The Purpose and The Substance…of a Talent Agency

After diving into the joyous waters of Tax Codes, Articles of Incorporation and IRS Determinations, Ming has discovered two potentially key issues that may determine how this agency would be organized in relation to East West Player’s nonprofit status.

PURPOSE
Does the agency further EWP’s exempt purpose (as originally determined when the organization incorporated)? An example Ming offers: a halfway house operates a furniture store. The store employs clients in their transition back into the mainstream. Because of this, the furniture store’s ‘for-profit’ activity clearly serves the purpose of the organization’s mission (as defined in the IRS’s definitions of nonprofit activities). To the IRS, EWP falls in the category of ‘education.’ Thus, it appears that if a clear argument is made that the agency would advance our educational purposes, then the creation of an agency as part of our ongoing mission would not raise issues. However, if the IRS deems that the agency does not fall within our original nonprofit purpose as defined by our determination and articles of incorporation, the question of substance comes into play.

SUBSTANCE
Or rather, how substantial will the activities of the agency be in relation to EWP’s other activities (theatre productions, acting/writing courses, youth outreach programs, etc.)? Many nonprofits have for-profit activities (theater concessions & souvenirs, hospital gift shops, etc.). Often, these activities are small in the scope of the organizations major activities. Thus, in the case of activity deemed as “unrelated for-profit” activity in a nonprofit model, less is best. In the case of the agency, however, we have to question how much constraint we are putting on this agency model if it must be tied to a certain (yet-to-be determined) percentage of the organization’s operating budget.

These questions are just beginnings which need to be vetted through legal counsel as well as foresighted business and mission-driven planning. Onward!

--Lisa Tang, East West Players

Is a Culturally Specific Talent Agency Too Risky?

The question of being too focused.

This past month Ming interviewed with the “nuts & bolts” folks: lawyers, financial auditors, etc. As he compiles his findings, we turn the musings of this blog to another thread that arose in his interviews so far: the idea that an APA [Asian Pacific American) specific agency may just be “too focused.” Take one interviewee (a director of casting). He compared the idea to investing in stocks. Ming reports his thoughts as follows, “…often, to reduce risk, you don’t want to put all your eggs in one basket, you need to diversify.” So, would an APA specific agency be just that? Too focused, and thus too risky?

Another interviewee may just agree. This interviewee (an executive at a major agency who happens to be an ethnic minority and a supporter of East West Players) cites her years of experience in the agency trenches for these words of advice. “Information is power.” A mainstream agency may have more access to information (think: opportunities) simply by the nature of the range of projects that would come through their doors…er, or in these days, emails. So, would being APA specific, in fact, do our talent a disservice?

Of course, we have to pause at this; because the underlying implication is that casting directors will only turn to this agency for APA roles. It is a danger we have acknowledged; and one of the reasons we hope this model will also be an advocacy tool. Can we broaden this way of thinking? How can we also establish connections that will open lines to non-ethnic specific roles as well as deepen the quality of connections to APA roles?

One Answer: The talent. Another casting person advised: The key is to be selective [of talent] and to be clear with casting [directors] on whether a talent is ‘ready’ or still ‘developing.’ [See previous blog: It’s a relationship business. (duh)]. One network executive goes as far as noting that sometimes it doesn’t matter who the agency or management company is. What matters is that the talent [that they support or represent] ‘is committed to the craft.’

So, these are some of the questions now face…

Do we believe in the stock of APA talent? (Pun sheepishly intended.)

45 years of APA focused theatre may say something to that. (Incidentally, we ponder: What would people have said if our founders did a feasibility study on starting an APA focused theatre in 1965?)

Acknowledging that we face these unique challenges, how can we approach the modeling of an agency prototype to address (and thus mitigate) these issues straight on? This is to be answered in the next steps of our exploration.

We thank our interviewees thus far who have been generously candid, offered many wise words of advice, and helped us see more clearly possible obstacles.

--Lisa Tang, East West Players