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In all of the exorbitant fallout from Michael Kassan’s exit from UTA earlier this month even the lawyers are getting shrapnel now.

Following a Deadline article of March 25 in which the agency’s outside counsel Bryan Freeman called the ex-MediaLink CEO a “pathological liar,” Kassan is now aiming his ire at the Hollywood heavyweight attorney to the tune of $125 million. If the sum sounds familiar, it’s because it is the exact amount that UTA bought strategic advisory firm MediaLink for in a handshake deal back in December 2021.

Coming on the same day that UTA hit back at Kassan’s arbitration claims, the jury trial seeking defamation suit (read it here) filed today in LA Superior Court cuts pretty fast to the chase, as you can see here:

Knowing that Kassan’s profession consists of providing important strategic advice to the largest companies in the world, on behalf of his clients,...

A3 may be dead, but the legal war between onetime agency chairman Adam Bold and his former top executives rages on.

Broadening the horizon of the flurry of filings in Los Angeles Superior Court, Hollywood heavyweight lawyer Bryan Freedman has offered to help the much-accused and allegedly drug-addicted Bold get sober and “embark on a program of recovery.”

In a town literally and figuratively built on fiction, you seriously couldn’t make some of this stuff up.

Hitting back at lurid accusations and what he calls a “smear campaign” in a December 2023 suit from now former A3 partners Robert Attermann and Brian Cho citing hardcore drug use, sexual harassment, and overall claims of having “squandered everything” at the agency he took over in 2018, Bold’s acrimonious response and attempt to have the initial suit tossed out takes a lot of big swings itself. For one, mutual fund chief Bold asserts...

A3 Artists Agency is shuttering.

A3 COO Todd Quinn informed staff in an email Friday, writing, “The decision was not made lightly and comes after extensive analysis. Despite our best efforts, we find ourselves unable to continue operating in a sustainable manner.” Final paychecks will be sent to staff on Monday, which will be its final day of operations.

According to a source, the decision to pull the trigger was made unilaterally by chairman Adam Bold on Friday afternoon and caught agency CEO Robert Atterman and president Brian Cho by surprise. Bold has the power to make such moves unilaterally according to new operating agreements signed last year.

Atterman and Cho, longtime executives at the firm since before its rebranding from Abrams Artists Agency in 2020, currently are suing Bold for fraudulently compelling them to sign over their managing rights to him. The lawsuit was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Dec.

A3 Artists Agency, a talent representation business whose majority owner Adam Bold was recently sued by his partners, will cease operations next week, multiple sources told Variety.

The shop — which counts clients like Lorraine Bracco and Anthony Michael Hall, and represented late stars like Carl Weathers and Angus Cloud — will shut down at close of business on Monday, per a memo obtained by Variety and written by A3 chief operating officer Todd Quinn. Employees will be issued final paychecks on Feb. 12 and benefits like healthcare will be extended for a brief time.

“This decision was not made lightly and comes after extensive analysis. Despite our best efforts, we find ourselves unable to continue operating in a sustainable manner,” the memo read.

Representatives for A3 did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

In December, agency CEO Robert Atterman and president Brian Cho filed an explosive lawsuit against Bold, accusing the...

Exclusive: Little more than a month after finalizing the sale of its digital and alternative divisions to Gersh, A3 Artists Agency is closing its doors for good, Deadline has learned.

In a Friday afternoon email to staff reviewed by Deadline, A3 COO Todd Quinn said, “After careful consideration and evaluation of our circumstances, we regret to announce that A3 will be ceasing its ongoing operations effective end of day Monday, February 12, 2024.” Added Quinn, “This decision was not made lightly and comes after extensive analysis. Despite our best efforts, we find ourselves unable to continue operating in a sustainable manner.”

Sources told Deadline that this was a unilateral decision on Bold’s part which caught everyone by surprise. The move brings to an end the run of an agency established (as Abrams Artists Agency) all the way back in 1977, which Adam Bold took over as Chairman in 2018. There’s still some administrative work to be done,...

Gersh has finally acquired the digital and alternative departments of A3 Artists Agency.

It comes after Deadline revealed the plans in September.

It marks the first deal after Crestview Partners took an equity investment in Gersh last year that saw the private equity company take a 45% stake in the agency.

As part of acquisition, 25 agents and a total of 45 additional staff will move to Gersh. It will see a new stand-alone digital business for the agency to be led by Jade Sherman, who joins as a senior partner and Head of Digital.

The alternative department will be led by Alec Shankman, who joins Gersh as a senior partner and Head of Alternative, working alongside senior agent and partner Debra Goldfarb.

In addition to Shankman and Sherman, senior agents moving to Gersh as part of the deal include Keith Bielory, Mark Turner, Melissa DeMarco, Sam Schmidt, Marienor Madrilejo, Jared Thompson, and Matt Sorger.

Less than a month after a lawsuit was filed against the chairman of A3 Artists Agency seeking to block its sale, rival Gersh says it has closed a deal for the digital and alternative departments of the talent firm.

Some forty five staffers — twenty five of which are agents — will move over to the Beverly Hills-based Gersh as part of the agreement, bringing the total number of employees at the agency to around 350, with about 125 agents.

“The combined resources and expertise within the agency will unlock unparalleled opportunities for our clients,” said Bob Gersh, David Gersh and Leslie Siebert, co-presidents of Gersh, adding, “A3’s leadership team cultivated two outstanding departments. Their demonstrated success quickly positioned them as compelling additions to the agency.”

As part of the deal, A3’s Jade Sherman joins Gersh as senior partner and head of digital, while Alec Shankman arrives as senior partner and head of alternative.

Exclusive: Todd Eisner, a 30-year veteran talent agent, has resigned from A3 Artists Agency, where he was a Senior Agent in the Los Angeles talent department for almost seven years, to join the Paradigm Talent Agency.

“Paradigm has long admired Todd as an industry veteran who brings an exceptional work ethic and passion for his clients to everything he does,” the agency’s Partner Jim Dempsey said in a statement to Deadline. “With the same artist-first approach, Todd will be an excellent addition to our team of entrepreneurial representatives.”

Over the past year, Paradigm has been staffing up with the hires of Chris Till and Neil A. Cohen and Varun Monga, and internal promotions including elevating 14 agents to Partner.

Eisner is the latest senior-level talent agent to leave A3 in the past couple of months amid a turmoil at the agency, culminating in a recent lawsuit filed by A3 partners...

Exclusive: Gersh Agency bosses have backed a new African streamer with a seven-figure investment.

The Streamline Content mobile-first free SVoD will roll out across Sub-Saharan Africa shortly, combining local content with Hollywood fare in seven Fast and several VoD channels. It will have more than 15,000 hours worth of licensed content in genres ranging from scripted to documentaries to features to e-sports.

Gersh bosses Bob and David Gersh have invested a seven-figure sum in Streamline and taken an ownership stake as individuals, while longtime Gersh partner Todd Christopher is a co-founder. The streamer has also struck a strategic distribution partnership with Ayoba, an African platform that says it has more than 30 million monthly active users.

Streamline has offices in LA and New York and will soon open in South Africa and Nigeria. The vast majority of future hires will be African nationals, it said, positing an ambition to “create an exchange...

A3 Artists Agency is allegedly locked in a “state of chaos” as it confronts an “exodus of agents and their clients” to competing firms because of majority owner Adam Bold’s mismanagement of company funds, sexual misconduct and drug abuse, according to a complaint that has been filed seeking to block the sale of company’s most profitable divisions to rival Gersh.

Agency partners Robert Attermann and Brian Cho, in a lawsuit filed on Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court, claim that they were duped into signing away their ability to stop the merger by Bold, who’s allegedly been shopping the agency for months at a figure they say is well-below market value.

“It has become exceedingly clear that Bold intends to siphon the proceeds of the A3 sale to himself and drive what remains of a once-great company into bankruptcy,” states the complaint. “In such a scenario, the...

Five years after snagging a majority stake in A3, chairman Adam Bold is being accused of “a campaign of chaos” by the Agency’s CEO and president and being a coke addict, a “creeping” lech who created a toxic and hostile workplace and a spendthrift who is steering “what remains of a once-great company into bankruptcy.”

“In an astonishing run of terror, Bold has squandered everything: A3 is in a state of chaos and dissolution as its agents jump off the sinking ship and flee to A3 competitors, or wait in shock and fear for the next shoe to drop,” declares the 10-claim fraud and breach of contract complaint from A3 partners Robert Atterman and Brian Cho against Bold, A3 itself and Superbrands Capital (read it here). “Remarkably, Bold has managed to alienate nearly every A3 employee, from its leadership down to its administrative staff, through a corrosive and toxic...

Adam Bold, the self-made millionaire and majority owner of talent representation firm A3 Artists Agency, has been hit with a lawsuit from his partners accusing him of sexual misconduct and running the company into the ground.

In court papers filed Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court, agency CEO Robert Atterman and president Brian Cho accused Bold of plunging the company into financial chaos with overspending, squeezing out leadership in a proposed sale of parts of A3 to rival agency Gersh, and developing a reputation as “office creep” and “sex pest” to nearly 200 employees.

“In an astonishing run of terror, Bold has squandered everything,” the filing reads. “A3 is in a state of chaos and dissolution as its agents jump off the sinking ship and flee to A3 competitors, or wait in shock and fear for the next shoe to drop.”

Across departments like a well-known young talent division and film and TV literary,...

Exclusive: The Gersh Agency is in discussions to acquire the unscripted and digital departments of A3 Artists Agency, I hear. Sources stress that the situation is fluid and, while there has been progress n the conversations, there is no deal yet. Reps for the two agencies declined comment.

If the deal makes, it would mark the first M&a move for Gersh since the agency in May sold a 45% stake to private equity firm Crestview Partners in an investment aimed at accelerating the agency’s domestic and international growth. In would also come on the fifth anniversary of Mutual Fund Store founder Adam Bold buying Abrams Artists Agency from founder Harry Abrams. (It was subsequently rebranded as A3 Artists Agency.)

Since then, A3 — along with the other talent agencies — has had to navigate the WGA-agency standoff, a global pandemic and a double Hollywood strike.

There has been a flurry of speculation...

On May 1, the Gersh agency took on an equity partner for the first time since its founding in 1949, selling a 45 percent stake to a New York-based financier, Crestview Partners, for an undisclosed sum. Now it’s figuring out what to do with that cash. Up first? Trying to buy a rival.

The Beverly Hills-based talent firm, run by co-presidents David and Bob Gersh and Leslie Siebert, is said to have approached literary agency Verve with an overture to talk, but was rebuffed, sources tell The Hollywood Reporter. Gersh insiders say that no meetings were had, or offers made, to Verve. A rep for Verve stated: “Gersh reached out a month ago to get together which we politely declined and there has been no further interaction or communication.”

Verve, led by CEO Bill Weinstein since his promotion early this year, has looked to reach beyond its roots as a boutique literary agency.

Exclusive: A3 on Friday laid off 10 people, seven assistants and three coordinators. It is the first major round of layoffs in the talent representation business since the start of the SAG-AFTRA strike but won’t be the last. With Hollywood production grinding to a halt as actors joined writers in walking out after talks with studios fell through, talent agencies and management companies have been mulling new staff cuts, especially those companies that rely heavily on film and scripted TV revenue.

Agencies went into cost-cutting mode soon after the WGA strike started May 2. Lit-focused Verve laid off agents and support staff. APA laid off some assistants, and virtually all agencies scaled back T&e and other expenses, with some restricting non-essential travel and other spending. Some implemented temporary salary cuts for their senior agents.

A3 did some of that, including reducing expenses, suspending the company’s 401K match, and, while there was no mandate,...

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.

Exclusive: Nigel Lythgoe, a 12-time Emmy nominee and co-creator and executive producer of So You Think You Can Dance, has signed with A3 Artists Agency for representation. Lythgoe also served as executive producer of Pop Idol and TV juggernaut, American Idol.

In addition to co-creating and executive producing So You Think You Can Dance, Lythgoe served as a judge on the series for 16 seasons. He also created the 2009 competition Superstars of Dance.

Lythgoe spearheaded and produced Idol Gives Back, which raised more than 170 Million for an array of worthy causes in 2007. It received the Governors Award, the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences’ highest honor. Lythgoe was named on Her Majesty The Queen Elizabeth’s Birthday Honors List in 2015 and awarded an OBE (Order of the British Empire) for his work in Education, Charity and the Arts. In 2021, Lythgoe was honored by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce and received his star...

A3 Artists Agency is expanding its reach into sports entertainment by teaming up with Maxx Sports & Entertainment, Variety has learned exclusively.

Led by A3’s partner and head of unscripted talent, Mark Turner, the partnership is a joint venture between the agencies that will broaden A3’s activity in the sports realm. It will also give the clients of Maxx access to A3’s various divisions including unscripted, talent, literary, books, and its digital group.

“Through this shared vision, we feel it is the perfect time for A3 and Maxx to continue to expand on the Sports entertainment market, creating even more exciting and unique opportunities for talent whose success continues to flourish,” said A3 CEO Robert Attermann and Mark Lepselter, Maxx Sports & Entertainment Group Founder and CEO, in a joint statement.

Maxx represents the likes of Nate Burleson, Akbar Gbajabiamila, retired NBA legend and ESPN analyst Vince Carter,...

A3 Artists Agency has launched a physical production division and hired veteran agent Craig Bernstein as head of the newly formed arm.

“The shutdown due to the pandemic allowed us to act proactively and adapt,” said A3 Chairman Adam Bold. “We took advantage of the opportunity to rethink our business in a strategic way that would allow us to keep moving forward and continue providing the best service possible to our clients. One thing we know for sure is that the agency’s growth over the past eight months is a reflection of our philosophy: if it’s best for the client, it’s best for us. Now with Craig’s expertise and direction, we’ll be a leader in the physical production vertical and fierce advocates for the brilliant minds working behind the camera.”

A3 announced the formation of the new division Thursday and said it expands the agency...

A3 Artists Agency announced Thursday the formation of its Physical Production Division. The agency has also enlisted veteran agent Craig Bernstein as Head of its newly-launched arm.

“The shutdown due to the pandemic allowed us to act proactively and adapt,” said A3 Chairman Adam Bold. “We took advantage of the opportunity to rethink our business in a strategic way that would allow us to keep moving forward and continue providing the best service possible to our clients. One thing we know for sure is that the agency’s growth over the past eight months is a reflection of our philosophy: if it’s best for the client, it’s best for us. Now with Craig’s expertise and direction, we’ll be a leader in the physical production vertical and fierce advocates for the brilliant minds working behind the camera.”

With the new division, A3 will expand its capabilities to...

A3 Artists Agency has hired veteran agent Valarie Phillips as partner and co-head of the firm’s Motion Pictures Literary Division.

Phillips will co-run the Motion Pictures Literary Division alongside Adam Kanter who was named Partner and Co-Head of Motion Pictures earlier this summer when he was hired together with A3’s new Partner and Co-Head of the Television Literary Division, Andy Patman.

In addition, A3 Artists has tapped Martin Spencer as Agent in the Motion Pictures Literary Division, and Antoni Kaczmarek and Kasey Muraszko as Agents in the Television Literary Division.

Phillips, Spencer, Kaczmarek and Muraszko will be based out of Los Angeles.

“Since signing the WGA code of conduct nearly a year ago, A3 has remained committed to building a world-class literary team that reflects the philosophy of the agency: putting the client first,” said A3 CEO Robert Attermann in a statement today. “From the rebranding and to launching and revamping of divisions,...

With Election Day looming on Tuesday, Nov. 3, entertainment companies are moving to make it a paid company holiday. It’s currently a civic holiday only in certain states (including New York), while in California employees without sufficient time to vote must be allowed two hours off with pay.

“Exercising your right to vote is essential to being a good citizen,” wrote A3 CEO Robert Attermann, president Brian Cho, and chairman Adam Bold in a companywide Aug. 19 email announcing that Election Day would be a holiday. The agency joins Bad Robot, AMC, the Oprah Winfrey Network, Legendary, Chernin Entertainment, Village ...

With Election Day looming on Tuesday, Nov. 3, entertainment companies are moving to make it a paid company holiday. It’s currently a civic holiday only in certain states (including New York), while in California employees without sufficient time to vote must be allowed two hours off with pay.

“Exercising your right to vote is essential to being a good citizen,” wrote A3 CEO Robert Attermann, president Brian Cho, and chairman Adam Bold in a companywide Aug. 19 email announcing that Election Day would be a holiday. The agency joins Bad Robot, AMC, the Oprah Winfrey Network, Legendary, Chernin Entertainment, Village ...

A3 Artists Agency is moving aggressively into the podcast space with the launch of its own podcast production company, Big Spark Studios.

The talent agency will kick off the new venture with its first project, an unscripted series hosted by Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles star James Harris, followed by shows featuring Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Denise Richards and Vanderpump Rules’ Ariana Madix.

It comes three months after the company, which was rebranded from Abrams Artists Agency following its sale to Robert Attermann, Brian Cho, and Adam Bold, hired Samantha Land as its first in-house podcast producer.

“Podcasting has become the modern-day version of storytelling that has swept the globe with unparalleled trajectory, and A3 remains at the forefront of this evolution,” said A3 President Brian Cho. “Big Spark Studios will offer yet another channel for our clients and other creators to seamlessly deliver content to their audiences,...

Oprah Winfrey, Jason Blum and A3 Artists Agency want their employees to take the day off for Election Day on Nov. 3.

Winfrey made the announcement Tuesday through her Instagram account in connection with the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment.

“In honor of those who fought and continue to fight for our rights, I’m announcing that November 3rd, Election Day, will be a company holiday at @owntv. This will give my team the necessary time to put on their masks, get to the polls, cast their ballots, and volunteer. I challenge other companies to do the same because this might be the most important election of our lives. Together we can overcome all obstacles in order to exercise our right to vote,” the media mogul said.

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Today marks the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, which gave women – although not all women – the right to vote.

A3 Artists Agency has hired industry veterans Andy Patman and Adam Kanter as partners in an effort to build its literary division and grow the company.

Patman has been hired as co-head of television content and Kanter has become co-head of motion pictures.

Patman spent more than 20 years at Paradigm, where he sold “Desperate Housewives” to ABC and represented William Broyles, Marc Cherry, David Henry Hwang, Robert and Michelle King, and Kenny Ortega.

Kanter spent 24 years at CAA before joining Paradigm in 2014 in the motion picture literary department. He was let go in March as part of layoffs that hit more than 100 Paradigm employees amid fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic. Kanter had been involved with “The Bourne Identity” franchise, “Mr. and Mrs. Smith,” “Rescue Me” and “Suits” and has represented Malcolm D. Lee, Pete Segal, Joe Johnston, Walt Becker, Carl Franklin, and Amy Heckerling.

The agency re-branded itself in March as A3 Artists,...

A3 Artists Agency has brought in four former Paradigm agents to reestablish a literary division. Veterans Andy Patman and Adam Kanter have come on board as A3 partners and Co-Head of Television Content and Motion Pictures, respectively. They are being joined by fellow former Paradigm agents Katt Riley and Martin To on the lit team, with plans to hire more agents, coordinators and assistants while many talent agencies have been contracting in the face of the coronavirus-related Hollywood production shutdown.

That includes Paradigm, which in late March instituted temporary layoffs for 250 employees. The list included Kanter, Riley and To, sources said, while Patman left Paradigm last week, I hear.

Meanwhile, A3 chairman Adam Bold said that he and the rest of the agency’s leadership, CEO Robert Attermann and President Brian Cho, who acquired and subsequently rebranded Abrams Artists Agency, took time during the pandemic to “step back and analyze...

Fatmata Kamara is returning to A3 Artists Agency as a talent agent after a two-year stint at CAA.

During her time at CAA, she represented such talent as Winston Duke, Zazie Beetz, Gabrielle Union, Taylour Paige, Rhenzy Feliz, Anna Diop, Kendrick Sampson, H.E.R., Will Catlett, Miles Brown, and Jesse Williams. Kamara spent six and a half years at Abrams Artists Agency before it rebranded as A3. The announcement was made today by Robert Attermann (CEO), Brian Cho (President) and Adam Bold (Chairman).

“We are thrilled to welcome Fatmata back to the family, said Attermann. She has an incredible eye for talent, and will be an asset to our growing agency.”

“I am so incredibly grateful for the time I spent at CAA,” said Kamara. I cultivated strong relationships with my colleagues during my time there and know I can count on them moving forward.

Her position is effective immediately.

Abrams Artists Agency, a prominent talent and literary agency, has officially rebranded as A3 Artists Agency.

The name change, announced over the weekend at the company’s annual retreat, comes 18 months after Robert Attermann, Brian Cho, and Adam Bold acquired the agency,

“When we purchased the agency in 2018, we set out to be the premium brand we now are,” Bold said. “We said we’d have diversity, and we do. We’re not only promising to be something different; we are something different. We’ve hired top-tier agents from diverse backgrounds, we were the first agency to launch a digital studio, and we recently expanded internationally with an office in the UK.”

He added, “We’ve established ourselves as leaders in the digital and influencer space, e-sports, and podcasting, and have become known as the go-to agency for diverse, emerging talent. We’ve adopted a more multi-tiered, 360-degree approach to what we do,...

Talent and literary hub Abrams Artists Agency has officially rebranded as A3 Artists Agency.

The announcement was made over the weekend at the company’s annual retreat. The name change comes 18 months after Robert Attermann, Brian Cho and Adam Bold acquired the agency, and reflects a new identity that transformed the over 40-year-old traditional talent agency into a specialty artists agency.

“When we purchased the agency in 2018, we set out to be the premium brand we now are,” said A3 Artists Agency chairman Bold. “We said we’d have diversity, and we do. We’re not only promising to be something different; we are something different. We’ve hired top-tier agents from diverse backgrounds, we were the first agency to launch a digital studio, and we recently expanded internationally with an office in the UK. We’ve established ourselves as leaders in the digital and influencer space, e-sports, and podcasting,...

Abrams Artists Agency has rebranded as A3 Artists Agency, the company publicly announced on Monday after sharing the news over the weekend at the company’s annual retreat.

The name change comes 18 months after Robert Attermann, Brian Cho and Adam Bold acquired the agency, and reflects the 40-year-old talent agency’s new identity as a specialty artists agency.

Since the new company ownership, A3 Artists Agency has moved its New York office into the newly renovated Empire State Building, putting it on par with the Los Angeles office located in the Pacific Design Center. The agency also expanded its digital division with the opening of an office in London earlier this year.

Also Read: Abrams Artists Agency Opens London Office in International Expansion

“When we purchased the agency in 2018, we set out to be the premium brand we now are,” A3 Artists Agency Chairman Adam Bold said in a statement.

TBS has renewed the game show “The Misery Index” for a second season, the network announced Tuesday.

“The Good Place” star Jameela Jamil will return as host of the show’s second season along with panelists Brian “Q” Quinn, James “Murr” Murray, Joe Gatto and Sal Vulcano.

The show features two teams, each consisting of one contestant and two panelists, who compete against each other by rating other people’s miserable real-life experiences on a scale of 1-100, based on the titular “Misery Index.”

Also Read: 'The Good Place' Star Jameela Jamil to Host TBS Game Show 'The Misery Index'

“Jameela and The Tenderloins have wholeheartedly translated the most miserable of mishaps into absolute amusement, giving the audience and contestants permission to be entertained by these misfortunes,” said Brett Weitz, general manager for TNT, TBS, & truTV. “We couldn’t be more excited to continue our relationship...

The Abrams Artists Agency has signed the WGA’s Code of Conduct, making it the third mid-tier agency to break ranks with the Association of Talent Agents and sign the code since the guild ordered all of its members seven months ago to fire their agents who refused to sign it. The code bans packaging fees after one year and prohibits agency affiliations with related production entities.

Abrams says it signed after negotiating new terms with the guild about audits and client confidentiality – issues that have reportedly kept several other mid-tier agencies from signing even though they that don’t do much packaging or have any production affiliations. Abrams now joins three other Ata member companies that have broken ranks with the Ata: Buchwald and Kaplan Stahler, which signed in July – and Pantheon, a small agency that signed months before talks broke off with the Ata on June 7.

The Verve agency,...

Abrams Artists Agency has come to terms with the Writers Guild of America and will sign the guild’s Code of Conduct requiring them to eliminate packaging fees, four months after talks between the two sides fell through.

In April, WGA implemented a new Code of Conduct for agents designed to end practices it says are conflicts of interest: Packaging, where agencies bundle talent and projects together and bring them to studio as a package, for which the agency collects a fee; and affiliate production, in which a studio partly owned by the agency is involved in a packaged project. Thousands of writers terminated their representation shortly after the Code went into effect, and since then a small handful of agencies have signed on to the Code.

Also Read: How Hollywood's Guilds Are Bracing for Crucial Negotiations in 2020

The Association of Talent Agents, which represents top agencies like Wme and...

In a major triumph for the Writers Guild of America, the Abrams Artists Agency has signed the WGA’s Code of Conduct, allowing the agency to return to representing WGA members again.

Chairman Adam Bold made the announcement Wednesday, saying that the agency wants to put its clients back to work. He also noted WGA West members had strongly supported the September re-election of David Goodman as president, who had told members in April to fire their agents if the agents had not agreed to bans on packaging fees and affiliate production.

“The writers had elections, and they overwhelmingly reelected David Goodman, one of the leaders of this strategy. We feel that it is time to put the writers back to work, as well as our agents. The code of conduct as it stands now, is a much better document than it was before. For that reason, along with some of our negotiated changes,...

Abrams Artists Agency has hired Todd Quinn as its COO.

A financial, business management and operations professional with 20 years of experience in strategy, planning and mergers & acquisitions, he most recently was chief financial officer at Paradigm. His résumé also includes stints as CFO at the Gersh Agency (2007-08), and Endeavor (2000-08).

“When we bought the agency, we did so with the vision of creating a special place where we can be fierce advocates for our clients,” Abrams CEO Robert Attermann, President Brian Cho and chairman Adam Bold said in a joint statement. “Todd shares those values, and is a testament to the high-quality team we are building at the Abrams Artists Agency.”

Abrams Artists Agency has offices in Los Angeles and New York.

Exclusive: Filmmaker Paul Feig has named Laura Fischer as his new co-President of Universal based Feigco Entertainment. Fischer takes on the added duties while she continues to run Powderkeg, the digital production company Feig launched in partnership with Superbrands Capital LLC, the private entertainment industry investment company of Adam Bold. This new arrangement will allow both Feigco and Powderkeg to bring a new creative efficiency to each project. Powderkeg has been developing a talent pool and content since its inception, and they also have the established network of female-focused comedic talent on the Feigco slate.

Fischer remains CEO of Powderkeg, home to scripted and unscripted series, as well as incubator programs to champion under-served voices. Powderkeg’s projects include Last Resort with Dwayne Johnson and the unscripted QTalks both for Quibi, as well as the Powderkeg: Fuse female directors program, the mini-series East of La Brea and the currently launched...

Exclusive: Veteran literary agents Brad Rosenfeld and Paul Weitzman are leaving Abrams Artists Agency after a 4.5-year stint as VPs and co-heads of the literary division. Partnered with fellow Abrams lit agent Karen Kirkland, the trio have launched a new agency, Culture Creative Entertainment, which has become a WGA signatory, signing the guild’s new franchise agreement.

According to the principals, Cce will initially focus on writers and directors but will expand to include other areas of representation as they grow.

The move comes more than 100 days into the standoff between the Writers Guild of America and the Association of Talent Agents, which led to more than 7,000 writers firing their agents, including those represented by Abrams Artists.

Culture Creative Entertainment would be the third literary agency to sign WGA’s new franchise agreement (formerly Code of Conduct), which would allow it to represent WGA members, joining Verve and Kaplan Stahler.

The signing of the Kaplan Stahler Agency to the WGA’s newly modified franchise agreement has been hailed as a win for the guild, but could it open the floodgates to other mid-sized agencies following suit?

The new deal is far more flexible than anything the guild ever offered to the Association of Talent Agents, and though it still prohibits packaging fees and agency affiliations with corporately related production companies, a new provision allows individual agents to own less than 3% of the shares of any publicly traded entity engaged in the production or distribution of films and TV shows. That alone could be a deal-maker for some mid-tier agencies.

To date, 75 mostly small agencies have signed up, but Kaplan Stahler and the small Pantheon agency are the only Ata members to sign what had been known as the WGA’s Code of Conduct but now is being called its Franchise Agreement.

Adam Bold, chairman of the Abrams Artists Agency, wasn’t able to make a deal last week with the Writers Guild of America, but he says he’s still willing to talk to the guild about a compromise that would address both sides’ concerns and put his agents and writer-clients back to work.

“I’m still brainstorming on solutions,” he told Deadline.

Bold previously agreed to the guild’s two main demands – a ban on packaging fees and agency affiliations with related production entities – but failed to come to terms with WGA executive director David Young on a host of secondary issues the guild has been demanding.

Bold wouldn’t sign the deal that the Verve agency signed with the WGA in May, that is now the guild’s standard offer to all the agencies. It replaces the old Artists’ Manager Basic Agreement with the Association of Talent Agents, which...

The Writers Guild of America has turned down an offer from Abrams Artists Agency to drop packaging fees, ending a chance at a possible thaw in the impasse between the writers and Hollywood agencies.

In April, WGA implemented a new code of conduct for agents designed to end practices it says are conflicts of interest: Packaging, where agencies bundle talent and projects together and bring them to studio as a package, for which the agency collects a fee; and affiliate production, in which a studio partly owned by the agency is involved in a packaged project. When the code of conduct went into effect, writers were required to fire any agent or agency who refused to comply.

Since then, talks between the WGA and the Association of Talent Agents (Ata) have failed to bring any progress. But in its proposal, made public Monday night, Abrams broke ranks with other Ata-affiliated...

The Writers Guild of America has spurned an offer by Abrams Artists Agency to accept WGA’s key requirements in order to return to representing WGA members again.

The agency had proposed that it would stop taking packaging fees and engaging in affiliate production if it could represent WGA members. The offer was conditional, in that Abrams wouldn’t sign the WGA Code of Conduct due to the code’s requirements about information sharing.

The WGA’s response was that it would only accept Abrams signature if it included the entire code rather than parts of it. Abrams chief Adam Bold met with WGA West Executive Director David Young on Tuesday afternoon and said Young was not willing to have any dialogue about modifying the offer.

“Honestly, I’m disappointed, sad, and perplexed by this decision,” Bold said. “I expected that we would have a common goal, which was to...

The Abrams Artists Agency was unable to reach a deal today with the WGA, despite chairman Adam Bold’s offer to forego packaging fees and any affiliation with related production entities. Bold spoke for about 20 minutes with WGA West executive director David Young, but they couldn’t come to an agreement. If Bold had agreed to the guild’s terms, Abrams Artists would have been the first mid-size agency to break ranks with the Association of Talent Agents in the guild’s 11-week struggle to reshape the agenting business.

“Honestly, I’m disappointed, sad, and perplexed by this decision,” Bold said in a statement. “I expected that we would have a common goal, which was to put people back to work in the interim while the litigation is going on, but instead it seems that the WGA has other priorities. I don’t have the desire nor the resources or...

Adam Bold, chairman of the Abrams Artists Agency, has reached out to the WGA in the hopes of making a deal. “I would like to talk with you about a way to let your members and my staff get back to work,” he wrote Monday night in an email to David Young, executive director of the WGA West. “Is there a good time on Tuesday for us to talk?”

If such a deal can be made, Abrams Artists would be the first mid-sized agency to break ranks with the Association of Talent Agents in its 11-week standoff with the guild over packaging fees and agency affiliations with production entities. Bold told Deadline that’s he’s willing to accept the guild’s terms on those two key issues, but that he’s not willing to sign the WGA’s Agency Code of Conduct.

His move to find a middle ground...

In a break with other talent agencies, Abrams Artists Agency said Monday it is willing end its involvement in packaging and in affiliate productions if the Writers Guild of America will permit it to represent guild members, an Abrams spokesperson told TheWrap.

The move makes Abrams only the second agency to go back into business with the WGA since April, when the guild implemented a tough new code of conduct for agents designed to curb packaging and affiliate productions, which the guild calls conflicts of interest. In May, literary and talent agency Verve became the first to do so.

But Verve is not a member of the Association of Talent Agents, the group representing major agencies in their dispute with WGA. Abrams is an Ata member, according to the agency spokesperson.

Also Read: CAA Follows UTA and Wme, Claiming Writers Guild Boycott Violates Antitrust Laws

Abrams chairman Adam Bold told...

Sheree Cohen will join Abrams Artists Agency as a partner, while Saraphina Monaco has been added as as an agent with the Los Angeles Talent Division.

The announcement was made by the agency’s partners, Robert Attermann (CEO), Brian Cho (president and COO) and Adam Bold (chairman).

“The Abrams Artists Agency team is rapidly growing as our company continues to expand,” said Cho. “Sheree and Saraphina bring to the table a combined 30 years of experience working across multiple facets of the entertainment industry, which will further help us serve our clients. Their deep knowledge of the ever-changing landscape makes them valuable assets and an integral part of the Abrams Artists Agency Talent Division.”

Industry veteran Cohen comes to Abrams Artists Agency with 20 years of experience working in entertainment. Most recently, she served as Svp of talent for six years at Buchwald. Prior to that, Cohen spent 11 years at Kohner. Her...

Now that Verve has signed the WGA’s Agency Code of Conduct, speculation has begun about which mid-size agency will be next to sign.

On Thursday, David Gersh, co-president of The Gersh Agency, denied rumors that his company might be next. “The agency has not engaged in any conversations with the WGA and continues to be represented by the Ata,” he told Deadline. And now Adam Bold, the new chairman and co-owner of the Abrams Artists Agency, says he won’t sign the Code either.

“Will I sign the Code? No,” Bold said in an interview. “The WGA would love to make a big deal of Verve, but it actually is a company-specific situation. Their expense structure is kind of out of whack. They took a calculated bet on just being a lit agency. At Abrams Artists Agency, we’re doing Ok because we don’t have any debt and we have a diversified business.

Jamie-Lynn Sigler has signed with Abrams Artists Agency for full representation. The announcement was made today by Abrams Artists Agency partners Robert Attermann (CEO), Brian Cho (president and COO) and Adam Bold (chairman).

Sigler is best known for playing the role of Meadow Soprano in the HBO series The Sopranos and also spent two seasons on HBO’s series Entourage.

She has been seen in numerous independent feature films, TV series and television movies, most recently in Gangster Land opposite Jason Patric and Peter Facinelli, as well as in the feature Justice opposite Stephen Lang. She is currently in preproduction on director Megan Freels Johnson’s feature Hunting Season.

A statement from the Abrams Agency partners said Sigler is “a multi-talented actress whom we are honored to have join our roster of clients. We look forward to working with her.”

Sigler is managed by John Carrabino/Carrabino Management.

The Independent Television Festival is getting a new name and a new sponsor.

Now known as the Catalyst Content Festival, the annual event, which began in 2006, has taken on a premier sponsor in Abrams Artists Agency. In addition to financially sponsoring Catalyst Fest for five years, Abrams is pledging to mentor and represent top festival winners.

It's a significant commitment for the agency that has been under new ownership since last September. "Technology has made it possible for talented people from all over the world to tell diverse, meaningful stories," said Abrams chairman Adam Bold, who ...

Performer, director, writer, producer and social activist Shakina Nayfack has signed with Abrams Artists Agency in the company’s Theatrical, Commercial/ Voice Over and Literary Divisions.

Best known for her work as Lola on the Hulu comedy series Difficult People, Nayfack can also be seen as Frankie on Marvel’s Jessica Jones on Netflix and on TBS’ The Detour. She is the first transgender woman to appear on Broadway, featured both in 24-Hour Plays and Gypsy of the Year.

Nayfack is currently developing a semi-autobiographical musical multi-cam with Constance Schwartz-Morini and Michael Strahan’s Smac Entertainment and is developing her theatrical works, Manifest Pussy and Chonburi International Hotel and Butterfly Club. Most recently she was a staff writer and producer on the Transparent movie musical series finale.

“Shakina represents the type of multi-talented artists we help build and grow,” said agency partners Robert Attermann (CEO), Brian Cho (President and COO...