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EXCLUSIVE: A “floater” working in WME Entertainment’s NYC office sent this goodbye email to the entire agency on Friday. 
My insider tells me he “got support from so many people afraid to speak up inside those quiet walls. Funny thing, it was the talk of our office. They eventually recalled the email and erased it from everyone’s computers… But by that time, everyone had already read it.” His name is Marcus Washington, he’s an African American, and his main area was music. He started off assisting for Cara Lewis. So why did he ultimately leave, especially at a time when a showbiz job, any job, is so prized? As one insider explained the situation to me, “diversity (no black agents in our office) and experience are not embraced so after that desk didn’t work out, those in control made it difficult for him to ever move up. Although he brought a client to the company BEFORE he even started there [7-time Grammy nominated artist Jazmine Sullivan]. He finally got fed up and when he told them he could make this a much larger issue, he got them to pay him for 5 months to basically look for another job.”
Here’s the email:
From: NY Trainee 17
Sent: Friday, April 09, 2010 2:29 PM
To: All
Subject: Goodbye WME!!!!On the train ride home yesterday to celebrate the days of no longer feeling bored, miserable, stifled, underutilized and looked over at WME, I heard a homeless woman sing these lyrics from WHITNEY HOUSTON’S “Greatest Love of All”:
I decided long ago
Never to walk in anyone’s shadow
If I fail, if I succeed
At least I’ll live as I believe
No matter what they take from me
They can’t take away my dignity…Although she didn’t hit any of the right notes and it was a horrible performance, the lyrics still resonated with me. It was reaffirming my belief that everything was going to be fine. I paid my dues and it got me nowhere inside these walls and now it’s time to do bigger and better things with my life and career….as I was doing before I got here. What the future holds? Only God knows, but whatever it is, I’m sure I’ll be much happier. I learned a great deal working here and I’m thankful for all of my experiences, good and bad.
Thank you Cara Lewis for giving me an opportunity to assist for you after being in the mailroom for only a few days….even if it was short lived. Haha. It wasn’t easy, but there’s a reason why you are one of the best agents in this business. Your work ethic is inspiring and I wish other agents would take note. I look forward to working with you in the future.
Thanks to PJP and the accounting department – for taking me in and making me an honorary member of your department. I enjoyed hanging out with you while I worked on “extra help” assignments for people who didn’t need it and were being extremely lazy.
Thanks Kate Coster for always being someone I could vent to about my frustrations with this company.
Thanks to the three or four generations of trainees and floaters I’ve shared the mailroom with – I’ve formed incredible friendships with some of you and I’m excited about seeing our paths cross down the road.
Geezy, thank you for inviting me into your family and being a great friend.
Thank you to Nick, Pam, Arthur, Chad, Manny, Frank, Jackie and Charlie.
Thanks Terry and Donna – I’ve enjoyed the many moments sitting with you at reception.
I can’t forget a special thanks to Chris Walsh, our extremely qualified and hard working “human resources” duo, JZH and others that tried to ruin my progress by being conniving, hateful and deceiving. Just know that it’s all going to come back to you….and you could never steal my joy or my dignity.
Assistants, support staff and the many agents I’ve gotten a chance to know – thank you.
Best of luck to you all and….
STOP THE MICROMANAGING AND GROUPTHINK…it’s leading to be the deterioration of this company.
Marcus Washington
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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He should have taken his one black client, his goldfish, and the hot female assistant and made a stand in the middle of the office. Show me the money!
I have no love for the WME business but I gotta say this was not a scathing goodbye e-mail. I am an outsider so maybe I just don’t understand what goes on.
It sounds to me like somebody who desperately wanted to be accepted but probably didn’t have the chops to make it. Therefore he blames the company. Classic. I’ve seen a few of those come and go in my business.
By the way…the lyrics to Greatest Love Of All were written by the late Linda Creed. The song was originally recorded by George Benson.
Hollywood loves its hacienda work culture more than any other business in America. Amazing that in 2010 people still think its acceptable.
Wow. You’re joking, right?! THAT was the “harsh” email?! Puh-LEASE! What a total yawn. No wonder WME deleted it from their email database. What a total waste of time.
This comment is exactly what is wrong with the industry “standard”.
What exactly was “harsh” about that? Kid sounds like an entitled
brat if you ask me … everyone at the bottom is treated like
shit,get over it.
Of course long hours, hard work and stressful work conditions are the norm. That is fine. What is wrong (and in many cases is future law suit material) are degrading, humiliating and inhuman treatment of a class of people (floaters, assistants). The agencies should worry that this generation may band together and make them irrelevant if this workplace “norm” continues. There is another way to live, to do business and to motivate people and it involves behaving like your mother taught you…respect people and they will work hard for you and be loyal. Treat them like crap and they will work hard to bring you down in the long run. Karma….when will agencies and others in this business learn? There is a price to pay (besides your soul) for being abusive to those who work for you.
This is regarded as harsh????
I worked for assholes, bullies, coke heads, and did so many things beyond my dignity for years without whining openly about it. It’s called paying your dues. This gentleman may think that expressing his admiration for certain people will help his later career pursuits, but he’s now pegged as someone who is a loose cannon, who cannot be trusted, and might spill the beans publicly again if he doesn’t get his – entitled – way. The only way he’ll succeed is if he’s already from money or succeeds in writing a book. No company will hire him for his talents, whatever they may be.
Hey, Marcus. Congratulations. You’re the first person to have ever taken life advice from a homeless person AND Whitney Houston.
Buckle up, kid. Life is long and you’re going to need one hell of a therapist.
A fascinating tale of another trainee in the mailroom, frustrated because the CEO won’t listen to his brilliant business advice … because of the sheer genius intertwined in the ramblings of a bag lady on the subway. It’s a Fisher King thing, yeah, that’s what it is!
I am sure that the economic foundations of WME are now crumbling, poised for destruction in light of the tsunami known as, ‘Trainee Quits Because He Wasn’t Immediately Appointed Department Head.’
Priceless and definitely worthy of lots of attention.
i worked alongside marcus and found him to be quite affable. i was stunned to first learn he had actually brought in a client and then was removed from CS’ desk so fast, never to really find another home again, wasting away as a floater on totally mindless tasks. WM requires its trainees to be obscenely overqualified only to squander their talents and education.
as far as the racial component, i’m sure the only reason why he was hired in the first place was because his skin tone is what another black, former WM assistant once dubbed “high yella black.” you won’t find anyone darker than beyonce working at the NY office anywhere other than the mailroom or accounting…
To JT and MJL,
Good work attacking Marcus for being “Boo Hoo” and a “brat”. The thing you might want to think about is why WME has reacted strongly to his farewell note rather than spending greater mental energy comparing Marcus to yourselves.
While Marcus may not be a tough guy like JT and MJL, he pointed out a flaw in WME’s organizational methodology that has clearly touched a nerve. If he did bring in Jazmine Sullivan, kudos. She is very talented, and will likely generate some revenues for WME.
Now, you have to ask why Marcus didn’t stick around to bring in more artists, and why WME will likely lose Jazmine as well. Tough skin is a good thing to have, but not when it leads to numb ignorance. Toughness can also wreak havoc on the strength and long term loyalty of talent relationships.
JT and MJL, good luck with your businesses. Marcus, good luck with yours. My long-term money is on Marcus.
Paul
In soccer parlance, Washington gets a red card for whining. Thirty years ago I went through the same shit in the WMA mailroom – we all did. It goes with the territory and it prepares you for the brutal and unforgiving nature of the business itself. If you can’t handle the rough & tumble of inter-office back-stabbing, how, as an agent, are you going to handle take-no-prisoners approach of studio heads and producers?
Quit complaining you little shit! If you think paying your dues in this business last for a few months you’re better off selling shoes.
Marcus,
…you had me at hello….lost me at wah wah wah.
Soar eagle, soar. You should take your goldfish and sign the subway Whitney. The Marcus Group and its roster of one could rise to the top via thoroughly boring theatrics like this letter.
Show me the money bro.
J. Maguire
Well-worded but I agree with these posts referring to this guy’s sense of entitlement. I busted my ASS at William Morris for years before moving up. If you can’t stand the heat, please, get the f out of the kitchen and this business.
Oh wow Indrid you and others here must be psychic because you sure got a lot of information out of this letter that uh, isn’t really there. The only place this guy mentions the length of time he was at the agency is where he says he knew 3-4 generations in the mailroom. That means 3-4 years. Still think he should just suck it up and stick around? I think if somebody isn’t on a desk after 3-4 years then of course that person should quit. If you’re not a good match for a company culture you need to move on and find your real home.
Poor Marcus.
If you can’t handle the heat, get out of the fire.
This is tough business and only gets tougher as you climb up the ladder (more money = more pressure. The early years are valuable learning years and only those with the backbone and resolve to not give up will succeed (and keep in mind you can choose the style of of character you want as you go).
Getting your ass kicked as an assistant teaches you how to make it in this business, when you don’t know jack shit.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qivkQkh-8QM
Hopefully, you do move on to better things and kick some ass versus look back and complain… which will keep you at the same place you started.
If any entitled 20 something assistant doesn’t get this… well you can do one of two things… put some lipstick on and get those knee pads out… or put in that resume to Foot Locker.
Words of wisdom for today.
Nikki – I was extremely disheartened to read your post today, and it seems clear that the only “source” you probably spoke to was Marcus himself. Everyone who actually works in the NY office knows that Marcus was stuck in the mailroom for over a year not because of his race, but because he was an AWFUL floater. He was banned from floating on most desks because he managed to mess up the simplest of tasks. Not only was he a bad floater, but he was confrontational, entitled and tough to deal with. The fact that you tried to position this as a racist move by WME is offensive to the company and the people who work in HR. When Marcus was recently let go, the biggest surprise to everyone in the office was that he wasn’t fired MONTHS ago. The reason they probably had him hang around way longer than he should’ve was because of his constant assertions to anyone who would listen that HR and the agents at the company were intimidated by him because he was African-American. I think WME was scared that they could have a lawsuit on their hands, even though his firing would have been completely with merit. You’ve really misrepresented the facts here
Why would anyone posting on this site single out HR in their comment…other than someone that works in the HR department themselves? With that much detail about him, they have to be part of the human resources staff. It’s interesting they mention that “they could have a lawsuit on their hands” which gives me even more reason to believe that he was being discriminated against. Why a lawsuite if WME did nothing wrong? Hmmmm….ahhahaa. Marcus – I think you should contact a lawyer.
Hmmm, I dunno Voltaire… but it seems fine to ‘single out’ HR since that’s precisely what Marcus’ original message did. Oh, wait a minute… maybe IT’S INTERESTING that you employ a common fallacy in order to sensationalize a claim of complaint. Why would anyone do such a thing, especially with that much detail? And then you sign off with some free advice – “I think you should contact a lawyer…” Now why would– A-ha! You must be Matlock!
Ever heard of circumstantial evidence? None of us were born yesterday so we all know why his employer agreed to pay him for five months as opposed to firing him for being an unfit employee. Reading the background info in Nikki’s write up, Marcus’ letter and various comments from those who claim to know him – there’s no doubt in my mind that his employer acted discriminatorily.
And finally THERE IT IS. The truth.
“He finally got fed up and when he told them he could make this a much larger issue, he got them to pay him for 5 months to basically look for another job.”
The studios also have enforced diversity hires who share the same entitlement and quickly play that card if things start to go awry for them. Nobody wants to be slapped with a discrimination lawsuit. My daughter worked on one of the toughest desks in town – cried secretly in the bathroom some days – but sucked it up, did a brilliant job, and her boss ended up helping her get the job she has now – which she loves and has earned.
great…it’s over dramatic crap like this why the PTB don’t want minorities in the office…and as a minority trying to break in, thanks for making it that much harder you entitled ****tard
I used to be really critical of the top like Marcus here until I kept grinding away and built something for myself and started to hear the rumblings of discontent for reasons beyond my control but thought to be in my control. The bottom line is this, it’s disappointing you guys would even post a weak ass email like this of from a “floater” who had no bearing on the success of WME, especially one who probably has not one single clue as to how the business actually runs. He may know how to fetch coffee and deliver mail and do stuff “people were too lazy to do” but it’s evident this little darling knows very little else. I’m such a fringe element of the entertainment business, and even I can see that this “floater” thought that he had what it took in college, but when thrust into the world with real people, shit get’s real… really fast and Marcus couldn’t handle it.
Kudos! I doubt he knew which garage to should park in.
oh my.. you got all that from one blurb.
he brought a 7 time grammy-nominated artist to the company BEFORE he worked there, among other things, so your sentiments really have no validity.
I wonder when this business will no longer be about race. It gets to the point where its just sad an unproductive.
I agree with the others. That email wasn’t harsh… and the agents and admin people who thought it was, well… your skin got pretty soft once you got to the top. As for Marcus Washington… I have no idea if he was a good worker, but if your source is correct about him bringing in talent… mailroom guys, floaters and assistants who have done less have ascended, so vis a vis WME culture… yeah, Marcus got the shaft. Too bad “Entourage” already was created; otherwise, he could have aired his grievances in that manner AND made money off it.
You know, I’ve read so many of these mass final goodbye emails that spread around agencies like a wildfire, that I have become numb to the raw emotion behind them.
I remember when I temped at ICM, an assistant sent out one of these. It was followed-up with an email from the president at the time stating that the assistant in question has walked out of the building by security. I forwarded to my personal email and got a call from the temp agency saying that ICM said I forwarded a confidential internal memo to my personal email and they wanted to know why. Luckily, i didn’t lose my job because almost every person in that agency did the exact same thing.
“everyone at the bottom is treated like shit, get over it.”
Nice rationalization.
this is how it’s always been and so this is how it should always be.
What are you a republican?
Let me guess – entitled Millenial?
If he’s too thin-skinned to really pay his dues or figure out how to deal with the toxic people in this business (and Lord knows there are plenty), then he shouldn’t be in this business.
Grow up and get over yourself, Marcus; then and only then can I truly wish you the best of luck to you in your endeavours.
‘everyone at the bottom is treated like shit, get over it.’
Maybe that’s a problem…you know, treating a human being like a piece of shit? Just because its the ‘norm’ doesn’t make it right. I know, I know…idealism won’t get my anywhere in life…but there are enough jerks/assholes/pricks/backstabbers in this world already…so good on this guy for walking away with his pride intact…and thanking those who helped him (or tried to) along the way…even if it results in people making snide remarks about him being ‘entitled’. Shame on you! Its one thing to make it tough on the new guys, to weed out the ones who can’t hack it…but sometimes those walls keep out good people who just need a little guidance or a break here or there.
The more I read on this website about the inner working of Hollywood, the more I want avoid anything to do with this cesspool called show ‘business’.
Good luck Marcus!
The walls are extremely guarded and the castle is secure.
It’s the theatre troop that gets the drawbridge to come down and let them inside.
And, surviving the fittest doesn’t necessarily mean you can “hack it”. Ivy grows wide and far.
Breaks are for kit-kat’s. Got to earn it.
It’s not right, but if you want to work in the industry, you have to go through it. If it isn’t worth it to you, leave. It is all the assistant’s choice.
Neil, if you want to “avoid show business”, stay off Deadline Hollywood. Show business probably feels the same way about you.
Either way on this Marcus thing, if somebody sends the whole company – any company – an email quoting a homeless woman singing Whitney Houston… they’re a bit crackers and obviously a diva themselves.