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Lionsgate Shares Down On Fiscal Q3 Earnings Miss I hear WME Reality TV major player John Ferriter remains odd man out at the new agency. Remember, he was the only one among the 20 William Morris board members to vote against the merger. 
Now he’s telling pals that he “hates coming into the office every day, but they’re hanging onto me as long as they have to pay me”. Ferriter had just signed a new 3-year deal before the merger talks began in earnest, so he has at least 18 months to go on his contract. He tried to raise venture capital and start a company, but the climate has been lousy because of the financial crisis. Then John was hospitalized when the Endeavor takeover went through, but recovered from his illness. In July, his silver bullet client Ryan Seacrest threw him under the bus by going to CAA and then battled over commissions. Perhaps 2010 will be a better year for Ferriter.
John Ferriter “Hates” Coming Into WME
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John – Take another crack at the venture capital raise. Things are much better on that front vs just a few months ago.
http://entrepreneur.venturebeat.com/2009/10/16/optimism-on-the-rise-for-tech-start-up-execs/
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/10/14/q3-2009-techcrunch-trends-venture-funding-up-17-5-ma-rebounds-even-more/
Good luck in 2010. splinter
On the surface, John comes off as a very nice guy. He is known to not return phone calls, be arrogant, blow off clients, date the bimbo blondes who then become clients and stab people in the back. Nice how his friend – and former partner on the Seacrest business – Adam Scher showed his (lack of) loyalty.
The one thing he did right – and I admire him for – is that he has the cajones to vote NO for the merger. It seems like he was only one with the vision to know what was going to happen.
Karma. Seacrest out.
“Perhaps”? Count on it.
“The Ferrit” is a survivor– he will be still agenting in this business for years to come. It’s good that he’s rid of “the Seacrest”
Ferriter’s always been a miserable wretch. And anytime something doesn’t work, it’s everyone else’s fault. He lacks vision and while he is “loyal” to clients on a personal level, professionally he does little to add value to them – and quite often has actually hurt them in the dealmaking process by not having a clue as to what they could get and then alienating the people he’s negotiating with to a point of no return. Worse, he’s dishonest.
Wow. If John leaves, that department will start to circle the drain. John was Itkin’s behind the scenes guys for years. Mark already lost Bunim Murray this year and he will lose the rest of his business without John there? Who will step in? Lance Klein? Sean Perry? Both very good guys, but everyone knows they are not on the same level and their relationships aren’t as deep. Interesting
John is also suing Jillian Barberie for $250,000.00 she owes WME in commissions.
This is great. WME fired a ton of agents during the merger. Looks like John is only guy who will fire WME. Ballsy
Not true. Dana Sims asked to be let out of her contract and left a month before the merger. Though I guess she doesn’t count as a “guy”
it’s probably not ‘John’ suing Jillian..it would be the agency suing her for non payment of fees. I know she had to take a big pay cut at Fox or else they were going to dump her off of the morning show.
The days of WMA Alternative TV dominance are over! No John, no show…it’s that simple. Itkin falls asleep in every meeting he’s in and will probably retire when his contract is up. If he’s not able to stay awake in meetings, what do you expect?
Get ready for the same old used car salesman antics of Seaaaaaan Perrrrry! “Hey Buddy!!!!!!!!!”
Lance is cool, but he will be on John’s level in 10 years.
I hope Mark does not sleep through this one.
Haha, this made me laugh about Sean. That’s EXACTLY how I remembered him.
Mark Itkin sleeps through meetings??? What are you even talking about? Quite the opposite. The only person I’ve seen with as much knowledge, wisdom, integrity and class as Itkin is John Ferriter himself. They are two extraordinarily impressive people. And anyone who has ever worked anywhere near Ferriter is extremely loyal to him and holds him in the highest regard. Sean, Lance… they are field mice next to Ferriter.
Plenty of people are miserable showing up there every day. The merger has fucked the place. Even more kudos to John for not only seeing this coming, but having the balls to vote against it. Itkin sure didn’t. They must have weekly meetings where they decide how to further fuck us employees. Paying us as little as possible and getting the most out of us. One of the last great institutions, fucking destroyed. John stood up when no one else would.
JF is an awesome guy. Works his ass off. Hopefully will be better year…
Nikki-where’s the story here? i’d be more surprised to hear someone from WME was talking about how much they loved coming into the office. Everyone is miserable over there and adjusting.
As a longtime client of Ferriter’s I can only say he’s a great guy and a great agent. Seacrest leaving him when he was in ICU after being repped by JF for a decade is much more telling about his character than John’s agenting.
Don’t they get tired of saying, “my client will only consider an offer on a financed film, with a start date and a director.”
Hasn’t every agent in that department worked for John? This will not bode well for Ari
John is a sure bet. Everyone knows it.
i hear he has been seen having coffee with Hayden Meyer at APA. They would help the tiny APA gain real power in the only TV dept that makes boatloads of $$$ for the tiny agency.
You do realize that APA has over 70 agents, and has been around for close to 50 years, right, Dude with a clue?
LOVE Hayden; JF joining APA would = all kinds of awesome.
I agree 100% with FFJ’s comment.
Poor John hates coming into work, how many people in Hollywood can say that they realy “love” coming into work anyway??
Suck it up Ferrit, and when you’re feeling miserable just take a look at your 7 figure paycheck.
Lance is the major powerhouse of that department hands down
Thanks, “lancekleinasst@wme.com”. We appreciate your perspective.
I would hate to show up to WME everyday too (or any agency for that matter). Can’t blame the guy.
Lance, stop posting about yourself. Let’s come back to reality.
Lance is a mensch and a great agent.
he is also highly respected by networks, lawyers, managers and studios.
His client love him.
How many agents can you say that about?
.
Hahaha, post and post, article after article, there is no group more bitter than the WME article commentators on Deadline.
Mergers happen. Get over it.
Ha, ha, ha, no one is denying ‘mergers happen’ and rants happen IN the office all the time–they’ve sounded just like this probably since the beginning of time.
‘Mergers’ aren’t always a success either.
JF has done well. Clients care about the next job, and their deal…Happy who cares? He gets plenty of coin and had the advantage of MI to lead him. Suck it up and go to work and get your check. If his clients miss him they will come back to the fold.
Look there are plenty of people who will praise John and plenty to tear him down. Truth is…he made Seacrest incredibly rich. He, along with Itkin, built what is (and has been) the most formidable force in Alternative TV…and let’s not forget that it was this dept that paid most of the WMA bills for years.
John voted against the merger because he thought it was bad business. I believe, ultimately, he is right. You can love him or hate him, but don’t be so naive as to count him out. Whether it’s APA or CAA or WME, those are just letterhead. Agents trade on the relationships they have with buyers. I wouldn’t bet against John Ferriter.
Those of us who know and work with John know him to be an agent- which inherently makes him full of shit sometimes, but when it all hits the fan, he has proven many times over to be a loyal and generous friend to many of his clients.
Saying you “hate” walking into WME isn’t such a bad thing…I was there recently. It’s fucking creepy! No heart. No personal touch. I felt like I was coming into lease a new mercedes. It felt like a smarmy showroom.
I love reading comments from people who have zero idea what the realities are… So let me shine some light — I am a former client and a current friend. The fact that I’m a “former” client has ZERO to do with John’s abilities but rather necessities of situations.
So taking it point by point from Ari E’s cronies (like Nikke isn’t aware Ari has people in his office plant what he wants the community to read??? Ari may be that stupid, but Nikke and we aren’t)
First “inside” comment -
JF is telling people he “hates coming into the office everyday”. Uh, not even close to being true. Not only is John too smart to tell ANYONE that, he doesn’t feel it. Even larger than the his “office” life, he’s aware how lucky he is to be alive (there were minutes there when it might have turned the other way.) On top of this, he’s thankful that he still gets to do what he does best for a living when so many other of his colleagues don’t. So, no, he’s not telling ANYONE “poor, poor me.”
Second, “inside” slam -
“He is known to not return phone calls, be arrogant, blow off clients, date the bimbo blondes who then become clients and stab people in the back.”
Bad at retuning phone calls?
Name ONE person in hollywood who makes business happen on a daily basis that returns EVERY call ALWAYS. Wake up, morons; sometimes it’s just not possible. And by the way, I’VE suffered from not having MY calls returned when it was not pressing for him to do so. Annoying? At times. But my calls are ALWAYS returned when I tell his office it’s important. He’s there when you need him – ALWAYS. What more as a client/associate/collegue can you ask for? You want someone to be available 24/7, then suck it up, pay the extra 10% and get a manager. That’s what they’re there for.
“Arrogant” –
Yeah, right. John has faults like everyone of us, arrogance is definitely not one of them.
“blow off his clients” –
Get real. If anything, his problem is that he tries to do too much for ALL his clients. Everyone MUST have John, so John tries to accomplish all for everyone. That is a mistake and that’s true.
“date bimbo’s who become clients” –
First off, he was married right out of college and with his wife until only a few years ago. As far as dating goes, WTF does that have to do with his biz life at all? I knew his wife, I’ve know all his GF’s. If they became his GF, it’s because they have something more to offer than looks alone.
“Stab people in the back” –
Get real. I’d put my kids lives up against anyone to show me just ONE person he ever did that to and prove it. It’s just a false statement an simply not in his make-up.
To understand John, and understand why he was THE ONLY one to vote “no” for the merger, you need to know about his family background. He comes from a long line of family military service. His father was a Colonel in the Army and his older brother is now a two- star general in the Army and formally on the Joint Chiefs of Staff as an attache. Both his nephews are officers serving in Iraq and have been doing so since the BUSH conflict began. That said, I asked him simply; “Why? Why vote no when you knew going in everyone was voting yes? It can only put you in a bad position with the END guys.” His answer was simple back – “My father taught me to always stand up for what you feel is right and never hide from taking the hard choice.”
You know what? I can honestly tell you I would not have had the strength to vote that no.
So for all you JF haters out there, take your head out from Ari’s ass and hands from off his balls. We KNOW it’s you sending Nikke “annonymous” info and writing shit on these blogs. No matter how much you think you are ingratiating yourself into Ari’s good graces and setting yourself up for the future, know this… He will cum on your face, and no, he won’t call you in the morning no matter how much he says he will.