Variety's Business Managers Elite of 2023
Like the rest of the industry, business managers are facing an array of challenges these days while nonetheless continuing to build wealth for their clients.
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Hollywood's Top Business Managers Reveal Secrets and Strategies to Managing Famous Clients' Finances
Among the issues they’ve had to deal with: the aftermath of the pandemic, the disruptions to traditional sources of income caused by the advent of streaming and other technologies, the sudden spike in interest rates, the strikes, and, last but not least, the rollups and consolidation that are reorganizing the world of business management – for better or for worse.
It may seem a cliché to harp on the pandemic more than three-and-a-half years after it changed the world, but its side effects linger and its impact on investment choices are still felt. For example, the pandemic permanently changed the culture of work-from-home options and many business management firms have altered their policies in that area.
As for their clients, the pandemic started a trend whereby many showbiz types have sought homes in more remote parts of the country. Business managers have been advising them on how to deal with major shifts in the real estate market brought about by these changes.
In the area of income sources, streaming has shifted the compensation model from one of reliance on residuals to a new world of up-front payments at the expense of back-end participation. While the dust has not yet settled, and even as there’s been some backtracking, the contours of a new landscape have formed. And the strikes are, in part, a resistance movement against residual reduction.
Finally, as the business management industry has been increasingly rocked in recent years by mergers and consolidations, some business management firms have been fully absorbed into other entities, while others have successfully maintained their independence or, at least, their boutique identities within larger parent companies.
Stay tuned. The revolution continues.
For editorial inquiries, please contact Peter Caranicas at peter.caranicas@variety.com.
Reggie Gooden, Josh Martin, and Kymberli Hall
Gooden: Co-Founder, Managing Partner
Martin, Co-Founder, Tax Partner
Hall: Business Manager
360 Business Management
In 2022, Gooden and Martin launched what they envisioned as a one-stop shop for “Hollywood’s new elite,” led by a passion for serving clients of all backgrounds from underserved communities. One year later, the firm has quadrupled in size, hiring across its executive team and opening two L.A.-based offices. Clients include Cedric the Entertainer, actress-singer-writer Bella Thorne and Diana Nyad.
Prep for an uncertain future: In the current socioeconomic environment, asserts Gooden, “clients’ primary source of income can be impacted significantly and quickly. As a firm, it has been important for us to think outside the box more than ever. We are constantly encouraging clients to have multiple revenue streams so that we can hedge against events taking place on the local and global stage. … I believe that we will still be in this state of uncertainty at least for the next few months, so my advice is to be patient, be disciplined and stay focused!”
Belva Anakwenze
Principal, Business Manager
Abacus Financial Business Management
The entrepreneurial Anakwenze has positioned herself as a financial educator for creators and dispenses advice and tips via her financial show on YouTube, which she produces and hosts for Patreon. Clients include Jay Ellis (“Top Gun: Maverick”) and Kevin Frazier (“Entertainment Tonight”), in addition to other actors, a prominent TV correspondent, a comedian and a politician.
Think positive: Anakwenze believes turbulent times will ultimately yield a more stable and robust business climate. “The American entertainment industry is in a healthy reset that will change the trajectory of how content is produced and consumed for years to come,” she says.
Howard Krant, David Levin, Lewis Stark, Richard Goldstein, Allison Krant, Jennifer Coyne and Ashley Greene
Krant: CEO, Founding Partner
Levin: Managing Director, Business Management
Stark: Partner, Royalty Audit & Compliance
Goldstein: Partner, Business Management
Krant, Coyne: Directors, Sports & Entertainment, Business Management
Greene: Manager, Business Management and Tax
Adeptus Partners
Adeptus permeates many sectors of the entertainment biz. Its clients include guitarist-songwriter Joe Bonamassa; the Black Crowes; Edie Falco; Wyclef Jean; Journey; Cyndi Lauper; John Legend and wife Chrissy Teigen; Indigo Girls; Jodeci; Raphael Saadiq; Tracy Letts and Carrie Coon; fashion designer Nicole Miller; Joe Minoso and wife Caitlin Murphy Minoso; Saleka; and Justine Skye. Howard Krant handles topside business for certain clients; forensic audits and taxes; and individual clients. Levin oversees the business management practice and individual clients, working the launch of Hailey Bieber’s Rhode skincare brand. Stark engages media, sports, entertainment and corporate brand clients, and leads the firm’s royalty audit and contract compliance group. Goldstein handles entertainers, musicians, writers, directors and producers. Allison Krant, daughter of Howard, works for musicians, athletes, creatives and entertainers. Coyne handles accounting, tax, venture capital deals and sports-related businesses. Tax specialist Greene works the younger generation of actors.
Hand holding: Howard Krant observes that it’s an emotional decision for music clients to sell their treasured personal music catalog rights “to get money to live the rest of their lives. So, there’s a lot of therapy involved.”
David Altman, Anthony Bonsignore
Managing Partners
Altman, Greenfield & Selvaggi
With Bonsignore helming the New York office and Altman running L.A., the bicoastal 37-year-old firm offers tailored service to a range of clients, including “Barbie” director Greta Gerwig, her co-writer/partner Noah Baumbach, Sterling K. Brown and Dakota Johnson. Working with prominent visual artists such as George Condo, Bonsignore has found the art scene to be “a very different world” from entertainment.
Bullish on tech: The bots may be making inroads, but Bonsignore remains excited by tech’s potential. “Software really streamlines what we do. When you reduce the human element, you reduce errors — though a work product will never go to the client without a senior-level person signing off on it. The client will see speed, efficiency and accuracy. You spend a lot of money to learn and train, but there’s a big return.”
Craig Manzino
Partner
Armanino
New York-based Manzino joined Armanino in 2021 from Prager Metis, bringing with him an impressive but confidential client list that includes actors, showrunners, athletes and digital influencers. He encourages the artists on his roster to expand their monetizable endeavors: “The deeper your bench is in terms revenue streams, the better you’ll be able to weather whatever the next storm is going to be.”
Upside of COVID-strike hit: “It’s easier for us to say you need to set money aside in a rainy-day fund,” he says.
Jason Zayon, Robert Abramowitz, Catherine Catherine, Sam Levin, Marc Rosen, Babette Campbell, Steve McMillan, and Corey Pelton
Zayon: Partner-in-charge, business management & family office group
Abramowitz, Catherine, Levin, Rosen: Partners
Campbell, McMillan, Pelton: Directors
Armanino
With 2,500-plus employees and 21 offices, Armanino gives this entertainment-focused octet (six of whom are based in the L.A. area) a warehouse of tools to service its clients. For instance, “we’re able to walk down the hall or make a quick call and get answers on how our clients are going to be taxed internationally and how it affects them in the U.S.,” says Zayon. Thirty-year industry vet Levin handles writers, directors, producers, production companies, execs and other entertainment figures, plus high-net-worth families. Catherine, Abramowitz, Campbell and Zayon have a similar mix of entertainment and family office clients, with the latter two also specializing in venture capitalists and app developers. New York-based Rosen’s roster ranges from hot young actors to fashion designers and other high-income individuals from the arts and the corporate world. On the music side, Pelton handles artists, producers, independent labels and songwriters and is expert in navigating international tax challenges, while Nashville-based McMillan specializes in copyright and royalty tracking, auditing and valuation.
AI as a tool: “We’re already using it for lower-level work like bookkeeping and paying invoices,” says Zayon. “It’s going to better allow people to handle value-added tasks like consulting.”
Evan R. Bell, Liza de Leon, and Yifan Yang
Bell: Managing partner
De Leon: Business management partner
Yang: Tax partner
Bell & Co.
The firm’s clients include writer-directors Robert Eggers, Cary Fukunaga, Dee Rees, Steven Soderbergh and Nzingha Stewart; writer Dan Hageman; actors Camrus Johnson and Zoe Terakes; standup comic-actor-podcaster Andrew Santino; casting director Carmen Cuba; podcaster Leon Neyfakh; and influencers Hannah Bronfman and Chris Conover. The trio is based in New York, where Bell manages the company and directly handles some clients. De Leon oversees all business management activities. Yang works projections and feasibility analyses.
Personal touch: Bell sees business management drifting away from direct interactions with clients in an age of automation and consolidation. “We’re seeing the business lose its personal touch,” he says. “I don’t know if it’s COVID or technology. Clients want to see us in person.” He’s noticed that some new clients arrive after their prior firms randomly assigned them a new business manager, an abrupt process that rubbed them the wrong way.
Steve Bills, Julie Krimstein, Alec Stoll, and Peter Stoll
Partners
Bills & Stoll
Peter Stoll replies with an emphatic “Are we ever!” when asked whether they continue to invest in technology. During the pandemic, he observes, one was lucky to simply keep connected with clients and staff. Now, as “the world is getting smaller and there’s so much more information out there,” he and the partners are determined to stay ahead of the curve in terms of using the best available tech to clients’ advantage. The hybrid work model to which the firm shifted in 2022 is working “remarkably well,” he reports. Still, “we are focused on trying to build community within our firm and finding ways to get the staff together.”
Adapting to troubled times: “Given the strikes that have occurred this year, and general uncertainty about the economy, clients are mindful about their spending and doing things a little more conservatively,” he says. “They’re more mindful about their financial lives.”
John Shaheen
Managing partner
Business Wealth & Tax Management
“This year has been about saving clients money by reducing expenses and long-term planning,” Shaheen reports. He has worked to maximize client revenues through income opportunities both earned and unearned, and to support community and charity causes. Client list includes Gibson Hazard, rapper Noname, the Revels Group and Burna Boy, who opened at Coachella in ’19 and headlined it in ’23.
Lightning round: Long-term impact of the strikes? “Unions will remain strong and dominant.”
Expected impact of AI? “It makes everything smarter, more productive and more efficient.” Clients’ greatest worries about the future? “Regulation and integrity.” Best advice on investment choices? “Continue to invest in self, as well as in great investment advisors.”
Rit Venerus, Butch Gage, Dan Goscombe, Sarah Dellimore, and Amy Self
Venerus, Gage, Goscombe: Partners
Dellimore, Self: Directors
Cal Financial Group
The Dave Matthews Band, John Mayer, Dead & Co., Jack White, Odesza, Boygenius, Groupo Frontera, Phoebe Bridgers and a gallery of music and sports stars have put their affairs in the hands of this firm based in Charlottesville, Va., with offices on both coasts and in Nashville. Its national focus makes the company, and their clients, acutely aware of (and concerned about) the political and social divides tearing America apart, though Gage is sure that “artists who remain authentic to who they are, and connect with their fans, will always win out.”
The crisis you didn’t know was affecting the biz: Venerus observes: “We’re seeing climate change impact our clients’ lives more and more. The evolving weather impacts touring and productions’ ability to operate, as well as their ability to obtain insurance. Clients are having trouble getting insured even if they live in places like California and Texas. Unfortunately, we are just beginning to see how climate change is going to impact our lives.”
Layth Carlson, Steve Callas
Partners
Callas & Carlson
The Los Angeles-based duo handles directors Liz Friedlander, Antoine Fuqua and Marc Webb; screenwriter Derek Kolstad; and touring musician Colin Hay. Carlson observes that the industry handled the Hollywood labor strikes better than COVID, because the pandemic was such an unknown. “People knew the strikes were going to end because it’s something that they have been though before,” he says, “but with COVID, nobody knew when or if.” On an upbeat note, Carlson is heartened by climbing box office numbers, despite stiff competition from streaming. “You put something out there people want to see, they’ll go see it.” As for out-of-home entertainment, he feels all demographic groups have returned to live music and concerts are firing on all cylinders.
Jaw-dropping times: “I can’t believe that we’ve had two shutdowns in three years! That’s brutal,” Carlson concludes.
Lauren Cooper, Arnie Herrmann, Wayne Kamemoto, and Jean Lee
Partners
Citrin Cooperman
Citrin Cooperman boasts directors Martin Scorsese and Sam Mendes; actors Liam Neeson and Jeremy Allen White; and musical stars the Strokes and Gypsy Kings on their client list. The firm continues to expand its business management practice with the joining of Kaufman Berstein Lee & Robert in November 2022 and Chapman Bird & Tessler in January 2023. Both focused primarily on business management services to the entertainment industry and high-net-worth individuals. Lee declares, “Our mission has always been to provide unparalleled service and support to our clients, allowing them to maintain the high level of trust they have in us for all matters, business and personal.”
On the road again: “Music touring has been booming for best-selling artists,” Kamemoto reports. “For them, but especially for artists where the margins aren’t so amazing, it’s imperative to budget and build tours for greater profitably in this tough economy. Other facets, such as music royalties, catalog valuations and taxes, require equal attention.”
Sean Granat
Partner
CohnReznick
Granat and his team service an undisclosed roster of entertainment clients, many of them high-net-worth individuals, leveraging incentives and planning opportunities that help reduce tax obligations in compliance with today’s tax code. This past year, for example, the firm’s tax-planning recommendations helped several clients lower their taxes when relocating from overseas to the U.S. Moreover, as touring steadily becomes a bigger part of the business side of music, Granat has helped a variety of well-known acts maintain compliance with changing IRS regulations.
Taxes less taxing: “With the one-two punch of high inflation and high interest rates impacting the revenue and buying power of our clients, having a strategy and advisor that looks for ways to minimize tax obligations has never been more important,” says Granat.
Amir Malek, Pam Malek
Managing Directors
The Colony Group
Amir Malek handles music producers, TV and film actors, writers, directors, social media influencers, comedians, DJs, executives, tech entrepreneurs and divisions of talent agencies. For European clients, he works on multinational issues. Pam Malek is immersed in the post-pandemic resumption of concert touring requiring global budgeting, concert merch commerce and tax planning. She also advises financial transactions for clients’ music publishing catalogs, master recording catalogs and royalty-revenue streams. The husband-and-wife team are based in Calabasas and Los Angeles. The parent company is a Boston-based investment advisor.
Skyrocketing concert expenses: “It has become financially difficult to tour foreign territories due to increased travel costs,” says Pam. “Solutions include local promoters shouldering more expenses and lower-cost staging, such as using gigantic inflatables that are impressive visuals yet easy
to transport.”
Shane Glass, Paul Glass
Shane Glass: President, Business Management
Paul Glass: Vice Chairman
The Colony Group
“Cash is fun again!” exclaims Shane Glass, as higher interest rates bring fatter returns on client portfolios. He handles actors, athletes, directors, entertainment estates, executives, music producers, touring artists and talent agencies. Paul Glass, Shane’s father, has a roster of touring acts, singer- songwriters, actors, directors, entertainment estates, execs and producers, many of whom have been clients for 30 years.
Beware: “Clients are forwarding me TikTok videos, YouTubes and social media feeds from so-called financial experts,” says Shane. “They ask me, ‘Is this legit?’ Now I’m the one breaking down complex topics into simple terms and I have to highlight the inaccuracies and embellishments or remind the clients that we have already been enacting the appropriate, valid strategies.”
Brandy Davis
President
Davis Financial Group
Davis’ firm continues to grow. Clients include a high-profile actor whose career has taken off in a big way, an NBA basketball player and a slew of writer, directors, producers and high-net-worth individuals. Davis started her independent firm in 2021 following a career that includes two partnerships in larger high-end accounting and business management firms. She finds that running a boutique gives her more time to focus directly on her clients’ needs. Recently she’s helped several of them handle business transactions in real estate and technology.
Clever savings: “Most of our clients were able to find creative ways to save money,” she says. “Some found expenses they no longer found value in on credit cards; others found alternatives for entertainment. Creative people always find creative solutions.”
Pat Dunn, Mark Pariser, Tony Peyrot
Partners
Dunn, Pariser & Peyrot
The partners pride themselves on having resisted the wave of mergers that absorbed many of their peers, preserving an artist-friendly environment for clients. Peyrot’s roster includes actor Giancarlo Esposito (“Better Call Saul”), DJ and record producer Joshua Paul Davis (aka DJ Shadow), and actress Taylour Paige (“The Toxic Avenger”) and her husband, fashion designer Gary “Rivington Starchild” Angulo. Dunn handles actor-director Randall Park (“WandaVision,” “Shortcomings”) and his production company, Imminent Collision, and producer David Permut (“Rustin,” “Hacksaw Ridge”), among others. Pariser’s clients include producer Matt Tolmach (“Spider-Man: No Way Home”) and singer Justin Furstenfeld and his band Blue October, and he’s a board member and the CFO of Songwriters of North America.
Real people: Peyrot says that while AI can be useful for things like processing payments, “especially during a time like a strike or pandemic, clients need a heart-beating flesh-around-a-skeleton person that has that tactile experience of going through things to help guide them.”
Sally Velazquez
Founder
Empower Business Management
Velazquez and her team of seven manage the portfolios of a diverse slate of artists including 21 Savage, Iann Dior, Jxdn, Tinashe, Dinah Jane and Amber Rose. In the past year, she has played a critical role in navigating major recording deals and renegotiated contracts. She sits on several boards, including that of We Are R.I.S.E, dedicated to empowering preteen girls of color by reinforcing their social, emotional and developmental skills.
AI pros and cons: AI helps business managers sort data, automate administrative tasks and personalize marketing, “but there are risks associated with integrating AI into the way we operate,” says Velazquez. “We’re talking about potential job shifts, privacy dramas and the real risk of losing our human touch when creating music …. We need to harmonize AI’s high-tech prowess without replacing creativity and intuition.”
Paul Barnabee, Julie Boos, David Boyer, Jamie Cheek, Duane Clark, and Carmen Romano
Barnabee: Director, West Coast Operations
Boos: Owner, Vice Chairman, VP
Boyer, Cheek: Owners, VPs
Clark: President, Chairman, Owner
Romano: Owner, VP
FBMM
Country music is in the DNA of FBMM. News reports have indicated that the firm’s clients include Eric Church, Kelly Clarkson, Luke Combs, Kesha, Kings of Leon, Blake Shelton and Keith Urban. Los Angeles-based Barnabee handles music clients and has a 30-year background in music, including working at labels. Boos reps music clients, mentors junior FBMM executives and is co-chairwoman of the finance committee at Nurturing Outstanding Women. Boyer, a former recording artist, helps artist clients navigate music catalog sales, tours, charitable activities and estate planning. Cheek reps music clients, works FBMM oversight and is vice chair of finance at the Country Music Assn. Clark advises recording artists, received the Academy of Country Music Service Award last year and implements FBMM’s strategic plan. New York-based Romano handles music industry clients. Boos, Boyer, Cheek and Clark are in Nashville.
Ticket reform: Looking in his crystal ball, Cheek predicts rapid-fire innovations in concert ticketing, such as non-transferrable tickets curbing excesses in the resale market. “I believe there will be competition and more choices for ticketing,” he says. He adds that artists genuinely want affordable tickets to accommodate their price-sensitive fans who are a bedrock of the music ecosystem as buyers of recorded music.
Christopher Curry
Founding Principal
Forward Business Management
Curry has diverse experience, both educationally (B.A. in psychology, masters in business taxation) and professionally (he was an in-house attorney for Universal Music Group). He also has a diverse roster, two-thirds of which are musicians such as Latin artists Carla Morrison and Justin Quiles, and hip-hop duo the Audibles, with the balance being film and TV talent, including actor Holt McCallany and voice actor Rino Romano, and a smattering of family offices. He likes them to make diverse investments, heavy on real estate and stocks. He also does royalty audits for artists, law firms, record labels and catalog buyers.
Knowing when to hold ’em: Curry says the question is, “Will I earn more money selling my catalog now and invest it, or is it better to just let it ride and collect my royalties?”
Andrew Meyer, Steves Rodriguez, Naomi Poblano, Tawny Nevarez, and Leo Lopez
Meyer and Rodriguez: Founding Partners
Poblano, Nevarez and Lopez: Partners
Freemark Financial
Freemark clients include Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Accenture Song CEO David Droga, Latin music duo Jesse & Joy, Anna Kendrick, Alexander Skarsgård and Jon M. Chu. The firm also handles ad agency Mojo Supermarket and production company Smuggler. Meyer and Lopez specialize in film and TV talent and family offices. Meyer handles Ellen Pompeo, who was presenter for an industry award Meyer received two years ago. Meanwhile, Rodriguez and Nevarez work for clients in music, TV, film and advertising. Poblano oversees tax matters across the firm. All five managers are in Beverly Hills.
Clients at a crossroads: “Now, unfortunately, with interest rates higher, there are challenges from the debt taken on in the past,” Meyer says. And “clients have been buffeted by the pandemic and labor strikes, so individuals are also at a crossroads.” Because clients need to navigate turbulent times, collaboration with business managers “is being well received and appreciated.”
Matthew Gilbert-Aranoff, Elizabeth Ricin
Partners
Fulton Management
Gilbert-Aranoff and Ricin are the rising stars at a company that prides itself on its ability to cultivate the careers of up-and-comers. That’s not to say that the Encino-based firm doesn’t have big-name clients, who include top film and TV talent (Chris Hemsworth, Channing Tatum, Taika Waititi, Mayim Bialik), high-profile digital influencers (Emily Ratajkowski) and world-class athletes (MMA fighter Conor McGregor). Ricin started as a bookkeeper and was made partner in 2015. Gilbert-Aranoff, who made partner in 2020, specializes in social media stars.
Tick-tock for TikTok-ers: “It’s not obvious that all of these creators that have younger audiences are going to keep them as they get older themselves,” says Gilbert-Aranoff. “So it’s a really effective tool for a lot of creators to take some chips off the table and bank the success that they’ve had by selling or licensing part of their YouTube catalog to a platform like Spotter.”
Tyson Beem, Grady Brown, Andrew Crow, Mark Goodman, Adriane Hibbert, David Lloyd, Melissa Morton, and Enza Cohn
Managing Directors
Gelfand, Rennert & Feldman/Next Gen
The team came together when wealth management giant Focus Financial partners merged GRF, which employed Beem, Brown, Goodman, Grady, Hibbert and Morton, with fellow business management firm WG&S in 2019, bringing Crow (sample clients: Jordan Peele and the songwriting-producing team of Mikkel Eriksen and Tor Hermansen, collectively known as Stargate) and Lloyd into the fold. As part of a multinational company with approximately 675 employees around the globe, the L.A.-based octet can call on a vast array of resources — including a robust royalty valuation department — to service a broad client base spanning directors, producers, actors, writers, composers, recording artists-performers, singer-songwriters, digital influencers, athletes, entrepreneurs, execs and other high-net-worth individuals. The team is forever on the lookout for cutting-edge ways for clients to expand their business models, such as branding deals, equity deals and licensing opportunities, both in the U.S. and abroad.
The benefits of back-to-office: “Being in close proximity to each other is hard to replicate,” says Beem. “The accidental conversations that happen in the hallways and the osmosis that happens just by being around your colleagues are really important to the mentorship of employees, so we encourage people to be around each other as much as possible.”
Christopher Fazzolari, Jon Menneci
Managing Directors
Gelfand, Rennert & Feldman/Royalties-Audits
Fazzolari and Menneci lead a bicoastal team that advocates for copyright owners, making sure that they get every micro-penny they’re due from their contracts, which can be hundreds of pages long, with no language addressing the complex tangle of modern distribution platforms, from streamers to exercise equipment. They also do valuations of royalty streams for potential catalog sales for GRF clients and outsiders alike, as well as the estates of recently deceased artists, particularly for tax purposes.
Microscopic math: “There’s only a finite amount of money that, say, a DSP collects, yet there are trillions of streams,” says Menneci. “And you’re dealing in micropayments per stream and how the money is divided up.”
Mike Skeet, Simon Hopkins, and Jeff Kaye
Managing Directors
Gelfand, Rennert & Feldman/U.K.
Gelfand, Rennert & Feldman’s acquisition of London-based firm Skeet Kaye Hopkins in 2019 gave the firm a major presence in the music touring world, with a roster of clients that ranges from breaking artists to veteran stadium-fillers. These days, Skeet spends most of his time in Los Angeles, while Hopkins and Kaye man the U.K. office.
Fighting inflation with inflation: The price of everything is up for touring artists, from the trucks, buses and fuel that it takes to transport them to the food they eat and the hotels they stay in. To make up for it, acts are raising ticket prices and offering platinum packages with backstage meet-and-greets. Skeet says European fans are less willing to spend big than their U.S. counterparts. “I see it in sporting events and in concert tickets,” he says. “A courtside seat at a Lakers game is in the three- or four-thousand-dollar range, and that’s not even for playoffs. If I’m going to see Arsenal play soccer in London, the most expensive seat I can buy is maybe £150.”
Todd Kamelhar, Anton Pamer
Managing Directors
Gelfand, Rennert & Feldman/N.Y.
Kamelhar and Pamer’s roster is a diverse cross-section of film, TV, music and fashion industry pros. However, their practice does have a touch of glamor via Kamelhar’s long association with client Billy Joel, for whom he has exec produced a string of concert films, including 2019’s “Hot Spotlight: Billy Joel and the Greatest Arena Run of All Time,” about the piano man’s historic Madison Square Garden residency that will end in July 2024.
High-interest bummer: “It was a tough pill to swallow for clients who were trying to buy their first home or had been in an extremely competitive market like Los Angeles, waiting on the sidelines watching the interest rates increase, because the size of those mortgage payments for those looking to finance properties went up substantially,” observes Pamer.
David S. Garelick, Luis Gomez
Garelick: President-CEO
Gomez: Account Manager
Global Business Management
Garelick has been at Global Business Management for 36 of the firm’s 63-year history. Today, he has a client stable that includes Anthony Hopkins, Ernest Thompson and Robert Nagle, director Bethany Rooney (“The Blacklist”), celebrity stylist Cristina Ehrlich, numerous NFL players (including Juju Smith-Schuster of the New England Patriots), Randy and Kristy Pitchford, the CEOs of Gearbox and Nerdvana, respectively, and DJs including DJ Vice, as well as Sujit Kundu, president and CEO of SKAM Artist Management. Gomez started as an assistant at the firm 13 years ago and worked his way up to account manager overseeing 20 clients, including actor-musician Ronny Cox.
Disaster-proofing: “I like to try to have all our clients have at least three to six months of reserves, depending on their cash flow needs and their other investments, for strikes or other unforeseen events,” says Garelick
Laura Gordon
Founder & CEO
Gordon & Associates
The 31-year-old firm catering to athletes, entertainers and high-net-worth individuals is now something of a family affair, with Gordon’s son Isaac, a CPA and international MBA, becoming the firm’s managing partner. “He’s much more of a technology person than I am, and he’s helping us to stay on the leading edge of our industry, servicing our clients on a higher and more efficient level,” says Gordon. Still, she says that doing right by clients and their families is integral to the mix. “The relationships part is old school, and the new technology is new school.”
Giving back: Gordon took advantage of COVID down time to earn her doctorate at the Jakes Divinity School. Her dissertation led to “Back to Eden” projects in Uganda, Zambia, Ghana and Nigeria, working with local experts and pastors to identify “ecologically based entrepreneurial problems and solutions. We are training and coaching people,” she says. “If they don’t get their hustle on, they’re not going to get a job.”
Andrea Bacon, Mark Borda, David Coronel, Tom Fouladi, Peter Mainstain, Rachel Martinez, Craig McCormick, Gary Satin, Vera Singartiyska, Jeremy Stahl, and Bill Tanner
Managing Directors
Ground Control Business Management
Now a hefty player in the business, Ground Control boasts a wealth of business management experience. Bacon works a particularly diverse client roster of actors, directors, producers, screenwriters, studio executives, musicians, composers, photographers and publishers. Borda’s clients are attorneys, directors, entertainment executives, producers and writers. Coronel handles entertainment industry pros as well as high-net-worth individuals in other industries such as real estate. Fouladi covers the entertainment and pro sports industries, as well as entrepreneurs. The practice of Martinez is broad across entertainment industry from traditional to digital, including influencers. McCormick handles actors, comedians, studio execs, TV showrunners, talent reps, and their business entities domestically and overseas. A second-generation business manager, Satin launched his practice with music clients, and then added actors, writers, directors, producers and entertainment executives. Singartiyska handles an array of entertainment pros and also clients outside entertainment, and is a go-to resource for international tax planning. Stahl’s clients include musicians, actors, directors, producers, studio executives, writers and estates, including outside of Hollywood. With nearly a half-century experience, Tanner handles entertainment clients and others. Mainstain handles Wayne Brady, keynote speaker at this year’s Variety Business Managers
Elite breakfast.
Building trust: Satin thinks that business managers need to retain the personal touch even as digital tools make it easy to automate the client relationship. “It is not just about sitting in front of your computer sending emails,” Satin says. “It’s about fostering that trust and conversation.”
John McIlwee, Alex Grissom, and Jason Kassan
McIlwee: Founding Partner
Grissom: Senior Business Manager
Kassan: Tax Director
J. McIlwee & Associates
The boutique grew 20% in 2023 after experiencing 40% growth during the pandemic, in part due to the increasing number of digital influencers represented, such as TikTok stars Chris Olsen and Dylan Mulvaney, as well as the career diversification of other clients into brand deals, commercials and stage work. The roster also includes Matt Reeves and his production company 6th and Idaho; actors Maura Tierney, Selma Blair, Caleb Landry Jones, Valorie Curry, Christian Serratos and actor-host Jane Lynch.
The price of strike gains: “Either the studios are going to pay for it or it’s going to be paid for in the result of less jobs,” says McIlwee.
Gary Schneider, Jason Schneider
Gary Schneider: Managing Partner
Jason Schneider: Partner
Kessler, Schneider & Scheltinga
For the past nine years, father and son duo Gary and Jason Schneider have been working side-by-side at the boutique firm founded 37 years ago, which prides itself on the intimate, friendly service it provides to a clientele that is approximately 95% entertainment. Gary’s roster includes actors Alyson Hannigan and Ed Helms and showrunner Carol Mendelsohn (“CSI”), along with execs, talent agencies and management companies, while Jason handles Steve Yockey (creator of “The Flight Attendant”), Andrew Goldberg (co-creator of “Big Mouth”), writer Stacy Osei-Kuffour (“The Morning Show”) and actor Jimmy Tatro (“Home Economics”).
Generational shock: “Most of my clients weren’t in the business for the last strike in 2007,” says Jason. “You don’t really know how much you’re spending until the revenue’s not coming in. We were watching cash flow as we were applying for WGA loans. It’s been a really difficult time.”
John Rigney, Mark Friedman, Matt Lichtenberg, Charles Clancy, Mark Cattalini and Paul Ta
Rigney, Friedman, Lichtenberg, Clancy: Partners
Cattalini, Ta: Executives
Level Four Business Management
Level Four roots can be traced back to 1987, when Rigney broke from Jess Morgan & Co. to start his own firm with a handful of clients that included a little-heralded actor-comedian named Jim Carrey. In the decades since, the West Los Angeles boutique firm has added partners and grown its large array of top-tier talent. In addition to Carrey, Rigney’s clients include actors Samuel L. Jackson, Danny McBride and Jenny McCarthy; directors Kenny Ortega, Luc Besson and James Widdoes; and television writer-producers Salim and Mara Brock Akil and John Mankiewicz, and director Aaron Lipstadt. Friedman has Quentin Tarantino. Lichtenberg’s clients include Will Ferrell, writer-director-producer Adam McKay and the top podcaster Joe Rogan. Clancy handles filmmaking duo Phil Lord and Chris Miller and Cattalini has showrunners Patrick Somerville and David Weil, while Ta handles Cheech Marin and Limp Bizkit leader Fred Durst. Rigney was Variety’s Business Managers Elite honoree in 2022.
Conditioned for disaster: “After dealing with COVID lockdowns and everything that happened, it’s almost like we were used to total disruption,” says Cattalini. “And up until the [WGA] strike, everyone had been working, so people were in a better position to weather a storm.”
Marius Bercovici, Justin Kobay, Bruce Seckendorf, and Venicia Mestey
Partners
LL Business Management
The firm, founded in 1994, has offices in New York and Los Angeles and specializes in personal and corporate financial management, including tax and estate planning. Areas of expertise include tax compliance, multistate filing, tax preparation and audit representation. Clients come from the worlds of entertainment, music, fashion and sports. Among them: Boots Riley, Kylie Cantrall, Lil Nas X, the estate of Juice Wrld, Timbaland and Ice Spice.
Simple approach to success: Bercovici expresses succinctly the firm’s initiatives and accomplishments over the past year: “Having clients ready for the writers strike, keeping afloat, touring, branding.”
Steve Gelon, Van Lee, Alex Smith, and Justin Sroka
Partners
Mann Gelon Glodney Gumerove Yee
In recent years, Mann Gelon has hired new employees with niche specialties, from royalties and touring to insurance, and that diversity is reflected in the partners. A 38-year vet of the firm who’s been managing partner since 1990, Gelon has a client list that includes big TV stars, a gaggle of top series creators-showrunners, acclaimed feature writers and directors, and a boutique entertainment law firm with its own legend-packed roster. Smith, who joined in 2015, reps an array of film and TV writers and directors, producer-songwriters, musical acts and household-name digital influencers. Lee came aboard in 2018 and specializes in handling the estates of iconic show biz figures on both sides of the camera. The newcomer of the group is Sroka, who joined in 2020, bringing with him a several members of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, along with film and TV legends and up-and-comers.
Surviving the strikes: “If you’re working with investment advisors, it’s figuring out whether you potentially have to sell positions that have unrealized capital gains or whether there’s the opportunity to tap equity in a home, because that’s liquidity that you can get without a taxable event,” says Smith.
Michael Kaplan, Justine Ruffalo
Kaplan: Managing Partner
Ruffalo: Partner
Miller Kaplan
Based in North Hollywood, the fims has offices in San Francisco, Seattle, Denver and Hailey, Idaho. Kaplan specializes in clients from movies and TV, global influencers, and individuals of high net worth. Ruffalo’s beat is the music industry, working with both performers and execs.
New opportunities in the music biz: “The
number of alternative investment funds holding artists’ IP rights has grown over the past decade, giving artists more options to monetize their IP,” reports Ruffalo. “Some of my clients, such as Iconoclast, have been able to take advantage of this unique moment in time to acquire legendary catalogs and other assets. On the flip side, we have also been able to leverage this robust market and our expertise as a way to help musicians on our roster who want to sell their catalog and find investors who align with their own creativity and innovation.”
Mark Landesman, Paul Zukowsky, Scott Landesman, and Jessica Mooney
Landesman, Zukowsky, Landesman, Mooney: Partners
Mooney: COO
ML Management Partners
The New York-based team covers entertainment broadly, with a deep client base in the comedy field, dating to firm’s founding in 1988. Mark Landesman reps many comedy talents, and he also handles actors, directors, producers and writers. He shares some major clients with Zukowsky, whose own clientele includes actors, directors, music and models, with a growing roster of teenage models. Zukowsky also handles Steve Jordan, now drummer for the Rolling Stones. Scott Landesman, son of Mark, works with comedy figures, especially touring comedians, and podcasters.
Shifting client needs: Zukowsky says that client portfolios these days tilt more heavily to T-bills and bank accounts to tap growing yields as interest rates soared. Plus, clients seek more analysis amid economic hardships after the pandemic lockdown and Hollywood strikes. Instead of simply saying that they want to buy a house, Zukowsky says that clients “call for things that they never asked about in the past such as where should they live, should they move and should they own or rent.”
Mickey Segal, David Bolno, Michael Karlin, Thomas Kingsley, Matt Segal, Larry Tyler, Dian Vaughn, Bernie Gudvi, Carrie Malcolm, David Weise, Harley Neuman, and Ryan Conlon
Segal: Managing Partner, NKSFB
Bolno: Name Partner, NKSFB
Karlin: Founding Partner, NKSFB
Kingsley, Segal, Tyler, Vaughn: Partners, NKSFB
Gudvi: Founding Partner, NKSFBGO, a division of NKSFB
Malcolm: Founding Partner, CRM Management, a division of NKSFB
Weise: Founding Partner, David Weise & Assoc., a division of NKSFB
Neuman: Founding Partner, Neuman + Assoc., a division of NKSFB
Conlon: Partner, Neuman + Assoc., a division of NKSFB
NKSFB
The influence of NKSFB’s large staff and roster of clients is felt across the entire entertainment and music ecosystem. Mickey Segal leads what is Hollywood’s largest business management firm, employing 670 persons including 52 partners. Bolno handles music talent including helping clients with acquisitions. Karlin works for music clients including advising on music catalog sales. Vaughn handles actors, authors, composers, directors, execs, musicians, producers and screenwriters. Tyler reps music talent. Matt Segal, who is the son of Mickey, handles a diverse clientele including their charitable initiatives. Gudvi reps music talent and high-net-worth persons. Kingsley handles Hollywood, sports, music and entrepreneurs, lately busy with real estate syndication investments. Malcolm reps indie film-TV talent, international talent and production companies. Weise handles music clients who resumed touring and also advises on music catalog sales. Neuman advises clients on their Hollywood housekeeping deals, concert touring and Broadway work. Conlon handles talent in film, TV, music and social media, including their entrepreneurial side ventures. All are in the Los Angeles area, except New York-based Malcolm. The firm is a unit of Focus Financial Partners and NKSFB filed a legal action in June for a court to interpret the enforceable terms of the current noncompete. Reports indicate clients include Drake, Adam Levine, Bruno Mars and Katie Perry. In the past 16 Super Bowls, the firm’s music clients performed for 14 half-time shows.
Navigating stormy waters: Amid financial and global instability, Mickey Segal notes that clients pay closer attention to “their investment portfolios and related performance. This occurrence has happened as stock market performance has been volatile and interest rates have increased multiple times.”
Mike Merriman, Bryan Gott
Merriman: President
Gott: Director of Business Management
Parr3
Parr3 clients, provided off-the-record, read like a who’s who of top recording artists and producers. Merriman helped clients successfully execute some of the largest tours of 2022-2023. He also protected songwriter clients in collecting their royalties and making wise decisions regarding catalog sales and publishing deals. On the creative side, he advised clients on new ways to build sustainable lifestyles and create long-term wealth. Gott guided the firm’s account managers and helped clients navigate the rising interest rate environment and a changing real estate market. He also continued development of royalty- hunting protocols throughout the team and launched a semi-annual royalty review program where clients and their teams receive birds’ eye views of their royalty landscape. He also supported the LVRN label in its recent transaction with Matt Pincus’ holding company, Music.
Leading the way: Parr3 prides itself on its internal training program to elevate the firm’s emerging leaders, and on its embrace of a fully remote-optional work environment.
Joseph P. Callaghan, Mark Carter, Simon Winters, and Thomas F. Smith
Joseph P. Callaghan: Partner, New York
Mark Carter, Simon Winters: Partners, London
Thomas F. Smith: Partner & Entertainment Industry Leader
Prager Metis
The four have large client bases in music, and their rosters also extend into TV and film. Callaghan works with entertainers and high-net-worth individuals and specializes in family office and business management services. Carter works with musicians, film and TV actors, directors and athletes; Carter also helps his clients manage their international tax obligations and capture available tax credits. Smith works with entertainment clients in music and TV, production companies, and corporate CEOs. Winters has clients in entertainment, music and sports, as well as high-net-worth individuals.
Cost control: With live concerts enjoying a strong comeback post-COVID, Smith says that the touring industry faces cost pressures across the board. On stage, he says, artists will have “a certain vision of what the fan experience should be, and you take that into account, but it’s also important to remember that it’s a business and costs need to be kept top of mind.”
Larry Einbund, Lisa Ferguson, Dawn Nepp, and Joni Soekotjo
Managing Directors
Provident Financial Management
The merger of Provident Financial Management with Ferguson’s Woodland Hills-based Premier Talent in 2017 yielded two major benefits. It added an outpost in L.A.’s San Fernando Valley, alleviating the commutes of employees who previously had to travel the congested 405 freeway to get to Provident’s Santa Monica headquarters. It also brought into the fold Ferguson’s stable of talent that includes actors, directors, producers and costume designers, as well as rock band Queen. Santa Monica-based Einbund, who has spent the entirety of his 39-year career at Provident, works primarily with music acts ranging from the Goo Goo Dolls, a client of nearly three decades, to Mongolian heavy metal band the Hu. Nepp heads the Nashville office, created when Provident acquired her firm in 2016, serving a clientele that encompasses the music, television, film and live events. Soekotjo, who leads the San Francisco office, has a client roster that includes Ricky Gervais, film and TV composer Jeff Russo, music acts (Genesis, Billy Bragg), record producers and independent labels.
Future of commercial real estate: With the rise of remote work and the closing of retail stores, “we’re going to start seeing a lot more mixed-use properties and in the next five to 10 years,” says Einbund.
Phil Sarna, Patrick Templeman, Tara Moore, Abner Monegro, Amy Gittleman-Blom, and Andrew Britton
Sarna: Founder, Senior Managing Director
Templeman, Moore, Monegro, Gittleman-Blom, Britton: Partners
PS Business Management
With offices in New York, Los Angeles, Nashville and New Orleans — and a support staff of over 80 pros with experience in tax accounting and finance — this team of six handles a practice heavy on talent in film, TV, music, sports and fashion. It has been reported that their clients include Billie Eilish, Lizzo, Halsey, Benny Blanco, Sara Bareilles, Andrew Watt, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Camila Cabello, the National and Arcade Fire.
Where creativity meets business: Sarna believes that his clients’ entrepreneurial spirits and business acumen fuse well with their creative spirits to bring out the best in their careers.
Anna DerParseghian, John Power, Jason Brown, Leo Jenkins, and Darren Calbay
DerParseghian: Managing Partner
Power: Senior Partner
Brown, Jenkins, Calbay: Partners
PTD Business Management
The five have wide perspectives on the world these days. The firm moved into a penthouse suite atop the Sherman Oaks Galleria that sports views of the San Fernando Valley and doubles space for growing staff. “Now we have a little bit of room to breathe,” quips Brown. DerParseghian is partner in charge and handles multihyphenate producers, touring comedians and persons in music. Power works big negotiations involving business M&A and has a roster of his own clients. Brown is focused on Hollywood talent, multihyphenates, touring clients, and is resident expert on analytics for digital businesses and merchandising businesses of clients. Jenkins handles live touring, comedians and entertainers, and continues to grow his podcast and digital media practice. Calbay is the tax authority who advises and sorts out complex matters across the firm for clients.
Business lessons: The entertainment industry is a creative business, and Brown notes that clients who are world-class in the arts may be less hip to the business side. “I like to explain the hows and whys in a simplified format,” he says. “That sparks a good conversation.”
Alan Reback, Derrick Lee
Founding Partners
Reback Lee & Co.
Reback and Lee’s L.A. firm scored its third EGOT in a row in 2023, not by winning awards, but by providing production accounting services for the shows where they were handed out: the Emmys, the Grammys, the Oscars and the Tonys. The duo began working together in 1995, when Reback did production accounting work for one of Lee’s business management clients, and they formed their firm in 2004. Today, they service a mix of actors, producers, writers, directors, executives, fine artists, as well as other high-net-worth individuals, along with production companies, particularly those that do TV specials and live events, with Lee handling business management and tax, while Reback handles business management and production accounting.
Staying put: During the lockdown, the firm saw clients leave California and move to places like Tennessee for more open spaces and lower tax rates, but “with the higher interest rates on the mortgages, they’re not buying and selling like they used to,” says Reback.
Andrew B. Blackman, Wesley W. Childs, Robert Grubman, Ron Myers, and Marc Zand
Partners
Schulman Lobel
An impressive diversity of clients characterizes this firm. They include Don Buchwald of talent agency Buchwald; actor Brian Cox; rapper French Montana; DJs the Martinez Brothers; graffiti artist Futura; and touring jam bands the Disco Biscuits and Joe Russo’s Almost Dead. Other clients are Hollywood PR agency the Lede Co.; and the estates of William Goldman, Gwen Verdon and Bob Fosse. Childs is based in Miami, Myers in Los Angeles and Blackman, Grubman and Zand are in New York. Collectively, the five head the entertainment practice at Schulman Lobel, a full-service, mid-sized accounting firm. Childs, who became partner in February, handles clients and is building Florida as a third geographic hub, either through organic growth or acquiring an existing practice.
The taxman cometh: Childs advises clients who are on the move to look before they leap because of the “much more aggressive stances taken by states in terms in challenging residency and sourcing of revenues. So proper planning and strategizing before any physical move or contracting of work is necessary to reduce financial exposure and reduce state scrutiny.”
Scott F. Guber
President
SFG Business Management
Guber’s clientele encompasses actors, film and television producers, directors, newscasters, talent managers, writers, high-net-worth individuals and a growing number of influencers earning income from their posts. Those clients include comedy actor-writer Damien Fahey (“Family Guy”), director-producer Anthony Hemingway (“Red Tails,” “Genius: Aretha”), director-producer Vince Marcello (“The Kissing Booth”) and director-producer Greg Mottola (“Superbad,” “Confess, Fletch”).
Peaks and valleys: Guber is a big believer in rainy day funds. Those clients with non-guaranteed income “have to save for those lean times,” he says. When encountering resistance from a client whose career is riding high, Guber points to news reports of industry figures whose careers conspicuously cooled. Then, he shows them how it’s possible to remain financially stable.
Rick Shephard, Mark Tinglof
Shephard: Founding Partner
Tinglof: Partner
Shephard Tinglof + Assoc.
Clients of Los Angeles-based Shephard Tinglof + Associates reportedly include Courteney Cox (since pre-“Friends”), Jon Favreau (since 1996’s “Swingers”) and Ben Stiller (since 1998’s “There’s Something About Mary”). The firm is also said to handle Kurt Russell and son Wyatt Russell, Meredith Hagner, Jeff Kleeman, Alan Poul, David Schiff and Narrative Media.
Restaurants and boats: In the past, Shephard has advised clients against two types of investments: restaurants, which he considers not worth the risk, and yachts, which can bring momentary delight until their owners decide to get rid of them.
Matthew Burke, Elaina Kogan, Richard Singer, Stephanie Arkof, Amitha Harichandran, Marianna Krasnoshtein, and Kurt Vogel
Matthew Burke: Managing Partner
Elaina Kogan: Tax Partner
Richard Singer, Stephanie Arkof, Amitha Harichandran: Wealth Management Partners
Marianna Krasnoshtein: Accounting Manager
Kurt Vogel: Business Management Operations Manager
Singer Burke
Singer Burke’s work has won clients from throughout the business, including some employed on TV series “Bridgerton” and spinoff “Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story,” “The Family Guy” and “The Walking Dead.” Clients include actors, composers, directors, producers, showrunners, writers and management-production companies. All seven business managers are based in Encino. The firm also operates a separate registered investment adviser arm, SB Capital Management, that has $1 billion under management. Burke handles clients and company management. Kogan works tax liability and strategic direction for the tax practice. Singer serves clients, including sizing up private investment opportunities. Arkof helps his client roster pursue their financial objectives. Harichandran works on compliance issues. Krasnoshtein focuses on helping clients attain their objectives. In addition to his own roster, Vogel works company-wide.
People vs. AI: As office automation engulfs business management, Burke says that an industry challenge is not to lose the human touch. Otherwise, clients will wonder, “How do you trust a chatbot or ChatGPT? You can’t really. They don’t have the core values or humanity of a real person.”
Rick Schenkel, Steve Levitt, and Marta Botten
Rick Schenkel: Managing Shareholder
Steve Levitt: Shareholder
Marta Botten: Principal
Sobul, Primes & Schenkel
Schenkel launched the firm’s business management practice back in the ’80s, when the new tech disrupting the entertainment industry was VHS and Betamax. Today, his personal clients include an Emmy-winning director-writer-actor, showrunners, execs, entertainment companies and some of the most high-profile talent agents in the biz. Levitt, who joined the firm in 1996, has a client roster highlighted by a pair of Oscar-winners (an actor and a writer), a bestselling author, numerous business execs and accounting outsourcing services for a film production and financing group. A 30-year industry vet, Botten came aboard in 2019. She specializes in music tour budgeting and accounting and royalty accounting. Additionally, she manages the firm’s day-to-day business management practice.
AI is our friend: As the overseer of the firm’s operations, Botten has a vested interest in the potential of AI and other cutting-edge tech. “All of that reduces time that staff spends on tasks,” she says. “Our relationship with our clients is based on personal trust and our ability to understand their needs, and I’m eagerly waiting for AI to be able to detect fraud, which is one of our biggest industry nightmares.”
Steven L. Shapiro
Owner-Founder
Summit Business Management
This Woodland Hills-based boutique boasts Taylor Sheridan (“Yellowstone,” “1883,” “1923”), as well as Emmy-winners Zendaya (“Challengers”) and Aaron Paul (“Westworld”); actor-producer-host Vanessa Hudgens; the legendary song parodist “Weird Al” Yankovic; and a large contingent of writing clients who Shapiro expects, in wake of their Guild’s strike, “will now alter their lifestyles to accommodate an inconsistency of income and a consistency of expenses.”
Wither business managers? “AI is the hot topic and is going to be more than a paradigm shift,” says Shapiro. “It will be an integral part of our lives, especially within the entertainment industry. Even business managers will eventually be replaced by AI — and of what I can see, some already have!”
Josh Klein
CEO & Managing Partner
TKG
The Chainsmokers, Charlie Puth, Modest Mouse, Big Sean, Kelly Rowland, Anitta and others from sports and music are Klein clients. He prides himself on going the extra mile in protecting assets: During COVID, for instance, clients were given guidance in building contingency plans for savings. He’s convinced that for all the efficiencies AI will bring, “you can’t replace a personal relationship one has with their money and the person they seek advice from.”
Coming to our senses in 2024: “I see people heading back to safe, stable and tangible investments such as stocks, bonds, money markets, real estate. The high-risk stuff — venture, crypto — has cooled off in the recent years with volatility and high valuations. The good news is the people that are left standing will have a lot of opportunity,” Klein says.
Joe McGill
Owner-Founder
Topline Business Management
Topline is one of the few solely Black-owned Hollywood business management firms. McGill left one of the Big Four to give entertainment clients a more personal and tailored experience. He is particularly proud to have on his list Karamo Brown, the first Black gay host of a daytime talk show; “Karamo” premiered nationwide on Sept. 19. His recommendation for investment today is “T-bills, where interest rates are paying out between 4-5%. It may not be sexy, but it is safe.”
Silver lining: “In a bit of a twist, the shutdown taught clients how to preserve their money and be mindful of it,” says McGill. “Since we all knew that at the very least the writers were going to strike, there was enough planning to look ahead and come up with a game plan.”
Dwight Wiles, Robert Taylor, Kevin Dalton, and Steve Eggart
Wiles: President
Taylor: VP
Dalton, Eggart: Business Managers
Wiles + Taylor
Based out of Nashville, the firm weathered the pandemic through a combination of what Eggart calls “budgeting and taking advantage of nontraditional opportunities in the touring world” to tap into such revenue sources as livestreams and private shows. Clients, who are not publicized, include some major artists and execs, particularly in music. The firm enjoys a partnership with Do Write Music for music publishing administration and clearance services. Do Write Music is headed by veteran administrator Marghie Evans.
Concerns for the future: “From a touring perspective,” Eggart reports, “increased costs are at the forefront of our regular conversations. While ticket sales are doing incredibly well post-pandemic, the costs associated with being on the road have increased substantially, and there’s a scarcity of buses, trucks, equipment and personnel, causing prices to rise with increased demand.”
Adam Yorkshire
Partner-Founder
Yorkshire Management Group
In addition to actors and athletes, this boutique firm handles several musicians and has expanded its touring department to meet their growing needs. Yorkshire notes that even on the same tour, each night is unique. What tours provide fans, he says, is memories — the ability to remember what it was like and say, “I was there, then.” He sees this experience as irreplaceable among concertgoers. The concerts themselves, he believes, are often defining moments in people’s lives and he remains confident that the concert industry will continue to flourish.
All together now: “Even in light of wavering confidence in the economy, 2023 has shown beyond any shadow of a doubt that people still love the shared experience of going out and listening to live music, seeing their heroes on stage, feeling the feelings of the first, or 750th, time they’ve heard their favorite song during a unique live rendition,” says Yorkshire.
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