<p>I want to become a Movie/Talent Agent very badly, and they have a specific MBA entertainment program at USC, but i was wondering what the best school and Undergrad studies were for this. I was thinking business, hence why i posted it here. BTW I am only a freshman, but getting ahead of everything for where i want to go.</p>
<p>Go to Harvard</p>
<p>This sounds like one of the coolest jobs (from what i've seen on Entourage..hahaha) but it supposedly holds a lot of truth to what the industry is like. Ari Gold went to Harvard to get his MBA, but I would think USC would be legit given the location. I would say a top business school.</p>
<p>Regardless, all those Harvard MBA's end up having to work in the mailroom for a a couple years before they can step up to being an agent.</p>
<p>very true ,,.,.,</p>
<p>What about an Undergrad study?</p>
<p>I forget which episode(s) this was mentioned in, but I'm pretty sure that Ari went to Harvard as an undergrad followed by a JD/MBA from UMich</p>
<p>Is there anyway to follow this career path without takling a lot of math? I am good at math, it's just not the most fun for me.</p>
<p>I think the vast majority of undergrad business curriculums, well the ones worth their salt anyway, require their students to take calc I and II as well as stats. Basic mathematics is an absolutely integral part of a business program. You'll be using lots of formulas in both finance and accounting. I'm saying all of this because I think a business program would be a sound path to becoming a talent agent.</p>
<p>Oh, and law (in particular business law) is a must as well. That's even worse!</p>
<p>USC has a major.....business administration with an emphasis in entertainment.</p>
<p>Also University of Miami has a major called Media Management, and its the business of the entertainment industry.</p>
<p>yesss.. ari from entourage went to harvard for undergrad and michigan for jd/mba.</p>
<p>It's established on the show that Ari did go to Harvard for undergrad and UMich for jd/mba. But in the episode from "Bussey and the Beach" he implies that he took Business Ethics while at Harvard, which would imply that he went to Business school there. I guess its an inconsistency in the Entourage canon. Anyway here's the clip: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKNV5foRiL4%5B/url%5D">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKNV5foRiL4</a></p>
<p>Ari Gold is my hero. With that aside, from my understanding, you could major in film studies and then get an MBA and be an agent afterwards. Also, Lloyd, Ari's Assistant, went to Sarah Lawrence as an Art History major and then went to Stanford for his MBA finishing at the top of his class only to work as a glorified assistant for Ari. Oh and Fordham also has a Media Management for Undergrad.</p>
<p>So, have we come to a conclusion?</p>
<p>What would be a good undergrad study before MBA, or just the USC MBA Entertainment thing>?</p>
<p>holla: this is just a guess and i have no idea if it's allowed, but maybe he took the class at HBS as an undergrad</p>
<p>Go on princetonreview's career website. Then look at the info under "agent". That might prove a little helpful at the least. It has suggested majors too but they're all pretty obvious and some are random. </p>
<p>Also, I think Entourage makes the agent life look too good. I'm trying to think if i would like the job or not if i had crappy unlikable johnny drama status clients and not vince.</p>
<p>well you gotta start somewhere with clients and if youre good you get the great clients</p>
<p>also..you don't need an MBA to become an agent you can have a JD and become one just as easily</p>
<p>I want to major in business and theatre.</p>
<p>Any good schools?</p>
<p>Having worked in the entertainment industry and having dealt with agents on a regular basis while in my role I can tell you that the typical background/path for them is usually as follows.</p>
<ul>
<li>Prestigious Undergrad (HYPS, etc.) with majors ranging from Art History, to Political Science, to Business, etc. or Top JD or MBA grads. </li>
<li>Accepted to an "Agent Trainee Program" at a major tenpercentery like CAA, ICM, William Morris, Endeavour. In this program everyone including those accepted from grad schools (so undergrads, JDs, MBAs, etc.) are placed in the mail room from somewhere from 3 months to 1 year. You typically are competing with all of your fellow trainees to get out. After the mail room you become a floating assistant where you fill in for assistants as needed. Then once full time assistant positions open up floating assistants can interview to become a full time assistant for an agent (think of lloyd on entourage). Usually you will last at least 2 years if not more with the agent (or you may be rotated to another agent) and then promoted to full agent status. So the whole process can take anywhere from 2 - 5+ years until reaching agent status. </li>
</ul>
<p>During this entire process you are competing with all the other trainees. So you'll be competing mostly against other ivy league grads, top 10 JD and MBA school grads, etc. So it's a really cutthroat process. Don't think that the agent assistant job will be like Lloyd's either...most of the time you'll be doing crappy things like getting coffee, getting the agent's dry cleaning, picking up phone calls...some agents abuse their assistants calling them at 2am to do stuff, etc. The whole agent culture is reminiscent of a fraternity culture. </p>
<p>The worst thing is that while you're rising to become agent your not even paid enough to live on in LA. Trainee program salaries are in the low 20k/year range. This is why most of the people in these programs are ivy grads from wealthy backgrounds whose parents help support them while achieving agent status. </p>
<p>The other path that people take is getting a JD or MBA working in another part of Hollywood as a studio exec or entertainment lawyer and then making a lateral transition to agent. So some will go and be an entertainment lawyer for 5-10 years then make the move over to an agency. </p>
<p>I would try to go to a prestigious undergrad as a first choice and then maybe a good school like USC or UCLA which are near Hollywood. Best advice i could give you if you truly want to be an agent is network your way into some sort of internship early on in your college career. Summer after freshman year for example try to get an internship at an agency in the mailroom...then the next summer you might get mail room duty one more time or get promoted to floater. Then after your junior year you'll probably be at floater level. Then after graduation try to get a full time desk job and hopefully after a few years you'll make agent status. If you end up at a like UCLA or USC then try to get part time internships during the school year.</p>