Talent Agents | Personal Managers Archives

A Tradecraft Primer: Structured Analytic Techniques for Improving Intelligence Analysis

February 18, 2019August 9, 2017 by admin

THE “MIND-SET” CHALLENGE

Using the analytic techniques contained in this primer will assist analysts in dealing with the perennial problems of intelligence: the complexity of international developments, incomplete and ambiguous information, and the inherent limitations of the human mind. Understanding the intentions and capabilities of adversaries and other foreign actors is challenging, especially when either or both are concealed. Moreover, transnational threats today pose even greater complexity, in that they involve multiple actors including nonstate entities that can adapt and transform themselves faster than those who seek to monitor and contain them. Finally, globalization has increased the diversity of outcomes when complex, interactive systems such as financial flows, regional economies or the international system as a whole are in flux. The first hurdle for analysts is identifying the relevant and diagnostic information from the increasing volume is acquired through open source and clandestine means. Analysts must also pierce the shroud of secrecy and sometimes mdeception that state and nonstate actors use to mislead. A systematic approach that considers a range of alternative

Talent Agents, Personal Managers, And Their Conflicts In The New Hollywood

February 13, 2019August 8, 2017 by admin

I. INTRODUCTION

Hollywood is an impersonal, uncaring, and unforgiving place, and artists need the sophisticated assistance of third parties to help them locate employment opportunities and to assist them in making career decisions. This is where talent agents and personal managers step in. Agents and managers represent artists, and their collective role in the entertainment industry is straightforward. According to agent Joel Dean, they “try to put [artists and producers] together to make a match . . . . It couldn’t be simpler.” To be more specific, agents procure employment for talent.Their job is to get the artists they represent as much work as possible. Managers, on the other hand, shape artists’ careers.Their job is to serve their clients in an advisory capacity and to counsel them on the career options that have been made available to them through their agents.7 When looked at this way, things seem very black-and-white: Agents present artists with employment opportunities, and managers suggest which of those opportunities artists should accept.