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EXCLUSIVE: This is being spun two ways to me. Either ICM is dismantling its movie department under President and newly in charge of the entire agency Chris Silbermann who’s all about the TV biz. Or else the agency is emerging from its civil strife by just doing some 
innocent housecleaning. Hmm. ICM is parting ways with three motion picture lit agents: Ava Jamshidi who came to ICM from APA several years ago, Nick Harris who came from Mosaic, and Aaron Hart who came from William Morris when that agency merged with Endeavor. The fact is these exitings follow the forced departure of independent film guru Hal Sadoff. And I’ve heard that right now pressure is being put on one very well known longtime ICM movie agent to move on. And the heads of more high-profile movie agents may be on the chopping block because they also weren’t Silbermann supporters in the coup d’etat against Chairman Jeff Berg. Silbermann’s camp simply explains that such moves are necessary as “we’re taking back the company and promoting the next generation of stars”. The agency tried for soft landings for this week’s trio by finding them other jobs “but in this economy it’s hard”.
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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Ava is great and a hard worker – big mistake on their part. Have not worked with aaron but heard good things as well. Bad move.
Oh, so you’re the one client she actually helped? I had heard of you, but always thought you were more like the Easter Bunny and Diet Dr. Pepper.
HUGE mistake on their part. Ava is amazing and well respected. ICM went down yet another notch in my book.
Ava IS great. Respectful… as well as respected (and the two do often coincide). I have no doubt she is going to land on her feet.
Have to agree re: Ava. Hard working, great taste, a point of view, smart, passionate… It’s really too bad that you can be such a class act and still not be recognized for it.
Don’t know what Left First is talking about – Ava kills for her clients, doesn’t matter if they’re booking six-figure rewrites or unproduced. APA thought it could do better without her in their lit department, too. Oops. Whip-smart, great eye for material – she’ll land on her feet better than ever.
“doesn’t matter if they’re booking six-figure rewrites or unproduced”
Hahhahaha… Hahahahha!!!
I had Ava as an agent and she was the worst, laziest agent ever. I pitched a project to Johnny Depp himself and she never even made a follow up call to his company. (And he picked up the project which my managers handled.) Dropped her right after that and switched to WME.
Lazy agents eventually do lose their jobs.
Aaron is a class act. Sucks they are replacing substance with style over there. Their loss. Someone better’s gain, I’m sure.
At least our logo isn’t moronic.
What’s a ‘soft landing’? Giving them $$, or finding them another job?
In the agency world, not being locked out of your office and booted from the building counts as a soft landing.
Nick Harris is a class act and a wonderful human being. I can’t wait to work with him wherever he lands next.
second that. Nick is terrific. doesn’t make sense to me that he’s going.
This agency has more drama than any television show on Earth. It’s getting stupid now.
They should hire Jen Konawal over at Gersh. Best indie agent there
I hope you are joking…
Hart is a great young agent. One of the best out there. Cares about clients, colleagues, total team player! Stupid move ICM. One of many. Wow.
I know it is uncouth to rag on a guy when he just got let go, but Aaron is not a great agent. He spends more time talking about sports and his weekend plans than he does growing his clients. Given that he was fired from William Morris in the merger I never understood why he never worked harder. This was a very smart decision by ICM.
this is dead-on accurate
WAY TO SIGNAL THE TOWN THAT YOU’RE NOT GOING TO COMPETE ANYMORE…
‘Next generation’??? Ava and Aaron ARE the ‘next generation’.
Stupidity. Naked stupidity.
Very sad to see Ava go. She worked her ass off, actually read (shocking, I know) and had excellent opinions. Hope to see her land somewhere great very soon.
Maybe she’d be a better manager..? The fact is, if she was making money for the company she wouldn’t have gotten the axe.
So ICM is the Titanic now. Clients are already jumping ship.
Hasn’t this been true for the past for years?
Aaron Hart is fantastic. He’ll land somewhere soon. Great taste and a pleasure to deal with.
Ava is a big loss to that department. Don’t understand that move other than politics as there are few MP Lit agents there who work as hard or as well as she does.
Aaron is an amazing agent and person. bad decision on their part.
Have never worked with Nick, but both Ava and Aaron are awesome people– have great taste, great clients. What a loss for ICM. I hope they end up somewhere that realizes how talented, smart, and dedicated they are.
Doug: get out of there! (And turn the lights out when you leave).
They have very little to package with scripts frankly. May turn into a TV shop basically once again (for Silbermann) the way things are going. “…we’re taking back the company and promoting the next generation of stars.” (?) They’re taking back the company from what or whom? What a statement. It sounds like Mickey Rooney guest hosting for Ed McMahon on “Star Search.”
They’re taking back the agency from an investment corp that had no vested interest in anything other than bottom line. If they pull it off, the agents will be the owners and be invested in their own agency’s success. Pretty simple. Makes sense, and is done with most every other major agency in town.
Aaron wouldn’t know a good script if you rolled it up and hit him in the head with it. He’s a CAN’T DO, type. Very shortsighted. His biggest problem is that he thinks he’s the smartest guy in the room. He’s not even close. There’s a reason he’s well traveled and it’s not because he gets things done.
You shouldn’t hit anyone in the head; there’s the chance they won’t remember anything after, let alone the quality of the script (if that’s what you hit them with).
I hate to state the obvious, but CAA never seems to have a problem finding alternative jobs for those agents who are shown the door.
Maybe that’s why they end up staying loyal?
au contraire. You love to state the obvious.
There’s more log-rolling going on in this thread than a lumberjack convention.
now that’s a brilliant post!
Aaron Hart is one of the best agents in the business. He has a great eye for talent – some of the best rising star clients in town. He clearly got screwed here.
WTF are they DOING over there?
Ava is rare in this town. She reads, has good taste, and doesn’t look around the room first to state her opion. I guess those qualities don’t fly at ICM. ICM is really foolish to lose her. She will not only land on her feet, but thrive wherever she lands. She should start her own shingle.
Ava Jamshidi is the only agent I have ever met who actually loved movies. Not the business of selling movies, not being around movie stars and the attendant glitz and glamour, but movies.
And she worked her ass off.
You’re absolutely right, bounder. Ava Jamshidi really does love movies. And not just current movies, either. This is a woman you can talk to about George Cukor and Stanley Donen… a woman who has actually heard of Michael Curtiz and actually seen CASABLANCA.
A woman who knows that a great movie called NOTORIOUS starred Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman and not Jamal Woolard.
What kind of a fucking “Hollywood” are we working in now when those kinds of qualities aren’t just rare, but practically unheard of?
Doubt its Toni. They have to be talking about Gilardi.
+1
they have to be talking about somebody relevant, which Gilardi is obviously not.
aaron’s a nice guy, a smart guy, but as a ten-percenter he always feels like someone let him in the office because it’s ‘bring your kid to work day’ and he’s playing ‘agent’ while his dad’s taking a leak. he lacks authority and second-guesses himself too much. getting fired from two agencies in three years isn’t going to help his self confidence. caa is probably out of the question. uta if he’s lucky. otherwise, what, apa? gersh? sad.
Couldn’t agree more. Somehow he made it as long as he did in two big agencies. You do have to respect anyone who pursues this business while dealing with the drama of a restructuring company, but something about him always felt like he could multitask himself out of any conversation.
Come on fellas, Aaron’s a good dude who works hard and has great taste. His clients are great and it’s only a matter of time before more of them pop. I dread reading writing samples from so many agents in town… Aaron has only sent me terrific material. This was extremely short sighted. Someone is going to pick this guy up and make a killing. He’s a star in the making.
I found him to be a condescending, unprofessional jackass. He does what everyone else in this business does. He labels people. You’re a TV guy or gal, who are you to think you can write a feature. That is the number one reason he will never be a great agent. He is shortsighted and has one of the most dangerous qualities an agent can have. He thinks he’s smarter than the the people who wrote the scripts he sometimes reads. Good luck to him.
Really? If you’re actually a client (or former client) of Ava’s (and I highly doubt you are), you are an anomaly if you are unhappy. She was tops.
Totally. She’s the best. She should manage/produce. She’d get shit done and it’d be well worth making/seeing.