Bill Mechanic

Invisible Hands in Cultural Markets shines unprecedented light on the activity of talent representatives and production professionals in the American and French film and television industries. Agents and other talent brokers, studio executives, independent producers, casting directors, and film offices—all operate and interact behind the scenes in ways that are consequential to the making of artistic careers and cultural products. But even as these professionals play a crucial role in the entertainment industry, their activity is usually invisible and relatively unknown. This collection of empirically grounded contributions by established and up-and-coming American and French scholars reveals their day-to-day reality. It presents how entertainment industry professionals work and what they experience, demonstrates the ways in which they build relationships with artists and other counterparts, and examines the role they play in shaping the content of film and television projects. Taken together, the chapters put the brokerage of talent and content in comparative perspective. They also challenge taken-for-granted approaches to the study of cultural industries and explore the complex intertwining between commercial and artistic logics.