Master Class: How to Find Representation for Writers and Directors with Rebecca Sun (The Hollywood Reporter), Melissa Breaux, Adam Marshall, Christina Chou, and Elsa Ramo
About this Master Class
Master Classes are in-depth, interactive learning experiences focused on craft and career building and led by renowned industry experts. Topics include fiction and documentary filmmaking, TV writing and production, and navigating and succeeding in the entertainment industry.
To maintain a fulfilling career in the entertainment industry as a writer or director, you need to surround yourself with a team that supports your work and helps you get exposed to the most opportunities. If you’re trying to break in, how do you choose when to bring on a talent agent and a manager? What are the key elements to finding the collaborators that will represent you as your career progresses? Who can you trust and turn to when there are many important decisions to be made? This three-hour Master Class provides a unique opportunity to learn when to seek representation, what are the key roles to fill, how to find them and other essential information you need to know before building your team. The Hollywood Reporter’s Rebecca Sun shares her insights from the field and moderates in-depth conversations with managers Melissa Breaux and Adam Marshall from Management 360, literary agent Christina Chou from CAA and entertainment attorney Elsa Ramo.
Resources:
Topics Covered Include:
00:00 - Welcome and Introduction from Sundance Collab
04:58 - Introduction to Hollywood Representatives with Rebecca Sun and Elsa Ramo
08:50 - The Different Types of Representation
26:26 - An Overview of Agents, Lawyers and Managers
43:15 - Q&A with Elsa Ramo
1:03 - The Benefits of Having a Manager with Melissa Breaux and Adam Marshall
1:17 - How Managers Find New Clients
1:36 - How and When Managers Act as Producers
1:50 - Q&A with Melissa Breaux and Adam Marshall
2:06 - How To Connect with an Agent with Christina Chou
2:19 - The Right Time to Find an Agent
2:42 - Q&A with Christina Chou
2:53 - Final Thoughts
2:56 - Closing Announcements
Past classes have included Academy Award-winning director Roger Ross Williams on Documentary Storytelling, Finding Dory’s Victoria Strouse on Comedy Writing, Emmy-nominated director Lesli Linka Glatter on Blocking a Scene, The Walking Dead’s Glen Mazzara on TV Writing and more.
Master ClassTeam
Rebecca Sun
Moderator
Rebecca Sun is senior editor of diversity and inclusion at The Hollywood Reporter, where she oversees equity and representation for the publication. She previously covered the agency business for THR. In 2019, the nonprofit collective Gold House named her to the A100 list of the most impactful Asians and AAPIs in culture, and she won a National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Award for her feature about a Black woman TV writers’ collective. Her bylines have also appeared in Vanity Fair, Esquire China, Red Bulletin and New York, and her work has been nominated for GLAAD Media and Southern California Journalism Awards. Sun serendipitously developed a second career as a sports journalist, having served as an editor for Sportico and as a writer and editor at Sports Illustrated. A native of the Bay Area, she earned a master’s degree in journalism from NYU and a bachelor’s degree in biology and English from Duke University.
Melissa Breaux
Panelist
Breaux’s clients include many Sundance alum filmmakers, including Nicole Kassell (CLAWS and WATCHMAN pilots, THE LEFTOVERS), Sean Durkin (MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE, THE NEST), Antonio Campos (SIMON KILLER, THE DEVIL ALL THE TIME), Josh Mond (JAMES WHITE), Nicolas Pesce (EYES OF MY MOTHER, PIERCING), Eliza Hittman (BEACH RATS, NEVER RARELY SOMETIME ALWAYS) and Nia DaCosta (LITTLE WOODS, CANDYMAN).
Breaux, a graduate of Howard University and Howard University Law School, began her career in the William Morris mailroom, then worked as a development exec at various companies before moving into management.
Adam Marshall
Panelist
A graduate of Syracuse University, Adam Marshall started his career at Brillstein Entertainment and Bruckheimer Films. Transitioning to management full-time, he worked for boutique management firm Energy Entertainment for 6 years. After a short stint with Caliber Media, he joined Management 360 as a literary manager in 2014.
With extensive experience on the literary side of the business, Marshall has aided and shaped the careers for many hot and up-and-coming writers/directors. He currently manages clients including: TS Nowlin (Maze Runner series, 6 Underground, Bright 2), Adil El Arbi & Bilall Fallah (Bad Boys for Life, Ms. Marvel), Jurnee Smollett (Birds of Prey, Lovecraft Country, Escape from Spiderhead), Maggie Cohn (Narcos, The Staircase), Noga Landau (Nancy Drew, Tom Swift), Sherman Payne (Charm City Kings), Paul Wesley (Vampire Diaries), Aaron Berg (Section 6, GI-JOE), Nneka Gerstle (Treadstone, High School Musical, Just Beyond), Susan Johnson (To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before), Jeremie Guez (Brothers by Blood), Jessie Barr (Sophie Jones), Cullman Hedges (The Taster) to name a few.
Elsa Ramo
Panelist
At the dealmaking intersection of where content makers meet buyers, financiers, and distributors, Elsa Ramo is at the forefront of first-time deals with emerging and established streamers and studios, guiding her clients into innovative terms that optimize their reach and prevalence in today’s flattened marketplace. Elsa provides comprehensive legal services to producers, financiers, creators, and owners of film, television, and digital content and projects across a range of budgets and production levels. She established her law firm to enable up-and-coming filmmakers and producers to bring their stories to life.
Ramo works with established content-creating powerhouses such as Imagine Entertainment, Skydance, Lion Forge Studios, Boardwalk Pictures, Scout Productions, Riff Raff Entertainment, The Comedy Store, The Jim Henson Company, Wonder Project and French Tuck. She also represents independent prolific producers and directors like Lee Broda, Zachary Drucker, Anne Clements, Liza Mandelup, and founder of the Los Angeles Festival of Movies, Sarah Winshall.
In addition to directly overseeing high-level clients, Elsa Ramo founded and manages her boutique firm, which has grown from a solo practice on the Universal Backlot in 2005 to a team of over 22 attorneys with offices in New York and Los Angeles. Ramo is notable for its majority female partners and diverse group of attorneys. Elsa is a Forbes.com contributor, speaking to current issues and topics in the entertainment industry. She and the firm were recently featured in a Variety article, "The Rise of Ramo from Two-Person Law Firm to Industry Player," celebrating Ramo Law’s 20th anniversary. She was recently recognized among Variety’s 2025 Legal Impact Report and 2022 Dealmakers Impact Report, Daily Journal’s Top 100 Women Lawyers, and Los Angeles Business Journal’s 2022 Women of Influence; she was nominated for the LA Times B2B Inspirational Women Awards; and her Firm was featured among Los Angeles Business Journal’s Most Admired Law Firms. In 2024 she was awarded LAW.com’s Women, Influence & Power in Law Managing Partner of the Year Award. Elsa lives in Brentwood with her husband and two children.