The Business of Entertainment, Breaking In and Succeeding

The Creative Artists Agency (CAA) hosted a panel on July 18 about how agencies work and the ways to get involved in CAA at the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival (LALIFF). The panel was composed of seven CAA representatives from different departments.

Diversity was the message at this discussion. The representatives joked that the ethnic composition at CAA was displayed on the panel with only one white male. The talent they represent is equally as diverse, in backgrounds and forms of entertainment. With the changes that technology and communications has brought to the industry, CAA has expanded from film and TV to include sports, products, and online content.

“We all have to try and advance us,” Edward James Olmos, co-director of LALIFF said, “especially females and minorities.”

By having more minority representation in talent agencies, we can have more representation of talent from our communities. This in turn can bring major change to the entertainment industry, changing the faces we see in film and television.

The panel concluded with this advice: Getting a job at an agency calls for dedication and persistence. You have to work your way from bottom, and even some experienced people come in and start in the mailroom, but the payoff is invaluable. Spending a year or two interning at an agency is like earning a Master’s in entertainment.