This is the BBC.

In this edition of the bottom line, we'll be talking about agents, the folks who negotiate deals on behalf of those working in the entertainment, sport and publishing worlds, and we'll ask what exactly is it that they do.

Hello and welcome to the programme. Most of us manage our own career, including any salary negotiations,

or perhaps we have a trade union to help out in certain respects. But in some industries,

the norm is for agents to be employed to look after the workers, entertainment, publishing,

sport and showbiz, the professions where they use the word talent,

non-ironically, to refer to the clients. Agents in those industries do play a huge role. They have

a reputation as hard nose. They're sometimes unpopular, but that is their job. So today we'll look at

what agents do, what value they add or subtract from the

industries in which they operate. And we'll find out about that from my three guests this week,

all of whom are at the top of their game as agents or former agents. First up is Professor

Jonathan Shalitz, who's chairman of Raw Global. It's an independent talent management company,

the UK's leading one. Just tell us a little about the company, Jonathan.

Raw Global are talent managers. We represent clients in both a managerial and agent capacity,

and our role is essentially to empower our talent and take their careers as far as they would like to go.

We sit down, we listen to the ambitions of our clients, we understand their abilities,

we understand the kind of things they're good and bad at doing, and then we take them on a journey.

And the journey is to take them further than where they are when they meet us.

Right. Okay, so can we name some of your clients?

I've got a list here.

You pick out some names because I think people will be interested in the names.

The names most often get thrown at me, whether it's Dame Joan Collins,

...