Today we’d like to introduce you to Christina Price-Basile.
Hi Christina, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Has anyone ever known where to start their story!? Let me see… I’m from California; a native Angeleno. I went to private high school with many of the actors on all your favorite tv shows and in movies. Because of the proximity to and being around creative types, Music and Arts was always something I gravitated towards. During school, I worked at and pursued dance Dupri Dance Academy, and on too many occasions ditched school and got high with my friends. By the time I was finished with high school, I’d already had a lifetime of experiences, and was ready to start thinking about what I wanted to do for a career. I knew that I wanted to continue to pursue a career in the arts, I just didn’t have an idea of what area of business or entertainment I wanted to pursue – but music was always where I wanted to be – I love beats and movement – the idea that any moment, any mood can be changed just by changing the music and vibe.
I somehow found myself in Film and TV, working as one of Fred Silverman’s assistants (Fred Silverman: the legendary television Producer and Executive behind such groundbreaking shows as All in the Family, Soap and Hill Street Blues, and the only executive to creatively run CBS, ABC and NBC.) at Fred’s production company, and he had overall deal with VIACOM at the time. He had all these procedures we had to know and follow. I found it a great educational resource to learn how to handle all of Fred’s pretty specific eccentricities and ended up getting along with him pretty well in my time there while some of the others found the environment to be difficult to thrive in. Fred was different from most, always at least 15 mins early to meetings; a stickler for punctuality; and noticed tardiness.
He would have me roll all his calls on the way to meetings and in those moments we’d have some of our best talks. I found Fred to be direct and full of passion for his work; which I respected. I asked lots of questions to learn as much as I could from him, and when I left to go Intern at DEF JAM, he was surprised I would leave him for a job with no pay, especially because tv/film seemed to be the most coveted area of the industry, but at the time, I really wanted to be where I could be around music. I was really inspired by Happy Walters and what he was doing with his company; influencing the tone of the film and TV shows by finding and placing the perfect music and at the same time breaking new artists, so I thought music supervision might be the place for me. That never panned out – but had a blast working within the music industry – but couldn’t seem to make it over to the departments I really wanted to work in. Marketing was as far as I was able to get it; which was one of the best places to be. I was able to work with all of Russell Simmons companies / Def Jam – Def Comedy, Def Movies & RUSH (Russell’s marketing company) during this time. At DEF JAM’s 10-year Anniversary, they flew everyone out to LA for a huge party in Bel Air and the comedy night weekend with all the biggest names in music & comedy including DJ QUIK! This was definitely a highlight for me. And here years later, it’s come full circle as I currently represent QUIK for film and TV.
After that, I took a job working at Saturn Films, Nic Cage’s company, and worked with Norm Golightly and Jeff Levine. At the time, Nick had a deal with Disney, who didn’t seem to know that Nic has a preference for dark material- and as such Disney didn’t not re-up our deal and shortly after we obtained a new deal with the help of CAA. Norm and Jeff were both pretty fun to work with; but wasn’t without its bits of drama– but well worth it for all the knowledge and experience I picked up in the process.
I was at Saturn for a year- before joining Ardustry Entertainment as the assistant to the president Peter Sahgen and a year after that was promoted to VP of creative affairs for the company. Peter had purchased the movie library UNAPIX, which he made Ardustry Home Entertainment. Peter had a very excitable personality and could border on verbally abusive with his overtly aggressive behavior. He was a Scientologist that had made his money in the Metromedia Business before using that wealth to parlay his way into entertainment. He loved the idea of making movies and had the money to finance that dream and make it a reality. We started with two Movie scripts, one was with Goldie Hawn’s company Cosmic Entertainment, Called ORPHAN KING, starring Chris Evans and Alexis Bledel. This title earned me an Associate Producer’s credit, but sadly was never released. I was promoted to VP of the company after a year, but decided the company wasn’t a place for me to stay after too many projects fell apart. I left with one of the producers Erik Van Lowe to help work on a new show for TOM JOYNER, called the TOM JOYNER Show while I was deciding what my ultimate career path would be.
At the Tom Joyner Show, I handled set up of the production; including location scouting for the different segments and worked closely with the writers and kept notes. Working there with Anthony J Brown made the experience for me, he is a character like no other, and even let me drive his Rolls Royce to help save costs!
I then went to Handprint Entertainment (Benny Medina’s Company), where I worked for Bernie Mac’s manager Steven Greener. Bernie Mac to this day is still one of my favorite clients to work for/with EVER. He was such a wonderfully lovely, kind, and generous human being. Bernie just shined. His love and dedication to his wife and family were like nothing I’ve ever seen. To this day, I will say he touched my heart more than any client or person I’ve met with his constant kindness; no matter what was going on in his life. Steven was also one of the most comedic bosses I had the chance to work with and was so caring, even though he came across as really tough on the outside. He was so hurt when I eventually told him I wanted to leave his desk for another. I still have regrets about the way I departed that company, but at the time I was still so young and wanted to be on a desk that would promote me, and I didn’t see the possibility of growth there.
I left Greener to go to THRULINE Entertainment, a large management company, to work for Ron West. They had a much larger roster of actors and comedians and were actively promoting from within, and seemed like a great move until— dun dun dun…The writers strike happened. At which point, I was let go; as many were-
During that time, I was able to help a friend, April Lim, who had her theatrical agency Global Artists. April is an amazing methodical agent that I was roommates during her training days at the biggest talent agencies. April taught me to never leave any money on the table when negotiating for our clients. She gave me the opportunity to make money handling bills & paperwork for the agency to keep me afloat during the writer’s strike. Once things came back into production, she let me stay on as an agent and about a year in, we started a small commercial list in an attempt to find up-and-coming talent to track for half-hour/comedy opportunities. I was doing that while also having a small list of actors & actresses I represented across the board to help some actors cross over from the commercial side and to bring in some additional revenue to the company. I was able to generate a nice amount, but nothing like a real full-on commercial department with hundreds of clients could do, but we kept it as a special department for our clients that wanted in-house commercials and to bring a fresh pool of new talent to pull from during pilot season. During this time April was referred a new potential client, Lamorne Morris.
At the time, she didn’t have the time or capacity to take him on and I wanted him not just for his already consistent commercial money but I recognized his potential theatrical viability. I had no idea just how quickly that would happen for us. I signed Lamorne in Jan, he booked a really cool- costar almost immediately and then it was pilot season and he was going out a ton. Lamorne was a commercial King; his commercials were playing non-stop and he was most known as “the Vegas guy”. He went in for a bunch of pilots and one of them, he really bombed the audition, but only because he had a night shoot the night before and four auditions that same day. I had to beg Katrina Walters in Mark Hirschfeld’s office to see him again on the CBS pilot “ASSISTANTS ” with Heather Locklear, David Henry & TJ Miller (that didn’t end up getting picked up). They didn’t want to – but were able to give Lamorne another shot.
At the same time, Lamorne also had a great audition and was pinned for a show called “Chicks and Dicks” which Zoey Deschanel had signed on to. And that ended up being…”New Girl” which he booked and it started Lamorne’s career after months of testing and auditioning.
I worked with a couple of other companies (Untitled Entertainment on Evan Haineys’ desk as well as a couple others) and agencies before starting my own agency in Jan of 2014. Ultimately, I wanted to be able to sign and develop those I had faith in and enjoyed working with and to work in a way that best fits my working style.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Let me tell you, the road to finding my ultimate career path and direction has had more twists and turns than a roller coaster at Six Flags! All of my friends seemed to have their lives sorted while I was still floundering and trying to figure out what I wanted to do when I “grew up”. I tried out different jobs and industries like I was trying on different outfits, hoping that one would fit like that perfect little black dress, but I just couldn’t seem to find the right path. Despite all the setbacks and disappointments, I refused to ever give up. I have always been eager to explore and try new things, even if it meant going against the grain. And, did I try a LOT of things! It wasn’t until I stumbled upon my talent for recognizing peoples’ talent and pairing them with the perfect jobs that fit those talents; that things finally started to fall into place.
Of course, having that sorted didn’t make the journey any easier. Starting my own talent agency presented many of its own challenges. And even now, almost ten years later, I’m still constantly pushing myself to grow and expand in my career. That’s why I still enjoy taking classes to learn new skills and broaden my experiences and in that pursuit, I started a consulting company “C2 Biz Lab for Business & Career Coaching & Consulting ”. It’s my latest career venture, and it’s been an amazing opportunity to help others find their own career paths and help them see the possibilities. Because who better to help people see the options and opportunities than someone who has worked and thrived in so many different areas of this crazy business. And sometimes you just need someone to bounce ideas off of who will give you and honest and encouraging opinion, am I right?
Looking back, I’m grateful for all the trial and error that led me to where I am today. It wasn’t easy, but all the missteps and challenges were totally worth it to find a career that still has the ability to get me fired up and excited. So if you’re feeling lost or unsure about your own career path, just remember that it’s never too late to keep searching for your own happiness. Trust me, it’s out there waiting for you!
As you know, we’re big fans of Worldwide Artist Group & C2 BIZ LAB. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
WAG: Worldwide Artists Group represents artists and entertainers by connecting them with fulfilling projects. Founded in 2014, the agency views the client-agent relationship as a mutual effort. WAG maintains a roster of clients that is carefully curated with a limited clientele. We are intentionally small to support a more personal touch and proactive approach without conflicts of interest. We bring a combined experience of a lifetime in the business and a host of big management & agency experience.
C2 Biz Lab for Business & Career Coaching & Consulting: C2 is geared toward helping others find their own career paths and help them see the possibilities in a very personalized and intentional way. It’s not limited to just actors and artists, it’s helping people from all walks of life all backgrounds see the options and opportunities that are possible.
We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you?
Certainly! Roman philosopher Seneca has a quote “Luck Is What Happens When Preparation Meets Opportunity” And I’ve definitely found this to be true and applicable. Luck has played both a positive and negative role in my life and business. When things don’t go as planned, I try to take it as a learning experience and move forward with the knowledge gained. However, setbacks can lead to opportunity.. For example, I once had my sights set on securing a particular client, and though the deal fell through, the client was so impressed with our meeting and the company’s mission statement that they referred a friend who became one of our top clients. This experience and many others like it, taught me that a “no” can often lead to something even better, and it’s important to keep an open mind and maintain a positive attitude in the face of adversity. While we can’t control the outcome of every situation, we can control our reactions and attitudes toward them, and that can make all the difference.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.worldwideartistsgroup.com
- Instagram: worldwideartisgroup
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/worldwideartistsgroup/
- Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/cpricec
- Other: imdb.me/christinaprice
Image Credits
Photos shoot: Celeste Canino: Photographer Estelle Descard: Hair/Makeup
