In a rare roundtable interview, six senior leaders from CAA gathered earlier this month to discuss the evolution of the agency and its leadership following the ICM Partners acquisition, among other topics, in a candid conversation for Variety‘s “Strictly Business” podcast.
The group weighs in on the recent swings in the content business how social media has changed the game for clients, and the related impact these communication channels are having on the work of agenting. These industry insiders have a lot to say about talent representation, the entertainment economy, the rise of social media creators and the privilege of working with artists.
The participants are:
** Maha Dakhil (Managing Director and Motion Picture Agent)
** Arleta Fowler (Digital Media Agent and Head of Digital Media Lifestyle Talent)
** Jennifer Joel (Literary Agent and Co-Head of CAA Books)
** Lisa Joseph Metelus (CAA Board member and Head of Athlete Brand Strategy & Entertainment for CAA Sports)
** Lara Sackett (Co-Head of Production Department)
** Tiffany Ward (Managing Director and Scripted Television Agent)
Dakhil and others dug into the question of how the increased entrepreneurial drive among many stars and creatives has upped the ante for talent reps in terms of effective career management.
“It’s not this pressure of trying to stay ahead of the clients. It’s this joy and real acceptance of also hopefully being thought leaders ourselves, pushing the boundaries, challenging systems, looking for different ways of doing things, leaning on one another in the different divisions [to ask] ‘What are you learning? What are you finding? What patterns are you seeing,’ ” Dakhil says. “Not every single artist wants to empire-build. Sometimes they just want to tell a story, and we’re certainly equipped to do that, Our job description has expanded so much.”
Fowler, in her role, has been on the cutting edge of seeing how grassroots digital fandom can yield huge career opportunities.
“The world between creators who have their digital ecosystem, their online community, and the world of traditional Hollywood has been coming closer and closer together,” Fowler says. “Our point of view has always been — we’re signing and working with the best creators, artists, taste makers, and our position has always been to connect them to the broader agency. When I think about someone like Liza Koshy, who, when we signed her, we signed her off of Vine because we saw how incredibly talented, funny, sharp she was, right? And she’s doing this short form content, and then we really helped her expand and grow within the entertainment industry. So she just wrapped a film with Arnold Schwarzenegger. I think her agent team now has like 14 people on it across the agency, and she’s doing everything from films, television endorsements, all while also monetizing her platform.”
For the athletes that Metelus works with at CAA Sports, social media channels that allow them to communicate directly to fans has opened up a world of possibilities outside of the gridiron or basketball court or baseball diamond. And it’s no surprise that so many of them are interested in TV, film and other forms of media.
“Athletes have realized and recognize their power and recognized that they have incredible stories to tell,” Metelus says. “So whether it’s on social or whether it’s through building their own production companies and media empires, it’s no longer just about an athlete and what they do on the court. They’re touching so many different lanes and so many verticals.”
The conversation became most passionate when it turned to the spark that sent them down the path to becoming fierce advocates for artists.
“Most of us are in this business because we know that there’s something that is immeasurable, which is the feeling we get when we watch a performance that moves us, or you read something that changes the way you know you understand the way the world works, or you watch a game and you realize that your heart is fluttering,” Joel says.
Ward echoed her colleague’s sentiment, noting that the immeasurable something that she referred to is the uniqueness of working in a creative field. With all the emphasis on AI tools and data technology to track and even predict human behavior, it’s extra-important that agents hold on to their gut instincts about talent. She cited Netflix’s most recent sleeper hit, the intense U.K. drama series “Adolescence,” as a prime example.
“We all came out here because we were captured somehow by the magic of a really resonant human story,” Ward says. “Data is something that we pride ourselves on having sort of best-in-class service around, whether it be social media or ratings. And that’s important. It’s valuable for us. It’s valuable in deal making. It’s valuable in terms of giving our clients some kind of transparent feedback about performance. But the other part of it is that there’s no algorithm on earth that would have told you to make ‘Adolescence.’ It’s just magical, resonant storytelling.”
To an agent, the group cited the value of working in the fertile creative environment of a large agency where information and ideas are constantly flowing. Sackett detailed how being proximate to the spark of inspiration for projects has benefited her clients who work in physical production.
“Somebody’s talking about a great book [idea] that may not even be a book yet. It’s an article, it’s a book, it’s a screenplay. It’s a filmmaker who really wants to collaborate with a particular actor. It’s two actors that want to make a comedy. Just hearing the the kernels of ideas before long before they become physical production is inspiring,” Sackett says. “It does require a sort of entrepreneurial spirit, because now we’re seeing all these different avenues. We’re not waiting for a ‘go’ job, like, here’s a go opportunity. It’s been game changing for us.”
“Strictly Business” is Variety’s weekly podcast featuring conversations with industry leaders about the business of media and entertainment. (Please click here to subscribe to our free newsletter.) New episodes debut every Wednesday and can be downloaded at Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Spotify, Google Play, SoundCloud and more.
(Pictured: Lisa Joseph Metelus, Jennifer Joel, Lara Sackett, Maha Dakhil, Arleta Fowler and Tiffany Ward)
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