1.   Along Madison Avenue late last week, the business of the agency business was business, as in acquisitions and start-ups.

2.   Being sensitive, specific and concrete has won an American direct marketing agency business -- and accolades -- abroad.

3.   Confounding his rivals, he has pushed well beyond the traditional confines of the agency business to help engineer a series of precedent-shattering financial deals.

4.   For years, the talent agency business has been relatively stable in the unstable world of entertainment.

5.   In his new job, Pollock expects to work closely with Meyer, whose appointment continued to send ripples across Hollywood, especially in the talent agency business.

6.   Indeed, Dickinson says that spurring agency business is a prime goal.

7.   Meanwhile, the financial realities of the agency business are growing more difficult for smaller shops in an increasingly bleak ad environment.

8.   On another level, though, the turmoil expected in the agency business is a measure of the growing sense of distress and confusion gripping the movie business.

9.   Ovitz began his career in the talent agency business and now would be moving into the film business, if the negotiations are completed.

10.   Still, even great success in the agency business can be temporal, and paved with pitfalls.