Alec Shankman: Start a New Line

Alec Shankman is the founder and CEO of HeartRock Partners, a talent and brand representation firm that helps high-profile talent with entrepreneurial spirits expand their platforms into commercial enterprises, and helps consumer brands scale through creators, celebrities, and media. Before HeartRock, he was a Senior Partner at The Gersh Agency.  Earlier in his career, he launched and built the Alternative Programming and Digital Media Division at Abrams Artists Agency, growing it into a bicoastal team of nearly 60 people. Variety named him one of Hollywood's New Leaders. Alec grew up in Solon, Ohio, the oldest of four boys, and got his first look at entertainment by tagging along with a childhood friend whose dad was a Cleveland TV personality. Before he ever left Ohio, he ran a cologne company in college and an invite-only nightclub in Columbus. Then he moved to Los Angeles with almost no money, mailed his resume in shipping tubes full of bouncy balls, and started in the mailroom. Within ten months he was a contracted agent with his own department, built on reality TV at a time when most of the industry thought it was a fad. Brett and Alec talk about the Midwestern work ethic that carried him through Hollywood, why he'd rather start a new line than wait in someone else's, riding every wave from reality TV to digital to shows like Gold Rush and Duck Dynasty, and why he came home to build HeartRock in Cleveland. Follow Alec Instagram: @alec_shankman Web: www.heartrockpartners.com