Shaking up the agency rosters

Rather than pay 10% of their income to foot the overhead and another 10% to managers, some up-and-coming actors and filmmakers are abandoning their agents altogether, letting just their managers -- who operate much like agents but sell themselves as more strategic thinkers -- oversee their careers. When agent Brian Sher recently left ICM to start Category 5 Entertainment, clients including rapper-actor Tip "T.I." Harris ("American Gangster") and screenwriter Kevin Bisch ("Hitch") came with him, and no longer carry agents.

Getting squeezed from both sides, some agencies have quietly begun culling underperforming clients from their rosters, while a few are having to have the awkward conversation of informing an actor he's not getting paid what he once did. Even CAA is telling its agents they should fly business, not first class.

"Market forces are affecting the agencies," said Scott Harris, the head of Innovative Artists, a boutique outfit that represents top Broadway actors (Patti LuPone, Adam Pascal) and a number of established names, including Frank Langella, Ving Rhames and Marilu Henner. "Sometimes we have to manage expectations down. What someone made five years ago, the market may no longer bear."

The head of production at one studio said that when his movie budgets now grow too expensive, he insists that actors give up one of their prized perks: a percentage of every dollar that comes in. Several managers said that many actors who were once guaranteed to open a film at the box office are no longer a sure bet, as was proved by the poor openings for Will Ferrell's "Semi-Pro" and George Clooney's "Leatherheads."

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To secure comedy stars

Part of Endeavor's thinking in hiring Stevens, Hallerman and Sheinwold was to secure the next generation of comedy stars, who cost less than most A-list actors and, as the massive returns of "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" and "Knocked Up" prove, can often yield big hits with relatively small budgets. In addition to looking to its TV business for growth, ICM, with few A-list stars in its fold, hopes it can build a future with young stars such as Jim Sturgess ("21"), Ben Barnes ("The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian") and Chris Brown ("Stomp the Yard").

Innovative's Harris said that for all the efforts at market share, bigger isn't necessarily better. "You are not going to be faced with an agent playing God," he said of his smaller agency. "Someone who says, 'I've got you, but I've also got 17 other people who make more money and have more credits than you."

Several managers -- and more than a few agents -- said the recent poaching is having a deleterious impact on the business. Rather than focusing on carefully building a career, these people say, some agents nowadays favor high-profile deals over strategic advice.

It's one thing to get a client a private jet and a fat cut of a film's profits, said UTA partner Jeremy Zimmer, "but it's also really exciting and emotionally satisfying to see someone's first movie premiere at Sundance or put someone to work who hasn't worked in a year."

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john.horn@latimes.com