PurPassionDigital / Everywhere

Talent Manager (Creators and On-Screen Talent)

The pull to bridge what's apart

Connection · Separate → Connected

The shape of the work

Pace
  • A hard push you keep up for a long stretch
  • Short, intense, and the stakes are right now
What your week looks likeNo pattern — you plan around what comes
How much you move around at workMostly at a desk, but you get up for site visits or other work
Whether you can work from anywhereSome days in, some days wherever you want
How quickly you receive feedback on your workA few weeks before the picture clears
What you're actually working withConcepts, theories, designs, stories — things you think up / Other humans, face-to-face — talking, teaching, treating, leading

Behaviours this work is made of

Core
  • Fighting for someone who can't fight for themselves right now.
  • Reaching agreement across differing interests.
  • Building the web of relationships itself.
Also present
  • Making expert knowledge available to someone else's decision — seeing what they can't see from experience and making that sight useful, without owning the outcome.
  • Making multiple moving parts work together in sequence.
  • Determining the quality, value, or merit of something through informed assessment.
  • Ordering events and actions through time.

In words

A talent manager guides the career of a creator, performer or other public figure. They find and negotiate sponsorships and brand deals, plan which projects the client takes on, deal with platforms and agencies, and keep the business side running so the client can concentrate on making content. The main pull is Connection: the manager links clients to brands, producers and opportunities, and speaks for the client in rooms they are not in. Care is also part of it, as the manager is responsible for the client's wellbeing and long-term interests, not only the next deal.

A manager is not the same as an agent. In many countries, especially the US, agents are licensed to find work and negotiate employment contracts and take a commission, while managers advise on the overall career and may take a larger share. In other countries the two roles overlap, and creator management agencies often combine both. Managers work with online creators, streamers, podcasters, actors, presenters, athletes with large followings, musicians and authors. A casting director on the film side is hired by productions to fill parts and works for the production, while a talent manager works for the individual.

The day involves reading contract drafts, pitching a creator to brands, planning a content calendar, checking that a campaign is delivered as agreed, and advising on risks such as an offer that does not fit the creator's audience. The job exists in every country with a creator or entertainment industry. Titles include talent manager, creator manager, personal manager and influencer manager.

There's a guide here if you want one

Kitsune can talk through anything on this page — whether it might suit you, what to do next, questions this page doesn't answer. Everything here is yours to read either way.

The job is built on trust and on getting paid on commission, usually a percentage of the client's earnings from deals the manager helps with. A manager with few clients depends on whether those clients earn, and building a roster takes years. The first clients are often friends, small creators or people the manager has worked with before, and a manager starts with little income while building a record of deals.

Managers also take on a lot of unpaid support work: late-night calls, public criticism, conflicts with brands and personal problems that affect the work. Contracts with brands and platforms need careful reading, and mistakes about ownership of content, exclusivity or payment can be expensive. Rules differ by country on licensing, commission limits and what a manager may do without being a registered agent, so the first step is to find out the local rules [our read of how the field works, 2026]. AI tools now help with brand research, rate benchmarks and campaign reports, but the negotiation and the relationship stay human.

There is no required qualification. Most managers start as assistants or coordinators at a management company, talent agency, creator network or marketing agency, where they learn deals, contracts and how brands buy creator work. Others begin by managing a friend or a small creator and build a track record. Useful backgrounds include marketing, business, law, music, media or sales, and a degree can help but is not required. In a few places a licence or registration is needed for some activities, which varies by country. Over time managers move from assistant to junior manager to senior manager, start their own management company, or move into agency, brand partnerships, studio or platform roles.

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