United Talent Agency CEO David Kramer says Paramount’s reported interest in acquiring all of Warner Bros. Discovery is a mixed bag for the industry.
“We would like there to be more options, not less,” Kramer said. “It’s really important, as sellers and agents for for talent who want to be able to go to different places and and utilize the market fully, that we have more buyers, not fewer buyers.”
At the same time, he continued, “We also want our buyers to be healthy, and so I think that’s also critical.”
While the concept of a bid for WBD wasn’t a surprise, the swiftness of it was, he added. “He moved a little quicker than we probably thought he would,” the exec said of the six-week span between the close of the Paramount-Skydance merger and reports of a potential WBD overture. “But it does feel like that that’s been in the air for a while now in terms of Warner’s being a target, ultimately.”
Kramer made the comments during an appearance Wednesday at the Financial Times Business of Entertainment Summit in L.A.
The exec, who started in the mailroom at UTA in 1992, was named CEO in March, succeeding Jeremy Zimmer, was asked about the state of the agency business. UTA is the third-largest agency, but Kramer sees upside in recent developments at his chief rivals. CAA has sold most of itself to French billionaire François-Henri Pinault, while WME going through a spree of M&A transactions, slimming down after the and becoming private.
Especially in the case of WME, he said, “I think when there’s that many moving pieces, people get distracted, people end up in each other’s offices with the door shut, asking each other, ‘Are we going to go private? Are we gonna be public?’ So I think there’s in those kinds of distractions, it creates opportunity, and I think we’ve done a good job taking advantage of that with with who we are and how we work and like that.”
Asked if UTA hired away any WME agents during the transition, he confirmed that it had, though he did not offer additional details of the poachings.
With ICM having been subsumed into CAA and the general trend of consolidation still top of mind, Kramer was asked whether there would continue to be three top-tier agencies in the years to come. “Three, four or five years from now, I think there’s going to be three significant players in the full scale agency business,” he affirmed.
Given his start in the movie business, Kramer was quizzed about its status as the post-Covid recovery continues. He said the pandemic and the 2023 strikes dramatically altered the industry, but pointed to Weapons and Sinners as recent bright spots. “My hope is, on the movie side and on the TV side, that we’re going to recapture the importance of original and risk taking, creative content? Because that’s ultimately, I think, what the people want. They don’t want to be fed the same thing over and over again.”
He acknowledged that Marvel, for so long a box office juggernaut, has been taking “a breather” in recent years, but expressed confidence in a rebound. “They had the most insane run that you’ve seen for 15 years,” he said. “So they had a few movies that didn’t work, but they’re really smart, and they’re gonna figure it out.”