“On the ‘Ground Floor’ at UTA’s 5th Floor”

My buddy Tom Benedek provides some insight into the world of talent agencies in this column at The Wrap:

In the entertainment industry for the long haul? You had better be nice to the person who answers the phone.

More specifically, if you are calling someone at United Talent Agency, the person you are speaking with may be the person you are trying to reach very soon.

I was told this very same thing by Tom’s brother Peter, who was my first agent back at Bauer & Benedek: Be nice to assistants because some day, they’ll be your boss. Want proof? Tom cites these numbers re UTA:

At UTA, the long road to agent usually culminates after years on an assistant’s desk on any one of four floors at 9560 Wilshire Blvd. — a fertile training ground for agency (and industry) personnel. Over 65 of UTA’s nearly 100 agents (including partners Andrew Cannava, Dan Erlij, Wayne Fitterman, Lisa Jacobson, David Kramer, Larry Salz and Jay Sures) all made the jump to agent off of assistants’ desks at the agency.

There are all sorts of stories about how the moguls of today got their start in agency mail rooms yesterday. I remember reading about how Barry Diller took what was supposedly the worst entry level job at WMA: Working in the Xerox room. But Diller wanted that gig. Why? Because left all alone, he could while away the hours studying every contract and deal memo that funneled through his work space. That’s how he educated himself in the art of the deal.