CAA: Oscar winning actress Emma Thompson has shifted from WME to CAA. She will next be seen as Mrs. Potts in Disney’s live action Beauty and the Beast and the Berlin competition film, Alone in Berlin, alongside Brendan Gleeson. This year she won her first Scottish BAFTA for her role in the dark comedy The Legend of Barney Thomson. She also was seen last year playing Robert Redford’s wife in A Walk in the Woods and Bradley Cooper’s doctor in Burnt.
UTA: Grammy-nominated producer, music executive, DJ and Snapchat personality DJ Khaled has signed with UTA in all areas. He has six million followers across social media platforms. On Snapchat his content includes him regularly dispensing advice and explaining his personal philosophies while documenting his daily life. I Changed a Lot, Khaled’s eighth studio album, debuted and peaked at No. 12 on the Billboard 200.
WME: Actress Gwendoline Christie has signed with WME as her first U.S. agency. She is well known for playing Brienne of Tarth on Game of Thrones, Commander Lyme in The Hunger Games’ franchise and Captain Phasma in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. She will next be seen on Game of Thrones when it returns for a sixth season come April 24. After that, she will return for Star Wars: Episode VIII and appear in BBC Films and Fox Searchlight’s Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie.
CAA: Actress Zoe Saldana has shifted from ICM Partners to CAA. She is currently in three major studio franchises: Avatar, Guardians Of The Galaxy and Star Trek. Previous to ICM Partners she was with Gersh. She can next be seen alongside Ben Affleck in Live By Night and in Star Trek Beyond. She’s also attached to the films I Kill Giants to be directed by Chris Columbus and Swindle for Paramount, both in active development.
WME: Golden Globe, SAG and Emmy nominated actress Ruby Rose, known for her role as Stella Carlin in Orange is the New Black, has signed with WME. She’s also an Australian model and DJ. She recently wrapped Resident Evil: The Final Chapter and is currently in production on John Wick 2 alongside Keanu Reeves. Further out she’ll appear in the rebooted xXx franchise alongside Vin Diesel. She also wrote, produced, and starred in the short film Break Free, which hit more than 15 million views on YouTube.
UTA: UK writer-director Jim Hosking will now be represented by UTA in all areas. He made his feature directorial debut with The Greasy Strangler that premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. His 2010 short film, Renegades was also at Sundance. He also co-wrote and directed Channel 4’s comedy miniseries Privado.
ICM Partners: Writer and producer Aaron McGruder has signed with ICM. He is well known for creating and executive producing the Peabody Award-winning television series, The Boondocks, an animated sitcom that aired for four seasons on Adult Swim, based on his comic strip. His live-action comedy, Black Jesus currently airs on Adult Swim, where he has a first-look deal. McGruder is also developing multiple feature films, including a feature based on Black Jesus. Previously, he co-wrote the George Lucas feature Red Tails.
UTA: Writer-director Tim Sutton has signed with UTA for representation. His film, Dark Knight about gun violence, is premiering at this year’s Sundance Film Festival as part of their NEXT sidebar. His previous film Memphis premiered in Venice and Sundance in 2014. Sutton also recently signed with Cinetic’s newly formed management division which is repping domestic rights for Dark Night.
Abrams Artists Agency: Andrea Brooks, whose YouTube channel AndreasChoice has racked up more than 3.72 million subscribers and 230 million views has signed with the agency. Her videos provide viewers with unique and easy-to-do D.I.Y. projects and creative tips and tricks on fashion, beauty and lifestyle. She is a member of the Maker Studios network and her videos earned a 2015 Teen Choice Award nomination for Choice Web Star: Fashion/Beauty. She has also starred in a national commercial for Colgate’s Optic White campaign and guest on NBC’s Today.
CAA: Matt Bellassai has signed with Creative Artists Agency to be repped in all areas. He was this year’s winner of the 2016 People’s Choice Award for Favorite Social Media Star. He has 1.5 million followers on Facebook and his content includes musings on pop culture, the Internet and his struggles as a single, gay adult living in New York City. He is also on Twitter Tumblr, and Instagram, where his content has been viewed more than 125 million times in the past six months. Bellassai was the writer, producer and star of BuzzFeed’s “Whine About It,” a comedic web series with an audience of more than 3.5 million weekly viewers.
WME: John de Mol’s Talpa Media, the production company behind such global unscripted formats as The Voice, Utopia, I Love My Country, and Dating In The Dark has signed with WME. ITV Studios newly acquired Talpa for $530 million. The company is behind over 100 shows programmed in 180 countries. WME is the first agency to represent the company as a whole. Before starting Talpa in 2005, de Mol co-founded Endemol and was behind such shows as Big Brother, Fear Factor, and Deal or No Deal.
UTA: Chris Brown has shifted from ICM Partners to UTA to be represented in all areas including film, television, digital, licensing and endorsements. The musical artist has sold 6.8 million albums in the U.S., with his most recent album Royalty hitting number one on the R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts. Two of Brown’s albums have also hit number one: F.A.M.E. and Fortune. His acting credits include Battle of the Year, The O.C. and Stomp the Yard.