Minerva Content
1) How long have your been an independent rep? Please list the companies that you currently represent:
18 months in my most recent incarnation. Current clients include: edit boutique The Assembly Rooms (I am also their US EP); NB Content and TheBridge.Co (both production companies); Lord of Barbes and Happycamper (animation); Amber Music; Zoic Studios; boutique agency Odysseus Arms; and Furlined (we are covering their staff rep’s maternity leave).
2) Please define your responsibilities as a rep and how they have evolved over the years.
Sales and marketing first and foremost, as it always has been. How you accomplish that has changed over the years for sure. As always, the best client any rep can have does great work and has a stellar reputation to back that up. That client also involves its representation in the business of its business: You really have to know how everything is done when selling to a discerning audience. Getting proper attention paid to new companies, in particular, is super challenging in a saturated marketplace. PR is a bigger component of marketing than ever before because it is crucial to stay top of mind.
3) How has your marketplace expanded with the advent of longer form branded content and varied platforms? While agency creatives and producers remain prime contacts, have you extended your reach to clients, smaller boutique specialty ad/marketing/digital shops, entertainment cos., etc.?
There certainly are more rocks to look under for work these days. On a good day it’s an integrated sale across our roster.
4) Has an increase in in-house agency production and resources impacted your business and how have you adapted to this dynamic?
The in-house units still offer some strategic opportunities to provide specific talents or areas they don’t cover or can’t offer at a high enough level. Certainly, the worst impact has been felt by edit houses without an A-list clientele.
5) What are the advantages of being an independent rep? The drawbacks?
Advantages: You can play in a few different sandboxes if you have varied interests: live action, editing, VFX, music, experiential.
Drawback: There is a great reward to knowing a company’s talent and aspirations intimately. This takes time and trust, which is often slower to come when you are independent.
Alec Baldwin Urges Judge To Stand By Dismissal Of Involuntary Manslaughter Case In “Rust” Shooting
Alec Baldwin urged a New Mexico judge on Friday to stand by her decision to skuttle his trial and dismiss an involuntary manslaughter charge against the actor in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer on the set of a Western movie.
State District Court Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer dismissed the case against Baldwin halfway through a trial in July based on the withholding of evidence by police and prosecutors from the defense in the 2021 shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the film "Rust."
The charge against Baldwin was dismissed with prejudice, meaning it can't be revived once any appeals of the decision are exhausted.
Special prosecutor Kari Morrissey recently asked the judge to reconsider, arguing that there were insufficient facts and that Baldwin's due process rights had not been violated.
Baldwin, the lead actor and co-producer on "Rust," was pointing a gun at cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during a rehearsal when it went off, killing her and wounding director Joel Souza. Baldwin has said he pulled back the hammer — but not the trigger — and the revolver fired.
The case-ending evidence was ammunition that was brought into the sheriff's office in March by a man who said it could be related to Hutchins' killing. Prosecutors said they deemed the ammunition unrelated and unimportant, while Baldwin's lawyers alleged that they "buried" it and filed a successful motion to dismiss the case.
In her decision to dismiss the Baldwin case, Marlowe Sommer described "egregious discovery violations constituting misconduct" by law enforcement and prosecutors, as well as false testimony about physical evidence by a witness during the trial.
Defense counsel says that prosecutors tried to establish a link... Read More