| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Founded | Beverly Hills, California, USA (1991) |
| Headquarters | Beverly Hills, California (USA) |
| Key people |
Jim Berkus, Chairman, Founding Partner, Board Member |
| Website | http://www.unitedtalent.com |
United Talent Agency (UTA) is a talent and literary agency located in Beverly Hills, California. UTA is one of the largest talent agencies in the world, with more than 100 agents representing actors, writers, directors, producers, recording artists, below the line talent, IP rights holders, emerging technology companies and corporate brands in a variety of practice areas including film, television, music, digital media, intellectual property, computer and video games, commercials, voiceovers, endorsements, branding & licensing, corporate consulting and entertainment marketing.
Some of UTA's key clients include actors Johnny Depp, Harrison Ford, Owen Wilson, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jennifer Lopez, Paul Giamatti, Anthony Hopkins, Tim Robbins, Seth Rogen, James McAvoy, Ewan McGregor, Rachel McAdams, Paul Rudd, Don Cheadle, Elizabeth Banks, Kirsten Dunst, Tracy Morgan, Martin Lawrence, Simon Pegg, Bryan Cranston, Patrick Dempsey, Mark Ruffalo, Ice Cube, Anna Kournikova, Keenen Ivory Wayans, Jennette McCurdy, Daniel Radcliffe, Dane Cook, Noomi Rapace, Bonnie Wright and Zendaya; filmmakers and screenwriters Joel and Ethan Coen, Judd Apatow, Andrew Adamson, Wes Anderson, John August, Noah Baumbach, Brad Bird, Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, Julian Fellowes, Ruben Fleischer, Curtis Hanson, Charlie Kaufman, Ehren Kruger, Peter Morgan, Mike White, F. Gary Gray, Lasse Hallstrom, Greg Mottola, Jimmy Hayward, Adam Shankman, Phillip Noyce, Nicholas Stoller, Jason Eisener, and Sylvain White; television writers and creators Darren Star, David Chase, Rene Balcer, Alan Ball, Tom Fontana, Ed Bernero and Steven Levitan, as well as non-fiction television producers Cris Abrego, Tom Forman, Allison Grodner, Josh Shipp and SallyAnn Salsano.
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UTA was founded in 1991 as the result of a merger between two literary and talent agencies, the Bauer-Benedek Agency, headed by partners Marty Bauer, Peter Benedek and Jeremy Zimmer, and the Leading Artists Agency, formed by partners Jim Berkus and Gary Cosay. UTA seemed well positioned for success by bringing the best agents in from a variety of agencies. Their first packages on shows included hits like The Simpsons, Married...With Children, and The Wonder Years. Others represented by the agency included movie writer/directors Lawrence Kasdan, Brian De Palma, Steven Soderbergh, and brothers Joel and Ethan Coen; Seinfeld creator/writer Larry David; and actors Mike Myers, Bridget Fonda, Alan Alda, and Charles Grodin. As its business grew, the firm soon began to add agents to the 26 it started with.[1]
By the mid-1990s, UTA had grown to over 50 agents and was considered an upstart challenger to the larger, more established firms such as the William Morris Agency and Creative Artists Agency. The agency, which was formed to focus primarily on writer clients, soon established a significant roster of talent clients working in film and television. UTA’s then-representation of comedian Jim Carrey led the actor become the first star to be paid a $20 million upfront salary for a motion picture, which he received for “The Cable Guy” and which set an industry precedent for all top tier talent which has lasted to present day.
UTA’s expansion was also accompanied by occasional growing pains, which the agency experienced briefly in a series of labor disputes and lawsuits with then-partner Gavin Polone, which were later resolved following his departure.
In June 1996 UTA's partners named Marty Bauer and Jim Berkus co-chairmen, with Bauer also named president. In 1998 Bauer left the firm to found the Bauer Company, a management company, leaving UTA to be run by a board of six senior partners led by chairman Jim Berkus.
By the late 1990s, UTA had hit its stride and began expanding the firm’s core practice areas to include music, corporate consulting and video gaming. In 1998, UTA expanded its talent operations with the addition of Tracey Jacobs, a top talent agent from International Creative Management, who joined UTA as a partner and brought with her clients including Johnny Depp, William Petersen,Joan Cusack, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Vincent D'Onofrio and director Mark Pellington.[2]
In late 1999, UTA clients, actor William Petersen and producer Cindy Chvatal developed CSI along with writer/creator Anthoney Zuiker. The CSI television franchise is among the most successful in television history, domestically and internationlly airing in over 178 countries around the world. UTA continues to benefit from the extremely lucrative package fee from the series.
In September 2001, UTA made its official foray into the music business, hiring veteran music agent Rob Prinz who had previously spent 11 years as a music agent at Creative Artists Agency and, prior to that, eight years as head of east coast contemporary music operations for the William Morris Agency. The addition of Prinz put the agency into the lucrative music booking and touring business, and also added recording artists, such as Grammy-winner Celine Dion, to the agency's client roster.[3]
In October 2003, partner and television department co-head Jay Sures was promoted to the Board of Directors, joining chairman Jim Berkus and fellow board members Peter Benedek, Gary Cosay, Nick Stevens and Jeremy Zimmer.[4]
In fall of 2006, UTA became the first major agency in the broadband era to launch a dedicated online division to identify and represent emerging internet content creators.[5] The division was led by UTA digital media agent Brent Weinstein. Clients like Ask a Ninja, We Need Girlfriends and Big Fantastic became early leaders in the digital space.[6][7] In July 2007, UTA and the Internet-based advertising agency Spot Runner announced they were launching an independent studio for digital entertainment from professional actors, directors, writers and producers called 60Frames Entertainment.[8] 60Frames produced over 50 original Internet series before the company shut down operations in May 2009 due to the economic collapse.
In September, 2007, UTA announced the formation of United Entertainment Group, a joint venture firm formed with veteran advertising executive Jarrod Moses. The New York City-based firm creates branded entertainment and integrated media solutions for leading consumer brands and other Fortune 500 companies, focusing on six practice areas, branded entertainment, integrated media, brand development, property development, multi-cultural marketing and live event creation. The firm is led by CEO Jarrod Moses with approximately 35 employees working in its New York and Beverly Hills offices. Key clients of UEG include Procter & Gamble, Frito-Lay, LG Electronics, Nestle, Williams-Sonoma, Pottery Barn, Pottery Barn Kids, Build-A-Bear, Seventh Generation, Diageo, Avon/Mark Cosmetics, and Queen Latifah, Inc. [9] [10]
In February 2008, UTA hired Michael Camacho, formerly the head of Creative Artists Agency's reality television division, to head UTA's growing alternative television department and to join the UTA partnership.[11] Camacho brought to UTA most of his high profile clients, Tom Forman, creator of ABC's "Extreme Home Makeover," Alison Grodner, creator of CBS' "Big Brother;" Jay Blumenthal and Tony Marsh, creators of "Newlyweds."[12]
In May 2008, longtime talent partner Tracey Jacobs and longtime motion picture partner David Kramer were elevated to UTA's Board of Directors, making Jacobs among the highest ranking female agents in the industry.[13] The same month saw Mitchell Gossett, one of the industry's top youth agents, depart the Cunningham Escott Slevin Doherty agency to join UTA's talent department and bolster the agency's burgeoning youth representation business. Gossett brought with him clients including Taylor Momsen, Victoria Justice, Miley Cyrus, and Chelsea Staub.[14] In the fall of that same year, Jacobs added Oscar-nominated actress Gwyneth Paltrow and actress-recording artist Jennifer Lopez to the agency’s client list.[15]
In October of 2008, longtime William Morris Agency talent agent Theresa Peters joined UTA as a partner and co-head of the Talent Dept, bringing along such clients as Kirsten Dunst, James McAvoy and Jeffrey Dean Morgan.
In April 2009, senior William Morris agent Steve Rabineau joined UTA as a partner and motion picture literary agent. Rabineau had been one of the founding partners of the Endeavor agency. In 2004 he left Endeavor, along with fellow founding partner David Lonner, to join the William Morris Agency. In joining UTA, Rabineau brought his clients, including filmmakers Alfonso Cuaron, Phillip Noyce, Don Roos, Craig Gillespie, Todd Graff, John Amiel, Sergei Bodrov and Eric Brevig. [16]
In October 2009, UTA hired veteran film finance executive Rena Ronson to co-head its Independent Film Group along with UTA partner Richard Klubeck. Ronson had been co-head of competitor William Morris Independent for more than a decade and was one of the industry’s highest profile film agents. The hiring was considered a strategic move to grow UTA’s film finance and international sales business.[17]
In summer of 2010, UTA announced an expansion of its partnership. The 24-member partnership now included the agency’s six Board members, Jim Berkus, Peter Benedek, Tracey Jacobs, David Kramer, Jay Sures, Jeremy Zimmer, as well as partners Jeremy Barber, Michael Camacho, Andrew Cannava, Dan Erlij, Wayne Fitterman, Lisa Jacobson, Rich Klubeck, Blair Kohan, Billy Lazarus, Theresa Peters, Steve Rabineau, Matt Rice, Shani Rosenzweig, Larry Salz, Howard Sanders, Julien Thuan, and recently-promoted partners Jason Burns and Brett Hansen.[18]
One of the things UTA is famous for is the elusive "UTA Job List". The list includes many assistant position job listings for agent/publicist/manager hopefuls. UTA will not confirm the existence of such a list, but it does indeed exist and is only available to those with connections to people within Hollywood to be able to obtain it.[19]
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