Our darling agent, Liz Kountakis, retires at the end of the year to spend more time with her dog, and less time with her computer!
Liz has been a massive support in creating Treehause, with her tireless expertise and her warm enthusiasm for all things to do with actors.
She championed her female actors in equal pay, and broke barriers with her actors on a daily basis - not easy, but important. She was a fierce champion of ethical showbusiness in an industry that sometimes markets itself as something it is not. She started at the BBC in their production departments, when she was a wee lass, and got by with a knack for organisation and an ability to touch-type.
She started agenting when the BBC was going through an upheaval and she fancied a change of pace. She did not realise that the change of pace would be to something much faster, and she would frequently say that if she'd known what she was getting into, she'd have never left the Beeb!
She managed a list of clients in Europe from her home town of Athens through an economic crisis and its subsequent recovery. She has a gorgeous retriever named Coco, who has serious arthritis, and Liz increasingly mentioned that she would make a move to an island for her retirement so that Coco would have a garden to spend time in.
She has finally made that dream a reality, after spending her Summers painstakingly renovating a house.
Liz, we wish you a lovely retirement in the stunning island of Crete.