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UPDATE: ICM today also signed director Carl Franklin and his producing partner (and life partner) Jesse Beaton.
After all the rotten agency news out there that I've been reporting, it's refreshing to see a major agency come back into the limelight with some solid talent signings. I'm told that Josh Duhamel was at Gersh, and Jeremy Sisto and Eddie Izzard were at CAA, when ICM recently signed them. 
In addition, ICM also recently scored Skeet Ulrich and Sally Hawkins, for whom several agencies were vying because of her Oscar-touted peformance in Mike Leigh's film Happy Go Lucky. ICM is boasting about its Oscar contenders this year. (See, it's not just CAA's Richard Lovett going around telling everyone within hearing distance that Sean Penn is a Best Actor "lock" for Milk.) In addition to Hawkins, ICM has Mickey Rourke for The Wrestler, Michael Sheen for Frost/Nixon, Jenny Lumet and Jonathan Demme for Rachel Getting Married, Christian McKay for Me And Orson Welles, Rosario Dawson for Seven Pounds, Beyoncé Knowles for Cadillac Records, Kathy Bates for Revolutionary Road, Evan Rachel Wood for The Wrestler, and Alexa Davalas for Defiance. There's an interesting agency backstory about The Wrestler and Rourke, who's been with ICM for the past five years. His agent David Unger did yeoman's work considering Rourkes history making sure throughout a lot of financing ups and downs that the pic got made with him in the lead.
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Smart that they didn’t go with WMA. That would have sealed their fate and killed their career.
David is a super nice guy, but he’s the agent who everyone leaves. Every time he has a decent client like Frances Lawrence they bail. Maybe if the spinal transplant holds he’ll keep Mickey, but only because no one wants an actor who looks like Frankenstein.
the question for mickey becomes – does the wrestler do for him what pulp fiction did for travolta?
A “management” philosophy – meaning personal management – has always been in place at I.C.M. specifically in terms of actors and motion picture directors. Not “stars.” Consistently working actors and directors. They’ve always managed to accommodate the eccentric realities of talent and careers built to last a long time at inception.
But, in truth, just to be provocative – merger talk is so regular here – the merger that has always made sense to me…
is C.A.A. and I.C.M.
I.C.M. complements C.A.A.’s gifts at “star” strategies unbelievably well I think.
At the moment all their strengths seem potentially complementary.
Imagine the TV department alone!
I.C.M. would greatly benefit from the I.M.G.-style inroads that C.A.A. has made.
Jeff Berg could be a Chairman Emeritus with a lifetime of Yoda-style experience at the company’s disposal. You don’t castigate experience…in this instance you would be drawing from a lifetime of unique and insightful management experience…both on the agent side and the business side…
You would be downsizing and expanding globally at the same time.
C.A.A. would get a lot of “estate” material to draw from that Endeavor is supposedly trying to scare up…Arthur Miller; Tennessee Williams; Bob Fosse…a lot of it acquired when the old C.M.A and I.F.A. merged in the wake of the divestiture of M.C.A.
The question would be…
would the Justice Department permit it?
And given that media is now a global concern…and the fact that Richard Lovett has been rather visionary in the importance of “market share” in terms of survival alone…ask Ford or G.M….
this would implode Endeavor’s “everybody’s a partner until Ari says otherwise” law firm structure;
may attract some great U.T.A. clients (those directors!;)and leave William Morris knitting yarn at board meetings counting on an update of “Make Room for Daddy” to help them knit one and pearl two through the 21st century.(Gearing up in Live Nation’s field; where will that lead? I wonder…)
…the Justice Department may in fact applaud it!
I wouldn’t be surprised if you don’t see William Morris selling itself off into the altogether…little by little…piece by piece…
it’s stuck with an antiquated perception of Hollywood business relations and deal making…and yet has no real identity without that.
Wiatt, a nice and personable guy mind you, at the end of the day, just may not be “A” list…and perhaps never was…
LET Endeavor have Mike Ovitz’s old clients. That’s the field (and the style) they’re plowing…in a disguise of being “effective” and “competitive” and “innovative…”
Give us a break. We’ve seen this all before.
There’s a side of me that believes..that, in a way, Ovitz and Emanuel…are the same face.
David Unger (and ICM) reps folks that have have true talent but their “heat” can fade. He (and that agency) I find tends to stick by them through the good & bad. Good for them and the business.
Also an interesting coincidence that Rourke is in “The Wrestler” and WWE wrestler/actor John Cena is an ICM client.
Wow, when U put it that way, ICM looks pretty good!
David Unger is a rock solid agent. Trust me, he fought tooth and nail to coordinate every aspect of THE WRESTLER from securing financing to keeping Mickey in the picture. He believes in his clients and does what it takes. Nobody works harder.
They also have Evan Rachel Wood for The Wrestler, who has a higher profile then Alexa Davalos for crying out loud.
seems pretty clear that you have good sources at ICM since they regularly escape your wrath….quality journalism
ICM has some quality people. Unger is definitely one of them. Nice to see a guy who is all substance and little flash get recognized once in a while. Unger works tirelessly for his clients and is unbelievably resourceful in leveraging his connections to make things happen. Plus he’s a team player who tends to make other agents around him look good. Real asset at ICM.
The major flaw at ICM is that infrastructure wise ICM is a mess. Much like WMA, they desperately need to update their information technology systems.
The ironic thing about ICM, and to some extant WMA, is that their problems were more ground up than anyone realizes. Up to at least a year ago it physically took 5 times more time to send out a script at ICM than at CAA or Endeavor. This was because of antiquated systems they had in place.
Additionally, information used to flow at a glacier pace at ICM because its database systems were inferior to all the other agencies in town – though now this has drastically improved and expect to see more from the company as a result.
Now with Limato gone, ICM’s extremely talented cadre of young agents have more room to operate – and with a lot of the more abrasive, me first agents out of there (Jim Osborne), what was a disastrous integration of Broder now is paying long awaited dividends.
Hoping they continue to turn the corner. But the positive news Nikki writes about is the culminating result last years very tough transition from old to new leadership at the agency, in which lots of feathers were ruffled and much painful bloodletting occurred.
I have been an ICM client for 7 months now, and they’ve been damn good. I don’t know much about this business, and have only been involved for about a year now, but after meeting with all the Agencies, I really thought ICM was more about their clients, and less about themselves (CAA, etc)
Just my two cents.
If they are doing so well … why can’t they sign stars? How do they make money?
What star or star manager or star attorney in their right mind would be impressed by this list of recent signings.
CAA must be thrilled. They now they have more time to devote to Scarlett Johansson, you know, someone who actually makes money.
the comment above me… this kid must not know the business, obviously.
Happy for ICM and Unger. They all have been working so hard for years and it shows. Look at the facts- these clients are artists with integrity and long careers. Toni Howard has done great work rebuilding and has brilliant clients. Good for Bunin that Sisto came back. Eddie Izzard can do anything and heard it was total teamwork as was Sally Hawkins. Chuck James and Lorrie Bartlett are huge assets. My experience w/ ICM is they are actually working really well together and are getting results. Carter Cohn and Schachter have emerged as leaders. Rosario Dawson, Evan Wood, Freddy Rodriguez, Thomas Dekker, Zoe Saldana, Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel, Laura Linney, Sam Jackson, Beyonce, Chris Brown, Alexa Davalos, Jodie Foster, Kathy Bates, Chris Rock, Ellen – such diversity. Sadoff runs an amazing group and TV is off the hook. I’d put another client there tomorrow!!!!
Just a quick look back into the history (both recent and distant) of ICM tells the story of its current freefall from being one of the top agencies in the biz….to its current position of near-dead-last.
ICM is a joke these days.
i think most agencies will eventually disappear–hopefully sooner than later–
for the life of me i cant fathom why actors are dumber than a bunch of rocks to allow agents to systematically kill deals, not present offers, whine and bitch, etc
dont be surprised if one day–CAA becomes toppled and crumbles where its only repping actors in corporate endorsement deals and leaving the dealmaking to lawyers and publicists
For the life of me I cant point the figure on any agency or their film finance division who has actually packaged any decent films lately
thats why at least during ovitz’s reign, you had great films–now–garbage after garbage
and c’mon–eddie izzard and jeremy sisto–why is it that only in l.a. people in the biz talk about these actors like they are world leaders or are curing cancer when in reality–NO ONE, NO ONE else in the world knows who these people are–come up to someone randomly in Skokie, IL or Greenbay wisconsin and ask who any of these has beens are–and they’ll probably say–urgghh–isnt that some politician–
And F**K rageaholic Jim Osborne BTW:):)
Seriously? Are these all David Unger’s relatives posting here? That guy is useless… unless inventing the forward comb-over is something to brag about.
I saw the Wrestler and Mickey Rourke is a true star! I hope he keeps making movies, now that he is back, because we love him!!! Mickey Rourke has tons of new and old fans! The Wrestler movie made us all realize I think how much we missed seeing Mickey in films! Mickey did an OSCAR performance in The Wrestler. His old movies are great, and I think that Mickey took his role in The Wrestler and made the film great! He is and always will be gorgeous to look at too! “All he has to do is smile and those eyes”!!! I melt looking at him in 9 1/2 weeks! More More More Mickey Rourke! Good job to his Agent David Unger for fighting for him! I love Mickey Rourke!!!