Q&A ASSISTANTS VS AGENTS
FOUNDER WARNER BAILEY Interview: Warner Bailey
Company: Assistants vs Agents Can you tell me about what you're building with Assistants vs Agents and your vision for it? Warner Bailey: So it started as a meme page—as great things do. I was an assistant at WME, loved my job, loved my boss. But it was a creative outlet for me. It has evolved since and about six months ago, I went full time on it. Two years ago, I started writing a newsletter as a way to capture an audience in a more direct way and collect emails. That really started to take off with a younger cohort looking for a voice and guidance on how to break into entertainment. I think we exist in a very fractured, fragmented system right now where legacy companies are losing some grasp to upstart young companies, especially in the agency world. The timeliness of when I started writing that newsletter allowed for the scale. We have a super engaged audience which includes college students and early career Entertainment professionals. When I sat down two years ago and built a business plan, I said I want to go full time on this. I see the value and the impact it had on people. So many people came out to our AVA IRL events and say, "Thank you for what you do." People feel like they're being heard. What are the different products you're building? Warner Bailey: What I'm doing now is really doubling down on the educational side. We moved the newsletter from once a week to three times a week. We launched a stand-alone job board. I'm raising right now to build a tech platform that solves key issues that young people in Entertainment are facing. We see it as the new age operating system for Entertainment professionals. On the educational side, we're expanding with virtual summits and bringing our panel and event series around the country and internationally—London, Toronto, Miami, Atlanta, Chicago, Boston, all the hubs of entertainment. We just soft launched the Call Log podcast and signed with UTA to help scale that. On the entertainment side, we're showcasing the absurdity of Hollywood through different pieces of IP—editorial, short form series on social (both scripted and unscripted), some animated stuff, a magazine (which I'm really excited about), and launching the AVA Awards show in person in LA. We did a digital-only run last year and people loved it. So you're building a multifaceted media company? Warner Bailey: Exactly. A new age media company that services young entertainment professionals, but we're also broadening scope to general entertainment through projects like podcasts. We're hyper-focused on the niche we've created, which is about 230,000 extremely active and engaged young people who work in entertainment or want to work in entertainment. Warner Bailey: The newsletter is called the AVA Connection. We've been lucky enough to sit down with the head of editorial at Spotify, Selena Ong, Blair Kohan (she's on my team over at UTA now), Seth Dudowsky Head of Music at the NFL, and a whole list of people I find really inspiring. Two years ago, I made a promise to myself to reach out to one person I admire every week. That's actually how the newsletter started—I was having amazing conversations with extremely inspiring people, but they were just on a call. I wanted to share this with my community. So I started recording them and writing them up as print-only interviews. Warner Bailey: The conversations are really focused on career development, highlighting unique journeys and paths through entertainment. We're showcasing to our community that there are many ways to break in, many ways to be successful, and many ways to be non-traditional. It's not just going to the mailroom and staying there for 40 years. It's about pivots, overcoming obstacles, and dealing with challenges. Upcoming Interviews Include:- Sean Atkins — CEO @ Dhar Mann Studios
- Gabrielle Bird-Vogel — Partner @ Klossy
- Melinda Petrow — SVP @ Mythical
- Matthew Belloni — Founding Partner @ Puck
Warner Bailey: The podcast side, we're sitting down with large talent and someone from their team—an agent, a publicist, a manager, an assistant. We have an exciting list. I can't share names publicly, but think household A-list celebrities and someone from their team. Why pair talent with their team members? Warner Bailey: We've been able to capture the business side of the industry through our newsletter and panels, but the talent/rep relationship is such an interesting and unique area we are exploring now. The key is to find pairings that cross into the humor lane with also a more serious inspiring story side as well. We are always trying to provide advice for the next generation through all of the interviews we do. Can you talk about the in-person events and how brands are involved? Warner Bailey: Brands have been a key aspect of growth for the account. We've done partnerships with Netflix, Amazon, Paramount, RCA, Warner Bros, Prime Video, Meta, Apple TV, HBO Max. They've identified this young, impressionable, highly valuable cohort as people they want to get in front of. We've done screenings with major studios, took over the Red Bull structure at Coachella for a happy hour, and program panels around the country. The through line of all those partnerships are creative ways to get in front of an audience that is sold things constantly, so it has to be really creative in the way we're activating. Upcoming, we're hosting an AvA Award Show on January 22 with a surprise co-host and presenters. Can you give an example of a successful brand activation? Warner Bailey: Netflix is a great example with "A Family Affair" and Joey King. Netflix and I curated a list of about 400 assistants in Hollywood and brought them to Netflix campus. I surprised everyone by bringing out Joey King. We did a quick Q&A, they got to screen the movie and stay for a reception. Those have been the most successful events. What kind of brands are you looking to partner with for the panel events? Warner Bailey: On the panel side, we've worked with 10-plus brands who have sponsored on the alcohol, non-alcohol, drink, food side, and tech companies wanting to activate. Because it is such a hyper-targeted but highly valuable cohort, the brands have allowed us to scale in a big way and reach a much larger audience quickly. Each panel is a little different in terms of programming. Our NYC event was highlighting unique careers and inspired careers in entertainment. One panel focused on people who have pivoted or started their own companies. We had Ziad Ahmed, head of Gen Z at UTA, Forbes 30 under 30. We had Jennifer Blakeman, chief revenue officer at Seeker—she used to tour with Eddie Van Halen and Billy Idol, then went into exec positions at Atlantic Records and Universal. We try to showcase a variety of inspiring stories for those panel events. Shorefire and other PR companies have been really helpful in connecting us with panelists. So you now have three distinct products for different types of guests? Warner Bailey: Exactly. The really interesting thing is we've developed three unique products that can work for different people. If you're on the business inspiring side, there's the newsletter. If you have someone with maybe a larger audience—like Adam Faze who launched Keep the Meter Running and TikTok shows—they're great for panels because they can chat about that. If you have a celebrity or someone who runs their own studio as an actor, they'd be perfect for the podcast. So now we have something for everyone. Have you seen any success stories from sharing someone's story in the newsletter? Warner Bailey: One of my favorite stories—there was a WME assistant who actually hid from his boss that he was training for the Olympics while working at WME. He made the US fencing team, and we showcased his story. That was probably one of the most popular ones because the assistant community loved that someone was training for the Olympics while being an assistant. There've been tons of people who've reached out saying they've gotten jobs from the newsletter. Adam Faze actually shouted out at our NY event he said, "Take your phones out. If you're looking for a job as an assistant, I'm looking for an assistant." There's plenty of stories where people have reached out and said they've been really inspired by an interview in the newsletter, reached out to that person, and ended up connecting with them or doing a project with them. Everyone knows each other in such a tight-knit community. This isn't Morning Brew or 1440 reaching a massive audience—it's hyper curated industry people. So there have been many connections made. How should publicists reach out to you? What's the best way to pitch you or get their clients in front of your audience? Warner Bailey: For contact, publicists can reach out to me and my team at UTA for podcast bookings, newsletter features and event partnerships. One thing I want to include is that I send out all questions prior. Anything we're publishing in the newsletter, as well as any questions we ask at panels and interviews, are all approved prior. That's really why I think I've gotten a lot of the people I've been able to get, especially early on—people feel like they can share their story in their own words. My goal is to give people a fair shake at telling their own story. That's a very important aspect of what I'm trying to do, how I'm trying to scale it, and the types of people I'm trying to get. Connect with Warner Assistants vs Agents Channels | 
