United Talent Agency Overview, Offices, Board of Directors, Client List, Social Media, Careers

United Talent Agency 

United Talent Agency (UTA) is a private talent agency company that represents artists and other entertainment professionals situated at The Beverly Hills, California. The agency company was established in 1991 and, as of 2017, has approximately 900 employees, around 300 of which are agents.The agency company has specialized divisions focused on television,film, digital, books, music, video games, branding and licensing, speaking, marketing, fine arts, news and broadcasting, among others. UTA also operates the non-profit UTA Foundation.

United Talent Agency Corporate overview

UTA was established in 1991. The company is a private company that seeks to represent talent in a variety of industries including film, television, digital media, publishing, music, and video games, among other fields. The talent agency is situated in both Beverly Hills, California and is one of the largest in the world; with approximately 300 agents representing actors, directors, producers, recording artists, writers, and other professionals.The talent agency has a couple of mandates and they also include brand management, film financing and packaging, licensing, marketing, strategic management, and venture capital financing for companies.

United Talent Agency Offices

In addition to Beverly Hills, UTA has offices in London, Malmö, Miami, Nashville, and New York. UTA has around 900 employees overall, as of February 2018.

• Los Angeles
• New York
• London
• Nashville
• Miami
• Malmö

 

 

United Talent Agency Management| Board of Directors

The company operates as a partnership. Co-founders Jim Berkus and Peter Benedek serve as chairman and director, respectively. Jeremy Zimmer, also a co-founder, serves as chief executive officer (CEO). David Kramer and Jay Suresserve as co-presidents. These executives serve on the board of directors along with Tracey Jacobs, Blair Kohan, and Matt Rice.

United Talent Agency History| Founding Year

UTA was established in 1991 through the merger of the Bauer-Benedek Agency and Leading Artists Agency. Jim Berkus, Jeremy Zimmer, and Peter Benedek are UTA’s co-founders. Berkus and Zimmer first discussed forming a new company during a rafting trip the two took, when Berkus led Leading Artists and Zimmer was a partner at Bauer/Benedek.

By mid 1994, the talent agency had already started expanding; having 10 partners and 40 agents . The company began compiling a weekly list of mostly entry-level employment opportunities across the entertainment industry, which  Los Angeles Times described as “among the most coveted documents in wannabe Hollywood”. In mid 1996, the company had expanded to 45 agents and was described in the media as one of Hollywood’s “big four” agencies.

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. 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. 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. UTA was inducted into Vanity Fair‘s “New Establishment Hall of Fame” in 2010.

 

United Talent Agency Logo

United Talent Agency Headquarters

In the year 2011, UTA relocated its current headquarters to a Civic Center Drive complex, which was renamed UTA Plaza. The headquartes are located at Beverly Hills, Carlifornia.

United Talent Agency &  N.S. Bienstock |UTA News & Broadcast 

In January 2014. the talent company acquired N.S. Bienstock, one of the largest agencies for television news talent in the United States. Richard Leibner and Carole Cooper continued to serve in their roles as co-presidents of N.S. Bienstock. The merger made UTA the largest company representing television news talent.  N.S. Bienstock represented more than 600 television news anchors, reporters, and producers, including: Anderson Cooper, Norah O’Donnell Megyn Kelly, Glenn Beck, Steve Kroft, Lara Logan, David Muir, Bill O’Reilly, Robin Roberts, Bob Schieffer, and Bob Simon. In 2017, however,UTA did not renew O’Reilly’s contract due to allegations of sexual harassment. In 2017, the merger venture was rebranded to UTA News & Broadcast.

United Talent Agency| Keywords Press Publishers

In May of 2004, The talent agency created a new publishing imprint called Keywords Press. The publishing company seeks to publish books by internet entertainers specifically YouTube stars. UTA partnered with Atria Publishing Group, a division of Simon & Schuster, to create the imprint. Recently, Keywords announced deals with Connor Franta, Shane Dawson as well as Joey Graceffa.

United Talent Agency| Creative Artists Agency

In 2015, UTA hired a dozen agents from Creative Artists Agency in what the media termed as a “midnight raid”; leading to the filing of a lawsuit by Creative Artists Agency .  Creative Artists Agency suffered a major blow due to the migration of at least 10 agents representing stars including Chris Pratt, Ed Helms and Will Ferrell to their rival talent Agency. The biggest agents to depart  CAA were Jason Heyman and Martin Lesak, who were in the agency’s comedy division.

In 2005 still, the company took a minority of  investment from Jeffrey W. Ubben, founder and CEO of ValueAct Capital, who became a non-voting UTA board member. ValueAct also was invested in 21st Century Fox, Adobe Systems, CB Richard Ellis, and Microsoft at the time.

United Talent Agency |The Agency Group

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 and brought around 2,000 artists into UTA’s client portfolio, including Muse, Paramore and The Black Keys. UTA expanded its New York City offices in 2016.

United Talent Agency |United Voices| Social Activism

In early 2017, UTA put a leg into matters relating to societal issues by holding several functions relating to political and social movements. Instead of its Academy Awards party that is hosted on an annual basis, the talent company organized a “United Voices” rally outside its Beverly Hills headquarters two days prior the 89th Academy Awards, in response to President Donald Trump’s signing of Executive Order 13769, commonly referred to as the “Muslim travel ban”. The rally had as many as 2,000 demonstrators in attendance in support of refugee relief and freedom of speech, including Bill Nye, Kristen Wiig, Michael J. Fox, Gavin Newsom and Wilmer Valderrama . UTA also contributed $250,000, plus $70,000 collected via crowdfunding, to the American Civil Liberties Union and the International Rescue Committee. The talent company also hosted events for female employees in Los Angeles, New York, and Toronto as part of the Day Without a Woman.

The talent agency also hosted Anita Hill at its offices during the early days of the Me Too movement in January 2018, providing support to the industry’s Commission on Sexual Harassment and Advancing Equality in the Workplace, which Hill went on to lead.  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.

UTA Headquarters in Beverly Hills

United Talent Agency Mandates 

• Branding and marketing

UTA’s Brand Studio entails provision of brand strategy consulting services for corporate brands as well as UTA’s traditional talent. UTA Marketing advises clients including Amazon, Delta Air Lines, General Motors, LinkedIn, and Lyft.

• Digital

UTA’s digital department focuses on entertainment and programming on emerging platforms, digital talent, event management, and development of new ventures. Clients and projects include Rhett and Link, Hannah Hart, Marc Smerling, The Lonely Island, and Smosh, as well as the podcasts and networks Wondery, My Favorite murder, S-Town, and Up and Vanished. UTA Digital division made early investments in Crowdrise, Lyft, and  AwesomenessTV,  which eventually signed a deal with DreamWorks Animation. The digital division also represents technology trade shows, including the Consumer Electronics Show and VidCon. UTA IQ specializes in third-party data analysis and predictive analytics. UTA and Rentrak worked together to develop the social data analysis product called PreAct, which helps predict box office success based on social media engagement.

• Film and television

UTA represents actors, directors, writers, producers, and other professionals across scripted and unscripted film and television projects. Clients include Judd Apatow, the Coen brothers, Angelina Jolie, Frances McDormand, Kumail Nanjiani, Seth Rogen, and Amy Schumer.

The agency’s independent film group also conducts film finance, packaging, production, and sales work.

• Fine arts

UTA’s fine art division manages the careers of contemporary and visual artists, such as Joe Bradley, Larry Clark,Kurt Cobain, Dennis Hopper, Mike Kelley, Nate Lowman, and Elizabeth Peyton, Ai Weiwei, and Pae White. In 2016, UTA opened a 4,500-square-foot (420 m²) venue, called UTA Artist Space, in Los Angeles’ Boyle Heightsneighborhood. It also partnered with Swire Properties to conduct a week-long program at Art Basel Hong Kong. The artist space relocated to Beverly Hills in mid 2018. Ai Weiwei collaborated on the renovation of the new venue.

• Music

The company’s music division has agents representing and booking talent such as Guns N’ Roses, Post Malone, Lenny Kravitz, Marshmello, Mariah Carey, Toby Keith and DJ Khaled. Artists span multiple genres, including classical, country, electronic, hip hop, independent, jazz, pop, reggae, and rock.

• News and broadcast

UTA’s News & Broadcast division represents television news professionals in local and national markets, including Anderson Cooper, Chuck Todd, Jake Tapper, Don Lemon, Dana Bash, Jodi Kantor and Norah O’Donnell.

• Public Speakers

UTA’s speakers division books public speaking events in the business, entertainment, media, politics, and sports fields. Clients include Billy Beane, Preet Bharara, Mark Burnett, Alex Rodriguez and George Takei.

United Talent Agency Foundation

The talent agency operates a non-profit organization called UTA Foundation. The foundation’s annual week-long Project Impact has worked with dozens of organizations in cities around the world and encourages employees to offer community service. The foundation also launched the Live Inspired program in 2016, which allows five UTA employees each year an opportunity to pursue their personal or philanthropic goals during a one-week paid sabbatical

United Talent Agency Acquisitions

In January 2014. the talent company acquired N.S. Bienstock, one of the largest agencies for television news talent in the United States. 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. UTA acquired Greater Talent Network (GTN), which focuses on public speaking engagements, in September 2017. 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. GTN continued to operate from its offices in Florida and New York City.  UTA acquired Circle Talent Agency, which focuses on dance and electronic music, in April 2018.

The New York Observer named UTA one of “Hollywood’s 7 Most Powerful Talent Agencies” in November 2017.

United Talent Agency Client List

Actors and performers

Filmmakers and screenwriters

Television writers and producers

United Talent Agency Careers| Jobs| Internships

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