Agent Pissed, Reach out to Manager?

I

IslandFilmmaker

Member
I know this topic (casting an A list Actor for a project) has been discussed before, but I have a specific question about this process.

A team I worked with assigned me to contact talent agency to book an actor for a gig and let's just say things did not work out because apparently they had already reached out to this agency before and pissed them off and I unknowingly was made to try and patch things up - long story short negotiations broke down to the point where the agent said never to contact him again and they wouldn't sell us any of their talents at any price.

Now months later, I'm working on my own independent film and low and behold, an Actor I'm trying to cast is represented by the same agency!!!!!

Now I'm at a lost:

Scenario 1: If I contact this Actor's agent, I'm sure someone in the office will talk and eventually find out I was apart of the team that pissed off another Agent in their Agency

Scenario 2: I can hire a casting director for the sole purpose of reaching out to the Agency to book the talent on my behalf, which must still result in Scenario
1

Scenario 3: The Actor's is managed by a completely different team and they're very nice as well. I can start afresh, reach out to his Management Team and perhaps book the Actor though this method.

Your thoughts?
 
#4 try and tell them you were hired before to try and patch things up and the original discord was not your fault and you didn't know it existed until you called, so please let's try and move forward so I can hire one of your actors?

If all of this blows up, you can try and find a way to get a message to this actor and explain you wanted to hire him/her but animosity from a past assignment that you had nothing to do with got in the way. Hard to say if this person is hungry enough to care, but if they are hungry I would think the end run would cause a change. The end run has the chance of a huge industry backfire with blackball, consider the options before using this choice.
 
Greg_E said:
#4 try and tell them you were hired before to try and patch things up and the original discord was not your fault and you didn't know it existed until you called, so please let's try and move forward so I can hire one of your actors?

If all of this blows up, you can try and find a way to get a message to this actor and explain you wanted to hire him/her but animosity from a past assignment that you had nothing to do with got in the way. Hard to say if this person is hungry enough to care, but if they are hungry I would think the end run would cause a change. The end run has the chance of a huge industry backfire with blackball, consider the options before using this choice.
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Thanks for the advice. And this Agency of which I speak just so happens to be one of the top 5 in Hollywood and largest in the world. Really trying to approach this with the utmost caution.
 
Yes, be upfront. Explain the situation. Trying to go around will almost certainly put you on the permanent do-not-call list. At this point, you still have some chance to make amends. That should have been done when the first instance blew up. You should have tried to clear the air for your own sake back then. Coming to them now will have a diminished chance of being successful. But being straightforward and sincere are your best bet.
 
Well here's the thing, I did send an apology email explaining I had nothing to do with the first botched casting situation, and needless to say it was never replied to. I didn't want to badger so I thought I'd just let things cool off with time. Bearing in mind the actor's manager is very involved in their bookings and come up as their first contact option.

Worst case scenario, if things went array, what if I just said I made contact with the first listed representative and didn't realize I needed to go through them?

OR

What if I tried to book from their offices in another coast as oppose to the one in LA?
 
The heck with apologies and the hand wringing. It's all BS. I've worked at one of the 3 top agencies here in LA, and they have offices in NY and London etc. as well. The following is my take - obviously I'm not familiar with your situation, so I'm speaking only based on what I understand having worked there - and if what you describe is one the top 5 agencies, it's true of any of them as well (not necessarily true of smaller agencies). The agent who issued that threat to you is full of sh|t IMHO. No agent, not even the guy running the agency, is in a position to enforce such a ban. The bottom line is that the most important thing an agent is doing, and they're doing it 24/7 is trying to get their client work. Period. So an agent telling you that the agency is never going to work with you is full of it - there is another agent right next to him who will be more than happy to accept a pay or play from you for their client. At best, the agent can issue that threat for his own client list - and even then, it's pretty stupid. Agents have egos. He puffed up and spoke for the agency - and he had no right of any kind to do so, either practically or legally. If you have the money, and you make a genuine pay or play offer, the game is on - unless you are offering inappropriate material (porn, animal cruelty, something the client is known to oppose etc.). They may turn you down, because their A list actor is not going to do a film with a poor script, or a so-so script with unknown or bad-rep director, or a producer the actor hates etc., but if you have the money, and you make a genuine pay or play offer, they'll look at it. Again, it might happen that a particular agent might black-list you for his clients, but it's almost 100% impossible for him to have the power to affect the rest of the agents... with one exception: it's a small boutique agency and the agent is top honcho there, he/she might have the power to do so - but odds are low they rep a big A list actor there. Even if they've had bad experiences with you before, or hate you guts, they'll do business with you - simply because the money is in escrow, pay or play. If you have a property (screenplay) or role that's hot, then they want to talk to you, period, even if they hate you. Listen, if folks only did business with people they like, Hollywood would collapse in 5 minutes - it is the norm to do business with people you can't stand, with people you KNOW are lying scumbags.

My take - it's that one agent that's the problem. And I bet you anything, if the client likes the material, the agent will eat sh|t and grin and work with you. So go ahead and go around the agent. Get to the manager - be serious, and if you have the goods, they'll talk to you. And if they like it, or better yet, submit it to their A list client who likes it in turn, the agent can go, uhem, pound sand. Key is to get the material to the client whichever way you can - go around the agent by all means. And if the agent hates you, smile and fiip him off - he'll work with you next time too, hating your guts - he has no choice, because you got the $ and you got the material... and btw. agents are not forever, the client might leave by next spring and be repped by a different agent. So screw the agent. You don't need them. You only need the A lister - agents are disposable, just like toilet paper. You're welcome :)!
 
OldCorpse said:
The heck with apologies and the hand wringing. It's all BS. I've worked at one of the 3 top agencies here in LA, and they have offices in NY and London etc. as well. The following is my take - obviously I'm not familiar with your situation, so I'm speaking only based on what I understand having worked there - and if what you describe is one the top 5 agencies, it's true of any of them as well (not necessarily true of smaller agencies). The agent who issued that threat to you is full of sh|t IMHO. No agent, not even the guy running the agency, is in a position to enforce such a ban. The bottom line is that the most important thing an agent is doing, and they're doing it 24/7 is trying to get their client work. Period. So an agent telling you that the agency is never going to work with you is full of it - there is another agent right next to him who will be more than happy to accept a pay or play from you for their client. At best, the agent can issue that threat for his own client list - and even then, it's pretty stupid. Agents have egos. He puffed up and spoke for the agency - and he had no right of any kind to do so, either practically or legally. If you have the money, and you make a genuine pay or play offer, the game is on - unless you are offering inappropriate material (porn, animal cruelty, something the client is known to oppose etc.). They may turn you down, because their A list actor is not going to do a film with a poor script, or a so-so script with unknown or bad-rep director, or a producer the actor hates etc., but if you have the money, and you make a genuine pay or play offer, they'll look at it. Again, it might happen that a particular agent might black-list you for his clients, but it's almost 100% impossible for him to have the power to affect the rest of the agents... with one exception: it's a small boutique agency and the agent is top honcho there, he/she might have the power to do so - but odds are low they rep a big A list actor there. Even if they've had bad experiences with you before, or hate you guts, they'll do business with you - simply because the money is in escrow, pay or play. If you have a property (screenplay) or role that's hot, then they want to talk to you, period, even if they hate you. Listen, if folks only did business with people they like, Hollywood would collapse in 5 minutes - it is the norm to do business with people you can't stand, with people you KNOW are lying scumbags.

My take - it's that one agent that's the problem. And I bet you anything, if the client likes the material, the agent will eat sh|t and grin and work with you. So go ahead and go around the agent. Get to the manager - be serious, and if you have the goods, they'll talk to you. And if they like it, or better yet, submit it to their A list client who likes it in turn, the agent can go, uhem, pound sand. Key is to get the material to the client whichever way you can - go around the agent by all means. And if the agent hates you, smile and fiip him off - he'll work with you next time too, hating your guts - he has no choice, because you got the $ and you got the material... and btw. agents are not forever, the client might leave by next spring and be repped by a different agent. So screw the agent. You don't need them. You only need the A lister - agents are disposable, just like toilet paper. You're welcome :)!
Click to expand...


Damn, you were spot on with the preemptive "you're welcome" because I was just going to say THANK YOU!

It's a brilliant script and we're attaching a EMMY nominated actor to play the lead along with one of the largest PR Firms (with offices on the East and West Coast and other regional offices) = global PR for the film.
 
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