This week I'm pleased to welcome to Best Girl Grip talent agent Emma Obank.  Emma joined Casarotto Ramsay & Associates, an industry-leading literary agency representing many of the world’s best-known creatives, in 2014 as an Agent’s Assistant.  At the age of 26, Emma started building her own list of screenwriters, directors and literary properties; today she represents some of the UK’s most exciting and promising new voices.  Alongside her agenting work, Emma launched Casarotto’s unrepresented writer and director surgeries, which act as a platform for unrepresented talent to gain direct access to agents and creatives and freely ask questions about the industry; guests at the surgeries have included Bisha K. Ali, Jack Thorne, Jessica Hobbs and Kayleigh Llewellyn.  Emma is a frequent guest speaker at the NFTS and has been on the panel for writing competitions such as BAFTA Rocliffe and Funny Women. Emma was a mentee on the 2023 Women in Film & TV mentorship scheme. We talk about how she became aware of, and interested in, talent agenting, how she worked her way up the agenting ladder, how she acts as a buffer for rejection and maintains client relationships, how she decides to take on new clients and her recommendations for approaching agents.   SHOW NOTES Follow Emma on Twitter, where she gives lots of great advice and shares useful resources for writers and creatives looking to break into the industry.  A great thread that Emma put together of film industry accounts to follow on Twitter for updates and opportunities. And the thread I reference about ‘how to cold approach an agent’. Check out the BBC Writersroom Opportunities page.  Find out where to watch Emma’s film recommendation ‘Millie Lies Low’, directed by Michelle Savill. For more conversations with talent agents, listen to my episodes of Best Girl Grip with Roxana Adle and Kat Buckle.