One day not so long ago, an agency drop memo was leaked to the Hollywood Happy Hour Yahoo! group mailing list.
I’ll share some thoughts about the circumstances of that leak, the agenda of the person who did the leaking, and what could’ve/should’ve been done differently. But first, I want to share this internal document here for you to get a sense of what circulates at *every* agency and management firm on the planet at least twice a year.
The following is an exchange shared between partners and agents at a boutique talent agency in Los Angeles that represents actors with good co-star credits on up through guest stars to recurring and a few series regulars. This email has the “voices” of at least three agents in the company, as they’ve passed this email between them to debate the merits of keeping or dropping certain actors as pilot season comes to a close and “drop season” takes hold as we head into meeting season (see the SMFA Hot Sheet on the Casting Calendar for when these windows take place).
I have removed the names of the actors to protect their privacy. This was originally shared with all the names fully laid out. Yes, really.
The first grouping is a list of names one of the partners emailed around as the initial drop list. Each actor’s first line of info is from one very hands-on agent who received the list, the second line is from the other of the two partners who replied with decisions after the first agent shared her thoughts on the other partners’ master list.
BELOW IS A LIST OF PEOPLE WE SHOULD CONSIDER LETTING GO…
The List
[ACTOR] — we’ve had her over 1 year, never gets calls or cbs/never books & we have [ANOTHER ACTOR] (who books) & [ANOTHER ACTOR] (new from [CASTING DIRECTOR])
cute but if she isnt booking or getting calls , she should be let go
[ACTOR] — not getting calls & we have [ANOTHER ACTOR] & he is getting auditions.
Agree
[ACTOR] — never gets calls, we have [ANOTHER ACTOR] & [ANOTHER ACTOR] (who has a nice resume)
absolutley
[ACTOR] — Won’t audition for co star, not getting guest star calls, worked once in 3 years, not making us any money sitting & hoping he gets guest star auditions. We have lots of guys in his category… [ANOTHER ACTOR], [ANOTHER ACTOR], [ANOTHER ACTOR] & [ANOTHER ACTOR].
didnt know he hadnt been booking, let him go
[ACTOR] — Doesn’t get calls. lovely & old so maybe we should just keep her, i don’t know?
keep her but is she hisp, black or white
[ACTOR] — Doesn’t get calls… Because she is [CASTING DIRECTOR]’s friend, we should just keep her up commercially only. she’ll never know!
keep only becasue of [CASTING DIRECTOR], will she do very small roles
[ACTOR] — dead weight, doesn’t get calls ever!
Let him go, I agree
[ACTOR]- never gets calls/ not really an actress- we should just keep her up commercially only because of her husband.
her husband doesnt do stuff anymore though. we have had her 15 years and nothing
[ACTOR] — doesn’t get calls, we have [ANOTHER ACTOR] who gets the calls & works.
I agree definitly and he told me at karoke he only will do big roles now
[ACTOR] — get auditions, always needs time frame or has to cancel because of work only works commercially so idk we should probably keep her. We have [ANOTHER ACTOR]…
AGREE and open it up for others
[ACTOR] — doesn’t really get calls we have LOTS of ladies… [ANOTHER ACTOR], [ANOTHER ACTOR], [ANOTHER ACTOR], [ANOTHER ACTOR], etc…
I would agree but dont know how close she still is with [CASTING DIRECTOR] and that is why we took her
[ACTOR]- never gets calls, dead weight, no resume.
Bye Bye
[ACTOR]- never gets calls, dead weight, no resume.
Bye Bye but isnt he with [MANAGER]
[ACTOR]- sweet/kinda ditsy… gets a few calls but hasn’t booked anything.
I think we should keep her for her look for a little while longer
[ACTOR] — doesn’t get calls, 1 1/2 years with no pictures, never gets callbacks. (booked 1 job/Adidas)
let her go for sure
[ACTOR] — doesn’t get calls, i love her but casting just isn’t biting plus we have [ANOTHER ACTOR] & [ANOTHER ACTOR].
I have no opinion on her, quirky but not setting the world on fire
[ACTOR]- same as above… plus we have [ANOTHER ACTOR].
Agree
[ACTOR]- [ANOTHER ACTOR] gets the calls but she too is lovely & old so maybe we should just keep her, i don’t know? She just doesnt get calls and I dont get it but she left once and we took her back.
we can keep her I guess
[ACTOR] ([NICKNAME]) — ??????????? Really?
my sentiments but I think it is because of [PARTNER WHO ORIGINATED THE LIST]s brother
[ACTOR]- I’ve already marked him inactive/not an actor
(can submit if needed keep him inactive)
[ACTOR]- I’ve already marked him inactive/not an actor (can submit if needed)
keep him inactive.. besides he insulted my backyard
[ACTOR] — doesn’t get calls, [ANOTHER ACTOR] and [ANOTHER ACTOR] get the calls.
I know but we need to keep him I think, just because we have had him forever and I think [PARTNER WHO ORIGINATED THE LIST] would want to also
[ACTOR] — “I’m not even an actress, I’m a teacher” ya, about that… that is what she said to us. We have [ANOTHER ACTOR] & [ANOTHER ACTOR] who ARE actresses & book!
I agree totally
[ACTOR] — Gets one call every year, doesn’t book. Not in class. Been waiting to let her go for a long time
.
[ACTOR] — We’ve tried but she never got new pictures & doesn’t get calls plus we have [ANOTHER ACTOR]. Is she any good, I know we have asked and asked for pics,
.
[ACTOR] — We have [ANOTHER ACTOR], [ANOTHER ACTOR] & [ANOTHER ACTOR] who get calls and book!! [ACTOR] passes on auditions (co-stars) way too often & he has no right to!! But I think we need to keep because of [CASTING DIRECTOR]. That is the only reason we took him
.
[ACTOR] — [ANOTHER ACTOR], gets the calls. [ACTOR] has no resume, hasn’t booked in a year+
Agree
[ACTOR] — well over a year w/ hardly any calls & no bookings.
Agree
[ACTOR] — hardly gets calls, doesn’t book. We have lots of blondes in her age range… dead weight!
Agree
[ACTOR]- hardly gets calls, doesn’t book. We have lots of brunettes in her age range… dead weight! plus we are taking [ANOTHER ACTOR].
Dont know how long we have had her but I agree
This second grouping was suggested by the first agent who added notes to the actors listed above, proposing to one of the partners that these folks also be considered. That same partner as above responded in the second line for each actor.
[PARTNER RESPONDING IN-LINE], I don’t want to upset you but for as much as they are submitted, they are not getting calls…
[ACTOR] — doesn’t get calls & we have [ANOTHER ACTOR] & [ANOTHER ACTOR], who book.
I agree but I need to keep him for now. He will leave soon as he is finishing a script and he may even go back to England
[ACTOR]- sweet girl. is she really an actress? i thought she was a producer…she is a great stand up. I just send her for one lines and non union commercials.
to good of a friend who I see weekly
[ACTOR]-not really an actor, right?
almost same as above but not as close. i will just put him in non union and a line here or there
[ACTOR] — Is she an actress?
we can put her inactive. She was on a soap for 6 years and did 3 broadway shows so she is an actress but too busy doing her producing of Family Guy
[ACTOR] — We have [ANOTHER ACTOR], [ANOTHER ACTOR] & [ANOTHER ACTOR]
Dont know if [PARTNER WHO ORIGINATED THE LIST] would do it. He drives me insane and he thinks he is much more popular than he is. Goes to all these opening etc
This third grouping was also shared by that agent, this time proposing cuts to the other partner based on *her* Web of Trust. Since she was the day-to-day rep for these people, she was appealing to the partner how hard to work with some of these folks are. The notes after each actor are from the above partner who was weighing in with her thoughts.
[PARTNER WHO ORIGINATED THE LIST], I know you love these people but they are SO difficult…
[ACTOR]
such a great look… didnt know he was difficult. that should be up to you. no one should be difficult with how hard you guys work
[ACTOR]
ditto
[ACTOR]
No opinion either way. Again difficult is not good and no reason for it
[ACTOR], not difficult but not really an actor, right?
ask [PARTNER WHO ORIGINATED THE LIST] . I dont think he wants to really act does he
This last grouping was a list the same agent was pitching to the team as ones to discuss, politically, and again the one partner weighed in as this email was making its way back to the partner who initiated the email discussion.
and lastly, I’m sure you both are questioning…
[ACTOR]- such a good kid & casting does love him, he just hasn’t booked.
dont know a lot about him but he is cute
[ACTOR]- not a lot of calls but he did just book Southland.
Since he just booked let’s keep him till next cut
[ACTOR]- needs new pictures, plus we don’t want to risk losing [ANOTHER ACTOR] if we let her go…
dont know why we took her. we dont even have her commercially
We don’t know what the partner who started the whole email thought of any of these folks based on the above (and at least one of these actors — an actor I’ve cast since this memo was circulated — is still to this day with this agency) but that’s where this email was headed when it was intercepted and shared without permission at my Hollywood Happy Hour Yahoo! group mailing list.
I’ll say now what I said at the time: I kinda loved that the memo was posted. Without a doubt, she should have stripped actors’ names when leaking this email, as that’s just not necessary for the POINT to be made, IF the point were to be sure actors know what “drop season” really looks like at an agency of this tier.
But that’s what brings me to the *actual* point of the original leaker of the memo: It was to create drama and cause trouble at the agency from which the memo originated.
This woman was a former employee who left in a bit of ugliness, so this was some of her payback: getting the agency some bad vibes. Of course, many folks in the industry began to respect the agency MORE for its ability to cut the wheat from the chaff.
The partner who originated the drop list — who at the time didn’t know the difference between a website and an email-based message board — called me to complain that *my* website had confidential, internal information posted on it, and I needed to remove the webpage. (Count the errors.) I spent time explaining what a Yahoo! group is, that the majority of members were email-based, and that the message had already gone out. While I could remove it from the archives, the convo would likely still continue, as the original info had already gone out, via email, to thousands of members (and had been forwarded to many non-members too, by then).
But the bigger picture (beyond what the disgruntled former employee wanted to do, beyond the partner’s lack of understanding of what had happened, beyond hurt feelings on the part of the actors named in the letter, beyond the crazy drama that went into those days and weeks of craziness at Hollywood Happy Hour) is that this is a lovely look at what it is that goes on, when agencies are determining it’s time to drop or keep a client! That some are kept simply because of which CD made the referral, that some are dropped even after going out a lot that season, that some are on the roster but not even really understood by the agents whose job it is to pitch ’em, that some are absolutely “signed and shelved” and will never know it… this is all VERY good, behind-the-scenes info to have!
Shouldn’t be shocking to see, as it’s exactly what we *say* goes on… but to see the actual words, right there, written by those agents, yeah. That’s good confirmation of how things happen, at least in offices at this particular tier.