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Assistants all over Hollywood work so hard for so little pay. (Which is why there've been so many California government crackdowns on what is tantamount to showbiz slave labor.) Ergo, it's hard to imagine any company trying to get away with paying them less. But tipsters tell me that's what WME is doing. The new agency is "recalculating" the pay for previous WMA assistants (about $13.50 an hour) to be more on a par with former Endeavor assistants (about $9.50 an hour). As one WMA assistant complained to me, "It's depressing to think that my already abysmal pay might go down. That would honestly make the wages unliveable. And infinitely more disgusting knowing the millions of dollars certain agents are making."
WME Pay For Assistants Worse Than WMA
By Nikki Finke | Category: Agents | Thursday June 18, 2009 @ 3:42am PST
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Not to mention, our new hours are 9-7 – MANDATORY. That’s fine, but don’t cut my pay, assholes. As we were told yesterday, we’re all very fortunate, because endeavor used to work 11 hours a day, all to service ‘The Prince’. Oh, and we’re all very happy about the merger. Right. Thanks Jim, Thanks Irv. Again, Ari shows WHY HE WAS IN TROUBLE at Endeavor. No people management skills. You know what, Ari? I can’t wait for the day you’re broke and destitute.
Llyod is that you?
Yes its true. Assistant pay at WMA or going down to match Endeavor. Also some agents will be told that they need to start sharing assistants so more layoffs coming in the assistant pool. What’s behind this, well thats easy money money money and some greed. The deal to take over WMA was amazing but no guarantee’s in terms of money. The are at least two more rounds of layoffs coming up. One very soon. We hear that the labor commision has been called by some of the fired assistants and agents to look at the unfair labor practice’s. For years WMA held back money on agents pay checks. Well when they terminated the agents the hold back money was not paid and by the way can anyone explain how they decided what was taken out of the hold back money. Thats all a big no no. Ari, and Patrick hold on for a rough ride with lawyers and state commisions. Many are banding together to get what’s there’s
Hey kids – it’s only for a year – if you stay longer than that you are asking for trouble. Make your contacts and move on. Unless you want to be an agent. If that is the case, hustle and get promoted. The whole idea is to be an assistant for as small amount of time as possible…
It sort of strikes me as something akin to the old apprenticeship system. Like the Dickensian blacksmith who feels he has to beat his apprentice harder than his mentor beat him to make up for their own sense of inadequacy.
So you get those who graduated the old assistant-agent system getting the attitude that being paid shit, and worked like rented mules is the only thing that builds the character necessary needed to be an agent. The problem is that it tends to escalate, or to be more exact, degenerate, into worse and worse treatment.
The hours of the NY have been changed. We now work from 9-7. The office used to open at 930 because we stayed so late. From LA we heard that Irv tried to walk into WMA and right into his office but guess what…he was denied entry. Irv what were you looking for, Jimmy, food or KN???? It’s hard to believe that morale could get any lower but it has. The clients are not getting serviced well because agents are worrying about there own jobs. The Miami office has no clue what to expect. They have been told that the evaluation process is in full swing and to cut expenses. More support staff at WMA has been let go. Men and woman who have been with the company for more then 25 years were told bye bye. Ari get his way and his people. Dave’s office wife, Jjill Smoller is in on life support in terms of job security.The boys at Endeavor don’t play that game. Is Jim Griiffin still being be served his breakfast and lunch on a silver platter. Yes this has really happening for many many years. Live Nation Live Nation Ari what’s happening. major confllct of interest. Oh but I’m sure the music clients already no that
More love from the inside coming soon
I was a production assistant at a large, well-known studio in Los Angeles and I was only paid $10 an hour, from which I could barely live off of. I had two roommates, and all of my excess income went to gas for driving around town on studio errands (you’re only reimbursed up to 30% of your gas, if at all, and this was when gas was $4.77 a gallon) and ramen. Thank goodness I managed to get promoted into a technical director-esque position, now I can afford more luxurious food items like Hamburger Helper!
To go from $13.50 an hour to $9.50 an hour is not only ridiculous, but it would most likely cause all of the assistants to have to relocate since they would suddenly no longer be able to afford their current living arrangements. I couldn’t imagine being put in such a position, my heart really goes out to them.
Starting out, I was appalled that CAA offered me only $250/wk (before taxes)to start in the mail room. I got paid twice as much at a smaller agency.
Hello I read your comment and I’m curious to know what life is like as an assistant at a film studio or one of the BIG talent agencies. What can I expect to be paid monthly?…I’m on pace to graduate with my BA soon.
The production assistant on a movie I’m working on now are making $8 and hour (and this is a major movie, by the way; biggest in town,) and this sleazy company even had the balls to factor in the one $8 meal penalty into the rate that they quoted. $9.50 would be a god send.
Oh no, 9-7?!?! What a terrible misfortune for you to suffer. I’ll guess you’ll have to work an average asst day.
At least you still have a job.
What’s funny is that for such a liberal bunch, when push comes to shove you are just like Wal-Mart Ari! You can take advantage of workers who have no place to go, just like box stores can do to lower class people. So when you look Obama in the eye next time, know deep down in your heart that YOU also represent everything that is bad in our country and the greed that has taken down our economy. I hope the extra few dollars an hr you get helps pay for your ten million dollar house or your stupid trips to Newport.
oh boo hoo, the people who do tasks a monkey could do aren’t making enough money. Shut up and work hard and you’ll make more money when you deserve it. I was an assistant in hollywood and worked my ass off for shit money and now I make great money. that’s the way of the world, not just hollywood. these assistants today think that after being on a desk for months they should be making 6 figures. Sorry kiddies, it doesn’t work that way so either stop your whining and bust ass or go back to your hometown and get some lame ass job that all your friends from high school have. Im sure you’ll be the hit of your 5 year reunion because you answered a phone in hollywood.
I just did the math. WME Assistants are being paid 25.00 less per week than I did twenty years ago, when I came to LA to begin my career.
wah. wah. wah. shut the fuck up and get me some coffee.
Where are the CLIENTS in this equation? I don’t do business with companies that I feel are unfair to their own. Totally indefensible to lower the assistant’s salaries. THERE IS ENOUGH FOR EVERYBODY. How about some pressure put on by the clients. You don’t think a few calls to the agents with a little “gosh, I don’t feel comfortable with you because you’re screwing the help” wouldn’t make a difference? Hello….of course it would. Step up people. And boo hoo…put your therapist on speed dial, darlin’.
Not an assistant; don’t even work in film. But, I have to say, I’m working temp as a receptionist for a non profit and I’m making $12 and hour for a 9 to 5 job. And, since it’s a temp job, I know my temp agency is charging the company more than that. Admittedly, this is in Dallas, but I’m struggling to see how any company could see paying it’s lower level employees such wages as a good business model, even if you are treating assistant positions like training positions for greater lucre down the line.
Well, you can always become movie background. That pays $135 for eight hours of work. That’s $16.75 pr/hour. not including paid lunch usually and overtime.
I think McDonald’s pays about that or better right?
average wal-mart greeter gets paid $10 an hour
i was an agent trainee in 1998 at another big Hollywood agency… at that time, we made $350 a week (before taxes) and I usually worked 7:30 AM – 10:30 PM and had to tackle coverage for at least 3 scripts a week at night. No overtime. Pretty standard agency stuff…
Looking back on it, I have realized that the only people that actually succeeded in this environment were the people that were not actually supporting themselves… their parents were and for most, still are! That is the tricky part about this industry – it is not a real career thus you should never expect your paycheck to actually ever cover your living expenses. The industry does not care if you can live on a low wage, it is all considered to be part of a glorious weeding out process. And yes, agencies love to break labor laws. That said, I am thrilled I got out of Hollywood when I did but news like this makes me sad. Good luck to the WME assistants, this has got to be rough…
Oh and do not even get me started on what it was like to be a female trainee at a talent agency – unreal…
I just don’t think it’s right, they’ve fired all these people and had so much payroll come off the books, adding so many clients that will bring in so much more income, to put the squeeze on people who they hope will become the future of the company is wrong and can’t be necessary.
I have always believed that the pay scale for agency assistants is deliberately lower due to the fact that they want to weed out those who do not have the means to survive on just that salary alone.
ari fan, are you really lloyd from entourage? i mean the way you speak bears an uncanny resemblance that i got chills.
Boo Hoo:
Just because you got fucked back in the day, doesn’t mean that’s the way it should be. Your mindset is exactly what perpetuates any broken system… You wouldn’t happen to be in politics would you?
Anyway, if you want to treat your assistant like shit to toughen them up? Fine. You want to make them work overtime 8 days a week? Fine. You want to throw staplers at them because it’s fun to watch them duck? Fine. But for fucks sake, at least pay them enough so they don’t have to live in the ghetto and eat noodles every night before they pass out and do it all over again.
Boo Hoo — you sound like some CAA dickbag. “and now I make great money.” They paying coordinators that much nowadays, huh? I bet you wear an Armani suit, love America Psycho, and wear paste/mold/sculpt in your hair. Prolly drive a 3 series on lease to fit in with the prototypical dickbags.
Unfortunately, I fear you are not the hit of any reunion, much less party.
Yo, Ed Hardy is having a sale this weekend! Get your assistant on that. With your great pay you can buy tons of rhine-stoned shirts to wear at Boulevard 3 while hitting on assistants.
I thought I’d never post on DHD, and man, Boo Hoo, you just rubbed my the wrong way.
Sad that the assistants do more work than some of the agents. There’s one TV lit agent from Endeavor in particular who just likes to brag to people that she is an agent at Endeavor but she doesn’t actually do her job. She’s so emotionally unstable that if you ask her to do any work for you she’ll lose her mind and yell at you for telling her how to do her job! She can’t actually do anything for the clients, nor does she know what the clients are up to and if they’re even working!
So maybe WME should survey their clients on which agents they should let go as I’m sure the clients could in 2 minutes compile a list because they know the people who are doing the work for them and not just kissing ass of the higher ups in the break room.
I like that comment about Ari – a big cuddly liberal with his brother’s boss and then he screws his own company hires worse than AIG. U are simply a liar Ari – but hey, U look at that as a virtue. One day U will answer for what U’ve done… In the meantime, assistants, suck it up! This town is full of shitheads – I know, I worked for some of the biggest, and I’m still around.
re Comment by Former Assistant — June 18, 2009 @ 7:45 am
Yes, I too was an assistant about that time and they are making less and working more. I shared an apt in the Hills with a friend and we paid about $400 each per month. Try that now and see what you get. Nada. Plus a car, insurance? You’re fucked.
Agree with other commenter to get in, make connections and get out. However, it’s far more difficult these days because all the development jobs at studios or production companies with housekeeping deals have all but disappeared. Seriously, where do assistants go now? There is no more industry.
Kiddies, a bit of advice from a wise former assistant. Get the fuck out. Get into an industry that is growing, rather than shrinking. Get some course work or experience in anything involving new media, emerging tech or gaming. The agency world will continue to shrink as the talent pool will continue to get smaller as agencies don’t want to invest in growing talent. Plus, you’ll be a fuck of a lot happier.
Or, don’t take my advice and be a slave, get an ulcer, get fucked over, sell your soul and your clients, get an STD and die young and poor.
If you don’t like then leave the industry. Babies. Seriously suck it up or go home!
Typical Hollywood leftist Democrats, they love voting for Socialists and sympathize with Communists, then they treat their staff like farm animals and slaves. The hypocrisy is laughable. They are the true greedy slime.
Assistants on Film/TV Productions make way less than that and have far worse hours. Since most of them don’t get paid overtime they end up working for less than minimum wage as well as less than the PA’s. It’s unfair but it’s been that way for a while now, nothing new here. Every year the pay seems to go down.
wow, Boohoo, just coz you were a slave doesn’t mean others need to be. Fact is, its against the law. Period. Assistants are not slaves for you to lord over, what hypocrites agents are. slavery went out of style centuries ago. It’s time for assistants to unionize!
I like BriteBlonde1’s “idea” on how to fix things, regrettably it has no basis in reality. Why?
Actors, (and writers and directors for that matter)no matter how big or small on the food chain ever bite the hand that feeds them.
A lot of actors (although not the brightest) have a survivor’s sense of which side to route for, and trust me they will choose to stay silent for their own selfish reasons rather than support an assistant 100 out of 100 times.
True story: used to make $15 and (then more) in high school working at a Whole Foods.
Even still, it makes a lot of sense to accept the slave wages and work this close to Hollywood central nexus of packaging power.
It’s like grad school, except tuition is free and living expenses are (almosted) covered.
Anyone who actively wants to be an agent deserves to suffer for as long as possible.
In the old days, there were two tracks: agent trainees, who made $300/wk gross, no benefits, and professional assistants, who started at $450/wk and got benefits and regular raises.
I spent a year at a major agency. Six months in the mailroom, six months on a desk. I have since worked at 2 broadcast networks and a major tv studio. Compared to working in tv, being at the agency was like working at the Special Olympics every day. For all the BS about working thirteen hours a day, most of the agents sit around playing video games, planning extravagant vacations, yelling at their assistants, and trying to figure out where to have lunch. If you’re a writer, you can be about 98% sure that your lit agent has never read a single word you’ve ever written, and instead relies on the opinion of a $300/wk recent college grad.
About a decade ago, when I was a senior programming exec at FBC, I stopped talking to agents. For the following ten years, I spoke to agents maybe once a week, and they were usually talent agents and it was usually some BS actor-prima-donna issue (”My client forgot that she has to fly to London to present an award.” “OK, I’ll talk to the producers about jiggling the schedule around. When is this?” “Tomorrow.”) I got my pitches and specs from managers and producers; I filled open-writing assignments by calling my favorite writers at home.
In my humble opinion, and in my own experience (which may be unique, and, let’s face it, I’m never going to be president of a network), agents are completely superfluous and should be avoided wherever possible.
I agree 100% w/ Abe LastFogey. Boo hoo is a D bag and probably had daddy paying rent while he was an assistant.
Most assts I know are barely scraping by since LA has such a high cost of living. It’s not a matter of paying your dues when you have to go into debt to pay for groceries. Most assts already “pay their dues” by working around the clock and get treated like shit.
I think the old hollywood Dbags have instilled a horrible system and it keeps getting worse even the cost of living keeps increasing. It starts with the agencies, then production co’s think they should be able to get away with paying assts what the kids in the agency mailrooms start with. so gross.
Dear assistants,
I feel for your plight. I know many of you. Complaining will not do anything, action does.
I barely could live off an assistant wage, but I was smart enough to realize I could sell talent grids to survive at as much as $200 to rival agencies and management companies – and occasionally brokering deals for rolodexes that I stole while as a floater. (So understand, if you’re as morally bankrupt as your bosses, you too can eek out a living wage)
But I digress….
The only thing Ari and senior management respond to is leverage. As assistants, you have plenty.
1) Ari, let this be a warning, your home phone number is going to be posted EVERYWHERE. Why? Because I’m asking every assistant who dislikes this move by management to do so. Go ahead and change your course of action, or you’ll have to change your phone number every two weeks if you want to get any sleep at night and function as an executive.
2) Letter writing campaign. I promise any one of you assistants that ICM or CAA will foot the bill for postage if you all get together and create a letter to this effect sent to every WME major client (on WME letterhead):
Dear Denzel Washington,
This week WME announced plans to cut assistant salaries 30% causing us to fall further below a livable wage. Many of us are already struggling to make ends meet and with this large wage reduction, many of us will have to leave the business of working tirelessly on behalf of clients.
Please call Ari Emanuel at (XXX) XXX-XXXX and ask that during this time of much suffering in the economy, that he maintain assistant wages at a livable level.
Sincerely,
WME Assistants
(You’re all more accomplished letter writers than I am, but you get the basic idea… Hit em where it hurts, the clients)
3) Unionize / Walk out. Not sure if you all have the balls and tenacity to do it, but Unionize. Call up one of the guilds to help you. If you’re lucky, you can make it a closed shop and start getting paid better than supermarket baggers! And watch Ari try to explain to big brother Rahm at the White House that he is fighting against a Union. The right Union organizer would have a filed day with this one.
Point being, you have more power over this than you might think. I hope you’ll stand up to being pushed around by your millionaire corporate oppressors, aka Ari.
-R
PS: Dear Ari… This is morally repugnant to do to your corps of assistants – though the verdict already seem to come in that you have no morals.
Considering the average assistant works barely a year before leaving, you couldn’t wait for attrition and just have the $9.50 apply to new hires? Besides, its not like you haven’t crushed morale to the point that a slew of WMA assistants want to move on as soon as their year is up.
The assistants who work there know what they are getting into. They could get a less “glamorous” job that pays well where they were treated decently but they choose not to because they are chasing their own version of money, greed and fame. Now they want to work at the most egotistical agency in town. And now that agency says–we will pay you even less! And now these assistants still want to work there. If they asked the assistants to pay them for the privilege of working there–there would probably be takers.
Writer’s assistants, director’s assistants – same pay, same hours, far worse implications, being that their employers are all members of the industry’s labor unions. Shouldn’t they treat “the workers” better than they do?
Seriously, Nikki, as long as comments are monitored, it’s really repulsive that you’d post an anti-Semitic comment.
What I remember most fondly about working at an agency was the humiliation. And memories like that are something you simply can’t put a price tag on.
Sadly pathetic. I hope everyone, including the people over 40 are contacting the EEOC for inhumane treatment and instating a suit against the company. Most of the assistants are doing the job of their lazy bosses who are too busy chatting on the phone with friends or out getting mani/pedis, haircuts (not Gaby) or schmoozing at the grill.
Jim Wiatt has managed to mangled and crush a company over 100 years old and Ari will just step over the bodies left behind.
Shame on all of you for the demise of WMA as an institution. I hope all of these assistants creep into your dreams at night and haunt you from today forward.
I hope to see your karma come back around as your black hearts will explode.
complain all you want, but there are thousands that would take your job working at a top 4 agency. yes, you make shit in the mail room, but if you last you’ll get a raise after 12 months … and get another bump after another year … and then another. when you’re an assistant to a partner or dept head the rules don’t apply to you … you can negotiate another bump … you get overtime. assistants who have managed to last and figure it out are making more than baby agents and creative execs. those are the ones who aren’t bitching and those are the ones that are going to get promoted b/c they’ve figured it out. keep your heads down and work your asses off (and eat leftovers from meetings to save money).
Jill Smoller. How if the F did she ever make it. She’s Dave’s office wife and Serena’s baby sitter. Too bad she lost Michelle Wie – she got to travel on her dime too. Take a look at what dollars she generates on an annual basis. The income wouldn’t even pay an assistant for one week. Dump her and you’d be able to give every assistant a salary which would at least coverthe cost of living.
@Abe LastFogey I’ve got to stand up for Boo Hoo.
“you wear an Armani suit, love America Psycho, and wear paste/mold/sculpt in your hair.” He might not, but I do. Love AMERICAN PSYCHO. Wouldn’t be caught dead in Ed Hardy tho… the two looks are mutually exclusive.
And what does that have to do with anything? Assuming he’s not full of shit, he’s proof that there the agency=grad school system works.
Oh, and for the record, if the Bateman thing wasn’t cool, Fox wouldn’t be doing MONEY NEVER SLEEPS.
I would love to run into BooHoo in a dark alley.
Abe LastFogey, I couldnt agree more. It’s really sad that this is happening…how can you not agree. But instead we get douchetalk from BooHoo, who obviously suffers from penis envy.
Just what is the percentage of assistants who actually go on to better jobs within the same agency? What’s the actual promotion rate at the majors? Assistants, do the math before you buy the bullshit. What is it that you actually LOVE about the business that cannot be found in another business? The talent? The product? Be real. I toiled in entertainment for 10 years and you know what? It’s just a business filled with lousy bosses, shitty content and crappy pay. It’s a lousy job market but try to find another industry that can use your talents and appreciate you with benefits, retirement, flex spend and…hold the phone…A FUTURE! Get out before you get too old, too bitter and your translatable skills are no longer translatable. I left entertainment, had to take a step back to gain experience in another business (albeit entertainment oriented). Couldn’t be happier not being yelled at by people who should be in mental institutions, have miserable track records and worse profit margins. And the pay is better. Stop acting like the abused wife and open your eyes. It’s not going to get any better. You’re never going to get a union…cripes, JUST what this town needs…Seriously, I WAS you. I know what I’m talking about.
Still better than the 9.2862 Marvel is shafting their employees with, and only 30cents /mi.
If you don’t like it then quit. A busload of new kids willing to do your job for free shows up in Hollywood every hour.
Seriously, if you don’t like it… go home. Half of you are being supported by mommie and daddie anyway.
Try living the life in my heels…. graduated college a few years ago, worked production in NY for 3 years, moved to LA (had to start all over getting my foot in the door)to work in the industry out here and I’m still struggling money wise, but career wise. I work my ass off everyday. I’ll come in at 7 am if need be for my boss, and usually I do… I’ll take the pay cut until I get somewhere… and you know why?? because I want it. I’m in the industry I want to be in…
So either take what your given and make something out of nothing or get the fuck out.
Correct me if I’m wrong – but I believe that if you work over 40 hours a week – and 45 hours is more than 40 – you are entitled to overtime….especially in an assistant position – who’s looking into that
Here’s the deal. No one is forced to work for a major talent agency. In fact, anyone who has gone through the interview process knows that they try really hard to convince you that you don’t want to do it. That it sucks and never gets better, even when you get promoted.
You do the job because there is something driving you to play in the entertainment or agency game.
If the pay is not suitable, go get another job. Most likely you have considerable connections, an Ivy League degree or a shitload of tenacity. I highly doubt there will be an issue finding a job that pays decently.
As a former agent and current producer, the only thing that I see from these people complaining about the pay is a desire NOT to do everything it takes to find success in THIS business. And let’s be clear, putting movies and television shows together requires everything you’ve got to make it happen, especially in the current climate.
And for the record, I paid my own way through the agent training program with a shit-ass car, a small rented room and Campbell’s soup for dinner. It’s tough, but not impossible.
Let’s not lose sight of the fact that everyone working at an agency as an assistant is holding on to a very specific ambition; to acheive success in entertainment. It’s very easy to leave an asst gig at an agency.
So, Endeavor can’t create a successful business of its own so it plunders a juicy target instead, picking off the riches and leaving a dead carcass.
This is supposed to be admirable? Much easier to plunder and destroy than it is to, you know, successfully create something of value.
Agreed with “BriteBlonde1″ that there is enough for everybody. This biz is fast going the way of the dinosaur. The obsolescence isn’t caused by the internet, it’s caused by business pirates. The internet simply arrived on the scene and is providing an intriguing alternative by necessity.
The pillagers are likely flattered when they are called “shitheads” and compared to sharks, etc. To that mentality, success is measured by the degree of the screw-over. The testosterone pathology continues to hijack the economy and kill everything in its path.
This pirate mentality needs to be stigmatized not revered. It is ruinous and not admirable. Much easier to destroy and plunder than actually create something. Fortunately, perceptions are shifting that way.
Business greatness is based upon a sustainable business model with a product or service of value. It is not who can act like the biggest animal and exploit the most.
The entertainment biz is dead, kids. It hasn’t been fun or sexy for some time. Don’t flog the dinosaur. There are so many new enticing industries springing up.
I worked as an assistant in the early 80’s for a small agency. I believe I started at $225 per week but the funny thing is $175 was “salary” and then I’d get $50 per week for “expense reimbursement” so they wouldn’t have to tax it. (or pay employer’s share)
Looking back I don’t know how made it on that little money, but I always looked at as more as getting graduate degree in the entertainment business. I’m sure I learned more about the industry in the two years I worked there than I would have attending film school and I got paid. Being an assistant is a great education but it’s definitely not a long term career.
The one exception used to be Broder-Kurland-Webb where there was never any pretense that the assistants were going to be agents so they paid the assistants a very decent wage. Mr. Broder is a class act. The good old days…
Comment by former wma’er — June 18, 2009 @ 10:28 am
Completely agree with “former wma’er”’s advice. If you do not get out now, at least have a solid back-up plan and/or expiration date. And that plan should not be moving in with your parents but another career path that seems interesting and (god willing) lucrative!
I also recommend getting out of LA whenever you hit your expiration date… amazing how silly that industry is from a few thousand miles… not to mention the cost of living, oy.
Good luck!
@typical
Yup, those guys are sick towards female trainees.
The sickos aren’t just the agents, but the trainees as well, especially if you’re the token female who also happens to be smarter than, and ultimately more successful than, them.
If true this story just reinforces the image that Tiffany’s has been taken over by K-Mart.
The sounds of the pissing and flushing away of a hundred year old brand name are still echoing throughout Hollywood.
Go work at Gersh if you want to be an agent. Pay is great, people are pretty nice all around and the hours USUALLY aren’t terrible. Good benefits as well.
Nicely said former wma’er. What a loser business. It’s shrinking by the minute. I was an assistant at a talent agency. I also left the business and have never looked back. It was the best decision I have ever made. You only have one life kids, spend it wisely.
When Ari came to the NY office there was a grand meet and greet in which he, standing on the 16th floor, addressed us gathered in the 15th floor lobby. It was very fascist dictator addressing the masses.
He had the audacity to say that this great, new gleaming entity was “not about the clients, not about the buyers… It’s about YOU…” meaning us WHO WERE ABOUT TO BE FIRED OR HAVE THEIR PAY CUT BY A THIRD.
I do believe I am done with a business whose pinnacle of leadership is someone who could be so specious.
Stop complaining …gotta pay your dues
Assistants – have a sick out.
Seriously. It’d be great to see these agents try to handle their own desks all day long. Fucking weasels.
Note to the Dept. of Labor and Brother Rahm: Ari & Co. have been getting away with MURDER for way too long by underpaying people to have the “privelage” to work at Endeavor/WME. This is ILLEGAL. Ari should be thrown in jail with the common criminals (as should Carol Katz the HR Monkey)…You could make more money working at McDonalds than at WME! And they will never pay you for the massive amounts of overtime you put in!
whatever you pansy assistants. i do more than you and make less…
I am contacting the dept. of labor and the EEOC. I’m over 40, and this is just devastating to us. And I’m other support staff, not an assistant. This is inhumane treatment. Ari is the biggest idiot on the planet if he thinks treating people like shit will make us all ‘work harder’. Bullshit. We have families and lives outside of work, at least we did. Ari is no better than the Walton’s of Walmart, who I think may actually care about their employees more than he does.
A lot of good people are going to leave. You don’t notice us now, because we do our jobs damn well. But believe me, you’ll notice when we’re gone.
Why doesn’t the repped talent at WME say something about this? Seems to me that one word from their top actors or directors in defense of these poorly paid young assistants could make a big difference. Let’s hope the agents they work for help them out with some $$$$.
or be resentful and think that you run the company, quit , start ur own nothing company and learn the hard way that you really are just that, an assistant working for yourself.
Pay your dues, build your relationships, and be honest. It does all come back at you. LOL. i see it everytime from the top
and yes, I made shitty coffee and rolled calls for many years. Plus I baby sat on weekends.
Ari…..Limousine Liberal, Cadillac Communist, Mercedes Marxist, Learjet Leninist.
Why don’t the assistants go back to school and learn a new field that pays more. Am I missing something?
To the insensitive idiots who are telling the assistants suck it up – please grow up.
Imagine, college educated assistants coming in to work at 730am and leaving at 8 sometimes 9pm everyday because their desk is at such high volume, being told non-chalantly that their overtime, which they use to barely scratch by with rent + student loans, will be now reduce EVEN MORE…
.
The rich get richer and the poor get poorer. This isn’t a marriage,its a bloodbath like someone said in another post.
wow … and this is what america has come to. people arguing about who works more ridiculous hours for less money.
Most of the people that work at agencies come from money anyways. Stop complaining, mommy and daddy will still pay for your apartment and bev hills and the benzo…
Great, the cheap company I work for now has the, “at least we pay you more than WME” card to play.
$9.50/hour to start? To learn? With Zero experience? Get fired and live on the Obama plan @ 450/week. Better yet, try acting. Jack Nicholson said it takes 20 years to make it. I’m going on 25. Still living on unemployment between jobs, when or if they ever come. No health insurance. No game. It took me 11 years and 30 plays that I did for free in L.A. 99 cent theatre plan to get my big break. Which never lead to anything. Still doing free plays. Am I complaining? No. Not on your life. We all gotta die of something. Might as well die doing what you love. Good luck. Get out if you hate it. No crying, whining, complaining or bitching. No one cares.
I hope Ed never intended to have a significant other or children.
WME assistants have every right to be frustrated with their situation. The financial crisis predicted to last YEARS will stall upward mobility and prevent lateral movement to another job. As a result, WME can hold their assistants hostage, and justifiably so if it’s for the good of the company and its investors. Welcome to capitalism.
My advice: leave WME and get a real job. Look at your bosses. Are they happy? Are their families happy? Do they respect one another? That’s you in a few years. You’re not going to change the game, so why not participate in something more meaningful or satisfying?
If you’re doing it for the money, and only the money, then best of luck to you.
My degree is from a party school near Mexico because that’s what I could afford.
My parents gifted me the wealth of ambition and work ethic to succeed. I’m connected because i made connections..i don’t fear nepotism-i consider it network packaging.
Ditch your car and ride MTS- isn’t going green the thing to do anyway ? I bet your agency will even pay you to do this. Mine does. 120 dollars saved monthly.
Hang up your ties after you wear them instead of dry cleaning them needlessly. Shop around for less expensive dry cleaners.
Stop drinking alcohol and getting tables at lame LA and Vegas clubs..
Ditch your iPhone- you’re chained to your desk so much anyways. ( i still have mine because i’ve made my budget cuts)
Rent cost? you can move further away but i moved to WeHo from thai town and pay less now.
Make sacrifices. Be creative. Band together with other broke ass assts and enjoy this time of corporate “hazing”. I’m glad my agency does this as an initiative.
It’ll be a good story to tell one day when you humbly say …you’ve made it to the top.
Or you can continue to complain– meanwhile – agents and execs are paying more attn to the assts coming to work with a positive attitude.
Shout out to former WMA HR Rod : Thanks for being such a condescending jerk that I didn’t get hired at WMA. Amazing how life works.
Learn..network..have fun..you didn’t get paid to do this in college.
Ed,
They’re entitled to complain all they want. I’ve seen how hard these assistants work and the UNBELIEVABLE workload some of them have – in some cases doing the majority of the work for their incompetent shit agents. The workload/pay ratio is PATHETIC. This is where the complaint has true resonance. Assisting an agent at one of the busiest and most prolific agencies in the world deserves the pay reflective of the workload – just as any job does. Anyone wonder my McDonald’s pays such shit? Their workload is a fucking joke.
true story. there is a top agent in this town that drove a used Mail Truck as a trainee and even into his first few years as agent.
If you WANT IT, you do what it takes…
make your own luck, make your own success, and stop complaining. when your name is on the door, pay your assistant 100K a year. i bet you wont
I love the takes of both former wma-er and Mr. X; not just assistants but anyone in the industry (or any other) who is at all conflicted about their true passion for the particular career track they’ve chosen would do well to heed those words and the sentiments behind them, lest they wake up one day when it’s far too late to change anything – fucking miserable and ashamed over having wasted a life, one lived without a moral compass or a clue.
On the other hand…
I can only speak intelligently of my own experience, which is that my producing partner and I have a rule we live by as much as is humanly possible in this business: “no assholes or divas allowed”. This applies to casting, crewing, hiring new reps, etc. And obviously we have to grade on a pretty steep curve sometimes*, but getting that notion into the conversation as early as possible in some way has generally served us well, and I highly recommend that you try it – when you have enough game to pull it off, that is. Your mileage can and will vary, but if effectively presented it’s magic.
* when we were younger we’d hoped to rule out “batshit crazy” also, but hey: ultimately we like to work, so…
Still better than the $8/hour (no overtime) at Abrams. And just try asking for a bump after a year
If you allow yourself to stay in situations where you are struggling financially so that you can do what you love or think will lead to what you love, that is perfectly fine, but please do not broadcast it expecting the world to hand you a trophy for withstanding poverty.
It’s bearable for about a year. If you’ve mastered your job, and are still not getting noticed, or relationships are not budding, you are not going anywhere in the agency. Hence, you are not going to be an agent. Move on. It is very difficult to switch industries after more than 2 years at an agency as an assistant…. people in the real world don’t take you seriously. Especially if you have a grad degree coupled with 3 years of agency experience, you look like a fool.
anything below 10.75$ an Hr FT, officially puts you below the poverty line of 22K a yr. Radicalize in today’s day and age.
Love it or leave it.
From the remarks to this post, it is obvious Hollywood, in particular the Agency system, is perpetuated by a repeating cycle of greed, bitterness and oppression. I find it interesting that these are same qualities that caused the fall of on of the great industry icons, WMA and its famed Agent Training program. So all of you posting the “too bad” speeches. Careful, that’s the same attitude WMA HAD!
And lets be totally honest here: the reason why most Agencies and Agents treat there assistants like shit is none other than JOB SECURITY. Most Agents don’t know there head from there ass and have only been trained in the art of “It’s a pass.” Frankly put: It’s not a good business decision to have your mid six figure investment being out shined by the recent grad assistant.
what a bunch of pussies. everyone who’s saying that assistants do most of the work for agents are delusional. you roll calls (and probably drop calls), you set meetings, you do expenses. as trivial as it seems, you’re learning valuable multi-tasking skills that are imperative to being a good agent while learning who’s who in this game of hollywood. agents you’ll are constantly juggling multiple clients at different levels for a scarce amount of jobs. are there assistants out there that really think they could call the network, pitch clients and make deals? that’s about as likely as a flight attendant landing a plane. shut the fuck up, listen, network and learn. you’ll get there if you want it badly enough. i dare anyone of you to walk out … you’ll be replaced quickly and if the floater who took your job doesn’t stick, the next one will. here’s a little secret for all of you whiny bitches: AGENTS WERE ONCE ASSISTANTS!
Hollyweird — if you left the business and never looked back, why are you commenting on this blog?
Cunning Anonymous Asst — great post. A slight difference in attittude is what gets someone promoted or referred to the job they’re interested in. Which is the whole point right? I don’t ever remember anyone saying that the point was to become an assistant, make a comfortable living and coast for 30 years…
i appreciate everyone’s sympathy with the plight of WMA assts, but…. we former endeavor assts lived on this salary for years. it’s a liveable wage, about $28k a year considering how much overtime we have to put in (not all of which is credited), and to the extent that anyone should get your sympathy it should be us for having missed out on the thousands of dollars in extra wages the wma assts got prior to the merger
To all my fans out there, I’m just a normal guy with a family who lives a normal life. I grew up in the midwest, paid for my own college by working and with the help of student loans. When I started working out here I held two jobs, one on the weekend and my agency job (and btw, I’m not an agent, I figured out quickly that I didn’t want to lie for a living, used them for what I needed to make the next step and got out).
I just don’t believe all the “i can’t make my rent” whining. Maybe you can’t afford the place you are in, maybe you waste too much money on clothes and drinks and other things.
No one said being successful is easy. There is such a thing called “sacrifice” that many Gen Y’ers don’t seem to be familiar with. You don’t start out at the top.
And one last note, all of my assistants I’ve had I’ve championed within and outside of my company, one was even promoted within my company. Just because I believe in hard work doesn’t mean I’m abusive. Hopefuly, I am preparing my assistants to be successful in wherever their passion lies.
Oh please. If you want to eventually become a bottom-feeding, parasitic agent that lives off of the talent of others, then you have to pay your dues and put up with the humiliation.
Ummm …. step back people.
I have a friend who is a professor at UCLA. She was just given a pay cut. Is she upset about it? Not as upset at the alternative (being furloughed).
This situation is how you perceive it. The alternative is a game of russian roulette. Would you rather all take a slight pay cut, or keep your rate but have another round of firings.
As so many above have said, the assistants are very fungible and there are 800 people standing in line behind each one for the job. People walking off or quitting will be a benefit, not a loss. The new people will be more than happy to take the reduced salary, and they won’t grouse about it.
What’s the big deal? Find another job if you don’t like it. Otherwise, suck it up.
The avg. dominos delivery driver makes between 14 and 18 dollars per hour
this is nothing like walmart.
the majority of assistants are only buying booze, and you know, other stuff, with their salaries as their rich parents are footing the bill for their climb to the top.
many are ivy league graduates who CHOSE to work there. Most walmart employees end up working there to feed their families and because a walmart job is the best they can find.
quit crying and roll some calls!
It’s not slavery if it’s voluntary. It’s called a supply curve. Apparently there are no high-level skills required, or they would have to pay more.
No one’s forcing people to work there. If you’re working there for money then you’re in the wrong position. If you’re working there to learn the trade then accept the trade-off and stop looking for hand-outs.
Seriously, as someone who has been looking for an in into the entertainment business for the last 10+ years I would take their jobs in a heartbeat. Stop complaining, I would love to be where you’re at.
I would work for $1.00 if I could work for the Prince. Everyone should have my attitude.
I was a assistant at a large agency that paid shit and treated me like shit. I worked hard got promoted and left after a year. The moral of the story is that I make so much more money at a small agency, I have freedom and its a happy environment. We have people who have left the big agencies, its only a matter of time that people are going to get sick of the bull shit and they are going to crumble.