There is a reputation for agencies, and being an agent, that is not a good one. And to be frank, much of that is well-founded (thanks, Entourage). But truthfully, I loved being an agent for four years. I went into it knowing very little about film finance and distribution sales, let alone what it was like working at an agency, but I learned it all. I loved my colleagues — 2012-2016 was a time when ICM was working with very interesting filmmakers (e.g. Duplass Brothers) who were producing on the indie side.
Being a finance and packaging agent is like being a producer from inside the agency; you're a servicing department. Aside from representing financiers, you don't really represent clients the way most clients traditionally do. You're not booking jobs for people and it’s not as much of a volume business, which is typically what makes being an agent hard and exhausting. I got to work with clients that I was excited about — I put together Sian Heder’s first film, worked on Infinitely Polar Bear and Skeleton Twins.
I got to be creative while still learning how to structure financing for movies, how the festival system worked and which festivals were most valuable for premiering, in terms of what was good for filmmakers and financiers and thus, the film market, as well as getting to know all of the distribution companies and executives who worked there. Getting to know these executives is how I really started to understand how the distribution side of filmmaking works: why they're buying certain movies (and why they aren’t), how they’re thinking about marketing, what kind of content/talent will make them spend the most. This knowledge gave me an incredible POV when I started producing.
I've always let the creative vision drive the movies I make, but as I start venturing into more commercial studio films, my understanding of the distribution end gives me an advantage in being able to discern why certain creative notes are received from studio executives. I keep up my relationships with distribution executives to know how mandates and which companies are buying indies. There is a reason I have made every movie I’ve developed — being a finance and packaging agent at ICM laid an amazing foundation for me to go be a producer.