American talent agency
United Talent Agency
(
UTA
) is a global
talent agency
based in
Beverly Hills, California
. Established in 1991, it represents artists and other professionals across the
entertainment industry
. As of 2021
[update]
, the company has more than 1,400 global employees. UTA has divisions focused on film, television, music, sports, digital, books, video games, branding and licensing, speaking, marketing, fine arts, news, and broadcasting, among others. The agency also operates the non-profit UTA Foundation.
Corporate overview
[
edit
]
UTA, established in 1991, is a private company representing talent in a variety of industries, including
film
,
television
,
digital media
, publishing, music, and
video games
.
[1]
It is one of the largest such agencies in the world, with approximately 300 agents representing actors, directors, producers, recording artists, writers, and other professionals.
[2]
Its services also include
brand management
,
film financing
and
packaging
,
licensing
, marketing,
strategic management
, and
venture capital financing
for companies.
[3]
In addition to Beverly Hills, UTA has offices in Atlanta, Chicago, London,
Malmo
, Miami, Nashville, and New York.
[4]
UTA has over 1400 employees worldwide.
[5]
The company operates as a partnership,
[6]
co-founded by
Jim Berkus
, Peter Benedek and
[7]
Jeremy Zimmer
,
[8]
who is
chief executive officer
(CEO).
[7]
Paul Wachter
is chairman,
[9]
David Kramer
is president and
Jay Sures
is vice chairman.
[10]
These executives are on the
board of directors
along with Andrew Thau, Rich Paul, Blair Kohan, Matt Rice, Ceci Kurzman, Kasper Knokgaard, Sydney Pardey and Philippe Bouchard.
[11]
History
[
edit
]
Founding and early history
[
edit
]
United Talent Agency was established in 1991 through the merger of the Bauer-Benedek Agency and Leading Artists Agency.
[12]
Jim Berkus
,
Jeremy Zimmer
,
[13]
[14]
and Peter Benedek are UTA's co-founders.
[15]
[16]
UTA had 10 partners and 40 agents by mid-1994.
[17]
The company began compiling a weekly list of mostly entry-level employment opportunities across the entertainment industry, which was described by the
Los Angeles Times
in 2001 as "among the most coveted documents in wannabe Hollywood".
[18]
[19]
In mid 1996, the company had expanded to 45 agents and was described in the media as one of Hollywood's "big four" agencies.
[20]
By the early 2000s, the agency had become known for its roster of comedians including
Jim Carrey
,
Dave Chappelle
,
Will Ferrell
, and
Ben Stiller
, along with writers for popular comedy television programs.
[21]
UTA was also known for its television talent, representing clients such as
David Chase
and
Dick Wolf
. In 2006, the
Los Angeles Times
described UTA as a "tastemaker" agency, noting clients such as
Don Cheadle
,
Johnny Depp
, and
M. Night Shyamalan
.
[22]
The agency established "UTA U" in 2008 to provide skills training to interns by partners and other executives. The program also includes a community service component.
[23]
UTA was inducted into
Vanity Fair
's "New Establishment Hall of Fame" in 2010.
[24]
[25]
Recent history
[
edit
]
In 2011, UTA relocated its headquarters to a Civic Center Drive complex, which was renamed UTA Plaza.
[26]
The company acquired
N.S. Bienstock
, one of the largest agencies for television news talent in the United States, in January 2014.
[1]
[27]
N.S. Bienstock represented more than 600 television news anchors, reporters, and producers, including:
Glenn Beck
,
Anderson Cooper
,
Megyn Kelly
,
Steve Kroft
,
Lara Logan
,
David Muir
,
Norah O'Donnell
,
Bill O'Reilly
,
Robin Roberts
,
Bob Schieffer
, and
Bob Simon
.
[1]
[28]
[27]
Richard Leibner and Carole Cooper continued in their roles as co-presidents of N.S. Bienstock.
[1]
[29]
The merger made UTA the largest company representing television news talent.
[1]
In 2017, UTA did not renew O'Reilly's contract due to allegations of
sexual harassment
.
[30]
[31]
The venture was rebranded UTA News & Broadcast in 2017.
[32]
The agency created a new publishing imprint called Keywords Press in May 2014, to publish books by internet entertainers. UTA partnered with
Atria Publishing Group
, a division of
Simon & Schuster
, to create the imprint. Keywords announced deals with
Shane Dawson
,
Connor Franta
, and
Joey Graceffa
.
[33]
[34]
In 2015, UTA hired a dozen agents from
Creative Artists Agency
in what was widely characterized in the media as a "midnight raid".
[35]
[36]
Creative Artists Agency filed a lawsuit in response.
[37]
[38]
[39]
Also in that year, the company took a minority investment from
Jeffrey W. Ubben
, founder and CEO of
ValueAct Capital
, who became a non-voting UTA board member.
[36]
ValueAct also was invested in
21st Century Fox
,
Adobe Systems
,
CB Richard Ellis
, and
Microsoft
at the time.
[28]
UTA acquired The Agency Group (TAG), the world's largest
independent music
agency, in August 2015. TAG had approximately 95 agents working in cities including London, Los Angeles, and New York,
[28]
and brought around 2,000 artists into UTA's client portfolio,
[40]
[41]
including
Muse
,
Paramore
and
The Black Keys
.
[28]
UTA expanded its New York City offices in 2016.
[42]
[43]
In early 2017, UTA held several events relating to political and social movements. In lieu of its annual
Academy Awards
party, UTA organized a "United Voices" rally outside the company's Beverly Hills headquarters two days before the
89th Academy Awards
, in response to President
Donald Trump
's signing of
Executive Order 13769
, commonly referred to as the "Muslim travel ban".
[44]
[45]
[46]
As many as 2,000 demonstrators attended in support of refugee relief and
freedom of speech
, including
Michael J. Fox
,
Gavin Newsom
,
Bill Nye
,
Wilmer Valderrama
, and
Kristen Wiig
.
[47]
[48]
[49]
[50]
UTA also contributed $250,000, plus $70,000 collected via
crowdfunding
, to the
American Civil Liberties Union
and the
International Rescue Committee
.
[48]
[49]
The company hosted events for female employees in Los Angeles, New York, and Toronto as part of the
Day Without a Woman
.
[51]
[52]
In March 2017, UTA acquired an
equity stake
in the
investment banking
firm AGM Partners to give the agency and its clients guidance on investments in the media and entertainment sector.
[53]
[54]
UTA acquired
Greater Talent Network
(GTN), which focuses on public speaking engagements, in September 2017.
[53]
[55]
Don Epstein, GTN's founder and CEO who represented clients like
Louis Freeh
,
Michael Lewis
,
Alex Rodriguez
,
Mark Ruffalo
, and
Lesley Stahl
, was named a partner at UTA.
[55]
GTN continued to operate from its offices in Florida and New York City.
[53]
The
New York Observer
named UTA one of "Hollywood's 7 Most Powerful Talent Agencies" in November 2017.
[56]
In December, the agency also hosted
Anita Hill
at its offices during the early days of the
Me Too movement
,
[57]
and provided support to the industry's Commission on Sexual Harassment and Advancing Equality in the Workplace, which Hill went on to lead.
[58]
UTA became a founding donor of
Time's Up
in early 2018, committing $1 million to the organization against
sexual harassment
in the workplace in response to the
Weinstein effect
and Me Too movement.
[59]
[60]
UTA acquired Circle Talent Agency, which focuses on
dance
and electronic music, in April 2018.
[61]
In November 2020 UTA signed improv artist
Kitboga
, a leading content creator in the
scambaiting
space.
[62]
In 2019, UTA partnered with NBA agent
Rich Paul
to start a sports division. The untraditional move puts UTA in direct competition with
Creative Artists Agency
and
William Morris Endeavor
and provides instant notoriety to the company.
[63]
Paul expanded the sports clients from 4 to 23 and in 2020 was asked to be on the company's board of directors.
[64]
[65]
[66]
He was later named "Power Broker of the Year" by GQ Magazine.
[67]
In 2021, UTA continued its growth and diversification by acquiring strategic advisory firm MediaLink,
[68]
launching an
NFT
practice,
[69]
announcing a $200-million
Special purpose acquisition company
, IPO
[70]
and opened a full-service office in Atlanta.
[71]
In June 2022, UTA acquired UK-based literary and talent agency
Curtis Brown
.
[72]
In June 2023, UTA acquired New York-based executive search and consulting firm James & Co.
[73]
In November 2023,
Susan Sarandon
was dropped by the agency for her controversial remarks at a rally stating "There are a lot of people afraid of being Jewish at this time, and are getting a taste of what it feels like to be a Muslim in this country, so often subjected to violence,".
[74]
In January 2024, seven
CalArts
alumni withdrew from an exhibition at UTA Artist Space saying that the venue would not allow them to add pro-Palestine messages to their artist statements.
[75]
UTA Foundation
[
edit
]
The agency operates a non-profit organization called UTA Foundation. The foundation's annual week-long Project Impact has worked with various organizations and encourages employees to offer community service.
[76]
References
[
edit
]
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{{
cite web
}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
link
)
- ^
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.
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"
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External links
[
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]