👋 Welcome to The Mail Cart. This is Warner, founder of AvA. Connect with me here.
👍 A secret meme page I started as a WME assistant somehow made its way to Ari Emanuel’s desk, and then in an email to the entire company. I thought my career was over before it started. Five years later, it’s coming full circle: One of you is getting a one-on-one meeting with Ari.
💼 Looking for open Entertainment jobs? Scroll to the bottom of this newsletter. Our Job Board now has 220+ early career Entertainment roles as well.
Plus we are hiring for 3 roles.
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Buckle up. It’s story time.
Many of you may know this, but I started AvA as a meme page when I was an assistant at WME. A few months in, the founder of Endeavor and big boss of WME at that time was a guy by the name of Ari Emanuel. If you don't know him, I'm assuming you know Ari Gold from Entourage, so you get the point. A mix of frightening and wildly respected.
Fast forward a few years from me launching AvA, I woke up to a hundred missed calls and texts essentially saying, "Did you see what Ari sent to the entire company?" Having moved on to Live Nation, I, of course, had not seen whatever was sent, but was fully expecting armed guards to raid my house and figured, if I survived, I would be blacklisted from the industry.
One of the memes I posted had found its way to Ari’s desk. Gulp. He circulated the image to the entire company. Bigger gulp.
Email title: “Which assistant did this”
Nothing else.
Luckily enough for my health, my career, and my life, he had found some humor in one of the memes I posted, reminding him of a prank he had pulled back in 2013.
Crisis averted.
So that was my only interaction with him until a few weeks ago, when this happened:
So here is the point of this story: It’s pretty hilarious and still doesn’t feel real that starting a secret meme page turned into my full time job. But it’s allowed me to hire incredible young people who are equally as passionate about building community and resources for an industry I love and believe in.
And now any chance I get, I try and give back to you all.
So we are launching something fun with Ari himself:
-One lucky winner will receive a one-on-one meeting with Ari Emanuel.
-Then on October 21st, Ari will be coming on AvA LIVE to answer your questions live
And with that….the prophecy is complete 👍
⭐ The labels are licensing AI with one hand and suing it with the other
Universal Music Group is partnering with ElevenLabs, while Warner Music and BMG are working with Suno, to let fans create AI remixes using music from artists who opt in.
The plan: If AI music isn’t going away, make sure artists get paid, and the labels keep control.
My take: This feels a lot like the rise of streaming: everyone pushes back until one domino falls and the rest cave. But AI poses a much bigger threat to the actual art artists create. The labels may have found a way to profit from it (shocking), but I’m not convinced artists will like where it ends.
⭐ Ella Langley earned 9 nominations for the upcoming Country Music Awards one shy of the all time record set by Alan Jackson in 2002.
⭐ IMDb, owned by Amazon, is debuting ‘Digital Creator Profiles’ as a new professional category
More proof the creator economy and Hollywood are converging into one.
⭐ U2 was named MusiCares Persons of the Year for 2027
“Their impact goes far beyond the stage. Not only has their music defined generations, but they’ve been equally exemplary in their dedication to humanitarian work and using their platform for good.
⭐ Creators in Action returns September 14 at the Lighthouse, benefiting Saban Community Clinic and honoring Colin and Samir.
🚨First things first: AvA is hiring!
If you’re reading this newsletter, chances are you could be a perfect fit to work with us.
More info can be found below:
💼 Short-Form Video Editor - Assistants vs. Agents - Apply Here
💼 Sales & Brand Partnerships - Assistants vs. Agents - Apply Here
🎒 AvA LIVE Intern - Assistants vs. Agents - Apply Here
Our new job board features 220+ early career roles in Entertainment, including:
💼 Creator Manager - Smooth Media - Apply Here
💼 Tour Marketing - Live Nation - Apply Here
💼 Broadcasting Assistant - NBA - Apply Here
💼 Social Media - BMI - Apply Here
💼 Production Assistant - Paramount - Apply Here
💼 Marketing - Prime Video - Apply Here
💼 Marketing & Digital - Warner Music - Apply Here
💼 Associate Producer - Disney - Apply Here
💼 Creative & Production - Warner Music - Apply Here
💼 Creator Studios Assistant - Fox Entertainment - Apply Here
💼 Talent Acquisition - BMI - Apply Here
💼 Executive Assistant - Live Nation - Apply Here
💼 Admin Assistant - NBCUniversal - Apply Here
Getting fired should not be treated like a career-ending failure. One bad fit, bad boss or bad moment should never define an entire career.
Just ask:
Mark Cuban - Fired from a computer-store sales job at 24 for meeting with a potential client instead of opening the store.
David Geffen - Before William Morris, he was fired from an entry-level job at CBS (on the day JFK was assassinated). He eventually built Geffen Records and co-founded DreamWorks
Jeffrey Katzenberg - Fired from Disney in 1994, then co-founded DreamWorks with Steven Spielberg and David Geffen
Anna Wintour - Fired from Harper’s Bazaar for being “too European” and not following editorial direction. She later said everyone should be fired once.
Kevin O’Leary - Fired from his first job at an ice cream parlor after refusing to scrape gum off the floor.
Barbara Corcoran - Says she held roughly 20 jobs, getting fired from several, before entering real estate and building The Corcoran Group.
Oprah Winfrey - Removed from the evening-news desk in Baltimore because producers believed she was too emotionally invested in stories
Lisa Kudrow - Fired from the role of Roz during rehearsals for the Frasier pilot. Soon afterward, she landed Phoebe on Friends
Laura Brown (Former Editor-in-chief of InStyle) & @Kristina O'Neill (Former Editor-in-chief of WSJ) - both laid off before they became partners in crime
Nicholas Thompson (CEO of The Atlantic) - fired from 60 minutes less than an hour into his first day
Lady Gaga - lost a waitress job early on because her eccentric personality didn't fit "typical workplace expectations"
Snoop Dogg - was let go from a grocery store job
Madonna - Fired from a donut shop after chaotic behavior, including squirting jelly everywhere during shifts
Some amazing stories from AvA LIVE this week:
👋 See you back here on Monday
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The Mail Cart is written by Warner Bailey and edited by Riley Furey and Dominik Sansevere.
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