« Je pense que les peuples ont pris conscience du fait qu’ils avaient des intérêts communs et qu’il y avait des intérêts planétaires qui sont liés à l’existence de la terre, des intérêts que l’on pourrait appeler cosmologiques, dans la mesure où ils concernent le monde dans son ensemble ».
Pierre Bourdieu (1992)


lundi 25 septembre 2017

Violaine Roussel, Representing Talent. Hollywood Agents and the Making of Movies

Violaine Roussel 
Representing Talent
Hollywood Agents and the Making of Movies
Chicago Press
2017

Présentation de l'éditeur
Audiences love the glitz and glamour of Hollywood, but beyond the red carpet and behind the velvet curtain exists a legion of individuals who make showbiz work: agents. Whether literary, talent, or indie film, agents are behind the scenes brokering power, handling mediation, and doing the deal-making that keeps Hollywood spinning. In Representing Talent, Violaine Roussel explores the little-known but decisive work of agents, turning the spotlight on how they help produce popular culture.
The book takes readers behind the scenes to observe the day-to-day activities of agents, revealing their influence on artistic careers and the prospects of Hollywood’s forthcoming projects. Agents are crucial to understanding how creative and economic power are intertwined in Hollywood today. They play a key role in the process by which artistic worth and economic value are evaluated and attributed to people and projects. Roussel’s fieldwork examines what “having relationships” really means for agents, and how they perform the relationship work that’s at the heart of their professional existence and success. Representing Talent helps us to understand the players behind the definition of entertainment itself, as well as behind its current transformations.

Sommaire
Prologue: An Agent at Work
Chapter One Introduction
The Invention of Agenting
Filling a Lacuna in the Sociology of Hollywood
Facing Stereotypes
In the Field with Hollywood Agents
What This Book Unveils: Agents and (E)valuation Communities
Chapter Two Mapping Hollywood
Agenting in Big versus Little Hollywood
“The Other Side:” Interdependent Transformations of Studios and Agencies
The New Reality of Agenting in Big Hollywood
Chapter Three The Making of Professionals in Talent Agencies
“Fulfilling Somebody Else’s Dreams”
An Agent’s Initiatory Path
Under the Wing of a Mentor
Forming “Generations” in Hollywood
Chapter Four Agenting as Relationship Work
The Meaning of Relationships
The Definition of an Agent’s Style
“Trust” between Agents and Production Professionals
Chapter Five Agents and Artists: Enchanted Bonds and Power Relations
Agents’ Emotional Competence
Controlling Talent?
Embedded Identities and Hierarchies
Chapter Six Naming Quality and Pricing Talent
Agents in Hollywood’s Evaluation Communities
“What It Takes to Get a Movie Made”
Pricing the Unique
Chapter Seven Agents of Change: The Formation of New Evaluation Communities
Conclusive Word
Acknowledgments
Notes
References
Index

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