Morning
Coffee often starts a talent agent's day--kick-starts it in most cases. The night before has probably gone very late. It's common to have a morning meeting at a cafe latte spot, usually with talent the agent represents or a studio executive who is packaging a new movie. In rare cases an agent may be meeting a would-be new client, but usually the agents and their colleagues have all the clients they need.
At the office in the morning, there might be a production meeting, a corporate meeting or a packaging meeting, depending on the kind of talent the agent represents (directors and/or producers, actors, writers, cinematographers, or a mish-mash). Agents finish the morning scouring the trades for new projects and opportunities. Who is looking for talent, and how can the agent get to them?
The Rest of the Day
A talent agent will have lunch meetings scheduled several weeks in advance. Sometimes the agent gets together with clients to find out what they want from their careers, but a good agent will find out who the client is talking to and will have figured out who the agent can bother on the talent's behalf.
Back at the office, the agent will spend time looking over readers' reports on scripts that have come to the office, to identify good projects or to evaluate a client's recent work. An agent won't actually read a script herself until a deal is ready to be signed. An agent spends the afternoon talking to people in the office (assistants and other agents) hoping to turn something to her advantage. Before an agent leaves the office, she tries to return every call she has received during the day (as Sherry Lansing was purported to have done when she was head of Paramount).
Out for the Night
A talent agent works almost every night, with rarely a night off. An agent will have screenings to go to, plays to see, clubs to frequent, festivals, art openings, markets and conventions.
A talent agent definitely can't just phone it in. She's got to be "on." She has to know who's out there and who she needs to meet. Every connection has a point--maybe two or three points. An agent is only as good as her connections, and things change nightly. She has to have done her homework on the event or artist she's viewing; she can't go to the events unprepared. Before sleeping, no matter how tired the agent is, she will log some Internet time researching the people and projects on her next day's schedule. And she'll probably talk to her assistant for the hundredth time to make sure he has done all the remaining homework, so she goes to sleep ready for tomorrow.
