Talent Agency Is Aiming to Find Web Video Stars

Filed in archive Internet TV on October 25, 2006

Come on; let's just admit it up front. People who create their own content and post it online do dream of being discovered someday. Maybe that is not so far-fetched.

One of Hollywood's top talent agencies (United Talent Agency) has created an online unit devoted to discover the creators of Internet content - particularly video - and finding work for them.

In one example, the talent agents found a Web video that had been up for less than an hour called "Paxilback," a parody of a Justin Timberlake music video, "Sexyback." I've linked to it below for your convenience. The agents quickly reached out to its creators, a group of Los Angeles artists called People Food. By the time they could arrange a meeting five days later, the video had been seen 600,000 times.



United Talent is taking the risk that relatively small deals today will quickly grow in size and scope, and it is banking on the notion that artists surfacing on the Internet may often be quite content to have successful careers that do not make the leap to TV or film.

The NY Times points out the example of John Moshay, head of business development for Whittman Hart, an interactive advertising agency based in Chicago. He said it was becoming untenable for buyers like his firm and its clients to find their own writers, performers and directors.

So don't just sit there. Create something!