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While I was otherwise disposed, WME Entertainment made still more layoffs this week. But the number of agents fired were nowhere near as many as those incredibly unreliable tracking boards claimed. (Those boards don't care whose careers they hurt by falsely claiming they've been fired: I do.) So far, I've confirmed only two layoffs, Dawn Saltzman and Sarah Lemkin. Stay tuned.
WME Lets Go 2 Agents In Latest Layoffs
By Nikki Finke | Category: Agents | Friday September 4, 2009 @ 11:29am PST
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It’s digusting. Dawn was the best agent I ever had, and Sara was once her assistant. Don’t know what kind of agent she was, but I will say she was the best assistant for an agent I’ve ever had.
figures. they’re both women.
So if two blacks get fired the company is raciest?
So if two women get fired the company is sexest?
Maybe if these two women had some balls (considering lack there of) they would go out and make there own way like Ari did?
You have to love the broke ass people who can’t get into the business on this site.
you should go back to school to learn how to spell, idiot…
Sorry for the typo’s my female asst was out washing my car.
Dawn please come to UTA and leave the all male frat house that is WME how many woman are in the WME feature lit? 1 Adrianna. Boy if i was a chick too much testorone in that place. stay away!!!!!
Dawn Saltzman!!?? DAWN SALTZMAN!!!??? Congratulations Ari and Rick. Endeavor has become precisely what it was created not to be. Dawn you’re better off. Leave the ship to the rats. Hey Endeavorites, the next time the lie “we’re like a family” pass through your lips when you’re trying to explain why your agency is superior to CAA or UTA, be sure not to give Dawn a passing thought. You’ll sleep better at night.
Sara is a great person and an excellent agent. She will be missed. No doubt, though, that someone will pick her up asap.
Why doesn’t WME just officially change its logo to WTF?
I assist for an EP trying to switch from one (reputable, higher-end) agency to WME based on multiple referrals and recommendations. They told him “no” despite his extensive and successful credits (and multiple shows being developed), then embraced clients with one or two failed credits and no current prospects.
WME is hemorrhaging and doesn’t seem to give a shit. It’s pathetic and sad.
bottom line, if agents make money they stay, if they don’t they go (unless they’re too expensive to get rid of)
I’m a WME client, and a happy one at that, but this is ridiculous. I’ve had dealings with both Dawn and Sarah over the years, and they were not only class acts, but had their shit together to boot, moreso than 90% of the others I’ve dealth with. They brought it hard for their clients and did right by that place. Sad day.
I am so shocked that WME let go 2 women, so so so shocked! Who wouldve ever thought that frat house, misogynist boys club, would hate women… despite that being so derivative of Alfalfa and “Our Gang” clubhouse where there were NO GIRLS ALLOWED. Unfortunately, they let go 2 good agents when there are a few women in TV lit who suck so hard and really deserve to get fired and theyre still employed, so who knows what these guys are thinking.
Whoever you are, you are an unlikeable and cold person.
Clearly there are reasons to get rid of agents in this merger – some economic, some professional and some personal. But NEVER let it be said that anyone believes that WME is a “family” – it’s a business and it’s doing what it (aka Ari and maybe a few board members) wants to it’s “family.”
Shut up Jose, you clearly don’t know what you’re talking about. Dawn Saltzman is a class act agent and very popular with Execs all over town. WTF indeed. Ari is putting some bad karma out there. I too hope she goes to UTA.
It seems like some of you are upset just because Endeavor let go of women. Is that the basis of your argument? Because they’re not the first or last PEOPLE to be let go (including this past week). Men and Women, that is. So get over that fact. Gender should not matter. Job performance should. Dawn got paid tons of money (yes 6 figures is a damn good salary, top 1% in America). There’s no crying in entertainment. She’ll get another job and service that agency’s clients. She’s a servicer and should be thrilled she lasted so long. End of story.
Made no sense to fire Sarah at all. She wasn’t expensive enough to get rid of for monetary reasons. She had taste. And manners. Maybe that’s why she had to go.
Her biggest mistake may have been having come up on Strickler’s desk. Feels more like a philosophical purge than a well thought out business decision to me.
Too bad. She was definitely value-added to the place.
It’s beginning to remind me of the worst parts of CAA, a machine to feed the current large grossing clients at the expense of the rest — a short term strategy for an over-extended business model. Won’t surprise me if they fragment and collapse in 5 years
Ensconced old talent and stealing clients won’t cut it in the long run. What 2% are planning to represent? And who’s going to bother to stay a provide material for them when they’re getting ignored and abused.
actually, if it reminds you of CAA, then i really doubt that these guys will be gone in 5 years. I personally know Ari and Patrick, and I can assure you that they are not going anywhere. whether or not Dawn or Sara were class acts really has nothing to do with their philosophies. it is simply a matter of commerce for them. no one thought they would get this far. they literally pulled the rug out from one of the biggest agents in the business (wyatt) and he never even saw it coming. hell, he even voted himself into oblivion. he deserved it, but never saw it coming. these guys are smart and aggressive. whether you like them or not is inconsequential. in 5 years, the agency will simply be known as… ENDEAVOR… and they are here to stay.
DAWN is fantastic, she’s always so authentic. Shame on them.
Tim Dowling- I mean, “writer”. We get it, Dawn’s great. Message heard.
BTW This is Tim Dowling. “Writer” isn’t me. But agree with all of this Dawn is amazing and deserved way better.
There were over a hundred people let go last week at WME. And yet, all we seem to see on this site is the ‘boo hoo’ for people because they are good souls. Of course they are … no one has ever questioned that. It’s ridiculous to think that these moves were made quickly and without thought of ramifications.
People are getting fired in the movie biz in all areas now because where there once was 11 studios there are now 5. Where there was once a spec marketplace, there is not. Where there was an opportunity for mid and small agents/agencies, there is less so now.
With all of the managers proliferating, it has allowed a small, select group of agents to represent the vast majority of people. The managers do the handholding, the lawyers do the deal making, and voila … a typical lit agent can manage 50 writers.
Same goes for tv. And, perhaps, talent.
So, agencies have a hard time supporting a $500,000 agent without a single client you’ve ever heard of. Despite the 15 comments above, no one has mentioned ONE client that any of these folks rep.
So, yes, it’s sad. But that’s life. The business is in flux and the support people must adjust.
“Her biggest mistake may have been having come up on Strickler’s desk. Feels more like a philosophical purge than a well thought out business decision to me.”
Agree. Endeavor died when Strickler left. Whatever-the-hell it is now, it’s a mess.
While I am primarily represented by “bigger agents” at WME, Dawn Saltzman and Sara Lemkin are without question two of the best and most effective agents in the feature lit department that I have encountered. This is a sad harbinger of the disintegration of WME. When agents with talent, taste, integrity and strong work ethics are let go, the foundation of this new “uber-agency” is called into question. In the wake of the merger, I was content to see what the new company would become. Having seen this, I will now leave. While I have been reassured by the WME powers that be that I am exactly the kind of client they want to retain, I want no part of a company that doesn’t value what Saltzman and Lemkin have to offer.
WME is really turning to garbage.
I tried to get a well-known public figure set up over there for appearances yesterday and they actually said “they don’t have the resources to adequately service their clients and as a result are not able to take on new clients in that division. Would I like to try lit instead?” Totally unprofessional response that shows your weakness, two calls later CAA and ICM were playing ball on both fronts. Say what you will but those are two squared away companies
“Sheila A” (female name not fooling anyone)
Gender shouldn’t matter. And yet it does. Pervasively, repeatedly, subtly and overtly. To deny the pitiful boys club and hide behind tired cliches is laughable. Women should form their own agency. Studies repeatedly show that women kick butt when they’re away from men. Leave the men to wallow in the dung heaps they compulsively create.
As another commenter noted, short term strategy, fragmented in 5 years, who would want to be a client, indeed ….
End of story.
yeah, love dawn. Had only been with her less than 2 years…this is horrible
Dawn and Sarah were both great agents. This sucks. The motion picture lit side is already overwhelmed. The Strickler purge is taking the heart out of Endeavor. One can only imagine what battles Donnelly is fighting behind the scenes.
Now that Strickler’s gone none of the former Endeavor MP agents are safe who received expensive gifts and extravagant holiday’s from Tom. I am sure a couple more will be let go before year’s end.
Sheila E –
Call me in 5 years. If anything WME will be much stronger. As the earlier post refers to that it’s a ’short term strategy’… really, you think CAA and WME think short-term? Come on, think rationally.
By all means, let anyone who wants to start an agency start one. If you want it all women, fine. All men, fine. It’s always unfortunate when someone gets let go but it’s not about gender. You make it about gender. Every agency has had their share of harassment lawsuits. But this case (Dawn) is about job performance, or lack thereof.
Cash strapped companies think short term. They cut out free soda and keep the corporate jets. CAA spent way too much money on the Fortress of Solitude WME mortgaged their future for this merger. There is a shake-out coming. Studios and agencies are where the music biz was 3 years before it imploded. With their heads firmly up their asses.
Why aren’t people concerned about teachers, police and fire protection cutbacks? Priorities are out of order.
They are, they’re just expressing those concerns somewhere else – because this is an ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY site, not CNN.
Hey Assistant,
This is Tim Dowling. i don’t know who “Writer” is. But agree with all this she is an amazing agent/person and deserved better. Who are you?
Sarah Lemkin, now Sarah Hammer, is a real loss for WME. She was busy nurturing new talent, could read a script and know that it was bound for glory, and she always returned a phone call. She was a class act, perhaps too classy for the new regime. But I’m confident she’ll end up somewhere terrific, with a stable of clients and great projects. What doesn’t kill you….
DAWN SATLZMAN was a huge part of endeavor, larger than her spreadsheet, and everyone affiliated with what endeavor has stood for knows this. i was an assistant with dawn, i remember when endeavor was formed, i rememeber when she was prmoted and how she has been a wonderful agent there for near a decade. as a client, i have gotten to work with her professionally and it has been a privilidge. when it came time for the assistants to rotate desks every 6 mos, she was always one of the most desireable desks, especially for women, as she conducted herself both professionally and with integrity. losing strickler sucked. really really sucked. but losing dawn has an air of depression around it…and a lot of that depression is resonating internally. of course everyone will move on and forward, and i dont think wme is crumbling or going to fall apart, nor do i not think dawn wont land and thrive elsewhere…but it doesnt mean you cant stop for the moment, applaud all that she has done and meant to that company and since our lives and business are comprised of individuals and our relationships with them, be both a little sad and pissed off. i am. youre a great agent dawn, a terrific woman and what you were a part of exists that much less without you there.
Eliminating lit agents. Nice. Gotta say it’s a good first step towards eliminating the writer completely from the artistic process.
What artistic process? I thought this was all business.
I work for a small but busy agency, and I can tell you that Dawn will do fine, based on what I’ve read. It’s a miracle that any of us are still at this, given the risk level that’s out there. It’s oppressive to the nth degree to be told no all the time, and agents are an must pull themselves up for themselves and their clients, and move on. I know she will do well.
Dawn was Endeavor’s first receptionist!
Anyone know where Dawn is now?