Media & Entertainment Law

Talent Agent?s chilling ?State of the Industry? message sends shivers through entertainment industry

By Gordon Firemark

Talent agent James J. Jones of Premiere Talent, issued a gloomy “State of the Industry” message last March, which has been circulating around town among established actors and hopefuls alike.

The message paints a bleak picture for an industry following two major labor disturbances in the past two years, and suggests that work for actors is less plentiful than ever before, with film actors taking the few television starring jobs available, and top-tier TV actors taking co-star, guest star and less prestigious roles.

What that leaves for aspiring actors, and the thousands of established actors who’ve worked only occasionally Jones warns, is even fewer opportunities.

Sadly, this situation “trickles down” to all entertainment industry workers, including writers, directors, crew, and even professionals like accountants, lawyers and the like.

The glimmer of good news is that this presents terrific opportunities for independent filmmakers, provided they’ve got courageous investors on board. Today’s indie has a better-than-ever chance of getting name talent to work for affordable fees, given a good script and an attractive role.

In my view, if our industry is to rebound from the WGA strike, the SAG almost-strike, and the troubled economy, we’ll all need to tighten our belts a bit… but the time jump into new production. Let’s get folks back to work!

Full post as published by Entertainment Law Update on June 30, 2009 (boomark / email).