Reputation is an important feature in the interactional contexts of work in “culture industries” such as film and television
production. But few accounts have examined how reputations are produced in the everyday worlds in which cultural producers
live and work. This paper introduces the concept of “reputation work” to describe the front stage and back stage interactional
processes through which cultural producers continuously strive to produce their reputations. Drawing on participant observation
data gathered at a Hollywood talent management company and a business school course on the talent industry, this paper shows
how Hollywood agents and managers perform four types of reputation work. These include how Hollywood talent representatives
work to adhere to institutionalized conventions for reputable physical settings, group contexts, giftgiving practices, and
selfhoods. Such reputation work performances are done for the sake of “impression management,” but show how this strategic
interaction is governed by industry-wide institutions that govern legitimacy.
Keywords Cultural production - Hollywood - Talent agents - Reputation work - Institutionalism