Talent Agent Uses Perseverance, Savvy to Represent Hollywood’s Elite

Just like actors perform to evoke a reaction, the talent agents who represent them can be passionate, stubborn, loyal, and cunning, but they use these qualities to convince directors that their client, the actor, really is the character that he seeks.

Tracy Christian not only represents a talented client list which includes celebrity entertainers like actors Michael Kenneth Williams, from HBO’s “The Wire,” former “Cosby” kid Lisa Bonet, and rapper/actor Busta Rhymes, but she considers them family.

But 12 years ago, when friends told her that she would be a perfect talent agent, Christian wasn’t convinced. As the owner of a promotional modeling agency that signed temporary beauties for trade events such as car shows, she felt “like a pimp.” She wanted to try something different, but she didn’t feel educated enough and was extremely intimidated by what she initially saw as a profession for knowledgeable and culturally sophisticated white men.

She wasn’t entirely wrong. An internship at Hollywood’s most prominent agencies lasted only two weeks. She quit when she discovered that of several hundred agents, only one was African American. Also driving that decision was the fact that the only women she saw were receptionists, and there were very few black clients.

But the short experience taught the San Francisco native more about the talent agent industry, and she realized her fears stemming from inexperience were unfounded and this was a business that she would not only enjoy but succeed at.

She then found an apprenticeship at a boutique talent agency that represented classically trained actors such as those who attended Julliard and Yale. Her previous experience managing models had been extremely lucrative–not only putting her through college at California State University in Los Angeles and the University of Southern California, but also allowing her to purchase rental property before the age of 20.

However, knowing that the industry required that she “pay her dues,” she took a significant pay cut earning less than $400 a week to work the job. Christian, a history major, became a full fledged agent six months later –a feat that generally takes three to six years–and she ended up working for the company, which she declines to name, for almost eight years. Now as an agent at Don Buchwald and Associates, Christian, who won’t tell her age, but says she attended high school in the late eighties, earns well into six figures.

Increasing diversity behind the scenes in Hollywood, has been a challenge of the industry for decades.  BlackEnterprise.com spoke to Christian to learn more about how interested African Americans can get a foot in the door without breaking a leg.

BlackEnterprise.com: As a talent agent, what is it that you do?

Tracy Christian: I’m in the sales industry but my wares are artists. My job is to convince decision makers — producers, studio execs, casting directors –  that they need to hire my client. Once I get

the offer, then I have to negotiate the job’s parameters and fee structure. I keep my client list small and I only represent actors who I intend on representing for the next 20 years; people whose talent consistently blows me away.

What are the personality characteristics that help you do this job well?

A good agent must be tenacious and willing to exhibit a certain amount of codependence with an artist. My clients can tell you I am notorious about arguing and fighting for an opportunity. I will get in my car, drive to their house and try to convince their wife that a role they may or may not choose is right or wrong. I care. Their success means more to me then just my paycheck or my reputation. I’ve been fortunate that I haven’t had much attrition, but it is pretty common in this industry.

For someone at a large agency who represents mainly African American clients, what are some challenges you’ve encountered??

Sometimes my black clients get stuck playing the same roles. My job is to help them mix up their roles in the same way that Caucasian actors do, so that they exercise their talent and don’t get too used to playing the same characters. That is something that artists themselves don’t even think about. But I think about it because these guys look like my father and I have a different level of interest with them.

I represent a man named Michael Kenneth Williams who played Omar on “The Wire.” Michael is very dark and he has a scar that bisects his face. I think if he were represented by [a white agent], every time you saw him he would be playing characters like Omar, a drug dealer. Instead he is replacing the Oscar winning actor, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, in the Todd Solondz film, “Life During Wartime.” He is being treated as an artist and an actor; not as a color.

How diverse is the talent agent business?

There are hundreds of agents in Los Angeles, New York, and London.  I can name all of the black agents on one hand and have fingers left over. In order for minorities to be portrayed in different ways on television and the big screen there has to be more minority agents. Most black men on TV are carrying a gun because they are either the cop or the drug dealer. To broaden [those roles] you need someone at the table who says no.

What can be done to help increase the numbers of black agents in the industry?

Becoming an agent requires an apprenticeship. To be successful as an agent you need a mentor. Someone already is in the mix has to be willing to let you sit in their office while they show you everything that they know how to do–from negotiating deals to signing clients. There aren’t enough people out there who are mentoring black assistants.

If more celebrity actors and actresses walked into their agencies and said there need to be more black assistants, there would be more black assistants. Actors need to step up and make their power known.

What advice would you give to anyone who wants to become a talent agent?

Take an unpaid internship. That will give you a true sense of what it is like to work [at the agency]. It could turn into a paid apprenticeship. Think long range, not short term. The amount of time that a person will need to apprentice will depend on the size of the agency. Keep the mindset that you will not make a lot of money initially. Many large talent agencies hire young men who just graduated from Harvard to work in the mailroom at $100 a week. Many of them have graduate and law degrees. They know if they invest their time now that in three to six years, they will have their own client list and make $250,000-plus a year for the next twenty years.

Resources:
Agentassociation.com — a non profit trade association that represents top talent agencies.
Career.Berkley.edu – A graduate from the University of California, Berkeley describes the talent agent industry.
Stylecareer.com/talent_agent.shtml — Talent agency industry overview.
Talent-link.com/Joomla/founder — Information about Vince Paul, founder of Talent Link, a black-owned talent agency and author of “The Talent Guide: Launching Your Career in the Commercial, Film, and Fashion Industries”