Johnson McKay Talent, opened last year by attorney Peggy Johnson and actor Antoine McKay, has become the Chicago area’s 17th SAG AFTRA franchised talent agency, to help serve the needs of the Chicago area’s 4,400 union actors.
“So far, we’ve been getting a lot of calls for corporate, commercials and short films,” Johnson says, hopeful that her union franchise will help move her talent into roles in features and episodic television.
Located in an office at Central and Devon, Johnson McKay Talent currently represents 55 non-exclusive men and women and six children, two of whom are hers. Zeke and Grace Johnson, 10 and eight, started performing in Lyric Opera’s 2012 production of “Showboat.”
Johnson got into the agency business to represent her children, but when she realized she had an eye for talent and could run a business, “I jumped in with both feet,” she says. “It wasn’t a big leap transitioning from my specialty of constitutional law, which involves contracts, to drafting and reviewing contracts for actors.”
Johnson’s introduction to the talent business came when she met actor Antoine McKay, who has racked up a number of serious dramatic television roles and recently appeared in the pilot for Fox’ new “Empire” series. According to union rules, however, an actor cannot serve as a talent agent and he stepped out of the company, although Johnson has kept his name on the door.
The agency may have been started by “happenstance,” as she says, but she puts in long hours to grow her venture. She attends theatre, sits in on acting classes and gets the word out about the agency. “Now we have actors knocking on our doors.”
Johnson says many people were helpful in getting her started on the right foot, especially casting director David O’Connor. An audition hosted by SAG AFTRA resulted in 70 submissions, 30 of whom she interviewed and 15 were added to the agency roster.
After more than a year business, Johnson is optimistic about the agency’s future in Chicago’s active visual media industry. “We have a number of excellent actors in development and a couple of actors are on fire now,” she says.
