To be a talent agent at William Morris once meant you had made it big in Hollywood.
Working his way up the ladder, one television agent spent four years as an assistant at the beck and call of a heavyweight dealmaker, before eventually becoming a “tenpercenter” himself, with entrée to Tinseltown’s back lots and backrooms and most exclusive restaurants.
On Monday, that all changed. In one of the most public displays of the recession’s grip on Hollywood, that agent along with 119 other employees were laid off at William and Morris, one of Hollywood’s oldest and most storied talent agencies, which for a century has represented some of the biggest names in the entertainment industry.
For months now, Hollywood’s talent agents — those notoriously cutthroat dealmakers famous for negotiating on behalf of the famous and renowned for 10 percent commissions — have felt the pinch of the economic recession.
Each of Hollywood’s major agencies has recently cut back, reining in spending on conspicuous corporate cars, expansive expense accounts, pricey power lunches and armies of attentive assistants.
“I was in a different industry before I became an agent and I was lured in by the glamour. Agents were my celebrities and then you come in and you see it and soon enough it becomes your job. But I think agents are in denial. They still think they’re masters of the universe and it’s not reality anymore,” said the recently laid off television agent, who would not speak for attribution in fear that would hurt his chances of finding another job.
