Feature The live events space The Bear necessities
Is the future of literary agencies in so-called ancillary businesses? James Carroll believes it could be, and here he shares his experience of etrapolating an author brand across a range of media and live events
houses. An agency should call the shots when it has expertise and part- ner with experts when it does not. PFD has been involved in “Bear
James Carroll is PFD’s agent, broadcast and live events. He will be participating in the panel
“Commercial Opportunities Outside of Publishing” at the FutureBook Conference on 2nd December
O
VER A YEAR ago, I sat on a boat on the Thames and listened to the adventurer
Bear Grylls read aloud the script for a new live entertainment show. He read six of the greatest adven- tures stories of all time, inspired by his Transworld-published book True Grit.
Why? Our ambition was to produce an action-packed live tour to inspire Bear’s global audience of young people around the positive values of adventure, never giving up, unlikely heroes and quiet cour- age. Challenge set. By introducing Bear to the legendary concert promoter Harvey Goldsmith and striking the deal with one of the biggest live enter- tainment companies in the world, AEG Live, we were able to pull together the right people to make this project a success, using state-of- the-art video-mapping technology, aerial acrobatics and special effects to take audiences on a hair-raising, immersive, theatrical expedition. It is an agent’s responsibilit to have access to the best people for their clients, be it editors, publicists, TV and radio development execs or, in this case, live promoters, acrobatic performers, set design- ers, composers and visual effects
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Grylls: Endeavour” from draw- ing up the first pitch document to each individual deal, covering merchandise, ticketing, sponsor- ship, marketing and social strate- gies, as well as the creative design and production rehearsals. Securing support from Land Rover as head- line sponsor helped develop the technology behind the show and we worked with Goldsmith and his team to lock down the key components. One year and 1,841 rehearsal hours later, Bear’s live arena spec- tacular opened at Wembley Arena to 10,000 people, using those same six
stories as its basis. It was an author tour without a book. The journey from the Notes section of an iPhone to a full-scale production has been remarkable. The stage was the size of three double-decker buses, and required 130 crew members and 10 lorries. It has been called “a spec- tacular mix of acrobatics, education, entertainment and special effects; the adventure of a lifetime”. The first leg will have been seen by more than 100,000 people in 12 arenas across the UK and Ireland.
Growing the brand An agent’s work does not end when the curtain goes up. There are inter- national promoters to see, sponsors to court, numbers to watch, offers to consider, advice to impart and books to sell. As an agency, PFD strongly believes in finding new ways to make money and grow audi- ences. It’s made possible by an author’s writing, whether they are a global name or a début author. Agents must be trusted advisers and oversee their clients’ over- all brands rather than simply manage the traditional publishing process. From children’s anima- tion and theatrical book tours, to audiobooks and podcasts, oppor-
tunities for authors outside of the traditional markets are seemingly limitless. A few examples: histo- rian Helen Rappaport acts as lead historical consultant for ITV’s “Victoria”, in addition to writing the book to accompany the series; chef Valentine Warner advises the biggest global brewing company, AB InBev, and botles his own gin and whisky; environmentalist Tony Juniper speaks and consults for the world’s leading companies on sustainabilit; and Twiggy contin- ues to endorse high street brands with success due to a well-managed brand licensing programme contracted through PFD. “Creative agenting” is not new. It is about puting your clients together with the best people.
Last month we saw Shaun Usher’s Leters Live return, opening to five- star reviews (agented by Caroline Michel); next week David Hare’s cinematic Georges Simenon adap- tation “The Red Barn” has opened at the National Theatre, produced in association with Scot Rudin (agented by Adam Gauntlet); and earlier this year PFD partnered with ITV to produce, based on Simenon’s book, “Maigret” with Rowan Atkin- son (agented by Jonathan Sissons). Meanwhile, Bear is the first Western host to be given his own Chinese TV show, and he filmed two of last year’s eight-strong series in China for a Chinese audience. Growing an author into a brand outside of publishing is only benefi- cial for book sales. Take Jamie Bart- let, who through speaking at innu- merable live events on The Dark Net, and continuing his directorship at the think-tank Demos, is now an up-and-coming investigative jour- nalist with a BBC Radio 4 documen- tary under his belt—and new broad- cast projects soon to be announced. Maintaining relationships outside a literary agency’s usual wheelhouse, across all sectors of the media, is imperative for an agency to help its writers and their stories to flourish in all their forms. ×
FutureBook | 2nd December 2016
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