ABSTRACT
Agents are the grease that makes the gears of the TV development business turn. This chapter explores the world of Hollywood talent agencies and its primacy in the process of creating new TV series. Agents sell writers to networks and studios. Agents “package” new TV pilots and series with their top talent, and shop those projects to networks and studios. Agents control talent and are the industry’s gatekeepers, its first line of defense. Agents are sometimes asked to be their clients’ “bad cop” and defend them in a combative business. Agents are also often fired by their clients when the client becomes successful. Being an agent in Hollywood is a hard job.
