April
27
WME Entertainment Approved
The long-negotiated (over a year) and awaited William Morris/Endeavor merger, between a rich and venerable agency and young talent powerhouse, is finally approved, reports Variety:
The combination of the 111-year-old WMA and the 14-year-old Endeavor will create a mega-agency whose combined assets extend into virtually every aspect of the entertainment and media biz. The tie-up, which is still subject to government approvals, also creates the largest competitor to CAA since that agency solidified its position as Hollywood's dominant tenpercentery more than two decades ago.
Leading WME Entertainment will be WMA chief exec Jim Wiatt as chairman, while Endeavor toppers Ari Emanuel and Patrick Whitesell and WMA prexy Dave Wirtschafter will serve as co-CEOs.
The questions going forward: how many agents will be let go, as the new Beverly Hills offices being built for the combined agency will not accommodate all of WMA and Endeavor's agency roster? One day last week, when the phones went down at William Morris, many agents thought for a moment that they had been terminated. How many more agents like Tom Strickler and David Lonner will defect with alpha-clients such as J.J. Abrams in tow? (Agents have been calling potential homes like mad.) The consolidation of the two agencies changes the power mix in Hollywood and puts many things in play. For example, how will the two indie sides of the agencies, currently run by Endeavor's Graham Taylor and WMA's Cassian Elwes and Rena Ronson, merge together? CAA, for example, has some ten people in their indie division. (At this point, no one knows.)
Here's the LAT and The Wrap, written by ex-Variety executive editor Michael Speier. UPDATE: Kim Masters on what this merger reveals about the state of the industry.
The real question of the day: if you had to vote for who would win a game of survivor between WMA's Jim Wiatt and Endeavor's Ari Emanuel, who would you choose?
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