Interview with a Talent Manager Maddie Grove
A peek behind LEWK Management
Today's Behind the Verticals expert interview is with Maddie Grove, Talent Manager at LEWK Management in LA. Maddie has been working in the vertical space for three years and some of the talent she manages include Haley Lohrli as well as Candace Mizga and Kylie Karson who are also part of the Chera TV founding team.
Also, to celebrate you, our community, Behind the Verticals is giving you a 20% off your next monthly membership until July 5 with code CELEBRATE.
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🎙️ Interview with Maddie Grove
In this two-part interview with Maddie, we cover the evolution of the vertical drama space over the last three years, from an experimental niche to a competitive market, and what that means for talent today. Maddie also shares her take on AI and why she believes live, human-acted verticals will always have the edge when it comes to fan engagement.
You can follow Maddie and LEWK Management on Instagram. Part two of the interview will be out next Tuesday.
Could you introduce yourself and tell us how you fit into the wider vertical drama industry?
I’m Maddie Grove. I’m a talent manager at LEWK Management.
We got into the vertical space right at the beginning three years ago. Our client Haley Lohrli, who’s a well-known vertical star now, stumbled onto a vertical set not even knowing it would be shot vertically. She sent us BTS photos and we all talked about how interesting it was.
Well, she quickly became a big deal in the space. And so we started in the vertical game with just supporting her, then having more talent make their way in. Now we have about 18 vertical actors. We supported verticals from the jump at a time when other managers and agents were telling their talent to avoid it. But we saw a space where actors could quit their day jobs and make six figures acting full-time.
In the beginning, we had to be quiet about our involvement since verticals weren’t seen as “legit.” Then we got loud because we really believed in the space. Other reps saw how successful our talent was and started wanting to pick our brains. We had relationships with a whole slew of casting directors they hadn’t met. We knew the contract terms needed. We had the strategy when no one else did. I love that we have a vertical roster and a vertical department now. Of course these people also work on traditional TV and film- they’re not just kept to only verticals- we’ve placed many with commercial rep or even directing rep because they’re just serial creators.
So, we love this space. I mean, where else have you seen someone who has to memorize 15 pages of dialogue in one day with a one-day turnaround between their next project? These are incredible actors and humans.
Three years is like an eternity in this industry. How has your role evolved over that time, and what are you hearing from your talent about how things have changed for them?
