One of the most humble but powerful and influential Talent Managers in the business is not someone who is a house-hold name and may not be know to those not industry adjacent, but their name is whispered by many of Hollywood elite in their inner circles. You may ask who is this Talent Manager, that Hollywood’s elite like Richard Plepler former CEO of HBO who green-lit: Game of Thrones, The Wire and the Saparanos, Elijah Chandler former Panavision Exec. who worked on the Movie Tenant and Craig Kallman CEO of Atlantic Records whose clients include: Pharrell, Janelle Monae, Wiz Khalifa and Cardi B, consider their go to Talent Manager…. its the founder and Managing Talent Manager of CK Talent Management. So now that we know where this Talent Manager is that the industry elite and leaders seek out… we went to find out more!
Craig Rogalski is the founder of CK Talent Management; he is well liked by talent and respected by fellow professionals in the industry. Many of his clients affectionately call him a father figure. He is a tough advocate and an over protective father figure to them, earning him this name from many of his talent. Little more is known about him publicly as he prefers to keep his private life private and give his talent the spotlight instead of himself. Recently we covered Miami Swim Week and happen to see him there in the corner on his phone sitting on the floor, while others ran around networking and boasting about their connections as most do at these industry events.
This humble talent manger who works quietly on behalf of his talent found himself this year being ranked as one of the 25 Hottest Talent Managers to be represented by Internationally and in the Top 5 of the most powerful talent managers in the business. It is tough to be represented/signed by him and his team, because they are picky as to the talent they represent. This is why one must be referred to him by one of his staff or current talent to be considered for representation by him and his team. This year several independent rating agencies rated his company domestically as number two in market share for talent representation just under William Morris Endeavor (WME). Beating out three other agencies that have held those coveted spots for decades. Barron’s owned by the Wall Street Journal rated his agency at one of the most powerful and influential agency’s in Europe.
He gained interest in the industry earlier this year after signing Princess Diana’s Aunt and Prince Harry and Prince Williams Great Aunt, Lady Rudderforth. He recently signed Music Producer Mike13 who works with the music industries top recording artists including: Drake, Wyclef Jean, Run-DMC and LL COOL J. He also signed Daniel Maguire one of the most well-known contestants from the US Bachelor franchise (CBS). Its important to note that he does not search out talent by attending showcases, etc., all of his clients sought him out to be their manager. His clients range from the founder of the largest television network in Russia (RT) to well-known Influencers, actors and recording artists.
This past year with COVID-19 going on Mr. Rogalski did not slow down in expanding his agency. The Agency currently operates world-wide, including Australia, UK, Europe, Russia, Africa and India. While others were shrinking their agencies by reducing their rosters and furloughing staff, he expanded the agency yet again this year into the screen-writer realm signing some the industries most promising and emerging screen-writers. The agency recently signed Riley Dismore, an award winning screen-writer whose film recently was an official selection to the Cannes Film Festival and another one was named by Amazon as one of the best films of the year. Rogalski then expanded the agency’s holdings into India working with Reliance and Sony India. He then gained a stronger foot hold in the Russian by signing even more talent there, including signing more of RTs foreign correspondents and other well-known Actors there. Currently, CK Talent is the only foreign owned talent management agency that operates fully in Russia. He then gained a stronger foot-hold in India by signing various well-known actors, producers and screen writers there. He also over saw the expansion of his sports division signing the 166th skateboarder in the world whose endorsements include Adidas Skateboard, Thrasher and ranked in the top 5 at the X-Games as well as signing the MVP of the Romanian Basketball League (FIBA) and also signing the NBA’s number one free agent. He also signed several Division one athletes under the new NIL rules for the NCAA, and recently signing a WNBA player. The CK Sports division already boasts several Olympians, a top ultra-runner and other professional athletes.
While overseeing the agency expansion, he still had time to work with his client Daniel Maguire overseeing the reality stars transition into a professional acting career by signing him to several multi-project deals, making the former Bachelor contestant the first in nineteen seasons of the franchise to sign professional acting contracts out of all the shows contestants. Rogalski also recently finalized a deal for Maguire to Executive Produce with a Hollywood studio. In regards to a newly inked deal for his client Teon Kelley, he said that “He felt it was important” to personally negotiated a deal for the actor to star in Hollywood’s first African America serial killer movie in the industries history. The film first of its kind had an all African American cast and production crew. Kelley starred as “Q” in the movie, which was directed by Bill Posley from Survivor (CBS) and has a supporting cast of actors from the Black Panther movie. We hear from insiders that several of his talent with a year left on their current exclusive multi-year contracts re-upped their contracts by signing another multi-year exclusive representation agreement with him. In order to secure their future spots on his roster when their current contract with him ends sometime late next year. This is something that is very rarely heard of if ever in the industry.
We have also learned that he has developed a business relationship with Richard Plepler (former CEO of HBO) and his team. when they reached out to him to work with Pleplers new production company. We hear that Plepler and his team reached out directly to Rogalski to do business with his agency after his large content deal with Apple TV was finalized. Sources tell us that after Rogalski’s team recently pitched a project to Plepler’s team they told him “They had not seen a pitch like that since they were pitched Game of Thrones while they were at HBO.”
In speaking to his both current and former employees they have nothing but respect and praise for him, many look at him as their “Professional Father Figure”. One employee interviewed told us “He’s the type of guy that does not look at him self as a boss, but rolls up his sleeves and gets in there with his team working side by side with them as a fellow colleague equal to them.” We found this was a recurring comment from both former and current employees that we reached out to. They all also added that he refuses to use the word and dislikes being called “Boss”, another word he also very much dislikes is being called “Sir” by agency employees and the talent he represents. Former CK Talent employee alumni include many executives at major shows and Hollywood studios. Some of the agency’s alumni include executives at The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Disney, Sony and Lionsgate to name a few, all of which stay in touch with him and still seek his advice.
Rogalski currently sits on several advisory panels including a UK industry advisory panel, that includes a member of the UK Parliament’s committee on the Arts. He is also an adviser at Guidepoint the largest consulting firm in the world, where he advises the Entertainment and Sports industry’s key stakeholders. Recently, he asked by the firm to do a call as part of the firms “Insights Program”, which is available to the firms clients. Many of the firms clients jammed the zoom call to find out his insights on the industry. There were so many that they had to create a recording for those that could not attend due to capacity limits. Attendees on the “Insights” call included several industry stakeholders and financial institutions including some from Wall Street, Hollywood Studios, Fortune 500 Companies and other participants from several other countries around the world. They all wanted to hear his thoughts on the future of the industry post pandemic, so they can advise their institutional investors and their boards. He is a member of the Overseas Security Alliance Council at the US State Department (OSAC), whose members include top executives at Sony, Universal Studio’s, Facebook, Twitter, Warner Bros., Disney as well as several other Hollywood Studios and both Commissioners of the National Basketball Association (NBA) (US) and the National Football League (NFL) (US). He sits on many advisory committees in the industry and is a member of the Television Academy of America of Arts and Sciences which puts on the yearly Emmy Awards, the British Film Institute (BFI) and Spirit Awards. He is also a member of the Renaissance Institute a.k.a. Renaissance Weekend, whose members include former US Presidents, Foreign Prime Ministers, US Supreme Court Justices and many Nobel Prize winners. Most do not know about his other work, including his work with the International Criminal Court (ICC), where he was instrumental in the appointment of the ICC’s first head female prosecutor Fatou Bensouda in the courts history. During his time at the Intelligence and National Security Alliance (INSA) he developed a close relationship with Sue Gordon, former Acting Director of National Intelligence and Director of the Central Intelligence Agency’s (CIA) Cyber Security division in the United States and Jon Brennan, former Director of the CIA in the United States.
Due to Rogalski’s hard work he and the agency have risen to be one of the top and most respected international Talent Managers and Management Agencies in the world. Based on his track record it is no surprise to us why the industries elite seek him out to work with. In an industry with huge egos it is a rare find to someone that is humble, prefers not to seek the lime-light and is just content enough to sit in the corner on the floor.
