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So let’s spend a few minutes looking at the fate of the William Morris TV kingpins since everyone at the top of the about-to-merge agency wants Endeavor’s Rick Rosen to run the TV department. CAA is prepared to welcome reality kingpin Mark Itkin with open arms. Sources tell me that John Ferriter may strike out on his own. But the real surprise is that I’ve confirmed Aaron Kaplan has as much as 3 1/2 years left on an $11 million/5-year contract. With no mitigation. That certainly changes any plan to just send him on his way without cutting him a huge check. So now I’m told the Kaplan situation is “fluid”. As for movie agents, it looks like a lock that Steve Rabineau will head to United Talent because Jeremy Zimmer is courting him hard. David Lonner is considering becoming a manager for a top firm. Meanwhile, the mantra repeated about all these guys is: “They’re still under contract.”
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And they pay the assistants $22,000/year. This is sick. Friend of Jim. Anyone who is a friend of DZW/JW gets $$ and title. If not on the inside, they get treated like shit.
Anonymous. >>>If not on the inside, they get treated like shit”<<< and what world of entertainment do you work in where that isnt the norm? Working in entertainment is like a continuation of High School/college,,,,,, with a paycheck.
Aaron Kaplan makes what? And you wonder why they’re out of business.
I FUCKING CAN’T STAND AARON KAPLAN. AND THE FACT THAT HE’S MAKING THAT KIND OF MONEY FOR DOING SUCH A MEDIOCRE JOB! IT’S EMBARRASSING. AND MADDENING.
IT WOULD BE ONE THING IF HE WAS GOOD BUT ARROGANT. HE’S JUST ARROGANT.
AND ANYONE WHO HAS WORKED WITH HIM KNOWS FROM WHAT I SPEAK. SO SPEAK UP. PEOPLE. $11 MILLION FOR THAT BLOWHARD.
Kaplan is a huge pig who everyone thinks is an asshole. They should keep him around after cutting off his balls just to humiliate the bastard and make him beg for his money for the next 3 1/2 years.
I’m sure the obvious F-U (“You’ve kept this company afloat with your packaging revenue for a couple decades, so please leave the board. Oh, and you’ll report to Rick Rosen”) to Mark Itkin was planned as some sort of “long term 360 thinking.” DZW probably drew a Venn diagram on a napkin and told Ari that it meant that “the future is not in reality TV, so it’s okay if we piss off the undisputed leader in his field and drive him to our top competitor. Also, have I shown you my new Kanye West powerpoint deck? We’re going to make him a movie star and book author yet!”
What a joke. There’s a seat on that board for Itkin if there is for Dave Wirtschafter or John Fogelman (whose agency initials should be NLAC–No Longer A Client–instead of JMF). The real crime here is that everyone responsible for keeping the lights on at WMA has been given the boot. JW and DZW weren’t able to do the right thing and get rid of the motion picture dead weight holding the talent department back for nearly every moment of their tenure atop the company. So they went shopping for an ready-made mopic department and were so nervous about their lackluster legacy that they rewarded those that made their outlandish compensation for mediocre performance feasible with a swift kick in the ass. And along comes Jennifer Walsh, a woman who has yet to see a grain of sand she doesn’t want to report to her, asserting authority over a situation she has no business knowledge to understand let alone execute.
A lot of the carping about JW, DZW, and Irv here is just that, and is actually quite uninformed. But this will in fact go down as one of the stupidest, most transparently political bonehead moves in the history of Hollywood. And that’s quite a distinction.
I’m not that bad. I’M RICH BITCH!
Aaron Kaplan is the only agent who sends assistants (AND NOT JUST WMA ASSTS) holiday gifts, EVERY YEAR…OUT OF HIS OWN POCKET!!!
Aaron is good in my book and I have dealt with his office a ton. He has never been rude and has personally returned emails that I have sent him. No one is too small in this business for Kap. Something has to be said for that.
I talked to Rick Rosen at some department bbq when I was a peon working for this miserable gorgon lady. He’s very smart and just seemed to have a sense of cool about him. He recommended the Lincoln book Team of Rivals way before it became hip with the O admin.
So let me get this right. You have clients who are sought after DAILY, thus leaving you with no real work to do and that’s your salary??
And I left William Morris after they wouldn’t give me an extra $25 a week(support staff). Glad I left, this is so wrong.
Fuck! Why aren’t I making that kind of scratch?!
Jim and Dave.How you lied to everyone at WMA. The vertical intergration, work throughout the company, we are better then everyone else. DZW how many times did you tell us how horrible Ari was. DZW, Sara Newkirk, Jill Smoller, no talent and no money. They just travelled around. Jim, Lets see, hows the receptionist. Did you get her number yet. Many good people will be fired. Friends of yours will stay. But remember what happened to Ovitz Jim and Dave
That muthafucker!
Thats why Aaron is my rep – motha fucka makes great deals!!
Geez, was anyone over at WMA worth that kind of $$$? Oh, Itkin. And he’s being allowed to leave! I guess that starts giving us an idea of what the new “WME” is all about…
Jason Maxwell:
I worked for Aaron and he did not buy great gifts for others nor reward his own assistants with generous bonuses. But those aren’t what make the man in my book.
As to Aaron, you clearly never worked for him. Anyone who worked for him, knew him to be a verbally abusive, ego-maniacal, clinically bipolar prick. He had a good side (which he took with him to Irv’s office or as he walked by lessers he didn’t work with – YOU) but nothing redeems the evil that he spewed minute-by-minute to assistants and agents. He thinks he’s smarter than everyone. He’s at least smarter than the hacks that gave him the $11 million deal. His clients should do the Kathie Lee Gifford thing and boycott his sweatshop.
Good for Kap. All you whiners can go dig in if you want that $. I, personally, walked away.
Oh, and I TOTALLYT concur with “Another local”…
Anonymous…”If not on the inside, they get treated like shit”???? You CLEARLY are confusing THIS business with some non-profit aren’t you? Go back to Ohio.
Mr Fogelman the Hasbro cable channel that you put together. Great idea but do you reaally think the guild will let WME Entertainment own a piece of it. SAG and AFTRA will not be happy. Heard JJ is going with Lonner. Not nice to steal clients Johnny. Dave is Jill still going to babysit for you
Seems that in lieu of these types of outlandish deals becoming public, certain Endeavor partners are weeping for more cash in their new arrangements. I’m not sure what agents are thinking, they are lucky to have any security at all. Ari is loyal, but he aint stupid. Some of his partners are showing their true colors. It won’t be forgotten, I’m sure.
Hey Anonymous…….
You probably sucked as an assistant – thats why you got yelled at and treated like shit dumb ass. Man up pussy….I was treated fine….Not great – but fair…Since then, Aaron has helped me with my last two jobs and I owe him alot. That is all an assistant can ask for and very few bosses deliver.
To Anonymous @ 10:36….
Its pretty easy to take shots while hiding behind a veil of anonymity…
Yeah KAP’s tough to work for, so what? For those who can handle it, the reward is walking away from the desk with more “real world” experience than most assts in the building, as well as massive ally in your corner.
Aaron is above all else loyal…a lesson you clearly missed while on the desk.
agreed with Former Kap assistant, maybe he didnt treat you so well 10 years ago when he didnt have security… but to trash someone you havent worked for in a decade is pathetic and sad, bitter is without mentioning
truth is anonymous, im sure you dug your own grave on kaps desk and dont have a clue about to make deals and make money… my guess, you’re working (or probably more likely) worked at a mid-low level production co that is making cuts… you could have done better but you never had the balls to ask for a rec from kap…
Let’s not all pretend that the summing up of a person can be done on deadline hollywood – no disrespect to Nikki. Aaron is sharp, a phenomenal negotiator, and has a genuinely good heart (I’ve seen it), and can be very entertaining, but… he’s still a bipolar bully… I’d say in the top 5 of the biz…(I’ve worked at WMA, CAA, ICM, Fox, etc.) and JW, DW, IRV, you name it on down, concedes as much.
TO HIS CREDIT, AARON HIMSELF DOESN’T THINK HIS BAD BEHAVIOR IS EXCUSABLE. So to those defending Aaron’s bad behavior because you got a recommendation or loyalty from it just says your sense of morality can be bought. And you are in good company. Very few will stand up and call out bad behavior because – hey why rock the boat, why risk a future promotion – I’m off the hot seat, I survived, doesn’t affect me. That’s weak bro. Weak constitution. You sound like freshman in awe of a senior. I suggest you get some sense of right and wrong before your grey area becomes a REAL problem. Let me guess, your first job out of college was at an agency – you have no real world experience…you don’t know any better.
There’s a reason most of Aaron Kaplan’s client list continues to work, even in this era of “reality” TV, recession, and the marginalizing of writers; HE IS A KICK-ASS AGENT. He’s cool-headed and a tough negotiator who doesn’t burn bridges. And he’s LOYAL, which is not easy to find in this scum-hole of a business.
Suck it, haters.