The Robb Company: Empowering Artists for the Industry’s Future

What good is an amazing actor who is never seen? How great can a story be if it is never written and never read? Questions like those kept Sherry Robb up most nights and ultimately fueled the fire for starting her own company in 1991. Back then, her goal was to represent authors along with television and film writers. Within a year, she expanded to include a full actor roster with her company’s sights set on producing its own films. To this day, The Robb Company is dedicated to the discovery, development, marketing, and career guidance for a growing collection of handpicked actors and writers.

So many talent management companies represent every facet of filmmaking in addition to actors and writers, packing their over-crowded rosters with directors, cinematographers, producers, etc. The Robb Company is prestigious due to their commitment specifically to actors and writers. A core belief, instilled by Sherry Robb herself, is that everything starts with a unique, visionary story which is shaped into a well-crafted script and brought to life by memorable, emotionally-layered characters. Decades ago it was easier to deliver hard copies, resumes and 8x10 headshots by 4pm, and then call it a day. Thanks to the ever-evolving world of technology which supports electronic submissions 24/7, even representing actors and writers has turned into more than a full-time job. The Robb Company prides itself on finding unique, true life stories while also supporting actors one step at a time, carefully creating their image and building their credits. Naturally, for someone passionate about finding incredible stories, Sherry’s journey began in the literary world. She started as the West Coast sales rep for Playboy Books, and quickly gained notoriety for being their top rep which caught the attention of Los Angeles-based writer Bart Andrews. Widely known as an expert on the I Love Lucy sitcom, after writing four acclaimed books on the show, Andrews approached Sherry about partnering with him to form the Andrews & Robb Agency. After a decade of partnership, Sherry Robb was ready to explore new territory. She wanted to branch out and expand her search for great stories by including film and television scripts, actors, etc. Already with so much experience, Sherry was eager to hit the ground running…on her own.

After hearing an interview with Emmy Award winning actress Betty White about how the love for her pets helped her deal with the depression from the death of her husband, Sherry was convinced that Betty’s story was compelling enough to be a book. So Sherry met with Betty White and Lucille Ball over breakfast, pitched the idea, and sold the book Pet-Love to G.P. Putnam & Sons in New York. Academy Award nominated director David Fincher’s 2007 thriller Zodiac was another result of Sherry Robb’s persistent search for great stories. The film, based on famous true crime author Robert Graysmith’s book of the same name, featured a star-studded, award-winning cast with Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo, Robert Downey Jr., etc., was nominated for several awards including ‘Best Director’ from the Dublin Film Critics’ Circle for Fincher. Back when Robert Graysmith worked at the San Francisco Chronicle, Sherry read through 22,000 words of communications sent to Robert from a serial killer. After each detailed, gruesome passage she knew the story should be told, so she formatted those pages into a book proposal with marketing and sold it to Dutton Books. Zodiac sold over four million copies worldwide and became a New York Times Bestseller. Another proud moment in Sherry’s illustrious career is the discovery and career launch of now-famous screenwriter/producer Ronald E. Moore. He’s the creative mind behind the recent Star Trek adaptations and the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica television series, for which he won a Peabody Award. Sherry sold Ronald’s first and second Star Trek: Deep Space Nine scripts which propelled him towards multiple Emmy Award and Hugo Award nominations. Having been in the entertainment industry for over thirty years, Sherry and her talent management team around her — The Robb Company — has booked actors in guest star and co-star roles on many top television shows and feature films. Two recent notable bookings are Alpa Banker in the human trafficking suspense thriller Trafficked and Dan Horton playing Patrick Swayze in an upcoming Patrick Swayze Bio-Pic. The Robb Company has also recently championed a script which caught Sherry’s eye years ago that was optioned several times but never produced titled The Ward. After assembling a production team with special effects credits in Star Trek and Fast & Furious films, emerging director/cinematographer Marc Martinez joined the fold. Best known for his 2018 films 50K and The Rapist, Martinez brings his diverse skillset to help create this high-octane horror thriller. With production slated to begin in the near future, The Ward is yet another great example of The Robb Company being dedicated to finding incredible stories and sharing those stories with all of us.

Credited with 11 New York Times Best Sellers already under her belt, in 2019 Sherry Robb became a member of The Personal Manager Hall of Fame. 2019 also marked the third consecutive year Sherry has been a judge for UCLA’s Script Competition/Showcase. She also acts as a monthly consultant for a writer/director in the USC Film Master’s Program. Since 1982, Sherry has appeared on the Agents Panel for the Independent Writers of Southern California (IWSC). In both 2018 and 2019 Sherry attended Career Day at the New York Film Academy and graduation night for the Master’s In Fine Arts program to provide feedback after she listened to graduates’ pitches. In 2018, she conducted her workshop ‘How to Pitch Your Idea to Producers’ at the Moving Pictures Institute in Los Angeles. In November 2019, Sherry Robb will be presenting the opening workshop ‘How to Pitch Your Idea’ and two pitching sessions for the 8th Annual 805 Writers Conference which is produced by Kathleen Kaiser & Associates (KKA).

Originally from Long Beach, California, Sherry believes the most vital part of any project is what she calls ‘a like-minded, like-hearted team’ which brings its own talent and expertise to the table in the spirit of collaboration. And if every sports team takes on the personality of its head coach, then it’s no surprise that each project The Robb Company has been involved with is so highly respected. Each shares the same fingerprint of experience, dedication, perseverance, and tenacity from Sherry Robb.