United Talent Agency

Brands looking to connect with Gen Z often don’t know how to connect with them. Talent agency giant United Talent Agency hopes to change that. https://adweek.it/40cjHdP

Kirsten Dunst stopped by UTA for a screening of “Civil War” and Q&A moderated by film critic Katie Walsh.  Released this spring, critics were unanimous in their praise of Dunst’s performance as veteran war photographer Lee Smith, with Entertainment Weekly writing, “Dunst pulls focus through the calamity with a slow-burning performance that ends up as the best turn of her career” and “oughta get an [Oscar] nod.” 📷: Roger Kisby

💫 Scenes from day one of ZCON, a first-of-its-kind conference — created by Gen Z, for Gen Z, and powered by UTA. Stay tuned to see much more from this year's two-day event in New York City, hosted by Next Gen, a practice of UTA Entertainment Marketing. [h/t Ziad Ahmed, Shaina Zafar, Olivia Frary, Nate Jones, and the entire Next Gen team!]

“This is my biggest, most ambitious dream that I could have ever tried to tackle,” says director Jon M. Chu about his upcoming “Wicked” adaptation in Wall Street Journal's upcoming Innovators Issue. Read the full cover story below.

Jackpot!: The iconic game show, now led by UTA client Seacrest, became the most-watched entertainment show across broadcast, cable, and syndication in September. According to Nielsen data, “Wheel of Fortune” averaged nearly 8 million viewers during the premiere month of its latest season (September 9 through October 6). Seacrest has also helped the show reach its best premiere month audience in three years, up 12% from last year. https://lnkd.in/gg3jkteJ

UTA’s Sam Glynne (Executive, UTA Entertainment & Culture Marketing) attended this year’s MIPCOM Cannes event to speak on a panel called, “The Subtle Art of Integrating Brands into Drama” panel.  She spoke about barriers to entry for brands in entertainment, the necessity for authenticity in placing a brand or its products in a show, and examples of impactful integrations for UTA clients, from Piaggio in “The White Lotus” to Coca-Cola and American Express in “The Bear.” “It was exciting to be representing UTA at MIPCOM’s 40th anniversary TV market, talking not just about entertainment, but about the meaningful role that brands can play in creating culture-defining moments that travel across territories,” Glynne says.

Congratulations to our clients who are featured on The Hollywood Reporter’s “Most Powerful TV Producers" list! The 2024 class includes (as pictured): Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs & Jen Statsky, Mickey Down & Konrad Kay, Jenna Lamia, Darren Star, Chuck Lorre, Nkechi Okoro Carroll, Joe Port & Joe Wiseman, Jenna Snyder Urman, Julian Fellowes, Nick Stoller, Dallas Jenkins, Michelle King & Robert King, Richard Gadd, Scott Gimple, David Zabel, and Julio Torres. Honorees were recognized for being the most influential writing producers in the industry who have released new episodes of live-action scripted series in the last year. View the full list below. https://lnkd.in/gSUXQ-3h

Rashida Jones and Will McCormack hosted the Los Angeles premiere of their short film, “A Swim Lesson,” at UTA’s offices in Beverly Hills. The short is an ode to an everyday hero: Bill Marsh, a swim teacher who helps children manage their fears and discover their own power when submerged in an overwhelming unknown. “[Bill Marsh’s] dedication to these children is the parable we need, as these lessons uncover profound universal truths for all involved,” Jones says. The Oscar® qualified 21-minute doc debuted at the Telluride Film Festival, will air on PBS/POV Shorts and LATimes Short Docs on November 26, and hit the streamer Documentary+ on December 27. 📷: Dan Steinberg /Le Studio Photo

Mikey Madison’s “Anora” performance “raises her to a new echelon in Hollywood,” writes The New York Times in a new profile. From the FX series “Better Things” to “Once Upon A Time…In Hollywood” to playing the titular character in director Sean Baker’s latest, the actress spoke to the publication about her determination to know her characters from the inside out. Before she stepped foot on set for “Anora,” she spent hours learning Russian, pole dancing, and even moved to Brighton Beach to perfect a Brooklyn accent. “She understood her character so much by the time we were shooting that I could rely on her improv being on point and actually delivering in terms of exposition,” Baker says. Her dedication isn’t going unnoticed. Madison is receiving praise from critics and new fans, making her a strong awards season contender. The film’s opening weekend in the U.S. turned out the best per-theater average in over a year. The attention, however, is *not* something she knows inside out, telling NYT, “the curiosity towards [an] actor themselves” has “never been something I’ve really understood.” Read the full profile below.

We’re thrilled to welcome Cooper Koch to UTA for representation. Koch has received critical acclaim for his performance as Erik Menendez in Netflix’s “Monsters: The Erik and Lyle Menendez Story.” Vanity Fair praised the actor for “blaz[ing] with ache and fury, wholly selling a story of how trauma has unmoored one young man from both himself and reality” in the limited series’ fifth episode. https://lnkd.in/geu7KRM7