|
|
|
|
Running With the Video-Game Talent
By Alvin Hattal (Published in ChamberBiz) The increasing sophistication of video games and the growing demand for artists, designers and programmers to create them opened the door for Paul Cunningham. A former parts buyer Hughes Electronics, he started a recruiting company in El Segundo, Calif., in 1993 to find that talent. But Interact has turned into a much more complex enterprise as it has boomed along with the video-game industry. When he started, Cunningham says, "I'd call somebody--programmer or an artist--and they'd have no idea 'headhunters' existed in the industry." Since then, he has built a multimillion-dollar talent agency specializing in the placement of individual game developers, representation of independent studios and the "packaging" of development teams with high-profile, licensed properties. These are the teams that play on consoles such as the Sony PlayStation and Nintendo 64. The industry is growing faster than any other form of entertainment: at least 20 percent a year, says the Interactive Digital Software Association. Last year's sales totaled $6.1-billion. Cunningham, 34, and his partner, Jeff Brunner, 32, were having fun racking up better pay and recognition for the anonymous nerds who designed the games – and taking their 5- to 10-percent commission. But when Sony released the PlayStation in 1995, entertainment software sales zoomed to $3.2 billion. And Interact zoomed along with it. By 1998, with a staff of six, revenue reached $1.5 million; $2.3 million the next year, and some $4.5-million by 2001. Most of that came from the firm's agency division, which represents small development studios. The company now has about 100 producers, programmers and animators as clients. Its 10 recruiters are constantly working to arrange deals for them with the big video-game studios such as Electronic Arts, Activision, THQ, Interplay and Eidos. Among the games now in development: "Street Lethal" (Activision); "Evil Dead" (THQ); "Max Steel" (Mattel) and the video-game version of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" (Universal Interactive), timed to coincide with the live-action movie of the Dr. Seuss book. About a year ago, Interact began representing teams of such talent. Specialists who had worked well together asked Cunningham to negotiate for them on projects the studios needed to outsource. Since then, other creative types who have created two or three consecutive titles as full-time employees of one studio or another have been bitten by an entrepreneurial bug and asked Interact to help them get started by finding a development deal. And it does because the company also works the other side of the street, searching for those very deals. It's not unlike the deals that Hollywood agencies broker between producers and outside creative types. Interact gets a commission not only on the total cost of the deal but also on any future royalties paid to the video-game development team. For example, when one of its clients — a group of 10 to 12 designers, artists and programmers — completed production of "John Madden Football," for which Electronic Arts gave them $2 million to create, Interact promptly found them another project. It then negotiated the deal and exacted a percentage from the development fee forwarded to the studio. The business is becoming more crowded," says Cunningham, "but since we've been doing it for seven years, we're ahead of the curve. We know where all the individual talent is and what they're looking for — and we know how to find it fast." One client who agrees is John Platten, partner in EngineX, a four-man firm that signed on with Interact. 'We're really an idea company that makes games, not a game company," says Platten. 'The games business is becoming more and more concentrated in the hands of a small group." He needed a strong agent on his side when negotiating with the people in that group. EngineX, which created Eidos' best-selling "Fear Effect" game, is targeting franchises that will expand beyond games, he explained. One of his partners, Jeff Most, is the producer of the Crow action-adventure series of films and TV shows. Interact now represents the company in talks with Microsoft and other game manufacturers, says Platten, who expects his company to create a game for the heavily anticipated MicrosoftX Box, in either the first or second series of titles released. We want to work with people who understand us, Platten explains. "That's why we went with Interact; they understand us." But some publishers, says Cunningham, are a bit hesitant to start dealing with agents. "They feel we're costing them money in some cases — and in some cases they're right. There are companies willing to pay a premium to get the best products. We provide that." Cunningham is eyeing another business builder: games on the Internet. "People are watching less TV and connecting to the Internet,” he says. “That’s the future—where [the people we represent] want to be.”
|
|