Ithaca's Entrepreneurs
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Judy Marks ’81
Talent agency head
Television-radio


  

Open-Door Policy

As a freshman, Judy Marks ’81 wanted to work in radio. So she declared a TV-radio major, joined the WICB-FM staff, and worked her way up to director of advertising and promotion. She loved radio, and until she went to London that’s all she wanted to do.

"The London program changed everything," says the head of the Judy Marks Agency. "It was one of the best things I’ve ever done. Classes in art history and architecture taught me to see. And I met Mark Romanek ’81 — just another student then, now a well-known director. Mark opened the world of cinematography for me, and I got inspired."

Coming back to Ithaca, Marks considered becoming a cinematographer, then thought about film promotion. But she closed the door on those ideas, waiting for a new one. One day at an IC seminar she met an agency producer, whose hands-on combination of advertising director, producer, camera operator, and editor sounded like the perfect job. Once again, Marks was inspired.

After graduating, she got an entry-level agency job at New York City ad agency Della Femina Travisano. Before long she rose to agency producer. She created TV and radio campaigns for Airborne Air Freight, Great Adventure, and the New York Mets. Then, after four years of working for someone else in "the perfect job," she decided to set out on her own. Attracted by the possibilities of film, Marks moved to Los Angeles to found a talent agency for camera operators and cinematographers.

In 1985 this was a brand-new field, with the first wave of film-school graduates struggling for work in Hollywood. Since then the field has grown immensely — and so has Marks’s agency, which now represents 18 directors of photography, including John Toll, who won back-to-back cinematography Oscars for Legends of the Fall (1994) and Braveheart (1995). It’s more than enough work to keep Marks busy and her agency prosperous (after one particularly good year, she donated 40 tripods to the Park School). But as the talent agent’s role keeps growing, bigger agencies have moved in, leading Marks to think about changing direction again.

"This is a very rewarding job," she says. "But at some point I’m going to burn out. My dream is to come back to Ithaca, teach at IC, and get a master’s degree in architectural history at Cornell. When one door closes, another one opens — I certainly found that out in Ithaca."

— Kenny Berkowitz