Legal Niches

More Developers Going Hollywood

By pete_gallagher

Is it finally time for game developers to follow their peers from the film and music industries and start hitching their stars to high-powered talent agencies en masse?

As game budgets soar and casting for interactive entertainment becomes as involved as it is for movies, a New York Times article examines the increasing role of agents in the videogame production world.

Elizabeth M. Daley, Dean of USC's School of Cinematic Arts told the paper, 'Agents, after trying for a long time, have become crucial to this particular entertainment genre,' while former 1UP and Electronic Gaming Monthly editor Shane Bettenhausen, now Director of Business Development at Ignition Entertainment, was originally skeptical of agents, asking, '…why are they getting in the way?' Bettenhausen learned to accept agents and now says, 'They have turned out to be extremely helpful.'

Daley added, 'As the budgets get bigger and the moving pieces get more complicated, you're a fool to try and handle deals by yourself.'

read more

Full post as published by GamePolitics.com on March 29, 2010 (boomark / email).