Agents, Actors and Warning Signs from the U.K.: 'Forget TV's Golden Era'
'It's time to buckle down and survive,' says one agent, as 68% of industry workers aren't, and A-list packages take a toll
If you have a hard time wrapping your head around what members of Gen Z and even Gen Alpha care about, imagine being their agent. The moment there’s a gap in the schedule, they’ll be DMing a new rep before they’ve even left your office. But what if that dearth of bookings has little to do with you, and everything to do with a ruthless market for new actors?
In the U.K., it’s still a perfect storm for production following the Hollywood strikes, the streamers’ Great Correction and a slowdown in domestic commissioning. Although there’s no data available on the job market for actors, a February survey of 4,160 film and TV workers by below-the-line union Bectu — the U.K. equivalent of IATSE — paints a dire picture overall for production. Findings revealed that 68 percent are not currently working, only slightly down from the 74 percent that were out of work in September 2023.
Everyone from below-the-line freelancers to broadcasters and distributors are feeling the heat. But small to mid-sized British talent agencies are finding themselves in an inferno. These agents, who trade in discovering and nurturing emerging actors, can no longer secure the steady stream of work for their clients that was once bountiful in the U.K. “We’re the ones that are really struggling right now because our clients are often being paid [actors union] Equity minimums or barely above,” says Sara Moore, founder of Core MGMT, a boutique management agency, “whereas bigger agencies with their massive A-list talent are bringing in the huge fees.”
Meanwhile, agents are also feeling the sharp edge of growing scrutiny on agency practices — we’ll get to “self-tape gate” in a moment — and a sizable contraction in fees. “The money is crashing,” says one senior agent source of the fees now available for work on Netflix U.K. originals. “The money was so high and ridiculous for so long. Netflix really priced people out of the market, and now they’re saying, ‘We don’t have the money anymore.’”
In other words: the U.K. market, once Hollywood’s favorite buddy across the pond, is feeling the symptoms of the same entertainment dislocation impacting the States. The significance to Hollywood proper? The U.K. is both the premier breeding ground for acting talent and discovery (in the awards race, just think of Carey Mulligan and Emily Blunt as well as director Jonathan Glazer), and the once great hope for global expansion for production and streamers.
Today I will examine:
How the actors union is scrutinizing the agencies more closely
Fallout from “self-tape gate”
How agents are wrestling with A-list packaging and the needs of younger clients
How non-traditional work — for brands and video games — is the new survival gig
The unions’ changing relationship with the agencies
How the big players have certain advantages but aren’t wholly insulated
How on-screen diversity has been hit hard
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