the brand name of and the goodwill towards WMA has steadily eroded and is being squandered.
With the proceeds from the land sale, WMA knows that they must do something in order to become competitive, especially since they are seeing companies like Endeavor surpass them in quality signings. The problem is if they do acquire UTA, they would have squandered the revenues from the sale and the value added in the long run would be minimal because good agents there (e.g Theresa Peters) would prob go to CAA or even Endeavor because several do not want to work at WMA.
Re: Cassian, the gentlemen is incorrect. Cassian himself is quoted, in the interviews he’s given, as saying that he won’t get involved in any project that doesn’t have talent already attached. By definition, that’s packaging. Also, since it’s too much work to package, he won’t do it. He primarily sells and helps in the financing of projects. The problem is, however, that he mainly helps to finance his wife’s projects because she has him by the balls. My partner is very close with the agent that recently worked there, Phil Alberstat, and I’ve heard stories you wouldn’t believe…WMA was sued a couple of times because of Cassian’s involvement with his wife’s movies and how he was asked by management to stop engaging in his wife’s projects, but of course, he has continued. How Cassian does not read scripts or is very aloof to agents, except for the management, etc. Though Cassian may be good at what he does and is lazy, he is significantly better than Rena Ronson, who I understand is highly ineffective. I hear the running joke internally is that people don’t go to her anymore because it’s a waste of time, they just go to Cassian.
I do agree that Bonnie was a great acqusition for the company and that they will reap great returns but one good decision out of many bad ones is appalling, I daresay.
Finally, how sad for Brian DePersia…he worked for several years for Jim Wiatt and was fired after being an agent for a few months, after which, they said it was a mistake and then hired him back, due to the backlash? What does that say about Jim Wiatt?
I’m not so sure that WMA will last another 100 years.
As a former agent at WMA I will tell you that this is typical. They have always promoted the agents that aren’t the brightest. WMA stopped being about agents making money and became about smoke blowing to the higher ups. They have always looked outside to cure poor inside management, like buying ICM. Losing an excellent agent like Teresa Peters is just an example of their poor judgement. Good thing it’s not a public company, they would all be in prison for mismanagement
Re: Talent Consolidation
But the point is that Cassian doesn’t play the agent game. The man’s is more intelligent than anyone that I’ve met in Hollywood. Yes he acts aloof…and he never makes an effort to seem like he’s on your side or working countless hours to do anything.
He understands the true psychology of hollywood. From the foreign investor to the major mogul. That’s why countless times the other BIGs have hired his former assistants to run their “indy departments”.
While other Indy’s have 5 assistants and 2 interns he has one “do-it-all”. You can point your finger at WMA as much as possible for their current moves… but the training they give there is better than any other place.
Does he piss everyone off in most processes? Usually. But he’s always in the position that people will call him for more and gets himself/his clients more than they wanted.
One quick note about DePersia. THIS is the guy that Brolin talked about when the Coens had ZERO interest in having him play the lead in No Country. The same goes with McAvoy in Atonement and Wanted.
He also played a big part in Penn Badgley getting the lead on Gossip Girl, KaDee Strickland to joining the main cast of Private Practice (after being just a guest star), and is practically the point on Ice Cube (yes, we can hate his movies but the guy brings home the bacon).
Most importantly DePersia is a good guy. Producers will take his calls because he talks like a normal person. He visits sets of new shows and scouts talent better than anyone. He’s one of the few agents that has the respect of the minions of William Morris…and cheers people up when they f- up on a rolled call.
Depersia was a failed trainee. He toiled away on Jeff Hunter’s desk for eight years without a promotion or any interest by management. He had no where to go either because he didn’t make a name for himself. Then he got fired and rehired. So come on. Those posting positive stuff only know of DePersia from the past two years.
God Bless, BS.