Cannes: Competition Movies Divide Critics; How Much Do The … 
Record-Breaking Memorial Weekend 2013! ‘Fast & … 
SAG-AFTRA Sued For Witholding Foreign Residuals And … 
Zach Braff Ends $3+M Kickstarter Campaign 
Fox Unscripted TV Czar Mike Darnell To Exit 
NBC Sets Oklahoma Tornado Benefit Concert For May 29 
Cannes: Directors’ Fortnight Honors ‘Les … 
SHOCKER: Tom Cruise Exits ‘Man From … 
A+E Rebuild: BBC’s Jana Bennett To Run Bio And LMN … 
RATINGS RAT RACE: ‘Hannibal’ Hits Low, … 
‘Katie’ Shakeup: Rachel Miskowiec Replaces … 
Hammond On Cannes: French Hero Jerry Lewis On His Return To … 
Cannes: Another Jewelry Heist? $2.6M Necklace Missing After … 
Hammond On Cannes: Leo DiCaprio’s Moon Trip Tops … 
Specialty B.O. Preview: ‘Before Midnight’, … 
2012-2013 Season Network Rankings: CBS Sweeps In Final … 
Full 2012-2013 TV Season Series Rankings 
TOLDJA! Paramount Pocketing $190M From Disney For Marvel … 
‘Good Morning America’ Hits 19-Year Viewership … 
MGM Buys ‘Modern Family’ Producer Ben … 
‘Fashion Police’ Writers Chant On Picket Lines: … 
EXCLUSIVE: Veteran Gersh TV lit agents Amy L. Retzinger and Rob Golenberg have left the agency. Both had been there for more than a decade. The move is a fallout from Gersh’s recent hire of CAA TV lit agent Roy Ashton as Partner and Head of the Television Literary Department and part of a restructuring at the department under Ashton. Neither Retzinger nor Golenberg have lined up their next gigs yet. There has been speculation that Retzinger might be headed to upstart Verve, while Golenberg is in the process of starting a representation/production business, which he will likely announce after the first of the year.
TV Editor Nellie Andreeva - tip her here.
Loading ...
Amy is talent. Rob is jive. ’nuff said.
What a shame. Losing good people for Roy Ashton. Guy made ZERO impact at CAA. Someone really didn’t do their homework at Gersh.
Rob is not the greatest agent but a good guy. Amy is great with directors. Why is it impossi le for gersh to make a successful lit department. They should have tried to hire jack leighton.
Best move ever for Gersh.
Amy is Koo Koo for Coco Puffs. if it is verve she goes to, those guys and she will be oil and water. good luck!
Go roy!
Don’t know about rob, but I can assure you Amy left on her terms. They don’t make agents any better than her. Wish her the best.
Amy’s great – smart, dedicated to her clients and a pleasure to do business with. She’ll be a great addition wherever she lands.
Odd move by the Gersh boys. Let’s be honest, CAA does not let valuable agents walk out the door, so Roy does not seem to be much, nor does he seem to have any clients of note he has brought over. Rob and Amy both have real client lists. The Gersh boys are strong on actor talent, but are continually lost in other areas of the business. I agree with Nixon, the Gershs seem to have gotten bad info.
Good for Rob! Rob Golenberg is a great guy and a GREAT agent! He will do amazing things on his own!
Roy Ashton was the biggest joke at CAA– among clients and assistants. Its baffling Gersh would have hired him to head a Lit department. Seriously baffling.
Anyone remembet ken neiser? Same thing but from icm.
True
Wish them both the very best. Especially Rob who is one of the good ones.
Rob is a true mensch.
Rob is a great guy. Always enjoy dealing with him. Amy is an amazing agent who will be a great partner for whatever company she is heading to.
Amy is sane for sanity puffs!
Anyone close to the situation knows that Amy is the star there and must have been planning her exit for some time, while Rob’s head has been on the chopping block. This smacks of a story leaked by Rob to make himself look better by associating himself with her. Trust me, Gersh was trying to keep Amy not “restructure” her.
Doubt if you’ll print this since it’s negative but it’s also the truth. Amy R. is smart, I do not dispute that. But she is also an absolute scumbag in terms of her dealings with writers. I can’t provide specifics; that would identify me and could have reprisals from her limited number of friends; But she is bad news, no integrity at all (even for an agent), someone whose word means absolutely nothing. Wherever she lands, if she lands anywhere, I will never, ever do business with her again.
Gersh is clearly badly mismanaged. Ashton is not just irrelevant, he’s incompetent — ask anyone who works at abc — which he “covered” for caa. Not only does he have no significant clients, most of those he does have did not follow him to gersh — because they know he is badly informed, slow on the uptake, and not respected by buyers. The idea that anyone would put ashton in charge of anything is ludicrous. Golenberg is a hard-working guy with some good clients. Gersh made a big trade down on this one. Can’t imagine they knew what they were getting.
Amy Retzinger was going to leave Gersh twice in the past three years. Both times they begged her to stay, even sweetening her deal.
Rob they have been trying to dump. He is a very friendly guy, but lazy. Yes, all agents are inherently lazy, but Rob surpasses the norm. Clients have complained, clients have asked to be moved, balls have been dropped during deals, etc.
But as someone else pointed out, Amy was a star there. I am convinced the majority of her clients will go with her.
As for Roy Ashton, I think last night said it best: I was drinking with a veteran cable series showrunner and when I brought up all this Gersh business the showrunner said “Who the hell is Roy Ashton?”
Roy Ashton is a freaking joke – another bone-headed move by the Gersh boys
File this under: A writer never forgets. Fifteen years ago I was looking for my first TV agent and gave a Seinfeld spec as a sample for Rob to read. Weeks later he called and gave me his thoughts…”I threw it in the trash after ten pages”! I was surprised…how bad could it have been. He went on to “school me” on how I should know more about the shows I’m writing samples for…”You wrote in the script that George had been at Woodstock…he would have been like eight years old…not close to being old enough to remember Woodstock! Right there I knew I’d hate the rest of the script”
That was the last time I spoke with Rob. A year later I was watching Seinfeld and Jerry and George talked about graduating High School in 1971. Woodstock was in 1969…meaning George would have been 16 that summer and believably could have been at the event! Yeah, I really needed to know more about what I was writing. Oh, I later signed with a great agent and have had and continue to have a fulfilling career. Whew! I’ve been holding that in for years!
I might add, I have no idea if he’s a good agent now, or not. Just my experience.
Wow. Amy was the entire TV Lit Department. David and Bob are idiots for letting her go. She should have ran the department. Few agents who actually had connections/made money.
In dealing with Rob, he’s a spoiled asshole, who never worked. Who would hire that clown. Go Amy! I knew this was coming. We all knew.
Amy is fantastic. This is Gersh’s loss.
The level to which Gersh undervalues its agents is notoriously awful. Everything within those walls is a fight down to office supplies, and this is one instance where they plastered it for all of town to see. Completely dysfunctional–it’s too bad because there are some hardworking agents there, like Amy & Rob.
IN RESPONSE TO EVELYN: I know none of the players mentioned personally. Being an agent I know I have fans,and I am certain to have my fair share of detractors. Neither who know the amount of effort and dedication I spend towards repping my clients. But how fortunate that you ran into an agent who spent time not only reading your work or a portion thereof, but sought to impart some criticism. I used to do that, but the writer never appreciatesd it. Here’s the kicker Evelyn, you did not go onto to be a successful teleplay writer, did you? I bet you didn’t take any notes of what Rob told you. I bet you thought him ignorant and dismissed his comments, as you so gloriously did above. Whew! Glad you got that off your chest. Jason “George” Alexander was born in 1959, making him 10yr old in the age of Woodstock, so while not exact, Rob wasn’t too far off as to the possible age of the character. As Jason and Jerry are five years apart in age, it is even more inconceivable that they would graduate from HS the same year! That an episode eventually did have them graduating is just one of those things. So who’s right? Who knows. But next time someone offers criticism, listen. It may help you to be better. Good luck to all.