Mumbai42 minutes agoWriters: Kiran Jain and Abhinav Tripathi
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This time in Reel to Real we will understand the working process of celebrity managers, also known as talent managers.
Whenever an actor enters the industry, he needs a person to establish his identity. That person acts as a link between the actor and the rest of the people in the industry. This person is called a celebrity manager or talent manager.
There are many happenings in an actor's life. His scheduling, his public appearances, film selection and brand advertisements, all these things are decided by a celebrity manager. Shahrukh Khan is the biggest example of this. He does not sign any brand or films without consulting his manager.
In this episode of Reel to Real, we will understand the working process of celebrity managers, also known as talent managers. Actors hire celebrity or talent managers for themselves under a management agency.
We spoke to Manpreet Bachhar, who was the manager of late actor Irrfan Khan, and Rani Mol, who has also managed talented actors like Ayushmann Khurrana and Vijay Verma.
The manager is responsible for getting actors work in big places
You must have often seen a woman with Shahrukh Khan. Her name is Pooja Dadlani. She has been Shahrukh Khan's manager for the last several years. She stays with Shahrukh like a shadow all the time. Shahrukh does not take all his decisions without asking her, but the thing to note here is that not all actors keep an independent or solo manager with them. They hire managers from different agencies, who work for them for a fixed period of time. These are called talent managers.
Next to Shahrukh is his manager Pooja Dadlani. When Shahrukh's son Aryan was caught in the drugs case, it was Pooja who took charge of the case from beginning to end.
A talent manager's job is to find work for actors, brand them, and get them auditions for major studios. A talent manager may be responsible for managing more than one actor at a time, but this is not the case with solo managers. They only work with one actor at a time. They are not associated with any agency.
- There are many talent management companies in the country that manage new and leading stars. One of them is Collective Artist Network. Big stars like Deepika Padukone, Ranveer Singh, Hrithik Roshan and Shraddha Kapoor are associated with it.
- Apart from this, big stars like Vaani Kapoor, Ayushmann Khurrana, Sharvari Wagh and Sonam Kapoor are associated with Yash Raj Talent Management.
- Artists like Alia Bhatt, Katrina Kaif, Madhuri Dixit and Abhishek Bachchan are associated with the talent company named Matrix IEC Private Limited.
- Virat Kohli, PV Sindhu, Tamannaah Bhatia, Sara Ali Khan, Janhvi Kapoor, Vijay Deverakonda and Ananya Panday have signed with Dharma Cornerstone Agency (Karan Johar's company).
Managers are the ones who take actors to auditions
Actors contact talent managers. These talent managers tell them the addresses of auditions happening at different places. Actors go to that place and give auditions, if selected then the talent manager starts a conversation with the production house taking the auditions. Now what is the agenda of that conversation, we tell you…
- Fees- Talent managers talk to the production house about the fees of the actors. If the fees offered are less, then the manager also negotiates about it. He is told in advance by the actor how much he wants for that particular project.
- Schedule- There is also a discussion on how many days the actor will be available for the project. The manager notes down the entire schedule of the artist and keeps it with him. He knows on which date the actor is free and on which date he is busy with some other project. Accordingly, he gives dates to the other person.
- Legal Formalities- There are some legal formalities before signing a project. The actor has to sign some papers before signing a project. The celebrity manager takes the responsibility of getting all this paperwork done. This is the most important job for a manager. Celebrity manager Rani Mol said, 'Sometimes producers write unnecessary demands in the agreement papers, if the actor signs them then he has to agree to all the legal and illegal things of the producers, in such a situation the role of the celebrity manager increases to a great extent. They have to read the papers carefully, and if needed, they have to take advice from a legal advisor as well.'
Their managers lead a much busier life than the actors
Rani said that the life of a celebrity manager looks glamorous from the outside, but in reality it is not. The stars are as busy as their managers are. They always have to travel from one place to another with the stars. It is a round the clock job. Sometimes these people leave this job and become hair stylists or makeup artists.
In Hollywood, the role of an agent is more important than that of a manager
In Hollywood, the role of agents is more than that of managers. These agents are connected to producers, big studios and actors. If you want to work in Hollywood, then you will definitely have to contact these agents. They play the biggest role in getting work.
Many actors like Irrfan Khan, Priyanka Chopra, Deepika Padukone, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Ali Fazal who went to Hollywood from Bollywood were able to do films there only through these agents. These agents take the actors to the studios where they audition. Even the big Hollywood actors have to go through this process.
You don't get work without contacting an agent
Manpreet said, 'When actors from here (India) go to Hollywood, they first have to find an agent. They have to spend a few days there. Then they have an audition.
Manpreet was the manager of the late actor Irrfan Khan for many years. Now she manages his son Babil Khan. Manpreet said that not only managers help artists get work, but sometimes managers also benefit a lot by working with big actors.
She said, 'Working with Irrfan sir helped me make a lot of contacts. When I used to go to public events with him, I would get to know people. There is no harm in saying that I have also benefited a lot because of his status.'
Vijay Verma was hyped in the market, today he got the benefit of it
Manpreet also managed Vijay Verma at one point. He played a big role in making Vijay Verma an established actor. He said, 'Vijay had a spark inside him, but he was not getting a platform. I created opportunities for him. I sold his image in the market by hyping it. Look today, he is counted among the top actors.'
Vijay Verma has appeared in many web shows and films like Darlings, Murder Mubarak, Gully Boy, Lust Stories-2 and Mirzapur.
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