Former Super-Agent Mark Itkin Is Mounting His Second Act. It’s Not What You Think.

A little over a decade ago, Mark Itkin sat in his plush WME offices and suggested he was no longer having fun. “And I don’t feel I can innovate the way I used to be able to in this job,” he said at the time .

So after what was then a 34-year career — first at William Morris and later as a partner at WME — Itkin announced his retirement . The man who’d been an architect of both the modern syndication business and the unscripted TV model, bringing some of the industry’s most significant hits to air, including The Real World and Deal or No Deal , was done. At 62, he’d take some time off, and then he’d decide how to innovate again. Related Stories TV 'Dancing With the Stars' Season 35 Premiere Kicks Off With the Men as the First Celebrity Is Eliminated: See the Scores, Who Went Home 'Dancing' Diaries Britt Stewart Wants to Surprise You on 'Dancing With the Stars' Season 35

In those first few years, Itkin did what many in his position would do. He consulted, both for the conglomerates and for a handful of production companies looking for their exit. He joined a few boards, he traveled, he kept up his DJing habit and his classic car and modern art collections. He even tried to sell a memoir. “How I Made Reality Television Sexy” was his proposed title, but he says the market was still reeling from former agent Mike Ovitz’s book “not being a success”; plus, he was told that he didn’t have enough celebrity content to get it sold. (“Will I try it again? Perhaps.”) He stayed active in the unscripted space, too, getting a handful of unscripted shows off the ground, including College Bowl with Peyton Manning for NBC and America’s Test Kitchen: The Next Generation for Prime Video.

Over time, Itkin stepped further and further outside of his comfort zone, lining up projects across theater (he’s bringing the story of legendary songwriting and producing duo Gamble and Huff to stage), film (a Ronnie Spector biopic starring Zendaya and written by Barry Jenkins for A24) and scripted TV (a straight-to-series order for a Highway to Heaven reboot for Fox). A year or so ago, he added acting classes to his mix, too. Sure, Itkin had dabbled with plays when he was still in high school, but says he found himself dissuaded from pursuing it professionally … until now.

“I figured why not? I had the time,” he says over Zoom in early September. “I told my teachers upfront, like, ‘I don’t have to be doing this, so if you don’t see any talent here, people be honest with me.’ And they’ve been very encouraging.” He’s now looking for an agent to represent him and intends to start going out for commercial auditions shortly. (The photo at the top of this article is one of his new headshots.)

Whether or not his acting career takes off, Itkin is exceedingly glad he extracted himself from the agenting business when he did.