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EXCLUSIVE: The exodus from CAA just keeps continuing. Recent months have seen the departures of CAA agents Rand Holston, Mike Nilon, Jessica Matthews and Shari Smiley in November. Then Dan Aloni’s firing in February. Peter Loehr’s announced departure in March along with Ara Keshisian’s quiet leaving and landing a job at Inferno Entertainment. And Byrdie Lifson Pompan’s life change last week. Now sources tell me that talent agents Isabella Brewster (younger sister of actress Jordana Brewster) and Jeff Speich (Antonio Banderas, Rosie Huntington Whiteley, Robin Wright Penn) are leaving CAA. Meanwhile I can tell you to expect more terminations soon. What’s happening is a combination of overhead reductions, investor pressures, and morale problems — most of which are affecting every major agency right now. It’s not easy being a tenpercenter in this do-more-with-less Hollywood economy. CAA used to be able to place its outgoing agents in cushy industry jobs. But that’s not possible any longer.
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Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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Last one out, turn the lights off!!!
CAA = Death Star.
Morale problems, or moral problems?
-RnsW
What a fucking shame.
CAA has been in decline for a while, it’s only been covered up by that huge cash infusion last year (the problem is that now those investors own CAA’s ass) and all the glitter from its parties.
This is like what you see with sports franchises who only buy big time stars but don’t have a solid development system/farm team. They have initial success, but eventually your stars grow old and you don’t have anything/anyone to replace them with. Then you become irrelevant and have to “rebuild.” But will any of those “stars,” many of whom are already in serious decline, who were coerced to CAA in the first place by the glitz and glamour remain loyal during the rebuilding phase?
It might be time for WME to make some type of big move. They can overtake CAA much sooner than people realize.
Agencies like CAA and WME don’t make their money from traditional entertainment (film and TV talent/lit) anymore. It’s other far more lucrative/current lines of business like consulting, lifestyle and sports. Major entertainment talent are mere window dressing to demonstrate to the real sources of income how influential and relevant the agency is in the business (and hence why these clients should use them).
The tier-1a (ICM, UTA) and tier-2 (Paradigm, Gersh, APA) probably make the majority of their money from long-lived TV packages, new non-scripted packages and touring (particularly ICM and Paradigm) but that’s the business of yesteryear for the top two (in terms of revenue/profits).
In fact, I’d say only the lowest tiers of agencies make the majority of their money from on-screen talent representation.
If you can’t get the benefits of working there ($$$$, status, ‘placement’) then why would anybody ‘sell their soul’ to work there?
Do something new for yourself and hopefully watch CAA wriggle in its horrific death throes as a new day incinerates its evil with fresh, healthy energy.
Remember how incredible it was to work in the movie business before CAA? Too young to know?
Then help kill off CAA and find out for yourself.
The TV agents are next on the chopping block after staffing season is over.
Fuck! I wanted to join their mailroom.
Ripple effect from the demise of Fin-Syn that’s finally reached the agencies. No centralized ad sales media means there’s no room for error (or long term vision). Networks are passing the hurt along to the studios, that are grinding the agencies, that are in turn jamming the talent. Sad state of affairs.
WME is thriving. They cut the fat much earlier and are reaping the benefits.
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha……Worst morale in the business. And more money flowing out than in.
The money isn’t in the entertainment space to support the overhead at the major agencies. Stars don’t get 20M paydays on the talent side anymore and on the lit side there is not a lot of unnecessary spending on rewrites for the sake of rewrites.
Anyone that goes to a place where all their competition are is purely stupid. Agencies have way to many clients and managers are trying to be agencies. Being the focus, or the big fish in the pond truly benefits these artists.
Most of the people at these places are miserable unhappy people.
CAA is filled with the most arrogant people in the world who are only after one thing – $$$. The reason CAA has no talent fostered from within: CAA does not promote quick enough (it can take 3-5 years to make a livable wage). In my opinion, CAA’s biggest issue is not just that their top talent is leaving, but that a lot of their bottom talent (assistants) leave just as quick – here’s why:
1) YOU must attend a top ranked university to be hired at CAA (or have mom/dad call their agent and put your name in for a mailroom post). For the 99% of us who don’t have trust funds, this means you have a lot of student loan debt that you could pay off going to IB or Finance, but you chose entertainment (for many of us, because we love entertainment and not because we’re simply chasing the $$$ like the rest).
2) YOU then must wait and wait and wait to be promoted (if ever), while your boss makes 100x more than you (assistants on avg make sub $30k for years, waiting for their opportunity to be part of the client services portion of the business – not just the coffee runs and phone sheets).
In the end, I do miss a lot of amazing people I worked with (most all of them were assistants), but one thing this story doesn’t talk about is all the assistants that could of been fostered into great agents, but the company culture/promotion structure simply did not facilitate the company’s progression.
CAA is corporate now, but they still act like an agency from the 50′s. Get with the times folks.
As a final note, I definitely appreciate my time at CAA as it does prepare you for the industry as a whole.
I agree w/ everything you posted. We’ve got agents here that walk in basically in their gym clothes. Huff/puff as they walk down the hall because they have to work another day. “Work”, for most of them, is really quite a funny word to use. They make a few suggestions of people to submit on projects and the TRULY PASSIONATE ASSISTANTS are the one’s who do all the leg work. They also might meet a few new talent in a work day. Roll their eyes before turning the corner and then plaster on a big phony smile and say how “excited they are to meet ________”
Big wigs at the top must have their eyes closed 90% of their lives. If they truly cared about running their agencies in a competitive manner they’d refresh their in-office talent and talk to those who have to go through this day in and out.
CAA must have a loose definition of a “top ranked university” if any of their hires from said schools use “could of” instead of “could have” or “could’ve”.
Big whoop – you’ve never made a grammar mistake in your life?
TV agents are already leaving. Max Kisbye is moving on. Roy Ashton left for a multimillion dollar deal at Gersh. I’m sure the junior agents are next.
Live by the sword, die by the sword.
not going to say anything as ridiculous as “saw that coming,” but an agency is a cultural nightmare for a PE shop. a business model built around fees w/ no assets or long term contracts is not the cash cow a buyout firm should be targeting.
it’s nearly impossible to grow the topline, and w/ fewer & smaller paydays for clients, the last added pressure CAA needed was TPG making them shrink their expenses.
this is not a good development for the industry regardless or how much disdain you have for the organization.
That’s not entirely true. When an agency (like ICM or the old WMA) has big TV packaging fees those cash flows are reasonably predictable. Were I doing the valuation on such an agency, I’d probably consider those akin to accounts receivable, which are considered assets. However just valuing the agency based on that doesn’t tell the whole story and I agree it’s sometimes a difficult thing to really value from a PE standpoint.
Many of these former CAA agents are doing much better now than when they were at CAA (like Aloni). Plus Shari set up her own shop and continues to kick butt for her clients. Jessica Matthews doing well too.
This is what happens when an agency only cares about its big-name clients.
Also, this is what happens when agents stop fighting for their clients and, instead, focus only on making producers happy.
Agents have lost their edge, their power and their respect. This applies to most agencies in town.
The reality is that our business has seen margins severely squeezed for a few years now, and its only sensible that overhead cuts follow. Its painful no doubt. But the agencies have been the very last part of the industry’s infrastructure to be properly rationalized. And the agencies are bloated, over staffed, and arrogant beyond belief. They have been earning 10% on every above-the-line deal. They are not producers; they are not financiers; they are not distributors; and they are not creative talent. They are gas pumpers. Think about what a 10% surcharge on all above-the-line does to the cumulative cost structure of the industry as a whole? The agencies need wake up, be more realistic about the cost pressures in our business, and get with the program!
I have a questions for anyone that may have some sort of answer. What about the co-heads at CAA. Are they untouchable? Is it just agents getting the boot? Could some of these co-heads be apart of the morale or moral problem?
Well, based on my last review of the partnership agreement…
Just kidding
. First off, we know that even partners exit sometimes; Nicita was sidelined a few years ago and it’s not clear to me whether it was entirely voluntary. As for the remaining ones, there are a few things to keep in mind:
There is the agreement itself; we don’t know whether each of the five (I think there are 5 left, maybe 6??) have an equal stake or not.
There are the silent partners (I’ve heard they number about 25-50 but not sure; they’re pretty quiet about that). No idea what they get to vote on and how much those votes count.
There are the PE investors and if they have the single largest stake they probably have the ability to get someone ousted.
So it’s unlikely they are all safe in an absolute sense, but just how easy it would be to take one down is another question. More likely, the question is just how expensive it would be to get rid of any one of them.
Someone once said that CAA is like an airline: great first class service for a handful of people, but the rest have to swelter in coach.
I like that analogy; as it applies to both clients and employees there. I’m going to take it a step further, too: first class isn’t what it once was and neither is CAA. I no longer get caviar or real champagne on a domestic flight, airport club rooms have taken a dive and it’s been eons since there were self-serve spreads with goodies at meal time.
That’s too bad. I guess it’s no shocker in the wake of Keshisian’s exit, but Jeff Speich was a pleasure to deal with. Good guy.
The more the Hollywood company – any type of Hollywood company – has to rely on outside sources for cash “infusions” the greater the probability that power if not control will be ceded to those outside sources. This is the history of Hollywood. Wall Street and hedge funds and the like don’t romanticize Hollywood – it’s strictly business. This is the position that all of the big agencies seem to be in. Cash intensive businesses stuck between a rock (an entirely new entertainment universe that the traditional structure of a talent agency isn’t up to speed with yet) and a hard place (the more the business stratifies so too will the cash, hence the need for the “infusions” in the first place.)
J.C. Penney presented the Oscars this year. No Revlon. No Kodak. I think that says it all. What was once glamorous and unattainable is now about consumer products. Slobs and whores become famous today. They’re able to extend their 15 minutes because the people in line who want to do the exact same thing want their 15 minutes too.
Why cultivate your own talent when you can become a cult celebrity on some completely contrived publicity machine custom fitted to the mercurial and vapid “content” on the inter-net where a story about a murdered child will be placed side-by-side with a story about Kanye West and some Kardashian hooking up?
And vapid begat vapid.
Which would be me who chases these links of horror that tease you with the story through a successive link – happens all of the time : bullet point : the like : THE POLICE WERE SHOCKED ABOUT WHERE THEY FOUND THE BODY. (Click on this link…which generates a new “hit” and ad of course.)
Does each generation get the media it deserves? It’s a legitimate subject.
If they are smart, Billy Hawkins will be first to go.
Disagree. Billy is one of the best they have. A controversial personality, yes…but that’s what I like about him. That and he actually has a taste level worthy of respect.
What’s controversial about Billy Hawkins? When I’ve met him he seemed pleasantly dorky enough and not stupid. He’s no less slick than any of those other CAA dudes. They’re all kinda snakey…..
Why should Billy Hawkins be axed?
Harvard Law School’s suddenly not good enough for you?
So…this is why my friend First Name initial-J Last Name- X (keeping his/her last initial anonymous) stopped talking to me after he/she was hired there. They are holding him/her captive from leaving. I pray she’s ok! “Come back to me my friend….we haven’t spoken since this agency took you hostage. Get out….now. I hope you’re ok.” Etc…etc…etc…but a true story. What happened to you J? You dropped off the face of the planet since CAA hired you. (Hope you’re reading this.)
I think the business is rightsizing to what it should be.
The smaller agencies, the ones that stay lean and mean, no marble lobbies, no gold, no cold glass desks…just the good old fashioned movie lovin’, tv pushin’ mom-and-pop agencies. The one’s who discover the undiscovered before the ‘cherry pickers’ come around…the one’s who are in it for the LOVE as much as for the MONEY.
So, if you’re a Junior Agent, or a regular Agent and you want to run your show YOUR way, we’re waiting for you. Get a bigger piece of smaller pie, not the crumbs from the big cake.
Come back to the smaller, cozier agencies where you’re still honored as a human being. We’ll keep the light on for ya!