The Art Of The Poach: Agent Angst Edition
In yet another installment of fascinating quotes from the New Yorker profile of "unorthodox" William Morris president Dave Wirtschafter, an anonymous agent shifts seamlessly from deluded warrior-invoking braggadocio to the darkest depths of existential angst:
“There’s no other business where it’s so completely expected that you poach,” one highly successful agent says.“When I’m out killing buffalo,“When I’m out killing buffalo, and my women are home skinning the buffalo, I don’t want you stealing my hides or fucking my women. But you will.” The agent listed a number of well-known clients who got poached. “They all fired me. The humiliation, “They all fired me. The humiliation, the fear of the humiliation, the fear, the paranoia, the sadness, the loss, the crying in your car when you get fired on the car phone, the idea that the lunch circuit in this sickeningly tiny community is talking about you like a stock that’s down—you get so fucking sick of it all.”
