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11 W. 25th st.
9th Floor
New York, NY 10010
Office
646.827.1188Submissions:
submissions@soulartistmanagement.comcasting:
casting@soulartistmanagement.comJason Kanner can not remember a time that he wasn't obsessed with fashion. Maybe it was all the beauty and possibilities that was a stark contrast to his own life.
Barely out of high school he was putting on fashion shows at a popular night club in South Beach. It was there that he met the director of Irene Marie Models (known for discovering a 14 year old Niki Taylor) and began his career in fashion.
He assisted for a short while and then took over the new faces division. A model on the women's board caught his eye and he set out to revamp her image. The model was Shana Zadrick, and soon both Jason and Shana landed at the innovative agency, Women. His time at Women would be brief, Jason admits that his 19 year old ego got the best of him and while Shana's career skyrocketed to supermodel status, he found himself unemployed.
David Bosman, recognizing this young man's talent, brought him to Boss Models and together (along with other foreseeing agents) helped usher in the era of the male supermodel. At a time when coveted contracts and high day rates were only enjoyed by female models, male models like Marcus Schenkenberg broke that mold.
Jason enjoyed his share of female supermodels, representing Amber Valletta, Nicole Beach, Angie Harmon, and Sarah O'hare during their time at Boss Models.
He would spend the rest of the decade there and by the new millennium was the director of the men's division at Major Models New York.
Jason followed the same instinct that drew him to Shana, while working with Top male models at Major.
Kanner was the first to see the star quality of Channing Tatum, arranging sessions with renown acting coach Harold Guskin (Kevin Kline, Glenn Close, James Gandolfini) and set him up with his first film agents at Innovative Artists in New York and then once in Los Angeles, Louise Ward. They quickly booked his first feature and then Channing and Ward ran with it.
Shortly after Channing's move to Hollywood to launch his meteoric career, Jason again longed to have his own dream and vision realized, and the seed for Soul Artist Mgmt grew into a reality. In 2010, Jason took his modest savings and started Soul Artist Management. In hindsight, it was a bold and crazy move but it happened. Jason doesn't dismiss the fact that he had many blessings that played a key role in his successful launch.
He credits the loyalty of his models, (Doug Pickett, Simon Nessman and so many others that believed in him), the mutual respect among he and Katia Sherman (president, Major Models) and extremely supportive friends who joined him working side by side, doing whatever it took to see it through. The first 3 months were a blur, much too busy to think about how crazy and improbable it all was and that was probably a good thing.
Needless to say, a very close bond was formed among models and agents, and this is perhaps why when you walk into Soul Artist Management, you are immediately struck by the intimacy of the environment, as if you have walked into some ones home and in a sense you have.
Jason Kanner and Soul Artist Management is literally the story of a kid whose dream came true and what better success story is there than that.
