David Vigliano

David Vigliano is an American literary agent. He is the founder and head of Vigliano Associates, a boutique literary agency. He is best known for working with "headline-making" authors and for negotiating record-setting advances. Since 2002, 112 of his projects have appeared on The New York Times Best Seller list, with 22 hitting the #1 position.[1][2][3][4][5]

David Vigliano
Born
David Vigliano

(1959-06-18) June 18, 1959
New York, New York, US
Alma materHunter College
Harvard University Business School
Occupation(s)Literary agent, Entrepreneur
Websiteviglianoassociates.com

Early life and education

Vigliano was born in New York. His mother, Barbara Murphy Vigliano, was an actress who starred in live television shows in the 1940s, and his father Eli was a lawyer, as is David's brother Dean. Vigliano attended Hunter College, where he graduated magna cum laude with a degree in communications, and earned an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1983.[6]

Career

Following college, Vigliano returned to New York, where he was hired as the Director of Packaging at Warner Books. There, Vigliano moved beyond the traditional practice of passively acquiring new properties, and instead generated book ideas and pursued new authors. In 1986, with no experience as a literary agent, he founded Vigliano Associates.[1][7]

While he represents both fiction and non-fiction, Vigliano has received significant attention for securing substantial advances for celebrities, including a reported $4,000,000 advance for Kurt Cobain's journals in 2000.[8] His notable clients have included Michael Jackson, George Noory Justin Timberlake, Mike Tyson, Shaquille O'Neal, Willie Nelson, Joanna Gaines, Chip Gaines, Alicia Keys, Janet Jackson, Britney Spears, David Blaine, Prince, Pearl Jam, Scott Weiland, Rocco DiSpirito, Courtney Love, Anthony Kiedis, Suzanne Somers, and Pope John Paul II. His roster also includes Bob Greene, Melody Beattie, Nicholas Perricone, Jerry Jenkins, Ben Parr, and Blake Mycoskie. Vigliano's literary projects include artist James Rosenquist's autobiography, Eddie Little's Another Day in Paradise, and Douglas Coupland's Generation X, which sold more than 1,000,000 copies.[9][10]

Vigliano has negotiated film rights for several of his books. Ben Mezrich's Bringing Down the House, was the source material for MGM's 21,[11] and The Oldest Rookie, by Jim Morris and Joe Engel,[12] was adapted into the Disney movie The Rookie, starring Dennis Quaid. An article by Mike Sager in GQ was adapted into the Touchstone film Veronica Guerin, starring Cate Blanchett.[3]

In 2012, he started Vigliano Books, an electronic book publishing venture that has worked with authors such as Tim Cowlishaw, Richard Belzer, David Blaine, Linda Davies, and Jerry B. Jenkins. Although he continued to run it, in 2014 Vigliano sold the company to Y Entertainment. He reacquired it in April 2020.[13]

Personal life

Vigliano lives in New York City. He has performed as a stand-up comic at clubs in Las Vegas, Los Angeles and New York.[1]

References
  1. "City File on David Vigliano". February 3, 2008. Gawker. Archived from the original on 22 February 2014. Retrieved 7 February 2014.
  2. David, Anna (19 July 2010). "The Celebrity Book Frenzy". July 17, 2010. The Daily Beast. Retrieved 7 February 2014.
  3. Weeks, Linton (June 4, 2003). "The Vig: Wheel Behind The Deal". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 22 August 2014. Retrieved 7 February 2014.
  4. Kolhatkar, Sheila (24 April 2006). "Hey, Victim, Want a Book Deal?". April 24, 2006. The New York Observer. Retrieved 8 February 2014.
  5. Kelly, Keith J. (October 29, 2014). "Vigliano selling agency to Y Entertainment". New York Post. Retrieved 8 January 2015.
  6. Singer, Jill. "PITCHING AN AGENT: VIGLIANO ASSOCIATES". August 17, 2004. Media Bistro. Archived from the original on 17 August 2012. Retrieved 7 February 2014.
  7. "David Vigliano Agent info". 2014. Smashwords. Retrieved 8 February 2014.
  8. Patterson, Tom. "His Last Writes". November 15, 2002. Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 8 February 2014.
  9. "'Generation X' author turns to Pantheon". December 1, 1998. Variety. 2 December 1998. Retrieved 9 February 2014.
  10. Hagan, Joe (26 May 2003). "The Blair Pitch Project". May 26, 2003. The Observer. Retrieved 8 February 2014.
  11. Fleming, Michael (20 September 2002). "Trigger Street bets on the 'House'". September 19, 2002. Variety. Retrieved 9 February 2014.
  12. "Hot Deals". December 20, 1999. Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 9 February 2014.
  13. Hipes, Patrick (2020-04-30). "Lit Agent David Vigliano Re-Acquires His Agency Six Years After Sale". Deadline. Retrieved 2020-05-06.
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