WMA Losing Another Key Talent Agent…

COMMENTS (25)

• OMG. HFS. WMA is IMPLODING. Unless Scott is considerate, and does his best to hand his list off to someone else inside WMA (tough to imagine who that’d be – Gaby? Nicole David!?!?) – and it’s certainly possible Scott will do the right thing in that regard – they are fucked on the talent side. Not to be confused with mildly messed up. But fucked. Absolutely and totally fucked.

  Comment by HFS! — Monday October 27, 2008 @ 7:27pm PDT  Reply to this post

• WHAT IS GOING ON OVER THERE????

  Comment by ARE YOU KIDDING — Monday October 27, 2008 @ 7:40pm PDT  Reply to this post

• It’s like the wedding dress sale at filene’s basement for his clients right now.

  Comment by ReelBusy — Monday October 27, 2008 @ 8:01pm PDT  Reply to this post

• It’s not quite as bad as it looks. The only ones truly in play are Rachel Bilson (who he worked on with Theresa Peters) and Keifer. Johansson is and has been George Freeman’s client for months now, Wentworth Miller is George’s as well, and Spacey is safely ensconced with Fogelman and Cara Stein. Lambert decided to leave months ago and prepared his clients and the agency well.

  It sucks that his departure has come to light just as everything else there seems to be going to hell in a handbasket. I hope that there is something remarkable and game changing in store for the talent department there (a merger of sorts, perhaps?). Ironically, the number one management decision that needs to be made–a new talent department head–CAN’T be made now that the agency can’t afford to lose even one more client (even Mark Ruffalo or Kevin Cusack), especially those repped by Morris, Yorn. There is just no leadership on the talent side, as if such a claim needs to even be made after the shitshow the past few weeks has been (firing Louise Ward and, consequently, Channing Tatum, has got to be in the hall of fame of stupidity).

  And it’s too bad Fogelman has grabbed all the power there is to be had on the overall motion picture side. His leadership is clearly lacking, Wirtschafter is permanently out to lunch, and Wiatt is completely useless and aloof, not to mention completely disinterested in actually being involved in anything other than corporate consulting.

  Meanwhile, Jennifer Walsh is quietly amassing a shitload of power in New York and happy to see the talent business fade in prominence in the organization, not to mention alienating the other two women on the board.

  Throughout the company, there is a weird rationalization that it’s okay to have a mediocre talent side because doing anything else seems too hard. For whatever its overhead and lack of revenue compared to cash cows that are music, consulting retainers, tv or the annuity that is repping books, it is the motion picture talent department that give all of those other departments any measure of credibility. It’s time for someone who understands that to run the company.

  Comment by Anonymous — Monday October 27, 2008 @ 9:11pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Wow. Losing Lambert now too. What is with WMA. I knew Lambert pissed off Scarlett and George Freeman saved her for the time being, but Lambert does have John Leguizamo, Bilson, Kiefer and Rocky so there are definitely a lot of money makers in play. Lambert really never did much anyway, but had a lot of ties to the Avi Lerner’s of the world and always had good talent not to mention his wife’s father is billionaire Arnon Milchan. John Fogelman should take a long hard look inside his organization and start to realize he needs to take an active role and start showing some leadership since there is none. WMA is going to have to merge with another agency or pony up for some serious agents who can bring some A-list talent to the table, but the thing is what agent in their right mind would leave another agency and come to WMA…unless maybe they were at ACME. WMA is a joke.

  Comment by Robert — Monday October 27, 2008 @ 10:00pm PDT  Reply to this post

• A bit odd, I guess. After working for one of the studios for years (and never really posting here), Lambert’s office was always one of the better offices to deal with.

  It seems to me that if someone wanted to be a great agent, they would try to sit on Lambert’s desk. I think Wiatt’s assistants always came from Lambert (usually). They always seemed to be “in-the-know” more than the other agent asst’s at WMA.

  Sad to see him go as well. The guy knows his stuff (but I would guess that he’s taking a producing job )

  Comment by StudioPeopleHaveMoreFun — Monday October 27, 2008 @ 11:34pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Robert,
  I never thought I’d say this but comparing WMA to ACME makes ACME look bad.

  Comment by ReelBusy — Tuesday October 28, 2008 @ 2:25am PDT  Reply to this post

• Boy,as this point why doesn’t CAA just come in, buy WMA’s talent department and hand pick which clients and agents it wants to keep and get rid of the rest? It seems that William Morris is no longer the William Morris that pioneered talent representation. They are now a music/marketing firm.

  Comment by rtfirefly4 — Tuesday October 28, 2008 @ 2:29am PDT  Reply to this post

• Sly should use this as an excuse to go back to Jack Gilardi. Jack knows and loves Sly and right now, he is the perfect agent to get Sly’s career back on track. One of our most treasured actors and screen personalities is in need of a comeback and Jack’s the guy. Sly — GO BACK TO ICM baby!

  Uncle Mike

  Comment by Sly Supporter — Tuesday October 28, 2008 @ 8:49am PDT  Reply to this post

• Word on the street is that Jennifer Walsh has a contract that either makes her co-president or pays her a large sum of money. That can not sit too well with the others in the sandbox, namely Cara Stein whose star has fallen dramatically.

  Comment by Sleepless — Tuesday October 28, 2008 @ 9:03am PDT  Reply to this post

• Anonymous — You appear to be an assitant (or ex assistant) who has just enough information to sound like you know what you’re talking about. Your opinions of Wiatt and Wirtschafter give you away. If you had any real power at the company and you felt appreciated you might not show so much resentment. BTW, in this bandwagon town built on a foundation of fear, Jennifer Walsh is one of the very few people who stands up for what she believes in and not for what is popular. I have been present and in awe of her courage to take on the majority and defend people and causes. You, Anonymous, sound like you’re on a witch hunt.

  This whole WMA whipping post is growing old and boring. I’ve had good and bad experiences with every agency in town. Move on already, you’re all beginning to sound like angry, rejected talent or employees.

  Comment by Coffee Please — Tuesday October 28, 2008 @ 11:52am PDT  Reply to this post

• UTA and ENDEAVOR will be ALL over them!! Best thing that could’ve happen to these actors.

  Comment by Seeya! — Tuesday October 28, 2008 @ 1:33pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Coffee Please, you have got to be kidding. Jennifer Rudolph Walsh as Mother Theresa??? She is vile, mean, vindictive and plots against everyone in that company as she tries to rack up power and money to cover her constantly expanding nut. She sells out her own partners on a regular basis and it’s worked for her, she is now on the secretive compensation committee and Irv Weintraub and Jim Wiatt are both so in love or fearful of her that they pay her whatever she wants, and so much more than what she brings in.

  Also, Anonymous was right on the money with the Wiatt and Wirtschafter comments, and there are tons of examples that support those descriptions. You must be some WMA shill because your argument is so lame.

  Comment by I'll take tea — Tuesday October 28, 2008 @ 4:13pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Wow. Just read all the comments about William Morris being a mess. How true. Management is horrible. Weintraub is a joke.

  Comment by Anonymous — Tuesday October 28, 2008 @ 6:00pm PDT  Reply to this post

• The comments made by Anonymous were actually well informed. Coffee person has no idea what (s)he were writing.

  Comment by Tea for me, too — Wednesday October 29, 2008 @ 1:35pm PDT  Reply to this post

• I’ve been trying not to dive into this whole WMA mess, but finally felt compelled to weigh in. Like me, because of the accuracy of so many of these comments, I think most of the people posting about WMA are insiders. I have not had many jobs, but I cannot imagine a place with such storied history and with so much promise being any worse than it is right now. There is no leadership, just a complete every man for himself money grab. Creativity and strategy are not rewarded unless you are one of the chosen ones, otherwise you are mocked or just ignored.

  I really thought when I came here that it would be a great company to build my career — unlike most assistants, I was not looking to use it as a stepping stone, rather I wanted to become an agent, represent talented people and, yes, make a lot of money. That dream is dead…at least at WMA.

  While there are too many examples of what is wrong with this place, the most depressing example for me is that it’s a lot like the Bush administration with Wiatt as Bush, Wirtshcafter as Rove and Weintraub as Cheney (Jennifer Walsh is Condi Rice) who are oblivious to the results of their actions and just want to line their own pockets. There is no concern for how today’s greed and missteps will impact the future because none of them want to be here in the future. Many complained that William Morris used to rest on its legacy and laurels, but this seems worse.

  Comment by Asst. — Wednesday October 29, 2008 @ 3:21pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Asst – well written.

  I’m another asst. at WMA (BH). A trainee. I came here also wanting to be an agent and have spent 3 years on various desks. I have never encountered such rude and innept people. There is no management. Irv is a dictator. He doesn’t understand what it takes to be an agent and he’s hated internally. Wiaat and Wirtschafter are totally disconnected and have a complete lack of vision. I had been interested in the sports department, but when I met Philip Button and Jill Smoller, I was so uninspired, I almost quit. I spent time on Brad Slater’s desk and was appaled at how he spoke to people. Not so sure if they’ll survive the economy. Those who are still here (agents and assistants) want out – badly!

  Comment by Anonymous — Wednesday October 29, 2008 @ 4:14pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Lambert is basically a good guy, but was very lucky and if you knew him well, he would be the first one to admit it. He brought in a lot of money back in the day helping with packaging and that business is not so strong. His contract was coming due and his “friends” at the agency were most likely having a hard time justifying a seven figure per year, multi year deal after not being the main point on Johansson. Kevin Spacey is Fogelman’s client and he is not the earner that he used to be and his couple of other “name” clients like Kiefer have TV point people taking care of his current deal.

  The “Talent” department is going to shit, and what would you expect with the least pleasant person on the planet, Gaby Morgerman, running it. That coupled with Fogelman’s blind vision to only promote his former assistants, with no regard to whether or not they will be good agents, but just to have an army of underlings loyal to him is short sighted and eventually going to hurt them as there is no younger generation to take over. The few good younger agents – Slater, Zien, and Cooper will probably eventually get better offers at agencies like CAA and Endeavor and would be fools not to leave. The talent department is going to continue going to shit because there is no one there who knows how to run anything, least of all an agency, doing so.

  Comment by Industry-Ex — Wednesday October 29, 2008 @ 8:52pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Talking about the younger agents like Cooper and Slater getting better offers…well I think not. Those guys both make more than half a million and Slater’s clients are Jennifer Hudson and Forest Whitaker. Now tell me how many roles are out there for a heavy set black woman unless your Oprah and on the Oprah show… and Forest is not a leading man. They both will continue to work, but neither will be gross players and make more than $4-5 million per picture. So tell me, are Slater’s clients really that big of a deal other than winning Oscars and from what people tell me, Slater doesn’t read a single script.
  Cooper has Brolin and has tried to sign many more stars and failed. Cooper is probably the rudest, most arrogant, selfish and egotistical agent in the building and he puts on a good show so those that don’t work with him all the time don’t see his true colors. He treats his assistants like shit. Everyone around his office hears him yell daily at his more than capable assistant. I have even heard him yell and it makes me feel so bad for his assistants…it’s a very uncomfortable feeling to hear him yell at his assistants. It’s like those horror stories you hear about agents yelling at their assistants…well he takes the cake. He has had several assistants quit on him and yells at every one of his assistants like they aren’t even human. Even made a veteran WMA female assistant cry, leave the business and quit his desk when she was months away from getting promoted. If karma really comes into play than I must say Cooper is for sure in for some serious karma because what goes around comes around. He has John Fogelman and Gaby Morgerman kissing his ass because they know Cooper is Wiatt’s boy and Cooper is Wiatt’s little spy and tells him everything. What Cooper wants, Cooper gets. This was evident of hiring Louise Ward to get Channing and then getting her fired since he thought he could keep Channing and toss Louise out on her tasty little ass. Well that didn’t work because Louise left the building with Channing and took the rest of her clients to UTA as well. Nice move.
  Zien is Limato’s boy and a great guy and probably deserves more than he is getting paid, but they don’t have much left over after over paying agents like Slater and Cooper.
  The agents that deserve more cash are agents like Phillip Grenz and Brian DePersia who they fired and rehired. And as everyone knows, agents like Morgerman, Fogelman as well as the famous Irv Weintraub are grossly over paid and there is nothing anyone can do about it because they run the show and call the shots. You play by their rules or you’re out. Lambert is lucky to be getting out and can save face even though he lost Scarlett to George Freeman recently and that was his star client.
  I wonder how WMA’s Christmases bonuses will be this year since they claim to be having an amazing year….actually maybe they will spread the wealth since they won’t have to pay all the agents bonuses to the ones that either got fired or left.

  Comment by Amy Sonic — Wednesday October 29, 2008 @ 10:34pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Amy Sonic, other than over-emphasizing the way mini-me Cooper yells at his assistants (methinks onece is enough), you are right on. Cooper is like the monkey to Wiatt’s organ grinder, literally doing impressions to make him laugh whenever the need arises. This has translated into a huge salary for a mediocre agent. It really is the quintessential WMA story, as long as Jim or one of the other senior guys, likes you, you are golden and performance is secondary.

  I do think they will give out bonuses this year because remember they sold the buildings, so there is cash there that the board can’t hide this time. When is someone going to pick up on what Nikki has uncovered and really expose the implosion of this once stellar institution?

  Comment by Just a Guy — Thursday October 30, 2008 @ 2:30pm PDT  Reply to this post

• I was walking down the hall one day and heard Cooper screaming at his assistant about his Porsche and some car wash. What a jerk. Glad to see other people are realizing this about this midgit agent. Like father like son. Cooper’s father is ex HBO, Bob Cooper and he treats people like dirt too. Must be that Napoleon complex thing.

  Comment by Anonymous — Thursday October 30, 2008 @ 4:07pm PDT  Reply to this post

• What time is it when an elephant sits on your fence… time to acknowledge it. WMA has done nothing but ignore the stories here and elsewhere about the firing of good agents, good agents leaving, AWFUL management and the power struggle that is occuring in NY. Wake up before its too late and at the least discuss with your remaining employees (before the look for their out).

  Comment by Elephant — Thursday October 30, 2008 @ 6:53pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Just a guy is so right about Cooper doing impressions. Cooper is down in Jim’s office everyday doing impressions of various clients or other not so liked agents and it keeps Jim laughing and of course Cooper laughs all the way to the bank. Jim also only has assistants that are short, ugly and easy to make fun of them. He had Danny Greenberg who is a little dork, Cooper and some others, but most recently had a brit named Tony who was his little puppet. Everyone hates TOny except Jim and Jim got him promoted to agent in very short time only to have Tony piss off other senior agents and then get demoted to agent in the television department. I even heard Aaron Kaplan hates him and didn’t want to let him into his profitable department, but he had to take him in because Tony was Jim’s former assistant/puppet. I have never heard of a Ceo wanting someone as his assistant just to make fun of him. I guess Jim needs the comic relief so he doesn’t have to worry about the company him, Fogelman, Irv and Dave are running into the ground. Someone earlier mentioned Smoller and Button and it’s so true those guys are a joke. They are never in the office or in meetings and it’s a wonder they still have jobs. Back to Wiatt now, it’s a running joke at the company and everyone knows Jim goes through assistants like clock work. Everyone should know by now you have to be shorter than him and probably ugly too so he has things to pick at and make himself feel better. How can Norman let all this go on under his watch. Norman if you are reading this please take over and bring some dignity back to the place.

  Comment by You don't want to know — Thursday October 30, 2008 @ 8:22pm PDT  Reply to this post

• It was only a matter of time for Kiefer to leave. I guess WMA can save a little face since they will still collect the commission based on the sixty or so million they made a deal for with Fox for 24 and Kiefer’s producing agreement, but what a joke the company is not being able to hold on to anyone. They also can’t sign anyone. I heard they couldn’t even sign Eric Roberts. They tried to sign him to gain access to his star daughter and niece to Julia, Emma Roberts. They failed with Emile Hirsch, Orlando Bloom, Paul Walker, Shia LaBeouf, Samuel L. Jackson, Jessica Alba, Diane Lane, Josh Hartnett, couldn’t even get a meeting with Vince Vaughn, Kate Bosworth, Josh Duhamel etc… and the list goes on and on. They have lost over the years clients like Reese Witherspoon, Topher Grace, Kate Winslet, Cate Blanchett, Daniel Craig, Ellen Page, Emily Watson, Halle Berry, Alfred Molina, Wilem Dafoe, Ashley Judd, Salma Hayek, Steve Carrell, etc… I’m surprised to see they are still holding on to clients like Eddie Murphy, whose carrer they have made a joke out of with movies like Pluto Nash and Dave. I’m also surprised to see someone like Michael Bay still remains at WMA. He left CAA and things haven’t been that bad with Transformers, but what else is WMA bringing to the table for Bay. Bay and other big name directors need to think about which agency is better equipped with stars, big writers etc… to help package movies and in the end CAA will always win. Endeavor is giving CAA a run for their money though and with leadership like Ari and Patrick they will be around for a long time. Big name agents like Hylda Queally, Todd Feldman, Theresa Peters, Steve Dontanville and Scott Lambert got out while they could before they went down like a sinking ship. Jim Wiatt, Dave Wirtschafter and John Fogelman should take their money from the sale of WMA headquarters and run not walk away from the business before they lose all respect. They are running this company into the ground.

  Comment by Get out while you can — Sunday November 16, 2008 @ 10:21am PST  Reply to this post

• So what does this mean to the music department at WMA? Can WMA sustain itself as a powerful music agency without the film dept? What’s ahead for WMA?

  Comment by Curious minds want to know — Monday November 17, 2008 @ 10:54am PST  Reply to this post