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From: Berg, Jeff
Sent: Friday, October 26, 2012 5:00 PM
To: #All ICM
Subject:Dear Colleagues,
This is where I leave you.
Following the conclusion of the management buyout last May I have spent the past few months seriously evaluating my personal goals and objectives and those of the agency. I need to create my own structure that addresses a different strategy and mind set about our quickly evolving industry.
I will be available to you over the next few weeks and will be announcing my plans shortly.
To those of you with whom I’ve worked for years this has been a valuable association and I will make a point of speaking with you directly.
Best wishes and good luck.
Jeff
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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Unless it’s a coincidence, he must have set the email to send at 5 on the dot. Love it!
Class.
zero class. all about him. shocker.
Classy act Mr. Berg! His memo says it all without the typical Hollywood sentimental BS!!!
Jeff has dignity, class, and a level of professionalism unparalleled by anyone in this industry. His father would be proud. And having worked with him for many years- I’m proud to say I even know him. On to bigger and better things Jeff Berg!
I’ve worked here two years and berg has never so much as smiled back. He isn’t a team player and has no role in the new ICM
Team player? You are a loser in life.
While you were trying to suck up to the boss, he was trying to get sh*t done. Idiot
He never smiled back? What are you a wimp? Get a life.
yep. precisely.
Berg is the classiest guy in hollywood
After his pay day he sat alone in his office most of the day. Old agents never leave with dignity. In fact:
Only the weak survive at agencies. The strong get out and with become giants of business or go on to more substantial careers. Jeff it can be argued is one of the great losers. I know, he made money. But if that was his goal he failed there too. A junior level exec., on Wall Street makes more.
Thank you and good night.
For better or worse your reasoning is spot-on. Sigh.
Wall Street salaries are irrelevant to this discussion. Yes, junior Wall Street execs make most than all film and TV execs except for Chairmen or CEOs. So go send your resume to Baer Stearns or Drexel Burnham.
But Berg and the rest of us have chosen the Entertainment industry, because this is the field we love. And by entertainment industry standards, Berg has done very well. Good luck to you if you make 10% of what he has earned.
A shy and private agent who had no time for the disingenuous and the sentimental; some would say asset, some would say liability. And to dominate in that loony bin all those years? An unbelievable survivor. That place has always been like Nam. (Although his remote approach contributed to a lot of that.) Roman Polanski alone sure owes him plenty.
He remained elegant when those around him were anything but…
A class act to the very end. They called him “iceberg” because he can be cold to people at times. He once yelled at me on the phone but it was warranted and I learned something valuable from it. Jeff will set up shop as a manager and he will have as many clients as he wants people will line up to be repped by him.
“He once yelled at me on the phone, but it was warranted.”
Was it life or death? If not, then yelling is never warranted. It’s only excused, which perpetuates it. “Oh, he’s a yeller, he’s like that with everyone!”
If you feel like being yelled at is okay, then you should take a long hard look at yourself.
I say this because I felt that way to when I started. It’s unhealthy.
Oh, you are so right.
That’s exactly why I left a major talent agency (my second agency gig) just a couple weeks after being hired. I had more confidence and self-respect than to allow myself to be the target of screaming, bullying and physical harm (yes, the upstart agent I was assigned to actually threw objects at me). And, after I left, I was told by the other assistants that they were surprised I lasted so long, as I had, evidently, lasted longer than any of his previous assistants!
Audiences who have seen “Swimming With Sharks” may think it’s an over-the-top satire, but I lived in that same unhealthy environment, and I’m glad I got out when I did, or I would have ended up on that bridge long before Tony Scott.
And, it seems that the comments here indicate that success is gauged only by how much money one makes. What a sad state of affairs.
if you can’t handle yelling then stay away from politics, the military and most of the corporate world.
These comments read like obituaries.
I don’t know the guy but whenever I have read about people I do know in this blog it’s always the case that saying someone has class means they are pretty terrible people. I’m sure he is super classy. The biggest class there is.
I’m so confused by these comments… Was this guy classy or was he Hitler? They seem to be skewing more towards Hitler… Just sayin’
I think we’re done here.
“Good morning, and in case I don’t see ya, good afternoon, good evening, and good night!” Thank You Truman
Jeff Berg is one of – if not the best – agency people around. I know a lot of previous ICM agents that worked for him before ICM starting to accept outside investor funds like from Rizki. They had the highest degree of respect that I’ve heard about any agency head. Any I repeat. He has been successful in everything he’s done and if he’s starting a new company, it’ll be the same results. He’ll have his pick of the litter regarding who he hires – and if he decides to seek outside capital, he’ll have no problem raising what he needs. At the risk of sounding self serving, I hope Mr. Berg reads this comment and considers me for a position at his new company. I have agency and management experience that could serve him quite well. Sincerely
Goodnight, sweet prince.