UPDATE: The first-dollar gross producer just left WME and was hotly pursued by both CAA and UTA. His choice to go to UTA will surprise Hollywood since it wasn’t that long ago that he was a partner there who left in a major dispute that erupted into a bitter lawsuit with lots of dirty laundry airing. But Gavin Polone and the agency decided to let bygones be bygones. (Don’t you love this town?) Actually, since his departure, UTA has worked closely with Gavin for years now on his many TV series and movies. UTA will represent Polone and his prolific Pariah shingle in film and television and will also help guide Polone’s transition into the director’s chair. Meanwhile, it’s a shocker that Polone left WME since they were joined at the hip during the Conan O’Brien NBC/TNT negotiations. Some insiders are telling me that “something bad” went down that got Polone very angry. But WME is claiming: ”the relationship with him is still good. We still work realy closely with him,” and that Polone was in the office earlier this week even after he discharged the agency. Sure, because they have a lot of business together. 

Then again, it’s amazing Polone (aka, the “Dark Prince” of Hollywood) has a thriving production company after he kept publicly dissing those WGA strikers. Yet here he is prepping to make his feature directorial debut on the crime thriller Psycho Killer to be produced by Eli Roth from a script by Andrew Kevin Walker. Polone is currently producing the David Koepp action thriller Premium Rush for Paramount which stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt as a NYC bicycle messenger pursued by a dirty cop.

Polone recently produced Sony’s horror-comedy hit Zombieland which helped establish Jesse Eisenberg as a breakout actor and Ruben Fleischer as an in-demand director — and also Sony’s $200 million grossing Panic Room, directed by David Fincher. Polone and Pariah have long been a force in television, with ABC Family expected to pick up to series Polone’s hour dramedy pilot What Would Jane Do from writer April Blair. Among his numerous television credits, Polone executive produces HBO’s long-running hit Curb Your Enthusiasm, now in its eighth season, and was executive producer of the hit series Gilmore Girls.

Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.