The following is a guest contribution from Travis Bell, JD. Bell works in athlete, talent management and collaborative law at The Seven Bridges Group.
Recently Mr. Heitner published an article on the CAA/WME rivalry heating up.
The backdrop to the article was how both agencies started in the entertainment industry and ventured into sports and marketing.
I’d like to comment on why it’s important for agents and their firms to be adept at both.
You see, the line between athletes and actors (traditional entertainers) has blurred. Not only had it blurred but it’s virtually non-existent. With social media, transportation options galore and seemingly endless financial resources, entities can be virtually anywhere together in minimal time.
As contract advisors we must not only evolve with the times but see the proverbial curve and trends and be ahead of them. As a novice contract advisor I was presented with an opportunity to have one of our clients, Rashawn Pringle as an extra in the film Just Wright. It then dawned on me after speaking with several people that we needed to take advantage of this opportunity. Actors want to be athletes and athletes want to be actors. I thought to myself, let’s offer representation services to both. I will admit, it was a struggle but now the firm has an established and growing client base in both sports and entertainment and primed to carve out its niche in the arena.
I encourage contract advisors to see what’s out there. The shelf life of an athlete is a short one. Be in a position to diversify their playing careers and secure a future for them when the play clock on their careers hit 0:00.
Check us out at www.sevenbridgesgroup.com and at Imdb.com.