Artist Managers: How accurate is Amazon's Ten Percent?

Netflix’s Paris-based Dix Pour Cent (aka Call My Agent!) has been something of a surprise hit, the concept now franchised around the world. Hence Amazon’s English language re-write of this witty tale of everyday life in and around a talent agency, newly available online as Ten Percent. Yes, a London theatrical agency, but what parallels might classical music artist managers find with the world depicted here?

Husband and wife management team Rachel and Joeske van Walsum (from the Maestro Arts office) viewed the first two episodes, scripted by John Morton of Twenty Twelve and W1A renown. Joining them, French-born Gaetan le Divelec — late of the Askonas Holt office, now a classical music consultant — who previously had binge-watched Dix Pour Cent. Their task, to look beyond the inevitable dramatic exaggeration, frothiness and playing-it-for-laughs to find parallels and contrasts with their own careers.

Rachel and Joeske van Walsum

A running Ten Percent gag here was the amusing yet cringeworthy inability of staff at the fictitious Nightingale Hart office in Soho to be straight with actors Kelly MacDonald, Helena Bonham-Carter and Olivia Williams (playing themselves) when it came to relaying bad news. Our reviewers were agreed that honesty with artists you represent is crucial. ‘However, it’s a matter of choosing the right time and place to convey, say, difficult feedback from promoters,’ Rachel van Walsum observes. ‘Not straight after a concert, for example. You have at times to act as a critical professional friend in passing on that feedback — the message might be that an artist didn’t seem fully prepared for an engagement. Words have to be selected carefully in full awareness that each individual needs a bespoke approach. But honesty is still vital.’

The bad news kept from Kelly MacDonald was that a film director deemed her too old for a part she thought was nailed-on. Clearly singers’ ages are a consideration in opera casting, but to some extent in the instrumentalist field as well, says le Divelec. ‘This can be an issue with performers in mid-career. It’s a time when newcomers may be snapping at your heels, given the voracious appetite of promoters for young talent. So as you enter this phase it can be important to have established yourself in a particular repertoire area, shaping a strong identity which maintains your profile. Once you get through that period you hopefully enter the phase when your age is a positive advantage — you have the allure of an elder statesperson.’

Consideration of another dimension of management honesty featured in Ten Percent brought a range of reflections from the reviewers. A permanently down-on-his luck actor, Simon Gould (played by Tim McInnerny), has been kept on the Nightingale Hart roster for sentimental/compassionate reasons by the company’s elderly long-term owner, Richard Nightingale. Joeske Van Walsum finds that approach ‘…not very professional, to my mind. To keep someone on your roster while not feeling you can do something really constructive and effective is dishonest. For one thing, you never know if, in fact, you’re the person to blame…maybe someone else can do a better job.’

The Gould character nonetheless brought to le Divelec’s mind the artists who never set the world alight but still deserve a place on management rosters. ‘Ultimately the market is a pluralist place. Many artists in this category relate to audiences in a very effective, human way. And there’s no single definition of a successful career. Not every artist aspires to glittering worldwide fame…some make a name working mainly in the UK. There’s no right or wrong.’

For Rachel van Walsum, Gould — in his apparent struggles with stage-fright — stirred thoughts of artists who battle demons of one sort or another when it comes to facing the public. ‘Maybe they’ve been pushed too fast too soon at the start of careers and have failed to build necessary defence mechanisms. As a manager you have to help them face and fight those demons. Empathy and understanding for each individual are vital to help them get the best from their talent.’

Talking of empathy and understanding, le Divelec noted that younger Nightingale Hart staff at PA level seemed more at ease with the agency’s talents than their hyper-sensitive superiors. ‘They communicated with the star names in a direct way. This is certainly true-to-life. In my experience, those in the younger generation seem more at ease with themselves and are likely to communicate with name artists in a more equal, if respectful, way. Artists like to be treated as human beings.’

One Nightingale Hart manager comments that romance has no part in his decision-making, only to be seen blubbing at the stage performance of a young actor he’d previously hard-headedly discounted. So what part does romance play in artist management day-to-day motivation…and the business of selling? ‘80% of the job is horrible stuff,’ says Joeske van Walsum. ‘Irritating admin, disappointments when ideas don’t work out and so on. But you have to be some kind of romantic. You need a kind of exuberance when talking about artists to promoters. You’ve got to inspire them, make them feel the excitement an artist stirs in you. The real satisfaction in the job comes not from basking in what the outside world may think about your starry roster. It’s “Have I been creative in a way that’s made a real difference? Have I helped an artist develop?”.’

For le Divelec, tackling the administrative drudgery in the job can itself have a romantic edge. ‘It’s one way you establish trust with an artist and convey the fact that you care. Most artist managers are romantics. Human values underpin what they do, and they care deeply about relationships.’

As for internal office relationships, Ten Percent plays up competition between managers within Nightingale Hart — something occasionally seen in the classical field, admits Rachel van Walsum. ‘There are always tensions within any group of people working together…that’s normal. But whether this creates problems depends on the company culture. At Maestro Arts competitive tensions are minimal. For example, when news arrives that an artist is needed to cover a cancellation, all that that matters is that the suggestions made are absolutely appropriate, regardless of who manages the name proposed.’

So, a drama series rooted in classical music management? Is it too tame a world? Perhaps, says le Divelec, ‘…but with a feel for subtlety and aimed at music-lovers it might well appeal to a niche audience. It would need to be written by someone who understood the subject-matter. Certainly, there’s humour to be found in the world of artist management!’