Reflections on the Trend of Film/TV Agents Becoming Managers

If you read the trades, you will notice that a lot of agents are becoming managers these days.  While sometimes this works, an agent and manager are not interchangeable.  Often I have seen agents who became managers quickly going back to being an agent.

Why is this?

Managing is hard work. It’s a lot more hands-on than most agents are use to. It’s also a lot more creative than most agents are use to.

As a manager, I am constantly looking for new ideas for my clients. I am also always looking for the right people with whom to pair them up.   In fact, my job is to be as proactive as possible and not wait for someone to call me about my client, which is what most agents are use to.

Agents can sit and wait for the incoming calls while managers are always making outgoing calls.

Also, there is a lot of development that managers do that agents don’t. Often we will do notes on 8-10 drafts of a client’s project before it even goes to an agent.  Many agents haven’t developed their notes skills and don’t know how to do detailed notes.

It’s a very different job skill set for managers and most agents don’t realize this when they make the switch.  They simply think of it as a different job title for representing clients.  

Best of luck to all the agents out there becoming managers.  But a piece of advice — it’s not as easy as it looks.