If there's interest, I'm happy to share.

I worked for 2 years at WME, the 2nd largest talent agency in the world. I was an assistant for 3 separate agents. I'll give the overview and answer any questions.

I got the job the only way there is to get the job, by having someone vouch for me. In my case I worked for a management company as an unpaid intern. I made myself useful and was hired as an assistant, and eventually my boss called an agent at WME who in turn gave my resume to HR. One 15 minute interview and I was in. The interview consists of "you know this job sucks, right?" They just don't want you to quit right away because it's annoying for them.

Once hired you go into a pool of people and when an agent fires their assistant (really common) or someone leaves you can interview with the agent if you are interested in the job. If you are a complete tool or interview poorly, you never get out of this pool of people. I knew people who were in the pool for well over a year. During this time you have to fill in when other assistants are sick or out, which sucks because the bosses, who are generally psychos, yell at you constantly because you don't know anything.

Duties are phones, scheduling etc, basic secretary work. If you care about moving up in the world you will also read tons and tons of scripts and try to impress someone by pointing out a project or role that would have otherwise been overlooked. This is pretty hard though because every decent project is assigned to a covering (junior) agent who, if they are doing their job, is tracking the good jobs for the appropriate clients. It's a 1-1 ratio, every agent has an assistant, though I think WME is unique in this regard. There were about 100 of us.

The work environment is pretty crazy and hard to describe to someone who hasn't been a part of it or seen it. Social niceties are nonexistent. People are constantly screaming. Things that would make you blush on the street are being said all the time. I personally think it's ******ed and serves no purpose, but most of the bosses are borderline sociopaths (with exceptions).

Pay was not good, but really not bad either, like $40k plus tremendous benefits and holiday bonuses (one from the company, another from the boss). Hours are officially 9-7 but if you want to move up it's more like 7:30 - 8 or worse. Ari Emanuel's assistants (he has 2) are effectively working 24/7 as he'll commonly call their cell phones at like 5 in the morning or on weekends or whatever, but it's worth it because you know you're getting promoted if you survive working for him.

Yes, there are lots of celebrities who are complete douchebags. There are also many who are really, really awesome. Happy to discuss those in both groups.

Are you a lawyer?

Are you the man to see about a 2 time award winning Vegas/poker themed screenplay?

I have a ton of short questions:

Why did you leave? What do you do now? How many assistant got promoted while you were there? How long had they been assistants? Any idea what kind of raise they got when they were promoted? Were you paid hourly? If so, did you clock-in/clock-out? Were you paid overtime? Otherwise, were you salaried? In other words, does WME flout labor regulations like every other talent agency in Hollywood?

What's the worst thing anyone said/did to you during your time there? A friend of mine once held what was commonly referred to as The Worst Job in Hollywood as the assistant to the craziest partner at The Firm (and they were ALL crazy) and he once got hit in the head with a stapler.

spill the beans

Stories of the worst and most awesome celebrities please.

how do you eat and pay rent with a huge football-betting problem?

how are assistants treated in comparison to mainstream portrayls a la Lloyd in Entourage?

I left because I was totally burnt out. The hours are bad, the work environment sucks, etc. The agents make tons of money but they are miserable and in many cases bad people, and I didn't want to go down that road. I'm unemployed right now. I could get a job at a studio, management company, production company, etc., which is what most people do when they exit.

About 5 assistants per year get promoted. You have to be an assistant for 4-5 years before getting promoted, but you know after 2-3 whether it's going to happen. Still, it's a total crapshoot and you can work really hard and not mess up and not make it. There are tons of people with veto power over promotions . I think new agents make like $80k-100k with bonus but that's honestly a total guess. Top agents can make $5m+ per year.

They are actually pretty good about overtime because they are terrified of lawsuits. If you work for a powerful enough person you just write down your hours. If not you don't have to work overtime. I made like $40k plus amazing benefits and 2 year end bonuses (one from company, another from boss). My hours were about 7:30 - 7:30.

I didn't have anything THAT outrageous happen to me. Was called a '****ing idiot' but that's pretty standard. Had a friend royally **** up and get screamed at for 20 minutes in the worst way imaginable. "You are so ****ing ******ed I want to smash your ****ing head in with a ****ing baseball bat you mother****ing idiot what the **** were you thinking its just unreal how much of a mother****ing idiot ****** you are" at the top of the agent's lungs. Brutal.

lololol

Is verbal abuse really a big deal to assistants? Don't you come into the job knowing that you will take a ton of that and at least some of it will be public?

Same question about the hours of the job. Do people really not expect and plan for the burnout and thus not just stick with it through this?

Adam Sandler is awesome. Constantly buying people awesome presents and just generally being the man.

Mark Wahlberg, awesome. Ari's assistant once forgot to tell him a meeting was canceled and he showed up at the office. He didn't get at all upset and moreover didn't tell Ari about it knowing it was a turbofire for the assistant if Ari found out. Drama is a real person, and he goes by Drama. He's hilarious.

Larry David, awesome. Once forgot his floor seats at his house for a Laker playoff game and started freaking out. The assistant somehow got some Laker executive on the phone and they let him down without a ticket, and he was really nice about it.

Steve Carell is seriously the nicest guy in the entire world.

As for people who aren't awesome, Ashley Judd, Brendan Fraser (total nutjob), John Cusack (also bat**** crazy) and Lea Michele come to mind.

You get numb to it, and it's fine. The hard part is getting yelled at for absolutely no reason other than working for a self-absorbed tool with a temper problem.

You know the hours and abuse are going to suck, and if that was all that was bad about the job I'd still be there. I was more troubled by how miserable most of the higher-ups are.

I can not imagine tolerating it when someone yells at you like that. Do any assistants do anything when they quit other than meekly put their stuff in a box and leave?

Honestly quitting is pretty rare. People get fired and cry pretty regularly though.

I mean it's not rocket science but it's not that easy either. If you can't multitask you're going to be horrible at the job. Like you will have 3 people on hold and be listening to your boss on a 4th line (you listen to every call your boss is on, so they have to trust you because they lie constantly), and your boss will call out for you "who is directing x movie and who is playing y character." You have to get that information instantly then when the conversation is over remember which 3 people are holding and on what line so you can ask your boss who he/she wants next and connect the proper line. It's easy after a while but hard at the start.

It makes me happy that the people you say are nice are people that I was hoping would be nice and the people who are dicks I don't care for.

Is lea michele similar to her character? Also, bat**** crazy stories obv.

I want an assistant like this. I can't pay that much, but I'm super nice.

And when I say they lie constantly, I mean CONSTANTLY. Like every single ****ing conversation. It's ridiculous.

"Did you read the script?"

"Yes, LOVED IT" (has not read a single page)

"Do you like it for [client]"

"Yes, LOVE LOVE LOVE, just don't know if it will work with her schedule" (client has no conflict)

"We'll move the start date for her"

"Wow, I'll tell her, that is so flattering, let me send it to her and see what she thinks" (never sends script to client, will continue lying indefinitely)

The thing is that everyone involved knows everyone else is constantly lying. It's weird.

if everyone is constantly lying isnt there room in the industry for someone to just be straightforward and honest?

this is hilarious. being in this business sounds pretty lol rigged.

Not really, though there are exceptions. Quentin Tarantino's agent, for example, is one of the most honest, respected people around. But he's the exception, not the rule.

But an honest agent isn't going to get very far. Client asks why they didn't get a job, you say 'because the studio hates you' or 'you're too fat' and you get fired. A studio offers your bigshot client a ****ty movie and you say 'no 'cause that project sucks' and the executive who has spent 2 years on the project hates you and won't bring you projects anymore.

Once you represent people at a certain level (the highest one), you can be honest because you're going to see the best material no matter what.

Any Aaron Kaplan stories? I took a class that he "taught" while in business school at WME. He seemed to play the agent part pretty well and his assistants seemed to get the death glare more than once when a presentation wouldn't be up as scheduled.

He left during the William Morris / Endeavor merger, which was right when I started. Don't know him though I obviously know of him.

As an aside, the real money for agencies and in entertainment in general is in TV. WME is by far the best agency for TV and it wouldn't surprise me if their top guys made more money than their CAA counterparts. When an agency represents the key elements of a show it does not commission the clients but instead negotiates a package, which is essentially an ownership interest in the show. On a hit show this can turn out to be worth tens of millions of dollars for the agency.

Could you run us through a typical day in the life? Not sure if it was mentioned, but what are you doing now?