‘Star Trek Into Darkness’ $22M Friday For Lower …
Finally, Cannes Dealing! Radius-TWC Nabs Director’s …
Hammond On Cannes: Wet Fest’s Official Competition …
‘Vampire Academy’ Adds ‘Modern …
RATINGS RAT RACE: ‘Shark Tank’ Finale Up, …
Cannes: Worldview Options Andrew Dominik’s Marilyn …
UPFRONTS 2013: The Overachievers
‘Mike & Molly’ Creator Mark Roberts To …
Carey Mulligan, Matthias Schoenaerts Set For …
Hammond On Cannes: Weinstein Brings Out Stars For 2013 …
Cannes: Fake Gunshots Interrupt Canal Plus Live Broadcast …
‘The Great Gatsby’ Starts With $5.4M …
Cannes: Music Box Snags Competition’s ‘Michael …
UPDATE: Amazon Studios Begins Pilot Pickups; …
Bruce Rosenblum Bids Classy Goodbye
RATINGS RAT RACE UPDATE: ‘American Idol’ Hits …
UPDATE: ‘Iron Man 3′ Box Office Crosses $1B …
Upfront Market: Will Auto Makers Subsidize TV …
Cannes: Thief Makes Off With $1M+ In Chopard Jewelry Meant …
‘Scandal’ Finale On Small Screen And Onstage At …
‘Modern Family’ Gets Cable Makeover For Launch …
EXCLUSIVE: WME has just hired Warren Zavala from CAA. Zavala had been at the agency for three years, and spent the previous seven years at Gersh. Zavala has an enviable list of young acting talent, which is now in play. His clients at CAA include Lizzy Caplan, Paul Dano, Anna Faris, Shiloh Fernandez, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Johnny Galecki, Kelli Garner, Jackie Earle Haley, Amber Heard, Rian Johnson, Felicity Jones, Adam Scott, Mary Elizabeth Winstead. Developing…
Loading ... Loading ...
Latinos are taking over!
Great hire! Love him.
Warren clearly has a good eye for up and coming talent. Good move for WME
Never pegged Warren as a CAA guy…this seems to make a lot more sense.
Nice move by WME – Warren has amazing relationships and his client list is exactly what WME needs right now.
He has a great list of clients. Love Joseph Gordon levitt.
Shellshocked. Young talent agents dont leave CAA. Especiallly with that list. Bloom off the rose?
Here we go
Floodgates
Agreed, with that list, if in fact it is his list, you do not leave CAA. CAA may lose 30% of that list with Warren leaving but eventually will sign them all back, and the ones that do initially go to WME with Warren Whitesell and Venit will steal them all from him. Go UTA.
It will be more than 30% and no one goes to UTA.
Looks like that Silver Lake money is being put to good use. Nice!
He should have stayed at Gersh.
Mutiny on the deathstar, get out while you can – that place aint what it used to be and never will be again. GO warren!
Good hire. Warren is a smart guy.
Enviable client list? With the exception of JGL, Dano, and Johnson I see nothing “impressive.
excluding the three names you listed those remaining actors booked between 7-10 million dollars last year which would bring in a 300,000 salary before those three…im interested.
Stay in school.
That’s funny, Amber Heard left WME to work with Zavala at CAA.
CAA’s lost more ground to WME in the last six months than the prior sixteen years–balance of power has finally shifted to the new Endeavor, and lotsa smart CAA reps forced to realize it now. Lovett wrote his own demise over the last year…caa needs new leadership desperatelyyy.
Love Warren, must be pretty bad over at CAA for him to leave.
really 2cent? no one else impressive in that list? are you familiar with this business?
I will admit guys I am a bit familiar with the biz but not much as an agent, that being said I would reserve ‘enviable’ and ‘impressive’ for bigger internationally recog a-list. thanks for calling out though
When you start to see midlevel, solid talent agents rolling out of CAA, it truly is the end of an era. Most of them stay there because they are paid just enough. The entrepreneurial spirit is drummed out of you as you learn to chant the “team team team” code to the clients and buyers.
Somehow, WME and UTA give agents the opportunity to feel like owners. So, you might not get to rep Tom Cruise, but you feel great booking Judd Apatow and Adam Sandler knowing that it actually affects your take home pay and long term equity.
Talking to them all gives you the same message. The veteran ‘just missed the board’ crowd, the lifers who don’t care crowd, and the $400,000 guys that dont quite see how they’ll ever get to $2,000,000 contingent … most of them have simply given up. Given up on the climb. It takes years.
It will be interesting to watch the Lovett-Lourd-Huvane handoff over the next decade. At the same time as Emanuel-Whitesell start to wind down. And UTA’s tv money from Law and Order/CSI/Modern Family starts to wane. Will be interesting to see who emerges.
Clearly, Warren thought he’d have a better opportunity in bev hills.
It’s not even BH – it’s the mausoleum in century city with a view of the crappy Hyatt and escalators that are always broken. Zavala is a great guy with an individualist spirit – that is always frowned upon there. Ask Aloni. They spend too much time polishing the name on the side of the ship and not enough on keeping the crew happy and intact. Their ignorance will lead them right towards that iceberg waiting dead ahead and their arrogance will have them thinking they are unsinkable.
Best wishes for them all. Stay near the life boats, folks.
Likeable guy, good agent, very nice client list.
When he left Gersh and landed on the Death Star – it did feel like an odd fit. Was curious to see how it would play out, as he never struck me as the type willing to check his identity at the door. Now we know…
Agree with many of the above comments: this is a symbolic move, and indicative of the fact that that place is not what it was. WZ deserves props for making this move relatively quickly – before he got sucked in and became a lifer.
It’s plain as day that WME and UTA do offer star agents (who have their best years ahead of them) a more genuine opportunity to feel and actually be invested in their clients and their own careers, and have a real ownership stake in the company they’re apart of – and NOT feel merely like a spoke on a gigantic wheel whose sole mission is to roll over the world and collect 100% marketshare.
I have no dog in this fight, but I always think it’s funny when some midlevel agent leaves one place for another how there’s a chorus of it’s all over for this agency. CAA is collapsing, WME is going under… the sands continue to shift but there are four mega agencies (two much more mega than the others– that control 80% of the talent in this town). And that’s not changing any time soon.
this is great for Warren and WME
CAA No thanks!
Best list of young talent in the business.
WTF CAA?! How do you let someone like Warren get poached?