How will the William Morris/Endeavor merger affect indie talent?

BY ANTHONY KAUFMAN

The merger of the William Morris Agency and Endeavor has been the big industry story of the past few months, with sites like Deadline Hollywood Daily breathlessly tracking the resulting firings, signings and collateral damage. But how will the merger affect independents at both the new William Morris Endeavor Entertainment and other agencies and representation outfits?

One up-and-coming director, who prefers to remain anonymous so as not to burn any bridges in this highly flammable industry, believed he had received the golden ticket when he signed with William Morris a couple of years ago. "The WMA logo on my reel was some great letterhead to have," the helmer told Filmmaker. (Let's call him Joe.) "The silver X's opened doors." But now, cut loose after all of his agents were fired or resigned, Joe says, "I just no longer fit into the new company's mandate and I was left adrift. As an independent filmmaker, you're a small fish in a big pond."

Joe joins dozens of agents (the majority of them from William Morris) left without a home by the merger. Also gone are veterans Cassian Elwes and Rena Ronson, former chiefs of William Morris Independent, who are reportedly forming a new company. The financing division at WME Entertainment, known as the Global Finance and Distribution division, will now be run by former Endeavor agent Graham Taylor, who the industry sources we talked to spoke highly of. Currently Taylor works alongside Mark Ankner, Alexis Garcia and Liesl Copland (formerly of Netflix/Red Envelope). (The merger was completing at press time and reps from WME Entertainment were unable to comment.)

Despite industry-wide retrenchment and the consolidation resulting from the merger, the Endeavor-turned-WME Entertainment unit has been aggressively moving forward and plans to grow. It has pushed through 15 projects this year, more than any year previously, including Mark Ruffalo's directorial debut Sympathy for Delicious, Rodrigo Garcia's drama Mother and Child and Georgian director GŽla Babluani's U.S. adaptation of his 13 Tzameti.

But if the independent community has faith in Taylor, some worry whether WME Entertainment as a whole will be able to service as many low-budget films and new talent.

Producer Andrew Fierberg (Fur, Broken English), who has worked with both agencies over the years, says Taylor and the Endeavor team have been inclusive and helpful, and more so than William Morris in making their clients available. "If [WME Entertainment] can leverage the money and actors that are coming in from William Morris and continue to do what they've been doing, I think it will be good for us because their corporate attitude has always been filmmaker-friendly," says Fierberg. "But I can see how they could be in the same situation where their overhead gets in the way of working with a smaller film."

Former CAA agent Kevin Iwashina, who is a partner in new rep firm IP Advisors, says the intent of the major agencies isn't to avoid the independent film business. But because the agencies too have limited resources, he says, "they need to focus their efforts where there is the highest possibility of economic reward in exchange for risk. Unfortunately there are more opportunity costs in the independent film business than in the studio business."

While the new WME Entertainment moves forward, other agencies and companies are looking toward the shake-up in the representation world as a business opportunity. In April Gersh formed a film financing division, hiring producer Jay Cohen (Swimming with Sharks, Mad Money, Bride Wars) to package and seek production coin, which these days includes everything from equity investment to tax rebates. Cohen acknowledges that Gersh has picked up new clients as a result of the William Morris/Endeavor merger. "Everyone has," he says. He also says that today's challenging times will result in a friendlier film environment. "At the end of the day, none of us can really afford not to make movies, so you'll see more collaborations, especially on the financing and packaging side. There's much less 'This is my territory.' Now it's just, 'Let's make movies.'"

As the industry rebalances, other companies are broadening their scopes to include everything from traditional representation and packaging to developing digital and alternative distribution strategies for clients.

"There's no question that we're better suited to handle new talent because that's where our heart is," argues Cinetic's John Sloss, citing, among other shifts, Cinetic's move toward maximizing digital revenue through its Cinetic Rights Management. Cinetic also recently brought on attorney Victoria Cook, who has completed financing deals for many independent filmmakers, to focus on its North American sales and financing. With its different divisions, says Sloss, "We're engineered like a cockroach to survive better than the bigger organizations."

If the agencies have a mandate to serve their big-name clients, boutique sales operation Submarine's Josh Braun says independent filmmakers are better positioned to adapt to the new marketplace. "I feel like the more that they become independent," he says, "the more they can shape their own destiny." Braun cites, for instance, the surprise success of fashion doc Valentino: The Last Emperor, which his company first fielded distribution offers for before orchestrating a DIY-style release.

As for Joe the Filmmaker, he says he now feels "a little wiser and a little more cautious of my relationships with my agents. After all, who wants fair-weather friends?" He advises other directors: "Don't be emotionally invested [with your agent]. Don't ask to see their baby pictures. It's a business. The bottom line is dollars not 'talent.' You have to be your own rainmaker."

Currently Joe is meeting with managers, though not "at the mega-management houses, but smaller manager-producers who have more of a vested interest in developing young talent outside of the studio model," he says. "In the end, the glorified letterhead doesn't matter so much as the product."