MSA Celebrates 25 Years!
Inside Dance went in-depth with McDonald Selznick Associates (MSA) founders, Julie McDonald & Tony Selznick, on the early years of launching a business dedicated to the dance industry, and to the growth and success of their iconic clients!
Share a brief history with our readers on how the two of you first met, and the moment the vision for MSA came to life!
Julie: I’ve known Tony since he was 14 years-old. I had a dance studio in Venice, California, called Room to Move. It was quite the place! Tony’s brother brought him to my studio to take class because Tony wanted to learn so he could dance at all the bar mitzvahs he was being invited to! His brother, Albie, asked Tony to come to the studio, and he started taking classes from his mentor, and actually one of mine as well, this unbelievable man named Russell Clark. One of a kind. He gave so much to so many artists, and especially gave to Tony. He really turned Tony into a dancer.
In 1985, I started working at a talent agency called Joseph Heldfond & Rix (JHR). I opened up a dance department there–the first one ever to represent dancers and choreographers. Over the next 13 years, JHR later became Kazarian Spencer & Associates (KSA). The business was thriving with our clients. Our dance department had grown to multiple agents representing talent in the industry. Tony was also represented by our department!
Around the mid-90’s, I was looking to hire a new assistant. I initially reached out to Tony’s wife at the time. She declined the job offer but said Tony might be interested. He accepted and our choreography department flourished even more!
Early on in our professional relationship, Tony felt that we should have our own company together. We opened our own doors in 2000 and now 25 years later, here we are as McDonald Selznick & Associates (MSA)!
What was your strongest motivation to launch an agency dedicated to the dancer? How was the “temperature” of the industry at that time for commercial dance?
Julie: It was crazy! I had no idea what I was going to do with my life. I had heard about this seminar called “Impact.” It was for people who wanted to be in the entertainment industry, but didn’t quite know the direction to go in. It was a three week seminar, 5-8 a.m. every day. If you were a minute late, you were locked out of that room. I came in thinking I wanted to be a casting director, a manager, or an agent for dancers. The first week was about deciding what you wanted to do, and the second two weeks was making a strategy about how to do it. For me, it was pounding the pavement because I went to 10 different agencies and said, ‘Do you want to start a dance department?’ Everybody said ‘yes’ because music videos were just starting to take off like crazy. Everybody saw that dance was becoming a thing then. One of the women in my seminar, I’ll never forget her, Terry Hanauer, introduced me to Sandy Joseph, at Joseph Heldfond & Rix (JHR).
They said the same thing everybody else did. We’ll give you a desk, a phone, and take 50% of everything you make. No one was offering me a salary. I went to JHR because they were the top commercial talent agency, and I knew that dancers had union representation in commercials and television. I put an ad in the trades that I was holding an audition at Debbie Reynolds Studio – 300 dancers showed up! I pretty much signed them all, and that’s how I started. When they started working and booking right away, no one was more surprised than me, honestly!
Now jumping to 2000 when MSA first opened its doors, tell us about that first year of business. Standout moments? Challenges?
Tony: It was such an interesting story because between JHR and our launch of MSA, Julie and I worked for Kazarian Spencer & Associates (KSA). Once we had made our decision to open our own agency, Julie and I told the owners that we were leaving. Traditionally, most people don’t do that in the agency business! What I remember most is that Pam and Cindy, who owned the agency, were going to take an ad out for Julie, congratulating her for a show that was going on. Julie just didn’t feel right about it. We sat down with them on a Friday afternoon and said, ‘We’re going to be leaving to start our own business representing just choreographers. Hopefully, we can continue to work together?” Then we all cried and hugged. It was a supportive departure from KSA.
That’s so unheard of in this industry—that you actually tell your employers that you’re leaving. But Julie and I did that! We wanted to leave in the right way. That’s why we have such a good relationship with those people to this day. The other thing that was interesting is that the day that we opened, because we had clients, we started making money. It was magical and a dream come true!
After about a year or two, Julie noticed that we weren’t getting commercial calls. We realized, because we weren’t representing a large roster of dancers, we weren’t getting that information from casting directors. What made us open up the dance department is that we realized that only working with choreographers wasn’t enough. We needed to expand.
Is there a core memory from when a choreography client catapulted into the creative director space?
Tony: The first memory that I have of a choreographer really stepping up in the production industry is when Ken Ehrlich called Julie for somebody to create Ricky Martin’s first TV performance on American television. Julie recommended Jamie King, and he went from choreographer to creative director! From that moment on, that’s when choreographers started to go into a different role. They went from associate producers, to producers, to executive producers of American Idol, America’s Got Talent, The Voice, all of those variety shows. MSA was there from day one. I still get as inspired today as I did 25 years ago when I meet somebody that I think that we can build a massive career with.
Julie: We were the first people to create the position of creative directors. We’ve always known the value of choreographers, and we always know that they do way more than just come in and do a few steps. They have to collaborate with ALL aspects of production, lighting, design, costumes – every aspect. They are take-charge people. They’re basically creative writers. They’re visonary people. For me, professional credit is everything. That’s the thing I care about more than anything in the whole world. In fact, oftentimes I would start a negotiation with that specific title and credit for our clients. I think we set a lot of precedence there.
MSA has been a dynamic leader in the dance, choreography and creative arts industry. With the entry of additional dance agencies, how do you feel you’ve remained unique in your own brand?
Tony: It’s really interesting that you said that. Years ago, we hired a consulting firm to step in. We’ve done that a couple of times just to help our company. I remember that question came up, and what we learned was that you can’t really compete with other people. All you can do is focus on what you do. It really helped Julie and I at that time, because we were getting a little bit concerned by all the competition. What we really learned from that time was to focus on what we do BEST. It’s true, we are trendsetters. We’ve set the professional tone that others have seemed to follow. That’s a great feeling! Julie and I have been really good at staying focused on what we do as an agency, and for our clients.
Celebrating your 25-year anniversary: What impact and legacy do you hope that the industry remembers you most by?
Tony: I believe in the power of mentorship, and I believe that mentorship is what creates community. The legacy I want for MSA is for others to look at us as people that created a community with mentorship. The older I get, the more I learn that relationships are really important. Reputation is really important—how you carry yourself—and that goes back to mentorship. I’m so passionate about this because when social media came out, it was a big shock to the industry.
What was happening, from my perspective, is that artists were becoming famous because they had “likes” and were getting contacted directly through their DM’s. They weren’t famous because they went through a gatekeeper and earned their stripes—and they got famous so quickly. They didn’t have the need for teachers and mentors. A lot of the “stars” in social media—because Julie and I went out and signed a lot of them in the beginning— were looking at us like, “What do I need an agent for? I’ve got a million people who like me and book me. Why do I need you?” It was tough for us to combat that, and we lost some people over it.
Development is what we do, and we do it really well. That did not go away. A big part of development is mentorship and being able to handhold someone through the ropes as you maneuver through the industry. Again, that word is SCALE your career UP. The most valuable thing I learned working with Julie is that you create a team around you, and that team is locked and loaded. If you look at all the really successful people— Kenny Ortega, Jamie King, Vincent Paterson, they have a team. They didn’t switch every year and go to a different agent or fire their assistants. They kept their team. That’s the most valuable thing I can think of today for that.
Julie: I take a tremendous amount of pride that we’re an agency that has integrity. No doubt, we’re brutal competitors. Make no mistake about it, I do not like to be beaten, but I don’t like to cross the line into being unethical about things. I want our reputation to be one that has integrity, and just that we worked hard for our clients.
The next 25 years! Are there any exciting things on the horizon you’d like to share?
Tony: Julie and I recently brought on new partners, Greg Uliasz and Bre Traver in New York, and Brandon Sierra here in Los Angeles. I love that we did that because they’re the next generation! They’re looking out for the next 25 years.
They’re our tribe. Both Julie and I feel really good about the fact that the people that we’ve handed over the company to are going to carry this on very strongly. We’ll of course be by their sides, but it’s really great to have a younger generation take the reins, and help us make sure that we are paving the right path for the future.
Julie: Tony and I have always believed that ‘amazing things happen when the right people connect.’ We’re proud to have connected our clients to the most prestigious projects in the industry, and we’re also proud to have connected with our new partners who will be leading MSA for years to come!
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