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In this week's New Yorker, Tad Friend submerges himself in the William Morris shark tank to profile president Dave Wirtschafter, "exemplar of a new breed of Hollywood agent." The magazine's website features a Q & A where Friend discusses his harrowing journey amongst the bloodthirsty tenpercenters with writer Ben Greenman. Here, Friend breaks down the time-honored poaching ritual:

What about ethics? Your piece opens with a scene of Wirtschafter attending an event in the hope of poaching Ewan McGregor. Talk a little bit about this practice and the kind of climate it creates.

Most stars receive a number of calls each month from agencies who are eager to poach them away from their current representative. The poaching come-ons range from the bald ("That’s all he got you?”; “We would never have let you appear in ‘Troy’”) to the subtle, long-term play. That goes something like this: “I know you’re happy with So-and-So, and I respect you too much to try to make you feel bad about how your career is going. But, in the future, just keep in mind that I’m a huge fan of your work, and that if you ever want access to more material than you’re getting now, or just want to be able to exchange ideas with people like Tom and Steven, well, that’s something we’d love to facilitate.”

See how easy it is to snatch some talent? Plug in Alfie for Troy, and CAA for So-and-So, and you're practically a fly on the wall when Endeavor's Patrick Whitesell plucked Jude Law from CAA after Chris Rock manhandled him at the Oscars.