INTERVIEW: ArtWingNY Founder, Scott Buccheit

Scott never planned on opening his own creative talent agency. But after observing the field, he knew he could do better.

Five years ago, Scott launched ArtWingNY. Today his company is stirring big waves in the industry. Specializing in fashion, advertising and celebrity, the agency has shot for notable names like Elle, Vanity Fair, Oscar de la Renta, MTV, American Express and many, many more.

I visited Scott at ArtWingNY’s SoHo digs on Broadway to learn more about his company. Here’s what the ArtWingNY founder had to say.

At this point, your company isn’t just starting out; you’re growing. What kinds of qualities do you look for in your new talent? What qualifies them to work at ArtWingNY?

When I see a good photographer, I know it.

At this point I don’t take photographers who don’t have clients, who don’t work for magazines already. I’m at the point where I don’t have to make people’s careers. I need someone established that I can then build on.

There’s a minimum they need to have – some clients and editorial experience.

What was the idea behind ArtWingNY; how did it start? Did you always want to own your own company?

I never wanted to own my own company. It scared the [crap] out of me.

I worked for a couple different agencies before, and let’s just say I disagreed with the way they ran their business. I thought I could do a better job than that. I was having a hard time holding onto the great talent I was getting because of the way they ran their business.

I’ve always wanted to do fashion. I think many people put the bottom line of dollars as more important than their passion. I’d rather do great editorial than a big advertising campaign that I don’t really believe in.

Tell me about your photographers. What does your team look like?

I have a lot of photographers I’ve had since the beginning. When I opened up five years ago, it was a very different market. Five years ago it was nothing for you to have a photographer based in Paris and for someone to book him and say he’ll come over and shoot this for you. And they’ll pay for flights. It’s just not like that anymore. They want you there.

I have about 10 guys who are New York and LA-based. The others are European-based and they know the deal. If something comes up, they come in. If it’s a big enough job they’ll come in and take it. Thomas Rusch is a perfect example. We get him a big job about once a year – last year he did the Ray Ban worldwide campaign, which was everywhere.

What kind of skills do you think your position necessitates for making it all work, for bringing all the different parts together in your company?

You have to be a good negotiator and you have to really know how to deal with people. Photographers are artists, and they have artist mentalities. You have to keep their egos in check while keeping the client and their expectations in check as well. It’s a balancing act.

Clients are great until shoot days. It seems like they "wig out" on shoot days. That’s always the most challenging day. It's probably hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars on a campaign so the smallest things set them off. If something isn’t exactly the way they want it they’re going to let you know.

After looking at your Web site, I realized how many top-level clients ArtWingNY has worked with. How do you find your clients?

When I started it was all me reaching out. It was me calling the ad agencies everyday trying to get portfolios in. Now, we’re at the point where people call us.

Still you constantly have to be going out there. People used to use photographers again and again. But now I find that people use a photographer once and then go on to the next photographer. So it’s really hard to keep clients; you have to constantly be reaching out.

Tell me about your other two divisions, BeautyWingNY and SportWingNY. How are they related; what do they do?

BeautyWingNY is the beauty division of ArtWingNY and being run by Gregg Rudner.  Even though it's a new division it has really taken off. Recently BeautyWingNY has done jobs for Heineken, Rolling Stone, Cosmopolitan and today we are shooting with Vogue.com.

SportWingNY is a new venture between me and Renata Merriam.  It started because I had friends who were athletes who I felt were missing out on great opportunities because of poor management. We are really dedicated to the sport of soccer, and we want to present players opportunities in the fashion, advertising and editorial world.  

Our very first client is Carlos Bocanegra, Captain of the US Soccer Team. He’ll be attending the upcoming men's shows in Paris and is being dressed by Louis Vuitton.

Can you tell our readers about some upcoming plans ArtWingNY has in the near future?

I definitely see a bigger fashion presence for the future.

We just shot Jean Paul Gaultier. I’m not at liberty to tell you who was in it or what it’s going to be, but it’s a big campaign. We’re shooting the John Hardy campaign; this is our fourth time shooting it. We just shot campaigns for Oscar de la Renta, Joseph Abboud, John Bartlett and Agua Bendita swimwear with Bar Rafaeli and Candice Swanepoel.

If you pick up this week's Rolling Stone, you'll see an advertorial for Heineken with DeadMau5 that was shot by ArtwingNY's Eric Ray Davidson. Our beauty talent was on board and the entire shoot was produced in-house.

We also have a big beverage company on board, which I’m not really allowed to talk about. There’s a lot of things coming up along with steady clients like Land’s End and J. Crew. We also just did Macy's biggest initiative for 2010-2011, but again can't really say much. It’s going to be announced next month by our friends at Factory PR. Look for that.

Your position must keep you crazy busy. What do you dream of doing when you get a moment to yourself?

I surprisingly have a lot of hobbies. I read a book a week. My boyfriend and I pretty much see every movie that comes out. I go to almost every Broadway show that ever hits. We travel quite a bit. The busier I am, the more I thrive. When things get slow I get so much less done.

I’m also involved in charities. I’m on about 15 different committees and boards, so it does keep me busy. 

We also had two cats, two dogs and a turtle. My turtle’s name is Ashton. We have two black cats, BooBoo and Riley. We had two dogs but they both died within months of each other. It was quite sad. We’re probably going to get a puppy soon though.

For more on Scott and ArtWingNY, see his Web site and LookBooks profile.