What is a talent manager?
Well managers work with, in a similar capacity to an agent. Managers generally have a smaller roster of talent that they work with. Agencies may have anywhere from a hundred to three hundred clients that they're dealing with on a day in, day out basis, to try and represent them for work. Managers have a much smaller pool of people that they're working with. It may be five people; it may be twenty-five people. And their focus is more on those particular people as opposed to; an agent will have a focus on everyone one their roster. Managers work with agents to find work for their clients. And the tricky thing about having a manager and an agent is that the agent will typically make ten percent of your income, and the manager generally makes anywhere in between fifteen to maybe twenty percent of your income. So if you're giving away thirty, twenty-five or thirty percent of your income on every job that you get; part to the manager and part to the agent as well. Well that can be tricky if you're not making a very high level of income. Managers have the ability I think sometimes, because they have other relationships. They have relationships beyond that of just the casting directors the agents will deal with. They often have relationships with producers, with directors, with other industry people who they can stay on like a lobbyist. They can almost be like a Washington lobbyist that is around the corner every time you turn and says, 'Hey look, you've got to check out Danny Johnson, he's my guy'. So a manager situation can be a great thing if you have a lot of income. I think that starting off it's probably a good idea to try things with an agent, if you can. Sometimes starting off you might meet a manager before you meet an agent, and that can be a fruitful situation as well. But you just have to realize that if you have a manager and an agent, that you have two people working and they both want salaries and they're both going to get a cut of your income.
