What kind of Agent are you?
Alex is the Managing Director of major UK talent agency InterTalent. He represents his clients alongside overseeing the agency's creative strategy, day-to-day operations & acquisitions.
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🤔 What kind of Agent are you?
For those that don’t know, most of the Scripted world has been on pause this year due to the strikes while the UK TV ad market is at a 15-year low. There is a huge lack of money being invested in Television, which in turn means fewer shows. Both are hugely damaging to any Talent Agency. When you’re going through difficult periods in the entertainment industry, and 2023 is clearly one of those moments, an agency has to choose which path to take. You either retract to match the climate and tighten costs to try and circumnavigate the potential downturn in turnover or you push against the current, go even harder to grow, hold your nerve in the storm, and hope that when life settles you are ahead of the pack. Most, obviously, pick the former.
At InterTalent, we take the latter path. Yes, we have to be cautious, but we feel that the risk will bring the reward in 2024 and beyond. We’ve spent the last 3 years building out the agency, expanding into verticals we never had and making sure we are future-focused at all times. That means holding our nerve and not ripping up everything we have built to date.
What that also means is constantly trying to hire new Agents. Now this goes for any business, not just a talent agency, but finding great staff is hard. I love it and hate it in equal measure. It’s difficult trying to form an entire professional opinion of someone (and whether they tick a multitude of boxes) in just a couple of meetings yet I love it when I get it right and find an absolute gem. I seem to spend my life interviewing. It’s a game of cat and mouse, asking clever questions to try and find out the real extent of their experience, hunger and suitability. We’re constantly looking for new Agents even if we don’t have roles available. If we love them, we’ll hire them anyway and think later about how we make it work.
However, not all Agents (or Managers) can perform the same role. It’s rarely spoken about but you actually have 2 different types of Agents. You have SIGNERS and you have SERVICERS. Both are incredibly important but offer very different things, and you have to know not only what you’re looking for but also whether that’s what you’re going to get.
Today, I’m going to break down what the difference is and why it matters.
Let’s go! ⬇️
So let me tell you who constitutes a SERVICER and who is a SIGNER.
SERVICER: Agents whose responsibilities are to service agency clients are the backbone of any representation business. Ideally, they are brilliant at creating opportunities, perfect at logistics and unflappable in those stressful situations. There are brilliant Agents out there who are great at managing talent day-to-day once the talent has been signed to the company. They’re very good at servicing but ultimately they either aren’t expected to sign clients or it’s just not within their wheelhouse. The one downfall of only being a servicer is that if you’re not the one who brought the talent to the agency there is always the chance the relationship between you and the talent only goes so far. There are lots of great ‘service Agents’ out there, and it’s important to have the best of the best in your agency.
SIGNER: Having the ability to sign talent puts you a level above. There are far fewer of them around and it’s a real skill to consistently connect with talent enough for them to sign with you to manage their career. Signing talent is tough. It’s hard graft and while it’s the most exciting part of being an Agent, it’s also demoralizing when it doesn’t work out… but you have to get back on the horse, have perseverance and go again. I am always desperate to find great Agents who can actually get out and about, and sign stars to InterTalent. We have a lot of great ones already, but you can never have enough.
Both are important but if you want to grow a talent agency… like, really grow it… then you need as many signers as you can get. Without them, you’re going to have lots of people ready to service clients you haven’t got! I am interviewing weekly to find as many Agents as I can who service but also sign. I read an interview with a Hollywood agent who said ‘Agenting is a commodity business. If you don’t sign clients no matter what else you contribute, you’re f**ked‘… and while I wouldn’t say it exactly like that, and I do think contributing elsewhere has huge value, ultimately, they’re not wrong.
Here’s my guide to what makes a great SIGNER ⬇️
✅ Talent Spotting: If you want to sign, you need to know who to sign. Everyone has their own taste, and their own feeling as to who is talented. You have to consistently spend time engaged in every platform (from TV to TikTok) to find the talent that excites you and fits the agency. Who do you actually want to sign?
✅ Knowledge: Having a deep knowledge of the entertainment industry allows you to really tailor why you want to sign someone. We are in a buyer and seller market. Agents sell. So who will buy your talent? Who wants to hire them? You don’t want to sign talent and then struggle to place them. Knowing that there are gaps in the market will only help you to clearly define your hit list.
✅ Awareness: A key element that a lot of people don’t give enough thought to. When I ask our Agents who they are looking at signing, I expect them to tell me everything about that person that they can find out from the internet and their contacts. Read, watch, what are they doing now and who with, what did they do 5 years ago. What worked, what didn’t. Their likes, and dislikes. Most do little research. It’s important to do your homework and research as intensely as possible and try to get ahead of the game.
✅ Turning Up: This is a big one. If you don’t go anywhere, you won’t meet anyone. Simple as that. Go to every event, awards show, and launch that you can. You never know who will be there. Actually, you will. If you are subscribed to the right events listings you’ll know who is down to be where. The more you turn up, the more chances you have of meeting interesting people. Get out and about, make relationships with people who can one day introduce you to great talent and you never know what might happen. If you don’t go out, then signing talent is impossible.
✅ Confidence: When given the chance to meet a talent you’re interested in, you need to project confidence, professionalism, excitement and enthusiasm. First impressions matter greatly. You need to listen attentively to their ambitions & concerns and be well prepared for anything they might say. When you talk about your ideas you need to be engaging, charming and decisive. You need to instil them with your excitement but also you want them to leave feeling like you’re an adult and can trust you to have difficult conversations on their behalf.
✅ Resilience: This is where most Agents fall. 9/10 times you’ll think you’re on the cusp of signing someone only for them to go quiet or change their mind. The best signers have amazing resilience to keep conversations going and keep pursuing the idea even if it feels like a lost cause. Never take it personally, there might be all kinds of reasons why a talent becomes difficult to get over the line. You have to keep going even if it takes forever. Never give up the idea if you believe in it, and move the conversation forward even if it feels like a fruitless exercise. When it finally happens it’ll be sweeter than ever.
✅ Strategy: I speak about strategy a lot, but it’s just as important even before you’ve even met a talent. Yes, the meeting will further inform and fully create the strategy should they sign but that doesn’t mean you don’t have one from the moment you want to sign them. Utilising your knowledge and research, given that there is more distribution than ever, should allow you to create a vision for someone you’ve never even met
✅ Why me?: This goes hand in hand with confidence. You have to truly believe you can do a better job than anyone else, and then be able to convey that to the talent. So often Agents spend time talking and gossiping about what other agencies are doing wrong but not actually saying why they are right. That’s the focus. Why are you the perfect person to lead and guide their career moving forward? What can you do to add value?
✅ Serendipity: Sometimes great things can just happen. A chance meeting, a chance introduction, someone actually replying to a DM. However, in reality, there’s no such thing as luck. What there is, though, is ‘created serendipity’. The harder you work, the more you do, the further you go the more chances you have of things just happening. Creating serendipity isn’t lucky.
There are good Agents and then there are great Agents. Super Agents. Those who are at the top of the game, with the most incredible success stories and the biggest reputations are the ones who can sign talent. There is a clear distinction as to what type you need to be to move your career towards that level. Being great at the day-to-day job is important (and I’ve spoken all about what it takes to do that here) but it’ll only get you so far and, ultimately, it has a ceiling. Having the flair to sell yourself and sign talent is not as easy, and that’s why those who can are usually the most successful.
As ever, here are a few recommendations to check out:
📚 TO READ:
Elon's Grok to rival Chat GPT How do people come up with these names? Hello Grok…
Magic Johnson is officially a billionaire! The incredible story of how a Basketball legend became even more successful after retirement
SAG Strike is officially over! A massive moment for the global entertainment industry as SAG strikes a deal.
🎧 TO LISTEN:
Ghost Story Host Tristan Redman doesn’t believe in ghosts. But weird things happened in the bedroom he lived in as a teenager. Scary stuff.
Uncanny Big fan of Danny Robins. Danny is out to unravel spooky occurrences. There’s a theme going on this month.
Football Clichés Podcast Essential listening for all Football fans!
📺 TO WATCH:
Robbie Williams, Netflix Move over Becks. Robbie is now in town.
The Newsreader, BBC iPlayer Brilliant Australian important set in the 80’s.
Expedition Unknown, Discovery+ Josh Gates is the master of delving into the unknown. Love all of his shows.
See you next time!
Alex