Hollywood’s talent agencies merge to form super agency

The merger of two of Hollywood's biggest talent agencies into a new 'mega-agency' looks set to shake up Hollywood and bring a blizzard of phone calls from rival agencies looking to poach stars.
 
The tie-up between the 111-year-old William Morris and the 14-year-old Endeavor, which was given the go-ahead by both companies' board members on Monday but is yet to be approved under government monopoly legislation, will create one of the film industry's largest talent-management companies, or 'ten-percenters' as they're known in Hollywood.
 
William Morris Endeavor Entertainment, as it will now be called, will reportedly earn around $325 million a year and can count actors Robert De Niro and Denzel Washington, singers Kanye West and Lady Gaga, and comedian Sacha Baron Cohen among its A-list clients.
 
William Morris is one of the oldest and most prestigious talent agencies in Hollywood. It also has an international presence, with operations in London, Nashville, Miami and Shanghai. In recent years, however, massive overheads have begun to bite into the company's profits and it has failed to attract younger celebrities to join stars like Mel Gibson and John Travolta on its books.
 
By contrast Endeavor, a relative newcomer to the agency scene, is more fashionable, with actors like Shia LaBeouf and Keira Knightley and director Danny Boyle on its books. The agency was set up in the mid-1990s by Ari Emanuel, the brother of Barack Obama's Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel. As one industry observer told Variety: "William Morris is cash-rich; Endeavor is client-rich. They need each other."
 
The new 'mega agency' will have a foothold in virtually every part of the media and entertainment industries and plans to challenge Creative Artists Agency and International Creative Management for clients in film, music, sports and broadcasting.
 
There is already fallout from the merger. Five senior agents at William Morris are said to be leaving while Endeavor co-founder Tom Strickler is reported to have emailed a resignation note to staff yesterday. Some 100 jobs across both companies are likely to go. ·