Author:    Natasha Galloway Agent, Peters Fraser Dunlop

Background to Agents in the UK and US

The main agencies dealing with film in the UK include: Peters, Fraser and Dunlop; ICM; Curtis Brown; Cassarotto; and The Agency.

In the US, the main players include: CAA; William Morris; ICM; Endeavor; and UTA.

UK agents will liaise with their American counterparts to help further their clients' careers in Hollywood and split the commission that the client earns in the US.

The Role of Agents

The primary role of the agent is to find work for their clients by raising awareness of their talents with producers and others who might have suitable projects for them. In the UK, agents will tend to read scripts and decide whether or not they are suitable for particular clients before passing them on to the client to discuss whether or not they should take the project on. In the US, the agent will often have to deal with the client's manager who will also be involved in taking the decision about which projects to take on.

Packaging - where an agent puts together all the key elements of the film - tends to be more common in the US where agents often represent producers as well as actors, writers and directors. In these circumstances, the agent might well charge a packaging fee as well as or instead of their commission. Packaging is less common in the UK because it is more difficult for a single agency to be able to bring together all of these crucial elements. Fewer actors in the UK can greenlight a film in a way that makes it relatively easy to bring in all the other elements - of the appropriate quality and suitability - around them. Also, packaging projects can create conflicts of interest for the agent because they will be representing more than one element in the film and may be left trying to represent conflicting interests if something goes wrong on the project.

Agents will get involved in projects at various different stages of development. Often, a producer and director will bring a script to the agent looking for advice on suitable actors to attach to it, or with specific actors (clients of that agent) already in mind. The agent will then help them develop their team and take them and the project through all the necessary steps to completion. Agencies tend to know the backgrounds of most people in the industry and can help push projects in the right direction - and sometimes help producers avoid expensive mistakes.

Talent Relationships

In the UK, relationships between agents and their clients tend to be open-ended and ongoing and will continue until either party decides to terminate it (at which point, the agent will still receive their percentage of any deals for which they have been responsible). In the US, agent/client deals can have a time limit. Typical charges levied by agents are in the order of 10% of their earnings from each deal.

Another difference between the two territories, is that in the UK each client tends to be looked after by one dedicated agent. In the US, major clients will be looked after by a team of agents. Partly because of these close one-to-one relationships with their clients, UK agents prefer producers to work through them when trying to attach talent to projects. However, they are happy to work with producers who have already spoken to their clients and interested them in the project as long as they are brought into the loop as soon as possible. Ultimately, it is in the agent's interests for their clients to build good working relationships with (preferably successful) producers and to develop projects that they are interested in with them. In the UK, agents work fairly co-operatively between agencies and if producers make false claims about having particular talent attached to projects that fact will be quickly uncovered, damaging the producer's reputation in the industry and annoying both the talent and the agent.

Top Tips

• The primary role of the agent is to find work for their clients by raising awareness with producers and others who might have suitable projects for them.
• Agencies tend to know the backgrounds of most people in the industry and can push projects in the right direction - and help producers avoid expensive mistakes.
• Agents prefer producers to work through them when trying to attach talent to projects, but will work with producers who have already spoken to their clients as long as they are brought into the loop as soon as possible.