Variety names top entertainment financial advisors for 2026

Variety will publish its annual Business Managers Elite feature on Nov. 11, listing the top financial and accounting professionals serving media and entertainment clients. The section will appear in both print and online formats.

Citrin Cooperman veteran Arnie Herrmann is the top honoree for this year. In a profile included in the feature, Herrmann described real estate as one of the most emotional financial decisions people make. He noted that he sometimes has to guide clients through the reality that they are overpaying for a property. His role is to ensure clients have all the facts, even if they are comfortable paying a premium.

Variety host Cynthia Littleton discussed the role of business managers on the 'Strictly Business' podcast. She explained that compensation in entertainment can be irregular. Some clients receive large upfront fees, while others rely on royalty and residual payments that trickle in over years or decades.

Littleton stated that business managers act as central connectors in a client's life. They coordinate with investors, family offices, tax advisers, lawyers, agents, managers, doctors, and coaches. She described them as Swiss army knives of personal representatives who do far more than pay bills.

The podcast episode also covered the 'Doc Dreams' event held in New York on Nov. 9. The gathering featured conversations with top documentarians. Among the speakers were Alex Gibney, who helmed the documentary 'Musk,' and co-directors Shakiba Adil and Elina Hirvonen of 'The Secret Reading Club of Kabul.'

Adil and Hirvonen discussed how the writings of Anne Frank inspired their film. The documentary chronicles life under the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. Adil explained that she moved to Finland years ago, where a Finnish friend gave her 'The Diary of Anne Frank.'

Adil recalled being told she could not go to school in Afghanistan during the 1990s. She wondered if the world had forgotten the young women there. Reading Frank's diary made her realize that a young girl on the other side of the world had experienced a similar loss of freedom and a shrinking world.