Talent Agencies

Talent agencies William Morris and Endeavor are expected to vote today on a merger creating a new giant in Hollywood at a time when the longtime role and power of the firms that represent actors, directors and writers are coming under severe strain.

Just three weeks after shepherding the merger of two top Hollywood talent agencies, William Morris Agency Chairman Jim Wiatt is leaving -- a sign that Endeavor is firmly in control of the combined entity. Speculation focused Friday on whether Wiatt was pushed out by members of the new William Morris Endeavor Entertainment board.

There's a lot less William Morris Agency left to merge with Endeavor. The 111-year-old talent agency Monday laid off more than 120 people, or about 15% of its staff, in preparation for its pending merger with competitor Endeavor. About 40 of the affected employees were agents, and the rest were support staff. The layoffs, which have been expected since the two companies agreed to join forces late last month, hit the motion picture and television talent and literary departments the hardest.

Hollywood's most competitive business is getting even more dog-eat-dog. On most days, client-and-dealmaker defections at talent agencies are as commonplace in showbiz as plastic surgery and private jets. But in the last few weeks, the swaps have grown so frequent and significant that many in the industry have been startled by all the big moves, which some say are a reaction to an overall contraction in the movie business.

Hollywood IS all about bragging rights: who has the biggest box-office returns, the largest market share, the most Oscar nominations. Talent agents love the glory as much as anyone but generally prefer to keep the spotlight on their clients. So we've decided to do the back-slapping for them. As much as they say they dislike reading about themselves, agents very much have been in the news recently.

A federal judge ruled Wednesday against International Creative Management's bid to block Richard Abate, its former high-profile literary agent, from jumping ship to rival Endeavor Talent Agency. In denying ICM's request for a preliminary injunction, U.S. District Judge Peter K. Leisure said the agency had not shown that it would be irreparably harmed by Abate's decision to join another company before his contract had expired.

The push by Hollywood-based talent agencies into the New York book market continues, with the announcement that the Gersh Agency will be opening up a literary division under the direction of veteran agent Phyllis Wender. The news comes on the heels of a similar move by Endeavor Talent Agency, which was announced earlier this year.

As Hollywood braces for a possible strike next month, talent agents are trying to do what they know best: Match-make. Several high-profile agents are quietly trying to broker a deal between studio executives and writers, who have been locked in rancorous contract talks that are set to resume Tuesday. The writers' contract expires Oct. 31 and major studios are preparing for a walkout.

Four days after Hollywood's first major strike in nearly 20 years began, pressures are mounting to get writers and the major studios back to the bargaining table. On Thursday, leaders from the industry's top five talent agencies met in secret with guild leaders at the Writers Guild of America's office in the Fairfax district to offer their help and share a litany of concerns about how the strike was affecting their clients, according to five people with knowledge of the meeting.

One afternoon earlier this year, architect Neil Denari met me in the cloud-white lobby of his best-known Southern California design: the Endeavor talent agency in Beverly Hills, which was completed in 2004. Talent agencies typically hire architects to reinforce their reputations as places in Hollywood where careers are shaped and deals are packaged--where power is consolidated.