Hollywood Agency Owner Finds There's No Biz Like It

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel by ERIC LAROSE

TAKES FIVE with DENISE FISHER

Hollywood Agency Owner Finds There's No Biz Like It

At the end of 1993, Denise Fisher left Milwaukee with a degree in sociology to start an internship with the cable TV show Talk Soup. After almost a decade in Los Angeles, she now is president of her own talent agency, Candy Entertainment, which she co-founded two years ago, and has begun production on her first film, currently being shot in the Czech Republic. Fisher, 33, talked with Journal Sentinel reporter Eric LaRose about her career in the entertainment business and being a woman in male-dominated Hollywood.

Q. When did you decide to go into the entertainment business?
A. I went home after I graduated from the University of Maryland with a sociology major and I had no idea what I was going to do with the rest of my life. I was back at home watching Talk Soup, and I was watching the credits, something I normally didn't do, and I noticed that it took a lot of people to make a TV show. I kind of decided, right then and there, that I wanted to be one of those people.

Q. When did you decide to start Candy Entertainment?
A. It's about 2 1/2 years old now. I left ICM, International Creative Management, where I worked with mostly celebrities. I wanted to work in management because if you're an agent you can't produce anything, it's against the law. But as a manager, I can produce.

Q. Where did the name come from?
A. When I was working at a talent agency, a lot of my clients were children, so my boss gave me this tin bucket filled with candy and "Denise's Candy" written on it. I filled that bucket with candy, all day every day, and I had extra candy all over the place in case the bucket got emptied. After that, I moved around to different casting agencies, but everybody knew when they got a package from me because it had candy in it. When I decided to start my own company, I was looking for a fun name, and Candy Entertainment worked.

Q. Do you have a production in the works?
A. Yes, it's unbelievable. It's a little horror film called "Twilight of the Werewolves." It's being shot in the Czech Republic, and it has two major stars attached, Daryl Hannah and Jennifer Tilly. So it's going to be very interesting. I'm sort of still in amazement that it's really happening.

Q. The Hollywood system seems to be dominated by men. Do you run into roadblocks because of that?
A. A million times a day. All the time. It is getting better, but it is a boys' town, no question about it. There's almost two sets of people: beautiful actors and strong-minded men who want to take over the town. It's a struggle. It's a lot better, but it's far from being equal. Don't get me wrong, I'm definitely happy that I decided to do this. It's a tough business. But there's no business in the world that has such highs and such lows.

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