Yep. It's in large part because the pandemic drastically slowed the production pipeline, and even though things are opening again, they're not quite where they were. Plus, a lot of the major agencies had huge layoffs. So there are fewer agents managing a pool of fewer opportunities.

I have friends who wanted to get rid of their reps before the shutdown and were told not to because they wouldn't be able to find replacements. Also, during the pandemic, a lot of people who normally would have been able to find reps haven't been able to. I have a friend who connects emerging writers with managers, and he said during the pandemic it's been a lot harder to get new writers repped, that there are people pre-pandemic who, in his experience, he would have assumed would be a surefire thing, who are now struggling.