Organizational mediation of project-based labor markets: Talent agencies and the careers of screenwriters

We examine how organizations that mediate "life-of-project" employment segm ent the labor market in a culture industry. Using longitudinal data on writ ers for television and feature films, we examine trends in the extent to wh ich type of agency representation affects writers' employment and earnings. Elite or "core" agencies ape those that transcend their role as market bro kers between the suppliers and purchasers of writing services by participat ing actively in the production process. Writers who are represented by such agencies are substantially more likely to find employment, and they earn c onsiderably more than equally accomplished writers with noncore agency regr esentation, We discuss the implications of these findings for contingent em ployment of professionalized employees in other highly institutionalized in dustrial sectors.