識別和激勵正確的人力資本 嚮明星經紀人學習

Every entrepreneur must be a talent manager – able to identify and inspire the right human capital. Without motivated people, no business can succeed.

每位企業家都必須是個人才發展經理——能夠識別和激勵正確的人力資本。員工若缺乏幹勁，企業就無法成功。

I’ve always been fascinated by those people who focus on doing just this for a living – professional talent managers are the wheeler-dealers who look after the careers of entertainers and artists. They are merely the more glamorous version of professional service firms such as lawyers or management consultants; all are partnerships of a kind, concerned with recruiting and retaining big fee earners who know how to keep their clients happy.

職業明星經紀人就是一羣專門以此爲生的人，我一向對他們頗感興趣——他們精明強幹，爲藝人和藝術家打點職業生涯。他們與律師或管理顧問等專業服務人員沒什麼不同，他們每人都與客戶結成同樣的合夥關係，都關心招募新人和留住懂得怎樣令客戶滿意的搖錢樹，只不過職業經紀人的工作更刺激。

The three great skills such operators need are spotting gifted entertainers early; keeping their famous clients satisfied; and negotiating ferociously on their behalf. Usually talent agents start with nothing except their wits and chutzpah. At heart it is a business that needs no working capital, just drive and insight into what makes creative people tick – and which ones to back.

經紀人需要具備三大技能：及早察覺有天賦的藝人，讓明星客戶保持滿意，並在談判中不擇手段得爲他們攫取最大利益。經紀人起步時通常什麼都沒有，有的只是自己的智慧和膽識。實際上，這一行看重的不是運營資本，而是幹勁和眼力，經紀人要能洞察靠什麼能激發創造性人才，以及哪些人值得支持。

Top of the tree these days is probably Ari Emanuel, joint boss of William Morris Endeavor. The firm is involved with clients in film, television, music, theatre and the literary world. Silver Lake, a technology private equity investor, bought a 31 per cent stake in 2012, and then backed the firm earlier this year to buy IMG, a sports, fashion and media agency, for $2.3bn. Mr Emanuel is reputedly the inspiration for the abrasive Ari Gold, the fictional star of the HBO drama series Entourage. His writer client Aaron Sorkin, creator of The West Wing, says of Mr Emanuel: “In a business deal, he’s going to try to kill for you.” The firm’s website is wonderfully low key, revealing almost nothing – suggesting it will call you, not vice versa.

近年來該行業的頭號人物可能是阿里•伊曼紐爾(Ari Emanuel)——威廉•莫里斯奮進公司(William Morris Endeavor)的老闆之一。這家公司的客戶涵蓋電影、電視、音樂、戲劇以及文學界。專注於技術產業的私人股權投資公司銀湖(Silver Lake)在2012年收購了威廉•莫里斯奮進公司31%的股權，然後又在今年早些時候支持該公司以23億美元收購體育、時尚和傳媒代理公司IMG。據說，美國家庭電影頻道(HBO)電視劇《明星夥伴》(Entourage)裏粗暴的阿里•高德(Ari Gold)就是以伊曼紐爾爲人物原型。伊曼紐爾的作家客戶、《白宮風雲》(The West Wing)的編劇阿倫•索爾金(Aaron Sorkin)這樣評價他：“在談生意的時候，他會爲你拼命。”該公司的網站異常低調，幾乎什麼都沒透露，擺明了它會聯繫你，而不是你去聯繫它。

Organisations such as WME, and its rivals including Creative Artists Agency, Management 360, Brillstein Entertainment Partners and Principato Young Entertainment, are all engaged in packaging content as well as representing actors, writers, directors, singers and so on. By originating shows – as Anonymous did with True Detective, perhaps the best US crime drama of recent times – they capture more of the value chain than simply acting as intermediaries, taking up to 20 per cent of their client’s earnings.

像WME這類組織，還有它的競爭對手創新藝人經紀公司(Creative Artists Agency)、Management 360、布里斯坦娛樂公司(Brillstein Entertainment Partners)和Principato Young Entertainment等公司，除了代理演員、作家、導演、歌手等人的工作之外，全都從事內容包裝。當中介最多隻能提成客戶收入的20%，而獨立製作電視劇，使他們在價值鏈中獲得了比單純充當中介更多的利益，比如Anonymous製作了近期最好看的破案類美劇《真探》(True Detective)。

In Britain the sharpest outfit is Avalon, run and owned by Jon Thoday and Richard Allen-Turner. It specialises in presenting comedy, but does everything from TV production to live performance and even public relations. It commands respect from broadcasters, even though it is known to drive hard bargains. By broadening its activities, Avalon has reduced its dependence on any single show or star, while also offering its clients a much richer range of services.

在英國，最精明的公司要數喬恩•索迪(Jon Thoday)和理查德•艾倫-特納(Richard Allen-Turner)持有並運營的Avalon。該公司專擅製作喜劇，但涉足了從電視製作到現場演出的一切業務，連公共關係都沒落下。Avalon博得了其他廣播公司的敬仰，即使該公司以在談價格時特別咄咄逼人著稱。Avalon通過擴大業務範圍，減少了對單個節目或明星的依賴，同時也爲其客戶提供了更豐富的服務。

Traditionally such agencies were much less powerful, at the whim of big corporations such as film studios, record labels and TV corporations. But the rise of digital downloads, the decline of DVDs, the proliferation of TV channels and the desperate need for popular content mean Hollywood needs big names more than ever to make a show a success.

在傳統上，這類經紀公司的影響力比目前弱許多，受到電影製片廠、唱片公司和電視公司等大企的任意擺佈。但隨着數字下載興起、DVD衰落、電視頻道激增，加上對流行內容的迫切需要，意味着好萊塢想製作一出成功的節目，需要比以往更多的大牌明星。

The richest agent is surely David Geffen, who has made fortunes in rock and roll, film and art. But the most powerful agent was unquestionably Lew Wasserman, who started as a booker at MCA and in due course became manager of the business. It was the dominant show business agency, and in 1962 totally reorganised the industry’s structure by buying Universal Studios and Decca Records.

最有錢的經紀人肯定是戴維•格芬(David Geffen)，他在搖滾樂、電影和藝術上發了大財。但最有影響力的經紀人無疑要數盧•沃瑟曼(Lew Wasserman)，他一開始是MCA的一名經紀人，後來順理成章地成爲了公司經理。MCA是主導業界的演藝公司，在1962年收購了環球影業(Universal Studios)和迪卡唱片(Decca Records)，徹底重組了娛樂業的行業結構。

Subsequently MCA had to dissolve its talent agency business. Wasserman finally sold MCA to the Japanese conglomerate Matsushita in 1990, having run the business for 44 years. The Last Mogul, Dennis McDougal’s biography of Wasserman, is a brilliant depiction of the most influential man in entertainment, controlling more levers in his day than Rupert Murdoch, Jeffrey Katzenberg or any of the current day TV and movie titans.

後來MCA不得不終止了經紀人業務。沃瑟曼經營MCA44年之後，最終於1990年將公司出售給日本松下集團(Matsushita)。丹尼斯•麥克杜格爾(Dennis McDougal)爲沃瑟曼撰寫了一部傳記《最後的大亨》(The Last Mogul)，出色地描寫了這個在娛樂界最有影響力的男人，在他那個時代，他手握的控制權要大過魯珀特•默多克(Rupert Murdoch)、傑弗裏•卡森伯格(Jeffrey Katzenberg)或當今任一位影視巨頭。

Talent agents rely on their stars, and such income can be fragile. Colonel Tom Parker helped invent pop music by making Elvis Presley the most famous entertainer of his time. Then his “asset” died aged 42.

經紀人依賴着他們的明星，而這種代理收入可能很脆弱。湯姆•帕克(Tom Parker)上校通過將埃爾維斯•普萊斯利(Elvis Presley)打造成當時最有名的藝人，間接促成了流行音樂的誕生。然後他的“資產”在42歲時去世了。

Yet on the day of Presley’s death, asked what he was going to do now, Parker replied: “Why, I’ll just go right on managing him!” And so he did, persuading Presley’s father to sell him the rights to the star’s estate – at Elvis’s funeral.

然而在貓王去世的當天，當被問及他準備作何打算時，帕克答道：“爲什麼要做打算？我只要繼續經營他就好了。”他的確這麼做了，他勸說普萊斯利的父親把這位明星的財產權賣給他——就在埃爾維斯的葬禮上。