News: NYT reports that United Talent Agency out in Hollywood has created an online unit whose task is to troll YouTube and other sites for unknown talent. Employees in the division will get paid, in other words, to watch YouTube videos all day. The article reports:
“United Talent’s online division, whose initial staff is three 26-year-old agents promoted from assistant, will operate independently from the main agency, said Jeremy Zimmer, a founder and director of the company. Defying industry conventions, agents will welcome unsolicited submissions (preferably as Web links), show existing clients’ output on a new agency Web site and be free to sign clients without the approval of the more-established departments.”
Analysis: I’m all in favor of discovering unknown talent through the Internet. But have you watched some of the videos on YouTube? Needle in a haystack.
The Utube Blog 