From: fakeaddress@sbcglobal.net   
      
   alfornos found this.   This probably explains how Amanda Pays   
   got cast in "Fire" and why DD was seen dining with Jennifer   
   Connelly and Paul Bettany in New York during the TRUST THE MAN   
   filming -- Pays and Bettany are also clients of Greene.   
      
   ===>   
   The Hollywood Reporter   
   Dec.  06, 2005   
      
   Niche-Oriented   
      
   By Tatiana Siegel   
      
   Hollywood is filled with stories about glass slippers and glass   
   ceilings.  For every Cinderella tale of overnight success, anecdotes   
   abound about women hitting snags on the showbiz corporate ladder.   
      
   Some women -- perhaps wary of fairy tales or reluctant to put   
   their fate in someone else's hands -- have seized their own   
   destinies by starting unique and prosperous businesses.  Such   
   savvy entrepreneurs as the Gotham Group's Ellen Goldsmith-Vein,   
   Central Talent Booking's Joanna Jordan, Melanie Greene   
   Management's Melanie Greene and Silver Spoon Entertainment   
   Marketing's Melissa Lemer have hit pay dirt by spotting   
   underserved communities and creating niche services.   
      
   For Goldsmith-Vein, the neglected customer base was animation   
   talent.  To fill that void, the former New York banker founded   
   the Gotham Group in 1994, a then-fledgling management firm for   
   animation directors, writers, producers, illustrators, artists   
   and content creators.   
      
   Like many successful reps, Goldsmith-Vein began her Hollywood   
   career as an agent at WMA.  While working in the TV packaging   
   division, she realized that the burgeoning animation field was   
   being largely ignored by the agency world.  "I think the major   
   agencies were focused on the television packaging business,   
   representing actors and servicing the feature-film community,"   
   says Goldsmith-Vein, who learned the intricacies of kids'   
   programming from WMA colleague Toper Taylor, who later became   
   a force in the field as executive producer of PBS' "Arthur,"   
   among other series.  "At that time, people thought that there   
   wasn't an enormous amount of money to be made in the kids'   
   business."   
      
   But Goldsmith-Vein guessed correctly that family-friendly   
   content would become consistently profitable.  Today, animated   
   fare frequently tops the boxoffice charts and spawns lucrative   
   TV series.  Likewise, Gotham reigns as the premier animation   
   management firm and boasts nearly 300 clients including   
   producer John H.  Williams (2001's "Shrek"), helmer Henry   
   Selick (1993's "The Nightmare Before Christmas"), writers   
   Ron J.  Friedman and Steve Bencich (2003's "Brother Bear")   
   and creator/executive producer Butch Hartman (Nickelodeon's   
   "The Fairly OddParents").  The firm, which employs 20,   
   also has ventured into producing and has several projects in   
   development, including Paramount's "The Spiderwick Chronicles."   
      
   "I didn't get into this business because I thought I was going   
   to make millions of dollars.  I got into the kids' business   
   because I love the family entertainment business,"   
   Goldsmith-Vein insists.  "I loved it then, and I love it now.   
   I probably love it now even more because I've got (two)   
   children; I'm a real hit around the house.   I'm (also)   
   the popular mom at school because I know Kim Possible."   
      
   Goldsmith-Vein also has leveraged her firm's wide-ranging   
   client list, which includes Simon & Schuster's children's   
   and young adult libraries, as well as Dark Horse Comics,   
   into amicable relationships within the representation   
   community, including an alliance forged with WMA in 2002.   
      
   "The autonomy has given us the opportunity to access all   
   of the agencies, all of the other management companies   
   that aren't squarely in our business," she explains.   
   "They don't really view us as a threat."   
      
   Similarly, Jordan benefited from a relationship with a former   
   employer when she formed CTB in 1999.  The London native,   
   who was an in-house booker for CBS' "Late Show With David   
   Letterman" for five years, found more support than she   
   anticipated when she embarked on her solo mission.   
      
   "I let the 'Letterman' brass know that I was leaving to   
   start an independent booking company," Jordan recalls.   
   "They said, 'Let us be your first client.'"   
      
   Jordan says the field was wide open at that time, with only   
   a few freelance bookers who jumped from one syndication show   
   to the next.  "My idea was instead of hiring one freelance   
   person to book one show, they would be hiring a team of people   
   that also would be working for multiple outlets at once,"   
   she says.  "I always had this idea to (assemble) a group of   
   people who specialize in all the different areas -- movies,   
   television, politics, human interest, sports."   
      
   What started out as a small enterprise based in Jordan's home   
   office has blossomed during the past six years into a thriving   
   business with 20 full-time talent bookers.  With offices in   
   Los Angeles, New York and Washington, CTB schedules guest spots   
   for wide-ranging properties including CBS' "The Early Show,"   
   Comedy Central's "Weekends at the DL" and MTV's "Punk'd,"   
   as well as broadcast outlets such as A&E, the Discovery   
   Channel and XM Satellite Radio.  Most importantly, the firm is   
   approaching Jordan's goal of $5 million a year in annual revenue.   
      
   "We're a machine," Jordan says, likening her well-oiled   
   operation to publicity firm PMK.  "We're on the front lines,   
   working with all kinds of producers."   
      
   Jordan also has expanded her business into such previously   
   untapped areas as magazine bookings.  The opportunity fell   
   onto her lap when a friend began working on the launch of O:   
   The Oprah Magazine.  Jordan says the magazine's staff wanted   
   to book big names for profiles, but they were having a hard   
   time because they didn't have the cover to offer.   
      
   "People were a little skeptical because it was a new magazine.   
   So, my friend said (to Oprah Winfrey's people), 'Oh, you should   
   meet Jo.  She started this booking company,'" recalls Jordan,   
   who subsequently met with editor-at-large Gayle King,   
   and voilà, O became her first magazine client.  "I wasn't   
   even thinking about doing magazines.  I was the TV girl."   
      
   A friendship also proved fortuitous for Greene.  The U.K.   
   native started her self-titled firm in 1987 with one client:   
   friend and fellow Londoner Amanda Pays, who starred on the   
   1980s TV series "Max Headroom."   
      
   At the time, female managers were a rare breed, with the   
   exception of rep-turned- jeweler Loree Rodkin, and there was   
   no single management company specializing in British talent.   
      
   "For some reason, I guess it was my karma -- I ended up with a   
   lot of British clients.  They gravitate toward me, or I gravitate   
   toward them," says Greene, who started her Hollywood career   
   working in development for the late producer Julia Phillips.   
   "I just kept finding these brilliant actors who could do   
   American accents and were incredibly well-trained that wanted   
   to be working in America."   
      
   Today, Greene represents a small but diverse group of British   
   thesps including Paul Bettany (2003's "Master and Commander:   
   The Far Side of the World"), Lucy Davis (the BBC series   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
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