The closing of CAA’s closely watched megadeal for rival ICM last June and the reverberations of the Writers Guild’s years-long standoff with agencies over packaging fees and affiliate productions have reshaped Hollywood’s representation landscape. With only three majors left — CAA, UTA and Endeavor-owned WME — there’s now a race among midsize firms to become the de facto No. 4.
One of the firms eyeing an expansion is A3 Artists Agency, which had its outside counsel send letters of purchase inquiry to three of its rivals — Verve, APA and an undisclosed agency — in mid-January. A3 chairman Adam Bold says the Bill Weinstein-led Verve dismissed the offer to open discussions (Verve had no comment), while APA president Jim Osbourne tells The Hollywood Reporter that “a sale to anyone, much less A3, was never entertained and simply not true.”
Bold says he’s in early talks with a third agency.
One of the firms eyeing an expansion is A3 Artists Agency, which had its outside counsel send letters of purchase inquiry to three of its rivals — Verve, APA and an undisclosed agency — in mid-January. A3 chairman Adam Bold says the Bill Weinstein-led Verve dismissed the offer to open discussions (Verve had no comment), while APA president Jim Osbourne tells The Hollywood Reporter that “a sale to anyone, much less A3, was never entertained and simply not true.”
Bold says he’s in early talks with a third agency.
- 2/22/2023
- by Jonathan Handel
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
In the latest bid to break out of the mid-agency pack, APA has formed a strategic partnership with Europa Content, the boutique literary and production company founded by Marc Gerald.
The goal is to expand APA’s intellectual property and media rights division led by Steve Fisher and Debbie Deuble Hill and to increase resources for both APA and Europa Content clients and creators across all media.
Having access to a publishing house has been a key engine of growth for many agencies, allowing for cross-company collaborations and access to content and intellectual property. APA sees it as a next step as it seeks to position itself apart from the mid-agency level and attempts to position itself as an alternative to top-tier agencies such as CAA, UTA and WME.
“We are thrilled to expand our shared business with Marc and his incredible team at Europa Content,” said Kyle Loftus, head of content development at APA.
The goal is to expand APA’s intellectual property and media rights division led by Steve Fisher and Debbie Deuble Hill and to increase resources for both APA and Europa Content clients and creators across all media.
Having access to a publishing house has been a key engine of growth for many agencies, allowing for cross-company collaborations and access to content and intellectual property. APA sees it as a next step as it seeks to position itself apart from the mid-agency level and attempts to position itself as an alternative to top-tier agencies such as CAA, UTA and WME.
“We are thrilled to expand our shared business with Marc and his incredible team at Europa Content,” said Kyle Loftus, head of content development at APA.
- 2/16/2023
- by Borys Kit
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Bobby Kim, more commonly known as Bobby Hundreds — named for the popular Los Angeles streetwear brand he co-founded called The Hundreds — has signed with UTA. The fashion designer, author, photographer and Web3 creator will be represented across all of these industries by the company, with an eye toward helping Kim expand his business across screenwriting, film and television producing, speaking engagements and publishing.
“For nearly two decades Bobby has been the leader of communities of movers and shakers spanning many genres — fashion, food, music, and recently web3,” Caroline Hooven, UTA Web3 agent, said in a statement emailed to The Hollywood Reporter. “He is an inspiring storyteller who dynamically translates and elevates culture for his audience. We could not be more excited to partner with him on his journey.”
Next up, Kim (who will continue to be managed by Theresa Kang of Blue Marble Management and Marc Gerald at Europa Content...
“For nearly two decades Bobby has been the leader of communities of movers and shakers spanning many genres — fashion, food, music, and recently web3,” Caroline Hooven, UTA Web3 agent, said in a statement emailed to The Hollywood Reporter. “He is an inspiring storyteller who dynamically translates and elevates culture for his audience. We could not be more excited to partner with him on his journey.”
Next up, Kim (who will continue to be managed by Theresa Kang of Blue Marble Management and Marc Gerald at Europa Content...
- 2/1/2023
- by Evan Nicole Brown
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Exclusive: Author, writer, designer and entrepreneur Bobby Hundreds (aka Bobby Kim) has signed with Theresa Kang’s Blue Marble Management for representation across film, television, and all media.
Hundreds is the bestselling author of This Is Not a T-Shirt, a memoir about his life and building a streetwear brand around community. He is currently writing his second novel, NFTs Are A Scam, which will publish in Spring 2023 by McD Books under Farrar, Straus & Giroux. Respected as a vocal thought leader in the Nft space, he has been tapped to speak on the subject at conferences worldwide and podcasts such as Nft Now and NPR’s The Limits.
Hundreds has been writing creative fiction and non-fiction for the last two decades, and independently through his blogs. He has been published in cultural sites such as Hypebeast and Complex.
He is also known as the Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer of global streetwear brand,...
Hundreds is the bestselling author of This Is Not a T-Shirt, a memoir about his life and building a streetwear brand around community. He is currently writing his second novel, NFTs Are A Scam, which will publish in Spring 2023 by McD Books under Farrar, Straus & Giroux. Respected as a vocal thought leader in the Nft space, he has been tapped to speak on the subject at conferences worldwide and podcasts such as Nft Now and NPR’s The Limits.
Hundreds has been writing creative fiction and non-fiction for the last two decades, and independently through his blogs. He has been published in cultural sites such as Hypebeast and Complex.
He is also known as the Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer of global streetwear brand,...
- 10/21/2022
- by Denise Petski
- Deadline Film + TV
MeatEater Inc. has signed with APA for representation, Variety has learned exclusively.
The outdoor media and commerce company will work with the agency in an effort to expand its film and television content business. MeatEater continues to be repped by Marc Gerald of Europa Content.
MeatEater was founded by outdoorsman, writer, and wild foods enthusiast Steven Rinella. The brand started out as a hunting show that aired on Sportsman Channel for six seasons before moving to Netflix in 2018. Along with its premium content, the company creates experiences, apparel, and equipment for hunters and non-hunters alike.
“In the ten years since we made our first season of the MeatEater television show, we’ve built out a robust team of dedicated hunters, anglers, and wild game culinary experts, whose love for the outdoors is infectious,” said Rinella. “Our content aspires to show people the transformative power of being close to nature. Between a dedicated Netflix audience,...
The outdoor media and commerce company will work with the agency in an effort to expand its film and television content business. MeatEater continues to be repped by Marc Gerald of Europa Content.
MeatEater was founded by outdoorsman, writer, and wild foods enthusiast Steven Rinella. The brand started out as a hunting show that aired on Sportsman Channel for six seasons before moving to Netflix in 2018. Along with its premium content, the company creates experiences, apparel, and equipment for hunters and non-hunters alike.
“In the ten years since we made our first season of the MeatEater television show, we’ve built out a robust team of dedicated hunters, anglers, and wild game culinary experts, whose love for the outdoors is infectious,” said Rinella. “Our content aspires to show people the transformative power of being close to nature. Between a dedicated Netflix audience,...
- 12/1/2021
- by Joe Otterson
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: IMDb TV, Amazon’s free, ad-supported streaming service, has put in development High School, a coming-of-age comedy series based on the bestselling memoir by Grammy-nominated, Platinum recording artists Tegan and Sara Quin. It hails from Housebroken co-creator Clea DuVall, Plan B Entertainment and Amazon Studios, where Plan B is under a deal.
Written by DuVall, who also will direct the pilot, High School is a transcendent story of first loves and first songs. Through a backdrop of ’90s grunge and rave culture, the series tangles itself in the parallel and discordant memories of two sisters growing up down the hall from one another. This is a story about finding your own identity — a journey made even more complicated when you have a twin whose own struggle and self-discovery so closely mimics your own.
DuVall executive produces with Tegan & Sara Quin alongside Plan B Entertainment. Amazon Studios produces in association with Plan B.
Written by DuVall, who also will direct the pilot, High School is a transcendent story of first loves and first songs. Through a backdrop of ’90s grunge and rave culture, the series tangles itself in the parallel and discordant memories of two sisters growing up down the hall from one another. This is a story about finding your own identity — a journey made even more complicated when you have a twin whose own struggle and self-discovery so closely mimics your own.
DuVall executive produces with Tegan & Sara Quin alongside Plan B Entertainment. Amazon Studios produces in association with Plan B.
- 10/20/2020
- by Nellie Andreeva
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Norman Reedus is doubling down at AMC.
Less than a week after it was announced that The Walking Dead star would be fronting his own spinoff of the cabler’s zombie apocalypse series with Melissa McBride, Reedus has now signed a first look development deal with AMC Studios.
Set to run for two years, the agreement with the AMC Network’s unit comes as Reedus has formed his own bigbaldhead production shingle.
Partnering with Brillstein Entertainment’s JoAnne Colonna and former AMC Scripted Programming VP Amanda Verdon to run bigbaldhead, Reedus has already lined up an adaptation of Aftershock Comics’ Undone By Blood, in which he will likely star, as well as EP.. Taking a new spin on the Western genre, the Undone By Blood TV series will have writers Zac Thompson and Lonnie Nadler as Co-EPs and Aftershock’s Jon and Lee Kramer as EPs, along with Verdon and Colonna.
Less than a week after it was announced that The Walking Dead star would be fronting his own spinoff of the cabler’s zombie apocalypse series with Melissa McBride, Reedus has now signed a first look development deal with AMC Studios.
Set to run for two years, the agreement with the AMC Network’s unit comes as Reedus has formed his own bigbaldhead production shingle.
Partnering with Brillstein Entertainment’s JoAnne Colonna and former AMC Scripted Programming VP Amanda Verdon to run bigbaldhead, Reedus has already lined up an adaptation of Aftershock Comics’ Undone By Blood, in which he will likely star, as well as EP.. Taking a new spin on the Western genre, the Undone By Blood TV series will have writers Zac Thompson and Lonnie Nadler as Co-EPs and Aftershock’s Jon and Lee Kramer as EPs, along with Verdon and Colonna.
- 9/15/2020
- by Dominic Patten
- Deadline Film + TV
NEW YORK -- Ed Pressman and John Schmidt's ContentFilm banner said Wednesday that it will finance and produce a big-screen adaptation of Donald Goines' novel Daddy Cool. A Goines novel was the basis for ContentFilm's Never Die Alone, which Fox Searchlight is releasing Friday. Cool follows a hit man whose family life is torn apart after his teenage daughter runs away. When the assassin tries to rescue her, a tragic series of circumstances unfolds. Alone helmer Ernest Dickerson is said to be circling Cool, and another Alone alum, rapper-actor DMX, is considering a supporting role and shared producing responsibilities through his Bloodline Pictures banner. Daddy was adapted by screenwriter Oren Moverman (Jesus' Son). James Gibson is executive producing with Marc Gerald, Pressman and Schmidt. ContentFilm's Alessandro Camon will produce. Michael Roban, ContentFilm head of business affairs and acquisitions, brokered the deal with publisher Holloway House's Bentley Morris for Cool's rights. ContentFilm's credits include The Cooler, which was released by Lions Gate Films, and United Artists' upcoming Undertow.
- 3/25/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Screened
Sundance Film Festival
PARK CITY -- If director Ernest Dickerson and writer James Gibson (adapting a story by cult novelist Donald Goines) missed a cliche of the urban gangster genre in "Never Die Alone", it wasn't for lack of effort. Inspiring walkouts at a festival where virtually no one walks out, "Never Die Alone" will do exactly that by its second weekend.
Routinely but unconvincingly directed by Dickerson, the movie possesses not a single character with the brains to get through a day without creating a huge mess. The hopelessly contrived plot has heavy-drinking white writer Paul (David Arquette), living in downtown Los Angeles to "research" his tales from the dark side of life, witness a brutal knife attack outside his favorite bar on a much-hated drug dealer named King David (DMX). For absolutely no reason, Paul climbs into the dying man's car and rushes him to the hospital.
We are next asked to believe the dead man's last act was to bequeath to Paul his car, which contains stacks of drug money and audiotapes of him reciting the sorry story of his crimes and murders. While Paul listens to these tapes -- and we witness David Life's in flashbacks -- hoods ruled by drug kingpin Blue (Antwon Tanner) set out to eliminate not only Mike (Michael Ealy), the knucklehead who finished off David, but also Paul.
As we watch David Life's unfold, we learn that when not selling drugs, he amused himself by enslaving his lovers to drugs by sneaking heroin into their cocaine. If a girlfriend threatened to go to the police, he made certain she went nowhere. The pattern began a decade before on the East Coast with Edna (Keesha Sharp) and continues in Los Angeles, first with TV actress Janet (Jennifer Sky) and then college student Juanita (Reagan Gomez-Preston).
The actors tear into each scene with terrific energy, but these roles are so hollow that it might have been better if at least one or two chilled. Arquette is lost in this nonsensical role, but who could make sense of such an idiot? DMX struts through the movie like the rap star he is. Ealy manages to convey a modicum of introspection, but given what is later revealed about his past, his hotheaded approach to a man he detests seems like very poor judgment.
Matthew Libatique's gritty, kinetic cinematography gamely tries to convince us that "Never Die Alone" lies within the rich tradition of film noir. Alas, this is just film ugly. At the end of the movie, when an editor finally gets a look at Paul Story's about King David, he slams the manuscript shut and says, "I don't believe a word". Amen to that.
NEVER DIE ALONE
Fox Searchlight
Fox Searchlight and ContentFilm present a Bloodline Films productionin association with White Orchid Films
Credits:
Director: Ernest Dickerson
Screenwriter: James Gibson
Based on the novel by: Donald Goines
Producers: Alessandro Camon, Earl Simmons
Executive producers: Edward R. Pressman, John Schmidt, Angelo A. Ellerbee, Rudy "Kato" Rangel, Marc Gerald, Dion Fearon, Cameron Casey
Director of photography: Matthew Libatique
Production designer: Christiaan Wagener
Music: George Duke
Costume designer: Marie France
Editor: Stephen Lovejoy
Cast:
King David: DMX
Mike: Michael Ealy
Paul: David Arquette
Blue: Antwon Tanner
Edna II: Drew Sidora
Moon: Clifton Powell
Jasper: Luenell Campbell
Janet: Jennifer Sky
Juanita: Reagan Gomez-Preston
Running time -- 89 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
Sundance Film Festival
PARK CITY -- If director Ernest Dickerson and writer James Gibson (adapting a story by cult novelist Donald Goines) missed a cliche of the urban gangster genre in "Never Die Alone", it wasn't for lack of effort. Inspiring walkouts at a festival where virtually no one walks out, "Never Die Alone" will do exactly that by its second weekend.
Routinely but unconvincingly directed by Dickerson, the movie possesses not a single character with the brains to get through a day without creating a huge mess. The hopelessly contrived plot has heavy-drinking white writer Paul (David Arquette), living in downtown Los Angeles to "research" his tales from the dark side of life, witness a brutal knife attack outside his favorite bar on a much-hated drug dealer named King David (DMX). For absolutely no reason, Paul climbs into the dying man's car and rushes him to the hospital.
We are next asked to believe the dead man's last act was to bequeath to Paul his car, which contains stacks of drug money and audiotapes of him reciting the sorry story of his crimes and murders. While Paul listens to these tapes -- and we witness David Life's in flashbacks -- hoods ruled by drug kingpin Blue (Antwon Tanner) set out to eliminate not only Mike (Michael Ealy), the knucklehead who finished off David, but also Paul.
As we watch David Life's unfold, we learn that when not selling drugs, he amused himself by enslaving his lovers to drugs by sneaking heroin into their cocaine. If a girlfriend threatened to go to the police, he made certain she went nowhere. The pattern began a decade before on the East Coast with Edna (Keesha Sharp) and continues in Los Angeles, first with TV actress Janet (Jennifer Sky) and then college student Juanita (Reagan Gomez-Preston).
The actors tear into each scene with terrific energy, but these roles are so hollow that it might have been better if at least one or two chilled. Arquette is lost in this nonsensical role, but who could make sense of such an idiot? DMX struts through the movie like the rap star he is. Ealy manages to convey a modicum of introspection, but given what is later revealed about his past, his hotheaded approach to a man he detests seems like very poor judgment.
Matthew Libatique's gritty, kinetic cinematography gamely tries to convince us that "Never Die Alone" lies within the rich tradition of film noir. Alas, this is just film ugly. At the end of the movie, when an editor finally gets a look at Paul Story's about King David, he slams the manuscript shut and says, "I don't believe a word". Amen to that.
NEVER DIE ALONE
Fox Searchlight
Fox Searchlight and ContentFilm present a Bloodline Films productionin association with White Orchid Films
Credits:
Director: Ernest Dickerson
Screenwriter: James Gibson
Based on the novel by: Donald Goines
Producers: Alessandro Camon, Earl Simmons
Executive producers: Edward R. Pressman, John Schmidt, Angelo A. Ellerbee, Rudy "Kato" Rangel, Marc Gerald, Dion Fearon, Cameron Casey
Director of photography: Matthew Libatique
Production designer: Christiaan Wagener
Music: George Duke
Costume designer: Marie France
Editor: Stephen Lovejoy
Cast:
King David: DMX
Mike: Michael Ealy
Paul: David Arquette
Blue: Antwon Tanner
Edna II: Drew Sidora
Moon: Clifton Powell
Jasper: Luenell Campbell
Janet: Jennifer Sky
Juanita: Reagan Gomez-Preston
Running time -- 89 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 2/18/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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