Bernard Bunye, Forte Artist Management
From Kat: Bernard swooped into our world at a really pivotal time and in a really pivotal way. He gave a master class for Peter’s grad class while he was seeing a client in a show. 6 months later, we ran into him at a showcase while I was doing my first internship. He, remarkably, remembered who Peter was, chatted with us freely, and became a guiding force for both of us as we found our way through the city.
In that paragraph alone, there’s so many reasons why Bernard became #goals. The ability to remember actors after brief interactions. The willingness to be human. The graciousness of his guiding hand. The desire to help. Anytime I’m faced with a career move I either ask Bernard or ask myself, “How would Bernard handle this?”
It’s been a long time coming to feature Bernard, but I’m glad we waited to this point. He has invaluable insight on becoming a manager, owning your own business, navigating the changes our industry needs, and advocating for the people you love working with. His wisdom pours out of this feature when we all might need a pickup: Do the thing you love in the way you love to do it. Do it for the causes or reasons you love to believe in. And, most importantly, do it with the people you love to work with. I’m thankful Bernard stumbled into my life and I’m beyond thankful to share his wisdom with you.
Bernard, you are from Cleveland, OH (In our opinion, our nation’s best city) and attended Ohio State University. Originally, your eyes were set on being a filmmaker. Can you talk us through finding your footing and figuring out what you wanted to focus on in your career? How has your film background aided what you do now?
I always loved films growing up. And I made a few digital films in college. In 2004, I moved to New York to become a filmmaker. While I was trying to figure out how to break into the business, I bumped into a filmmaker I admired (Tom Gilroy) and worked for about 6 months as his unpaid intern. One morning he called me, emailed me and texted me. Which was super unusual for Tom. I called him back and he told me about how his manager lost her assistant and thought I should apply for the job. I had never worked in an office let alone knew what a manager was. But I went because Tom had told his manager that she should meet me. I met her and she stopped the interview about 5 minutes in while I was in the middle of a story. I thought, “Well of course she stopped me. I’m unqualified for this job in every way.” But she said, “I work on instinct and I think you’re the guy. If you say yes, I’ll give you the keys to my office and you start tomorrow.” And I said yes. Because anyone who says something that brave you just jump on board. If I end up quitting the next day, at least it was worth it for the story. I ended up falling in love with management and realizing that I was meant to do that instead of making films. What I loved about being involved with filmmaking was being around actors. And management let me interact with them on a daily basis. I think every rep goes through a process of refining what kind of talent they are attracted to in their first job. And that was so true for me. At that company we repped a lot of great young actors that did really incredible work but hadn’t had that big thing hit yet. And to see so many of them go onto great things makes me really happy for them. That job really instilled in me the importance of trusting your gut in terms of what I thought was good acting. As far as my film background, I really loved reading scripts and imagining actors we were working with in the roles.
You’ve had a storied career working for other businesses and being out on your own, most recently establishing Forte Artist Management with Aaron J. Sandler in 2019. Did you know you wanted to eventually own your own business?
Before Forte, I had previously been an owner at two management companies: Intrepid Talent Management (which I co-owned) and Brownstone Entertainment Management (sole owner). Co-owning Forte with Aaron was a natural fit. He had worked under me at Brownstone and we worked beside each other at Sirensong Entertainment (under owner Donna DeStefano). I had met Aaron when he was working at Hartig Hilepo Agency and we became friends. Aaron is a rockstar. Super smart. Really loves being a manager. And we get along well. So creating Forte together was a natural fit.
What 2 steps did you take in your first year that helped you to success?
Well I think I’ll speak to the 1st year of being a manager at my own company. I think figuring out what you care about is essential. I’ve been doing this long enough to know that many client relationships do not last the long run. Deciding what kind of clients you want to have really helps define the way the industry sees you and how you will see yourself on a day to day basis. Early in my career I would see someone in a show and if I loved their work I’d just go up to them and see if they had a manager and if not, see if they had any interest in meeting. I don’t do that anymore. Instead I do some research. I talk to people I know that have worked with them, maybe a casting director that cast them in something or even a teacher they might have had. To me getting a sense of their personality is important. Talent is everywhere but I’m no longer at a place in my life where I can only approach those who I think are talented. I have a wife and two kids. And I want to maintain a work life balance. For everyone’s sake.
This is obviously such a strange time we are in. On a personal or professional level, what’s been the most challenging part of this pandemic?
This is such a great question. I think for everyone, feeling useful is necessary to mental health. So the biggest adjustment for me in regards to work is how hard it is to have so little to do. I’ve been touching base with all my clients and making sure they have everything ready for when things to get going again. Whenever that is.
On a personal level, it’s been hard on my family. My wife’s work actually increased as a result of the pandemic. And with my kids, they both had their schools go to remote learning so I had to really take on the load of homeschooling.
What do you think has an opportunity to change as a result of this time to reset?
I think given the current political climate and the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement, I am super excited about what art is generated as a result of the pandemic.
I think as things ramp up, we will see the rise of self-tape auditions. I love self-tape auditions…I know some actors don’t like them but they are the most efficient way for everyone in the process to see the most people.
We’ve used the metaphor of a mountain to be analogous to our career accomplishments, dreams, and changes. We feel a lot of our reader’s “climb” is on pause. Has your mountain ever changed? Is it changing now? What’s keeping you moving?
I think for me the way I judge success has changed over my career.
Where I’ve landed is this: I want to work with actors I love advocating for and enjoy working with. Helping actors achieve success through smart decisions is what matters to me. Everything else is gravy.
RAPID FIRE:
Favorite Broadway show: August: Osage County (saw it 7 times with the original cast…flew to Chicago to see it at Steppenwolf)
Favorite Quarantine snack: Cool Ranch Doritos
TV show you binge: Two shows I would recommend to binge would be Unbelievable and Escape at Dannemora. Those were my favorite two limited series of 2019 and 2018.
Podcasts you love: The Lowe Post, Dunc’d On, How Did This Get Made?, No Dunks, The Rewatchables
Religious, Spiritual, or nah?: I’m Roman Catholic. I struggle with it because of my liberal political beliefs, but that’s where I land. Fun fact: There was a short time my senior year of high school that I considered becoming a priest.
Biggest tip for finding representation?: Unrepped actors should do their research on actors they admire. Someone whose career they can model theirs after. And then see who reps them. I’d start there and see what they discover.
2-5 words that describe what inspires you: An honest acting moment.
Most important quality of a good Manager: Ability to listen. (I also think that this is the most important quality of a good client.)
Favorite part about being a Manager: My clients. I really enjoy working with my clients.
Best part about being from Cleveland?: It’s home. I live in Cold Spring NY and love it but part of me will always feel like Cleveland is home.
Biggest beef with the business: Lack of diversity. Whenever I see a show cast someone who is a good Caucasian actor I always wonder, “Did the team really consider a person of color?” And more often than not the answer is no. I think that fundamentally needs to change.
Social media handles?:
Personal IG and Twitter @bernardfbunye
Professional IG and Twitter @forteartistmgmt
Anything you’d like to promote?:
My best friend Nick Peterka and I started a podcast called You Gotta Check This Out https://anchor.fm/you-gotta. It’s a project he and I came up with. Each podcast is only about 20 minutes long at the most.
My client Molly Camp created this incredible web series called Make America Bake Again. It’s not available yet but I want everyone to look out for it because it’s exceptionally made.
Everyone should watch Mindhunter on Netflix. My client Joe Tuttle is on it and just does such a gorgeous job with his character’s arc.
Photos:
Bernard Bunye
Bernard and family
Running the Philly Half Marathon 2018
Bernard with clients: Nadia Gan and Molly Camp
Bernard with client, Gabby Beans at Anatomy of a Suicide Opening
Bernard with client, Marina Shay getting in a pre-show boxing workout in Florida
Bernard with his daughter at a CAVS game