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U.S. Multinational advertising agency talent payment administration executive search review
 Senior Talent Pay Administrator
and Talent Administrator - (2) Two Positions
Search Link - Senior Talent Payment Administrator and Talent Administrator
Based - Minneapolis, MN - USA
Search Firm - Filcro Media Staffing
Officer in Charge - Tony Filson
Reporting to - Executive Business Manager & Human Resources
Search Groups - Talent Payment | Production
The Client
Major U.S. multinational advertising agency with offices in Hong Kong, London, New York, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Sao Paulo, Tokyo and Singapore. The firm operates business globally and this search was relevant to creative production accountability for SAG, AFTRA, IATSE, DGA, ASCAP, BMI and AFM related administration in all their areas of operation.
Client Situation
The Director of Human Resources identified Filcro Media Staffing to conduct the search based on Filcro Media Staffing completing similar, senior level searches within the broadcasting, advertising, music, TV and motion picture industries in related creative production and business environments.
Executive Producers managing these environments as well as Programming Development executives in television, music and the motion picture industry had all utilized Filcro Media Staffing and the firm was retained to conduct the (2) two searches for Minneapolis. The client had just lost (2) two key staff members and Filcro Media Staffing was asked to replace both at the same time. Filcro was retained to identify one senior, and one junior Talent Payment employee.
Industry and Sector Inclusion
- Broadcast Television Networks
- Advertising Agencies
- Cable TV Networks
- Motion Picture Studios
- Producers of Syndicated Programming
- Music Producers, Music Publishers
- Talent Agencies
Filcro Media Staffing is Retained
 The Filcro Media Staffing Officer in Charge of Search Tony Filson was asked to commence a national 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 and business management needs of the Agency.
It was the opinion of Filcro Media Staffing from the onset that a suitable universe of candidates could be identified in New York, Los Angeles, Minneapolis and Chicago.
Filcro Media Staffing being retained 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 needs of each employee. Clear definitions were established with the Director of Human Resources, Executive Business Manager and the Senior most Production Executive. Filcro Media Staffing 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 during universe compilation. Since Filcro Media Staffing was charged with identifying both the Senior & Junior Talent Payment individuals we knew there would be no “parity issues” as we separated the required skill sets and talent payment experience into two distinct job description.
The diversity of the production products included standard commercials, long form and interactive content that made it challenging when planning universe compilation across the the entire United States. Establishing an initial universe of qualified talent payment candidates was done expressing no latitude the hard skills required.
The client opted to see the candidates from the Advertising Industry, first. The fact that Filcro Media Staffing reported directly to the hiring manager helped a great deal when what was presented as a “market driven search” was in reality “budget based”. Filcro had to share an immediate snapshot of the market in other cities and what would be required from a compensation perspective to attract their “ideals”. The client was attracted to the experience of senior and junior level candidates that had everything they wanted but exceeded their salary expectations by 15%.
Challenges Facing the New Talent Payment Employees
- 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 department
- International talent and celebrity negotiations
- Understanding nuance with music. Music syc, copyrights, royalties and how actuals are calculated. BMI, ASCAP, AFM acumen required as the agency consumes substantial music rights for in-house and external production.
Filcro Media Staffing’s Recruitment Solution
Filcro Media Staffing Identified the "best in industry" talent payment managers 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 too 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.
Based on Filcro Media Staffing’s recruitment success in attracting candidates the hiring manager wanted to focus on tactical, autonomy and contract issues. This facilitated great clarity and it was then deemed appropriate by the client company to eliminate all candidates not coming directly from an advertising agency environment. The types of relationships this Senior and Junior person would have to maintain was indeed unique and the client hiring manager wanted as “short” an assimilation period as possible, based on the absence of similarly skilled individuals, within the company.
The Executive Manager and Human Resources allowed Filcro Media Staffing complete latitude and both positions were completely tiered in less than (3) weeks and the (2) two Talent Payment employees hired were identified, recruited, attracted and delivered in less than (1) one month. This was a special request by a company that greatly appreciated Filcro Media Staffing’s help when they needed it most.
The Two Talent Payment Employees Recruited by Filcro Media
- Senior Manager of Talent Payment from Detroit
- Talent Payment Administrator from Minneapolis
Both new employees 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 minded person for her years of work experience. She would be able to acclimate herself quickly as she develop her new direct report. Her extensive experience with “Big 3” automotive accounts had honed her skills in a demanding environment. This was a logical next step in her career in a “corporate culture” that played a key role in her attraction. Her additional experience with music copyrights and royalties management with a music publisher made her very well rounded to compliment her TV, Ad Agency and Motion Picture experience. She had written guidelines for SAG, AFTRA, AFM, BMI, and ASCAP that have been published and used industry wide. Before joining the advertising agency she was recruited out of, she worked for one of the largest media and entertainment conglomerates in the world. Here diverse exposure in their Copyrights & Royalties environment falling under their legal department gave her exposure the the firms Motion Picture Studio, TV Networks Distribution, Music Publishing, Music Production, Electronic Rights ,Live Entertainment, Licensing & Electronics, Gaming and their In-House Advertising.
The new Talent Payment Administrator while lighter in experience had strong acumen of all SAG, AFTRA, AFM and others. Here abilities with contracts would normally be acquired with many more years of experience. 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.
Both these searches were completed at an aggressive cadence. The advertising agency was very happy they retained Filcro Media Staffing based on the time-line to completion and attracting such exceptionally qualified candidates to Minneapolis. Minnesota. The advertising agency had attempted to fill these two positions for six-months on their own, prior to retaining Filcro Media Staffing.
FILCRO MEDIA STAFFING
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