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CAA has hired A&E VP Development Scott Lonker to be an agent in the NY alternative TV department. Here’s what’s interesting: Lonker used to be a William Morris agent. And good friends with Jon Rosen, who runs East Coast TV for WME, where he’s a board member. Word is that CAA “overpaid” to snag the well-liked Lonker. “That is the common theme there,” my insider says.
Eli Frankel, the former SVP of Magical Elves, which produces all those unscripted shows like Top Chef, has fired CAA and hired WME. Frankel is currently under an overall deal at Lionsgate TV (also a WME client).
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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brother eli is a master at what he does. i long to do business with him, and wme is a perfect match. go brother eli.
a master? that’s a gross over-statement. he didn’t do a thing for the Elves. unless you count the braxtons? wow…the…braxtons. kell on earth? america’s next great resto? awesome! congrats on developing show that last a single season! he’s over-paid, over-hyped and losing his edge. fairly nice, though.
Lonker is awesome!! Great move for CAA.
So you flame out at a network and caa pays you top dollar to work for them when you have no clients?
Scott did not flame out. CAA went after him and did what it takes to get him. Not sure if he has any clients now, but he will soon and CAA is going to be thrilled they brought him in.
Ian,
Aetn, is just being honest. No need to hammer him down. Yes, it’s clear Scott didn’t succeed at WMA and then went to a new business, a buyer, A & E to try again. Nothing wrong with that. But he did flame out. Whatever word you use, he did. He certainly did not succeed. One correction…CAA DID NOT PAY TOP DOLLAR!! You are ill informed. They often do pay top when someone has a client they like. So to get the client they pay TOP Dollar for the agent. Scott has not clients. Had no clients at WMA. He was a service guy. Not a player. What he has at CAA is a friend in Eric Wattenberg. Scott needed a job. Eric got him a job. It’s a job folks. Not all hires are big monster mogul hires. This is simply a case of a guy, Scott, who wants to stay in NY and got a job. Reason for leaving WMA – didn’t want to be in the representation business. Huh? Wow, now he’s back that quickly. Come on sissies, read between the lines. There is nothing to be jealous of here. He’ll start over, first day of school, make about 50K, yup, that’s the big pay day and try to survive. That’s it.
Mamma Jamma, first of all, what kind of loser name did you pick to hide your real identity. I am embarrassed for you based on that alone. Second of all, you are clearly a moron and have no clue what you are talking about and were put up to writing a pathetic review on this site by some loser who is upset about this move. Last time I checked, Lonker was and is one of the most well liked, talented and respected in the business. His talents are so recognized that CAA was willing to court him and pay top dollar to get him to come to their team. The fact that he is working with a talented guy like Wattenberg who is his friend is a plus. Not sure who your sources are but 50k? Really? Why don’t you focus on your lukewarm career and go serve your boss his latte like he asked.
Scott is a great guy, but it’s hard to get (back) into agenting with no clients. CAA will spend its MoPic money to bring in TV talent…and it’s attractive to someone like Lonker because of the overstuffed pay envelope and the fact that he won’t have any competition. Who even runs CAA’s alternative dept.? When your colleagues are Hans Schiff and Jason Fox, you’ll quickly stand out.
There is no such thing as “overpaying” when you’re talking about a guy who is as smart, collaborative, and well-liked as Lonker. Great move, CAA.
Eli is one of the best in the business – not only is he incredibly smart but he’s also a class act.
then the biz is in trouble.
Scott,
Did not flame out – He was a great agent at WMA – He Was a great executive at A & E
And will be a great agent at CAA,
It has always been my pleasure working with him
Anyone in this industry who knows Lonker know he’s well worth whatever CAA offered
Great move for CAA.
NYC has a great pool of producing talent and boutique prod cos and there are relatively few tenured reality agents to service the market.
Lonker will know everyone in the city from his years as a buyer. And he gets the selling game having come up at WMA.
He’s also a mensch and will be missed at the network.
Congrats and good luck.
What you mean to say is: “…there are relatively few tenured reality agents AT CAA to service the market.”
To reiterate what others have said, Lonker did not flame out anywhere. WME never should have let him out the door. He killed it at A&E and will sign great clients again. He’s got a great reputation and I know talent will be excited to have him back in the agenting world. He’ll be a better agent now for having experienced being a buyer…One of the best guys I worked with as a colleague at WMA….
how does eli fit into this?
Scott is a terrific guy best of luck!
i recently had a few random email exchanges with scott, having never heard of, or met him, before, and found him to be a curious, insightful, smart guy. CAA usually gets things right.
There is something that very few people in this biz have, and that’s RESPECT. Did Lonker even give WME a shot? Why leave the agency biz and then go back to it…to the other side, without giving WME the due respect that they gave Lonker for all of those years…
Perhaps Lonker did go to give WME an open window, and WME couldn’t match CAA’s offer…we’ll never know. One thing we can certainly say, there are probably a lot of folks at WME that were close colleagues that are NOT so close anymore.
LONKER IS THE BEST!!! Total win for CAA.
Stop with the flaming out talk . . . I would call leaving one big company to go and work for another global comapany and getting paid more is called WINNING. Some people hop around to make it interesting, sometimes you need a change, and sometimes it’s all about the Benjamins. Regardless, Lonker is a class act, with great taste. Don’t you worry about him and his clients. . . he is going to kill it.
CAA got a prize! Class act, funny and smart guy. How many former WME agents are at CAA now? Hans Schiff, Eric Wattenberg, Lonker? Who else?
I’ve known Lonker for a while and the following are all true – he left WMA on his own, was approached by A&E after being at the agency for a long time to try something different – he had great clients from the comedy and reality world, he did great at A&E – put a ton of stuff in development and one of the few people out there that came up with his own ideas, A&E definitely wanted to keep him, and then after a couple of years wanted to go back to the selling side and had a lot of people that wanted him. And re: RESPECT (WMAer?) – don’t get why someone can’t choose to go where they think is the best place for them. And is this the same type of RESPECT that Endeavor showed the old WMAers like Jim Griffin?
well played Hans
Every idea Scott “self generated” at A&E flopped, total .02 failure. Nice guy who was rescued by his friend when he was pushed out at A&E. Respect the friendship but does CAA really need another cable packaging agent.
Dead on. You are correct. Reality – pushed out at WMA/E, pushed out at A&E. Nice enough fellow.
Thanks Fenton.
Can’t we all say nice guy does not mean effective guy?
It’s clear if Scott was successful at any company he’d still be there with a great deal. He was let go at WME. He WAS let go at A E. They don’t let hot execs just leave. Come on folks. Stop turning your heads.