William Morris Agency

The William Morris Agency enters the diary as a possible representative for Andy Warhol, offering a familiar promise of access to television, Broadway, and leading film roles. The encounter captures both the agency’s sales pitch and Warhol’s weary recognition of it: he enjoyed the visit, but the promised opportunities sounded like offers he had heard many times before.

A Prospective Representative

The agency’s approach began with repeated calls to Warhol’s office from Steve Pincus, who wanted Warhol to come in and discuss representation. Warhol eventually went with Catherine Guinness, taking a cab to the agency’s offices on the thirty-third floor. The account presents the meeting as an invitation to consider representation, not as a confirmed agreement or an ongoing professional relationship.

The Pitch and Warhol’s Response

At the meeting, Pincus and several other men described prospective work that included American Express television commercials, Broadway shows, and starring roles in movies. Guinness was impressed by the presentation. Warhol, by contrast, thought it tedious: he had heard similar promises for years, including at earlier visits to William Morris, without anything coming of them. Even so, he says he enjoyed going there, a qualification that keeps his reaction from being simple rejection.

Agency Work in Context

The proposed film roles carried a particular resonance because Warhol’s earlier movies had drawn people to his Factory, while the expense of making commercially exhibitable films had later reduced the roles he could offer. By 1976, Interview had become a more reliable source of new faces and professional connection; the promise of appearing in the magazine had, in effect, displaced the promise of appearing in a movie. The William Morris meeting thus shows a familiar route back toward film and television work at a moment when Warhol’s own cultural enterprise had shifted toward the magazine. The diary records the pitch and his mixed response, but does not establish what, if anything, followed from the meeting.