Hollywood's talent agencies have long had a reputation, in the public's imagination at least, as a world of fast cars, rooftop bars and foul-mouthed, phone-throwing power brokers who will stop at nothing — and spare no expense — to advance their clients' interests. Or their own, for that matter.
The high-flying, go-go culture of the agencies has given way to a more restrained, fiscally disciplined one in recent years, however. That evolution has only accelerated as private equity firms have swooped into the business.
These Wall Street investors — who have poured more than $1 billion into the two largest talent agencies, William Morris Endeavor and Creative Artists Agency, over the last five years — are helping to bankroll those agencies' expansion into new arenas outside Hollywood including sports, technology, fashion and food.