FRANCHISED - October 2017

In the state of California an agent must be franchised. In the entertainment business a movie doesn’t have to be a franchise…but it seems like they all are. This is our monthly dive into franchises and the reps who put them together.
 
In most cases the stars of major franchises are repped by the big three agencies (WME, CAA, and UTA) but a Variety report about Kristen Stewart being considered to star in Sony's new Charlie's Angels reboot got us thinking about smaller agencies handling big stars and how they move between large franchise movies and smaller, maybe more personal projects.

Lately, Stewart has been forgoing big name franchises to focus on smaller indie movies and moving into directing. However, migrating into a female led action comedy franchise is a smart move, and one her agency, Gersh, is probably happy about.

And Stewart is not the only Gersh client walking between two worlds. Adam Driver is doing movies like Logan Lucky between playing Kylo Ren in the Star Wars saga, while Elisabeth Olson has been moving between being the Scarlet Witch for the Marvel Cinematic Universe and indies like Ingrid Goes West. Stewart, Driver, and Olson have all been with Gersh for five to six years, and this loyalty is paying off both in the big hollywood movies and smaller movies.

Paradigm is another mid-size agency with actors switching between big franchises and indies, with Domhnall Gleeson as Star Wars villain General Hux and projects like Mother! Ezra Miller, The Flash in the DC universe cycle of films and Credence Barebone in the Harry Potter prequel series, Fantastic Beasts, is another such example. Both Gleeson and Miller have been with Paradigm for over five years. 

Another actor who’s at a smaller boutique agency who’s part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is the Black Panther himself, Chadwick Boseman. He’s been with his agent, Michael Greene at Greene and Associates, for a long time, and similarly has been able to successfully navigate between the two worlds and move into the producing world as well. Boseman is also with Management 360, one of the largest management companies, so he is getting the best of both big and small worlds.  

In the franchise game, loyalty pays off for both actors and reps.

Stewart is represented by agents Ken Kaplan and Steven Gersh at Gersh, and attorneys Joel McKuin and Scott Whitehead at McKuin Frankel Whitehead.

Source: Variety