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First, there's Lanny Noveck, who was head of scripted television packaging at William Morris before the merger. He just got hired by ICM Monday and starts today. And ICM has brought over WMA TV literary agent Dan Norton.
Then, WMA TV lit agent Renee Kurtz is heading to CAA.
UPDATE: And, I have learned that longtime William Morris motion picture lit agents Ramses IsHak and Michael Sheresky have joined UTA. Many people were surprised that the pair were among those let go by William Morris, and in fact there was a real question whether they would stay on through the merger. But I’m told they settled out of their contracts a few days ago and now will be headed to UTA this week to work in the motion picture literary department run by partner David Kramer. IsHak had been with William Morris for 15 years, and an agent of 11 of those. Sheresky has been at the agency for 18 years, but took a break for a few years to earn an MBA from Harvard before rejoining the agency 11 years ago. The two agents are known for working as a team sharing their clients who include Ice Cube and his production company CubeVision, F. Gary Gray, Tim Story, Sylvain White, John Brancato & Mike Ferris, Mark Neveldine & Brian Taylor, David Hayter, Josh Olson, Jeremy Garelick, Ethan Reiff & Cyrus Voris, David Cunningham, Leo Benvenuti & Steve Rudnick, Frank Flowers, John Fusco, Kevin Jarre, Dave Meyers, Oren Moverman, Tommy O’Haver, Richard Potter & Matthew Stravitz, Ryan Shiraki, David E. Talbert and Paul Hunter.
2ND UPDATE: UTA has hired still another laid-off Morris agent -- young talent tenpercenter Ashley Josephson who was a rep at Morris for four years.
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Lanny’s the best. he was my agent for twenty years. ICM’s lucky to have him. By the way, it’s Noveck, not Novack.
Lanny is one of the last of the good guys. Intelligent, principled, decent, not to mention really good at his job. He puts clients first. Do agents do that any more? I’m not sure. I’m glad to see he’s landing in a better place.
He’s a class act. Principled, decent, smart, and loyal to his clients, and earning their loyalty through his work. I don’t know how many executive friends have told me that when they see his name on their call sheet, they look forward to calling him back, because they know he won’t waste their time with someone who’s not appropriate for a project. All this and he’s crazy about his family.
Congrats to Chris Silberman and the ICM gang for recognizing quality.
I’m very surprised by this..Ramses is very well respected..still young and def. always looking for new talent.
It’s ETHAN REIFF & CYRUS VORIS — clients of Ramses’.
I bet every single one of Ramses and Mike SHERESKY’s (you need to check your spelling!) clients will decamp to UTA along with their reps. Those guys are awesome agents and have always done well by their clients, which includes a ton of first rate, high income talent. It makes no sense that the “new administration” didn’t see it as in their interests to keep them around,
Ramses and Mike are class acts. They were the few agents from william morris that saw this as a bad deal for wma… which it has clearly turned out to be. They live by the gut and their instincts are right now all the time. UTA is lucky to have them and it’ll be a great shop for talent like ice cube, f. gary gray, david hayter, tim story, ferris and brancato, voris and reiff, garelick, josh olson… their list is awesome!! wma(e) screwed up big time losing these guys! kudos to uta for having the foresight to snatch them up before caa came to its senses.
Surprised about the Ramses-Sheresky move on the part of WME. They are quite respected in the Community. Endeavor types must’ve seen them as a threat, esp. since they have each other’s backs the way they do. Smart UTA!
I was an asst. at WMA for 3 years. Ramses & Sheresky were always class acts that ALWAYS took the time to talk to the little guys. Little guys eventually run studios (or Agencies) and they knew that.
Class acts both of them and very well respected.
Nice catch UTA.
It is not easy to land in the CAA TV lit dept. Very tight knit group. Renee Kurtz is perhaps replacing Jackie Singer who recently left?
WME was hoping to freeze Mike and Ramses and then try to keep their clients to stay. No such luck it seems.
Ramses and Mike are fantastic and wise to have made the move.
Makes me consider working with them again, actually!
Ashley is a great agent, trained by a great manager, Kenny Goodman who WMA let slip through its ridiculous fingers… Niki- you should really look at the trail of people who left over the last 24 months, and what significant talents those agents were, and how pathetic it is that they lost them.
I worked at WMA as an assistant for 3 years and can tell you these are all wonderful people, Ashely Josephson especially. I’m really happy for her.
R
It reflects well on David Kramer that UTA scored this clearly well-respected pair.
Ashley Josephson is a class act and a fantastic young talent agent. Many agents and managers in town were shaking their heads in amazement that she was let go. She will do a great job at UTA and will build a strong business there.
Ramses was probably shown the door because he was a spec guy and that market’s kind of over. A nice guy, sure, but always chasing those out-of-the-woodwork kind of writers who inevitably turn out to have one decent script in them and then roll over (Josh Olson, Frank Flowers, David Hayter, etc.).
All the good adjectives about Lanny Noveck have already been used. Solid, honest, intelligent, decent, and really good at the job. All I can add is that after fifteen years of representation…and counting…loyalty works both ways.
ok i am sorry but whoever called kenny goodman ‘great’ must be on crack. he was fired because he is an idiot. period
Man, someone should just buy UTA’s lit department.
Ramses Ishak, Michael Sheresky and Ashley Josephson. Wow. UTA landed a perfect trifecta!!!
Ashley is smart, ambitious, incredibly driven and works her ass off. A true future superstar.
Ishak and Sheresky are superstars already. Glad UTA realizes it.
The list suggests that Ishak and Sheresky have represented ethnically diverse clients. F. Gary Gray, Tim Story, David Hayter, Paul Hunter, Ice Cube, Ryan Shiraki, David E. Talbert…this partnership seems to have built up trust among talented (male) directors/writers of color in a still-basically-white Hollywood. Meaning it generally took Ishak and Sheresky more (of different kinds of behind-the-scenes) work to represent these clients at smaller commissions relative to the clients’ level of talent. It’s WME’s loss in many ways.
Mike Sheresky is a class act all the way. Even when I was nothing but a lowly assistant, he always treated me with respect…even when my boss didn’t return his calls right away. WME’s loss and UTA’s gain.