DNC Revamp: Terry McAuliffe Sets Goals to Attract APAs. (in National News) SF General Calls for More Funding (in Bay Area News) Does China Deserve the Olympics? (in Business) API Filmmakers Make Strong Showing in Queer Film Fest (in A&E) Emil Amok: Asian Americans Show Up (in Opinion)

In Our Careers 2001 Section: • Answers from the Inside: Q&A with a human resources professional. • Snapshots of the Working World: Profiles of 11 different people and 11 different jobs. • The World's Richest Asians: Billionaires, billionaires, and more billionaires. • Washington Journal: My Life, My Work, My Job • Charts: Top ten lists of the jobs that grew the most, and blew the most. Profiles of real working people: Private Investigator • Teacher • Religious Director • Labor Organizer • Nurse • Robotics Engineer • Forensic Neuro-psychologist • Subagent • Kickboxer • Bioinformatics Specialist • Sex Educator

Paul Butt: Subagent

Salary: $30,000-40,000

Busy negotiating schedules and booking deals, Paul Butt’s day is full of juggling. A citizen of both the United States and Thailand, Butt is an actor-turned-agent. He started his career in TV commercials in Thailand, then decided to switch because agents have more control and a steady paycheck. Employees of talent companies, he says, earn between $30,000 to $40,000 annually.

“Being an actor … there’s a lot of time spent just waiting,” Butt says.

Now his days are packed with reading casting descriptions, conferring with clients, and going to auditions.

“[The business] is really fast-paced … people think it’s glorious, but it’s pretty fast and tough.”

Butt was born and raised in the United States, then moved to Thailand with his family when he was 13. He returned to the United States to earn a bachelor’s degree in communications from Hawaii Pacific University. Ever since, Butt has continued to travel between the two countries.

A licensed subagent with Tonry Talent Agency, Butt loves his job. Although he’s not allowed to act anymore because it would be a conflict of interest, he enjoys the pace and the people.

“It’s a really tight-knit group. Everyone in the industry knows everyone else,” Butt says.

Feature films such as The Matrix, recently shot in San Francisco, have called for actors, but according to Butt, overall, business in the city isn’t doing so well. Due to the downturn in the economy and closings of dot-coms, companies are advertising less. And in turn, the calls for actors are decreasing.

In the future, Butt hopes to manage his own international talent firm. An agent owns the company, while the subagents are those that work in it. Agents have to put up $50,000 as a bond to back their agency.

Currently, it seems to Butt that directors who need an Asian face look for extremes. Although he has seen more lead Asian American actors, Butt says that directors search for Amerasians/Eurasians, or the “stereotypical Asian.” Currently, there are no agencies that cater to Asian Americans.

“It’s sad to admit…but that’s a role that needs to be filled,” he says.

Although commercials are now more ethnically diverse, Butt hopes that he will continue to see and help increase the number of API actors playing leads in movies.

Says Butt: “There’s still a long way to go, but it’s coming along.”