Leading US agency United Talent Agency (UTA) has opened a new office in central London and is eyeing possible acquisitions in Western Europe.
UTA’s new 28,000-square-foot London office is situated on Newman Street in Soho and houses over 100 employees. The majority of staff in the Newman Street office work in UTA’s music practice, while others focus on comedy, digital, entertainment and culture marketing, production arts and advisory services through MediaLink, which UTA acquired in 2021.
The UK office will continue to be co-led by music agents Neil Warnock and Obi Asika.
UTA’s presence in London goes back to 2015, when it acquired UK music talent booking agency, The Agency Group. In 2021, it acquired another music outfit, Echo Location Talent Agency.
Last June, UTA became the first major US talent agency to buy a leading Europe-based talent agency when it invested in Curtis Brown Group, whose roster includes Paapa Essiedu, Bel Powley and Ncuti Gatwa. Under the terms of the deal, Curtis Brown Group continues to operate under its current name and to be led by CEO Jonny Geller. The group also includes sister agencies Markham Froggatt & Irwin and Tavistock Wood.
UTA’s new office location is close to Cunard House on London’s Regent Street, where Curtis Brown will continue to be based.
Until now, UTA’s London operation has been based out of the offices that belonged to The Agency Group when it acquired the company.
UK a “critical hub”
UTA president David Kramer said the UK is a “critical hub” for the agency. After its recent M&A activity in the UK, he said the agency needed “to plant its flag in a different way” in the country. “We realised we are going to keep growing, and we wanted to provide an office space for all the people who were there – one that spoke not to the business that we had, but the business we’re going to continue to build.”
Kramer also reflected on UTA’s acquisition of Curtis Brown, which took place a year ago this month. He said UTA’s main goal was “to do no harm”.
“The company has been in business for about 125 years. They know what they’re doing. They’re run incredibly well by their CEO, Jonny Geller, and they have so many wonderful senior agents there. We want to be additive, we don’t want to be disruptive… we want to stay out of the way where we can, and be helpful where we can.”
In the US market, Curtis Brown continues to share its clients with US agents outside of UTA. “The co-rep relationships remain completely intact. And that’s good,” said Kramer. “That was a promise we made to each other, and a lot of people questioned that.”
Kramer added there has been “a lot of collaboration happening” between UTA and Curtis Brown in the publishing sector in particular. In January, UTA’s publishing division acquired Fletcher & Company, a 20-year-old literary agency with a roster of fiction and non-fiction authors.
European expansion
UTA is also eyeing further expansion into Europe, despite a tough economic background, disruption from the writers’ strike and a slowdown in investment by streamers. “If people are going to be a little bit more conservative, we want to be aggressive,” said Kramer.
The growth of local commissioning by streamers has “created a whole new level of opportunity” for an agency like UTA, said Kramer, who added that Western Europe “is the next logical step for us.”
“For us to do our job responsibly, and to be able to represent the clients who are coming out of those regions, I feel like we should be there… whether that’s partnering up with agencies that are there or sending our agents to those places, the world is just going to continue to get smaller and smaller.”
UTA is headquartered in Los Angeles. As well as London, it has offices in Atlanta, Chicago, Nashville and New York. Further affiliated companies include Digital Brand Architects, Klutch Sports Group and MediaLink.
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