Aug 7, 2025 9:00am PT Meet Variety's 10 Assistants to Watch Class of 2025, Supporting the Powers Behind 'Reacher' to the 'Buffy the Vampire' Reboot By Todd Longwell, Seth Marumoto, Andrew McGowan, Leia Mendoza Courtesy Images Nikki Bergman Image Credit: Courtesy of Bergman Coordinator, film & TV divisionRange Media Partners Growing up in New York, Bergman didn't think of show business as a viable career, but she says her mind was changed when an agent spoke at one of her classes at USC. "I was like, 'I have to do this job. What is this job?' And ever since then, it was kind of full speed ahead." She joined Range Media Partners in October 2021 as an associate, working with founding partners Dave Bugliari, Mick Sullivan and Michael Cooper. Following a recent promotion to coordinator, she closed a deal for Range client Benjamin Clementine to join the second season of the Netflix series "The Gentlemen." Katie Byrne Image Credit: Courtesy of Byrne Assistant, desk of Casey Bloys, chairman and CEOHBO & HBO Max Content The UCLA grad began her career in comedy touring at UTA, later working at Tiny Reparations and Brillstein before landing on Casey Bloys' desk at HBO. "Every day is extremely different, which is exciting, because Casey has such a breadth of responsibilities and he's at such a high level that he interacts with so many different types of people, different shows, and his schedule is always changing," says Byrne. "My job is first and foremost making sure that Casey has what he needs to have a smooth day every day and be able to execute it at the level that he's at." Bela Levin Image Credit: Courtesy of Levin Coordinator, office of Dana Goldberg, chief creative officerSkydance Levin says it was a gamble when she spent a big chunk of her savings to leave her native Brazil to enroll at UCLA and try to find a way into showbiz, but it seems to be paying off. Since joining Skydance in 2021, she's worked with CCO Dana Goldberg on some of the company's biggest projects, from the billion-plus-dollar big-screen blockbuster "Top Gun: Maverick" to the Amazon action series "Reacher." "If I've done my job right, she doesn't see half of the things that I'm doing because I'm making sure that she's able to do her job," she says. Blake Maley Image Credit: Brendan Mitchell Coordinator, desk of president Leslie SiebertGersh Agency From the time he was a kid, seeing live theater shows with his mom, Maley has been drawn to storytelling and the influence of entertainment. "I knew I wanted to work with top dealmakers in Hollywood and learn from the best," the Chicago native says, and he saw talent agencies as places where storytelling and influence intersect. But at Washington University in St. Louis, he earned a B.A. in anthropology, which he points out has a strong emphasis on observation before action, in contrast to his current gig, where he often has to "jump in and learn by doing - and sometimes figure it out after the fact." Christine Murrain Image Credit: Scott Angelheart/NBC Coordinator, office of Pearlena Igbokwe, chairman, TV studiosNBC Entertainment & Peacock scripted Murrain has been at NBCUniversal for the past six years. She began as a West Coast page in 2019 and went on to work in strategy, production and acquisitions for Universal Pictures and Focus Features. She admires the composure of her current boss, TV executive Pearlena Igbokwe, stressing the importance of humility as a necessary quality in the entertainment industry. "If I get to be in a role where I can both shape the content that we're making and the experiences of the people who are making it," she says, "that would be fantastic." Jessica Omokheyeke Image Credit: Courtesy of Omokheyeke Executive assistant & project manager, DEI, for Harvey Mason Jr., CEO, and Ricky Lyon, director of diversity, equity & inclusionThe Recording Academy After performing "Breaking Free" at her fourth-grade talent show, Omokheyeke knew she was destined to pursue a career in music. She got her first taste of the business when she was a student at NYU, interning for record labels Interscope and Verve. Upon graduation in June 2023, she landed a job at the Recording Academy, where today she plans exclusive music industry events. "I'm really excited and inspired by a lot of the artists today just being unapologetically, authentically themselves in whatever way is true to them," she says. "Music now is becoming a lot more personal and seeing how artists choose to live their lives and what they put out musically is exciting." Rose Poole Image Credit: Courtesy of CAA Motion picture literary assistant, desk of Ida Ziniti, motion picture literary co-head and board memberCAA Starting as a CAA intern during her senior year at USC, Poole quickly realized that she was at the center of all the media she'd consumed growing up. Now that she's an assistant to Ida Ziniti, she's experiencing a full-circle moment. "Now I get to help put together what I got to see as a kid," she says. No day is