Joanna Jordan is a British businesswoman and talent booker. She is the founder and chief executive of Central Talent Booking, a talent agency with offices in Los Angeles, New York City and London.
She began booking guests for the Channel 4 show The Word and other programmes on the station. Late Show with David Letterman recruited her to move to the United States to serve as the show's booker of celebrities. After working for the show between 1999 and 2005, she founded Central Talent Booking (CTB) in 1999. CTB books celebrity and human interest talent for various media.
Career
Early career
Jordan's first job was as an au pair, after which she became a junior secretary for a stockbroker in London.[1] She served as a secretary at the Today newspaper and then became a presenter for a short while on a children's television show related to fashion on TV-am.[1] Jordan's next job was to book guests for The Word, a Channel 4 show, which led to work for shows hosted by Clive Anderson and Ruby Wax.[1] Jordan also worked for Network 7 and Moviewatch.[2] When Jordan was 27, she was hired as a talent booker by the Late Show with David Letterman and relocated to the United States.[1][2]
Jordan held the booker job at the Late Show with David Letterman between 1999 and 2005,[3] after which she founded her own company, Central Talent Booking (CTB), a talent agency based in New York, in 1999.[1][4] When Jordan told the Late Show with David Letterman executives of her plans to start her own company, the show offered to be CTB's first customer, which Jordan accepted.[4]
Writing in The Guardian in 2002, journalist Emma Brockes called Jordan "one of New York's most respected talent bookers".[2]Variety's Tatiana Siegel said in 2007 that Jordan "is considered one of the industry's premier bookers".[3] In a 2008 article, TV Guide referred to Jordan as the "force behind" the "I'm F-ing Ben Affleck" video, and in the same article Jimmy Kimmel quipped, "I wish I'd had her in high school when I was looking for a date to the prom."[7]