Had dinner last week with LA TV commercial casting director Terry Berland. A huge development that I did not know. Prominent talent agency ICM closed its commercial voice over department. The head of the department Jeff Danus has also opened his own talent agent, for voice-over artists.
Nothing like Christmas time in New York City. After arriving at JFK around 7:00pm, checked into my favorite NY hotel, “The Regency” on Park and 61st and then a brisk walk down Fifth Avenue where this was my view.
A New York Times article back in October has an article about the new department that was created at UTA. The agency, known for representing actors and comedians Jim Carrey, Jack Black and Vince Vaughn to name a few has created an online division, devoted to searching out up and coming talent is headed up by Brent Weinstein.
For complete article, take a look at October 26th, 2006 article in the NYT.
Just completed an Australian Summer afternoon as a guest speaker at Quiet on Set on-going series of lectures. Held at Queensland University of Technology Creative Industries Precinct in Kelvin Grove.
Quiet On Set mission is…
The mission of QuietOnSet is to provide an information service to actors and other industry professionals, to help them find the right training and the right tools to find work. I have no other business interests related to the industry
- Lee Donehue -
If you are an actor seeking in the Australian market, QOS is the tool you need to accelerate your success.
So many actors I speak with around the world consistently ask about getting a personal manager. My usual comment is that you should get one when you have a career to manage. Legally, according to CA state law, managers are not allowed to seek employment for there clients (actors).
However after reading a very infromative article in today’s Hollywood Reporter, writer Stephen Galloway point out that things may be shifting in a piece titled, “The (not so) secret lives of Hollywood managers”
The article goes on to say….
Although they’re legally barred from procuring work for clients, managers routinely perform that function. Now, some say it’s time to change the rules.
Just a few brief years ago, the industry was buzzing with fear. Michael Ovitz, in his brief post-Walt Disney Co. incarnation as head of Artists Management Group, had summoned managers to a secret meeting in which his colleagues discussed pending legislation and how best to deal with it. As rival agents and other insiders struggled to find out what was going on behind those closed doors, word spread that managers were poised to take on agents at their own game, challenging a long-standing statute that forbid them from finding work for their clients — or at least from doing so without an agent’s help.
All of a sudden, it looked as if managers would be able to do everything: produce, manage and handle clients without those pesky agents in between. Revolution was in the air.
How quickly things change. Six years since that secret meeting, Ovitz has all but vanished, and prominent managers like Brad Grey have exited the management business for the studio system. Contenders for the Ovitz throne, such as the Firm, have had to deal with a mini-exodus of managers to other companies, and managers as a whole are under pressure from the Producers Guild of America to take fewer producing credits on their clients’ films. Additionally, 1978’s Talent Agencies Act still legally prohibits them from procuring jobs for the people they represent, though the fact that almost all managers procure jobs for their clients is one of the worst-kept secrets in Hollywood.
For the entire atricle see it here.
Toured the prestigious Film school La Femis in Paris and was amazed at the depth of the facilities and film courses and classes offered. From street level, La Femis appears to be a 3 story structure. Once inside, the school has 5 levels below street level with sound stages, editing rooms, etc.
If you happen to be around Leeds from 23 Feb through March 19th, our London colleague, Matthew Lloyd who heads up the Actors Centre in the UK, will be directing "A
Doll’s House" in the Quarry Theatre
at the West Yorkshire Playhouse. I understand this is the most prestigious
theatre venue in the North.
I will be seeing the show since TVI Actors Studio’s
Monika Jolly and I will be guest instructing at acting schools and universities
in the UK,
Leeds, Manchester and London from the 24th to the 2nd of March.
blogging meets acting!!!
Stay tuned… this blog will profile the adventures of Alan S Nusbaum.
