Notes From the Rep Biz - 7-13-18

A rising star to WME, a mega star to CAA, Paradigm signs a comedian, and James Woods is dropped by his agent at Gersh. All this and more in today’s edition of Notes from the Rep Biz!

At WME:

Writer/director Matt Palmer has signed with Meyash Prabhu. Palmer’s directorial debut, the thriller Calibre, premiered at this year’s Edinburgh Film Festival and won the Michael Powell Award. The film is currently available on Netflix.

American Honey star Sasha Lane has signed with James Farrell and Samantha Leon. Lane made waves with her debut role in American Honey, for which she won Best Actress at the British Independent Film Awards. She can currently be seen in Hearts Beat Loud, and will also be in the Hellboy reboot which opens in January.

NBA star Victor Oladipo, coming off a breakout season, has signed with WME for representation in all off-court areas. He is looking to foster his budding music career, alongside creating more opportunities in branding and endorsements. His point will be Rob Koslowsky.

At CAA:

Al Pacino has returned to CAA and signed with Josh Lieberman. Pacino was critically acclaimed for his portrayal of Joe Paterno in HBO’s Paterno. He’ll next be seen in Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman for Netflix, and Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

TV lit agent Lauren Fox has left UTA and joined CAA. It’s unclear who will be following her to her new gig, but her client list included writers Amy Rardin & Jessica O’Toole, Eli Horowitz and Lauren Schmidt Hissrich, among many others.

CAA has launched the first online database of television writers of color, furthering the cause of bringing greater diversity to TV writers’ rooms. The service, which will be called Amplify Database, will make the names and resumes of over 800 writers of color (and counting) available to people in hiring positions within the industry.

At UTA:

Peter Dodd is leaving UTA and heading to Warner Brothers to be VP of creative development. It is unclear where his clients will go, but they included Zak Penn, Dan Berk and Robert Olsen.

Actor and Oscar-winning musician Common has signed with UTA in all areas. His film/TV team will include Chris Hart, Jordan Berkus and Jason Heyman.

At ICM Partners:

Talent agent Ruthanne Secunda is leaving the representation business to become a full-time producer. Her departure from ICM Partners is amicable, and the word is that many of her clients — who include names like Marcia Gay Harden, Taye Diggs and Piper Perabo — will be re-assigned internally. We will keep you posted.

Film and television director Francesca Gregorini, whose recent credits include episodes of Humans and Electric Dreams, will now be represented by Christina Bazdekis.

Other Notes:

Comedy writer/actor Biniam Bizuneh has signed with Brad Pankosky and Jeff Kolodny at Paradigm. Bizuneh got his start in webseries before joining Jimmy Kimmel Live as a staff writer. He recently co-starred opposite Beth Behrs in Lee Daniels’ pilot Culture Clash. 

Actor Siddarth Dhananjay has signed with APA’s Ashley Hanley and Bradie Steinlauf. He was one of the stars of last year’s indie hit Patti Cake$, and has a strong online following as well.

Managers Chris Lee and Kyle Pak, formerly of East West Artists, will be bringing their clients over to Authentic Talent & Literary Management. The move brings Authentic a robust roster of Asian talent, and a potential foothold in Asian markets.

Book rights specialists Geoffrey Sanford and Brooke Ehrlich are closing their eponymous agency in order to join Anonymous Content. The duo have worked on a number of high profile packages, including Barry Jenkins’ forthcoming series adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s The Underground Railroad.

Over the July 4th holiday, James Woods reported via Twitter that he was being dropped by Gersh agent Ken Kaplan. Woods tweeted that he received an e-mail from Kaplan saying, “It’s the 4th of July and I’m feeling patriotic. I don’t want to represent you anymore. I mean I could go on a rant but you know what I’d say.”

Sources: Variety, Hollywood Reporter, Deadline.