Major Advertising Agency
Midwest Offices - Talent Payment Administration

    Senior Administrator and Administrator

Minneapolis, MN - USA based
FMS OIC reporting to Human Resources and the Executive Business Manager, Minneapolis, MN - USA

Client: A major U.S. based global advertising agency with offices in Hong Kong, London, New York, Minneapolis, Sao Paulo, Tokyo and Singapore. The firm operates business globally and this search was relevant to creative production accountability for SAG, AFTRA and AFM related administration.

Search: (2) Senior Administrator & Administrator – Talent Payment

Client Situation: The Director of Human Resources identified Filcro Media Staffing to conduct the search based on FMS completing similar, senior level searches within the broadcasting industry in related creative production and business environments. Executive Producers managing these skills sets as well as Programming Development executives were all identified in the past making FMS ideally qualified to conduct the search for Minneapolis, on a national basis. The client had just lost two key staff members and FMS was asked to replace both at the same time. The firm was retained to identify one senior, and one junior Talent Payment employee, to assure succession plans for the future.

Industry and Sector inclusion:

• Television Broadcasting
• Advertising
• Cable TV
• Motion Picture

FMS was retained.

FMS Officer in Charge of Search TF was asked to commence a CONUS search and establish guidelines to assure that both the Senior and Junior positions could be filled and that those identified would compliment and add value to the department’s ability to service the creative producers business management needs. It was the opinion of FMS from the onset that a suitable universe of candidates could be identified in New York, Los Angeles, Minneapolis and Chicago.

FMS being allowed to identify both new employees gave the firm an assured understanding of succession plans as they related to the present skill sets and future capacity of each employee. Clear definitions were established with the Director of Human Resources, Executive Business Manager and the Senior most Production Executive. FMS was provided with a cultural understanding of the firm that was from (3) three different perspectives within the agency. This un-myopic view was extremely helpful in understanding the types of environments that would be ideal for the client during initial universe compilation. Since we were charged with identifying both the Senior & Junior Talent Payment individuals we also knew there would be no “parity issues” as we clearly separated the required skill sets into two distinct schedules.

The diversity of the production product which included standard commercials, long form and interactive, made it quite challenging when initially planning universe compilation across the the entire United States. Establishing an initial universe of qualified talent payment candidates was done with little or no latitude expressed in the hard skill set sectors. The client at the end of universe compilation decided to eliminate all candidates not coming directly from the Advertising Industry. The fact that FMS reported directly to the hiring manager and human resources helped a great deal when what was perceived as a market driven search. was in reality “budget based”. The involvement of HR and line gave them both an immediate sense of the market in other cities and what would be required from a compensation perspective to attract their “ideals”.

Some of the biggest challenges facing the new Talent Payment department we installed:

• Formulating talent session and residuals estimates
• Providing teams with estimate revisions as needed
• Calculating and processing talent sessions and residual payments per media buy.
• Updating payments as changes in a media buy occur.
• Comparing payments against estimates and advising production teams.
• Tracking holding fees and sending out monthly holding fee notifications.
• Negotiating commercial renewals and reinstatement of commercials
• Setting up and maintaining records of all commercials
• Making reuse payments based on traffic information
• Tracking holding fees for all commercials
• Analysis of media plans and the ability to suggest cost effective schedule to the teams
• Breaking down residual estimates into Excel spreadsheets when required by client and /or teams
• Maintaining direct client contact while servicing diverse internal groups
• Assimilating trends with industry practices and burgeoning new media like interactive, short-films, etc.
• Mentoring and teaching others in and out of the Dept
• International talent and celebrity negotiations

Solution: FMS proceeded to Identify the "best in industry" talent payment manager who performed similar functions in and out of the advertising industry in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, Detroit and Minnesota. Due to the uniqueness of the diverse skills required, the initial universe was weighted to heavily toward the top end of our desired compensation targets. It was prudent at that time to clearly define where we wanted to differentiate the Senior and Junior positions within the department. Concentrating on “ideal industry” experience as opposed to “ideal skill sets” ultimately led to the successful completion of the final universe.

Focusing on tactical issues facilitated great clarity and it was then deemed appropriate by the client company to eliminate all candidates not coming directly from an agency environment. The types of relationships this Senior and Junior person would have to maintain was indeed unique and the client wanted as short of an assimilation period as possible based on the absence of similarly skilled individuals within the company.

The Executive Manager and Human Resources allowed the firm complete latitude and both positions were completely tiered in less than (3) weeks and the (2) two Talent Payment employees hired were identified and delivered in less than (1) one month.

Successful candidate(s) identified: A Senior Manager of Talent Payment from Detroit and an Administrator from Minneapolis. Both people hired were from major advertising agencies.

The new Senior Talent Administrator had strong mentoring skills that would be needed from the onset. With two new employees starting at the same time we identified an exceptionally mature person for her years that would be able to acclimate herself well as she helped develop the required skills in her new direct report. Her extensive experience with “Big 3” Automotive accounts had honed her skills in a highly demanding environment. This was a logical next step in her career in a “culture” that ultimately played a key role in her attraction. This client’s culture is exceptionally positive and healthy.

The new Talent Payment Administrator while light in experience had enormous acumen and understanding of all SAG, AFTRA and AFM codes and contracts that would normally be acquired in many more years of experience then he possessed. Again, the culture of the client company was key in attraction. The ability to accurately portray the skills and culture from the onset, assured success in the end. The lack of any relocation requirement was financially advantageous to the client and allowed an immediate transition to the new environment.

Both these searches were completed in a very brief period of time and reinforces justification for client companies to conduct retained searches on positions of varied levels to assure proper identification and completion of every assignment.

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