CAA Promotes Eight Trainees To Agent

Matt Grobar
·4 min read

CAA has promoted eight trainees from its training program, CAA Elevate, to Agent. Those moving up at the agency are Pili Allen, Tara Anderson, Nicole Brookman, Ben Gelfand, Erica Drache Martelli, Jonathan Rodrigues, Lucas Ryan and Michael Taber.

Allen and Anderson will serve as Agents in the Scripted Television department, with Brookman, Martelli and Taber working in Motion Picture Talent, Ryan in Television Talent, Rodrigues in Strategic Development, and Gelfand in Games. All eight promotees will be based in Los Angeles.

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Allen represents such notable writer-directors as Kestrin Pantera, whose feature Pretty Problems recently won the SXSW Audience Award, and Jeff Greenstein, who served as showrunner for Will & Grace. He joined CAA as a Coordinator in 2022 following the agency’s acquisition of ICM Partners, where he was a Television and Motion Picture Literary Coordinator. CAA’s new Scripted Television Agent previously worked in private wealth management at Morgan Stanley, in the mailroom at WME, and in development at feature production company Bold Films, having graduated with a degree in Finance from Cal State LA.

Allen’s fellow Scripted TV Agent Anderson reps non-writing EPs and premium line producers who oversee all aspects of physical production. Her clients work closely with directors, showrunners and studio executives to ensure the alignment of creative and production, from development through principal photography. The promotee earned both a BFA In Drama and a master’s degree in Inter-Disciplinary Performance Studies from NYU and began her career on set in New York City, assisting directors in film and television production, including Jonathan Demme, James Gray and Mimi Leder. She joined CAA in 2019, after relocating to Los Angeles to work in in Worldwide Television Distribution at MGM Studios.

The newly-minted Motion Picture Talent Agent Brookman started her career as a clerk in CAA’s mailroom in 2016 after graduating from Colgate University with a degree in French Literature.  She most recently assisted Tracy Brennan before being promoted to Coordinator and into the Elevate program in 2021. She last year played an integral role in the signing of New York Times bestselling author and actress Cazzie David, and now represents her, among others.

A graduate of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas where she received her degree in Film, MP Talent Agent Martelli joined the CAA mailroom in 2017. She went on to assist Hylda Queally before being promoted into the Elevate program in 2021 and shifting to CAA Motion Picture Co-Head Joel Lubin’s desk. In her new role, she will identify opportunities for such internationally recognized actors as Golshifteh Farahani (Body of Lies).

Brookman and Martelli’s department colleague Taber joined CAA in 2018, after graduating from Chapman University with a degree in Economics and Communications, assisting agent Sam Bringardner and CAA Motion Picture Talent Co-Head Rachel Rusch before being promoted to Coordinator. He will now work primarily with actors and multi-hyphenates within the feature comedy space, including Zooey Deschanel; Academy Award winner Jim Rash; actress, content creator and trans activist Dylan Mulvaney; and Outer Banks star Rudy Pankow.

CAA’s new Television Talent Agent, Ryan, began his career as an assistant in the Motion Picture Talent group at Gersh in 2017 and joined CAA’s Television Talent department as an assistant to Jessica DiBiase in 2019. The graduate of the University of Michigan, whose degree was in Political Science and Entrepreneurship, was promoted to Coordinator in 2021 and into the Elevate program in 2022.

The Strategic Development Group’s Rodrigues joined CAA in 2019 after graduating from Carnegie Mellon University with a degree in Ethics, History and Public Policy. He first assisted Music Touring agent Scott Morris in New York before relocating to CAA’s L.A. office, where he assisted Music Touring agents Brian Greenbaum and Jenna Adler. He will focus on bringing clients new ventures in the burgeoning Web3 space, as well as finding crossover opportunities for clients in the Music Touring realm, having been integral to the agency’s signings of Web3 artists Mason Rothschild, Daniel Allan and Dave Krugman.

The Games department’s Gelfand began his career as an assistant to Games agent Matthew Cohen in 2018 before being promoted to Coordinator in 2021 and the Elevate program in 2022. The Kenyon College grad, with a degree in Economics, will now focus on supporting video game development studios in financing and building their upcoming titles, as well as expanding their IP into the broader entertainment ecosystem.

First announced back in February 2021, CAA Elevate is a next-generation training program for future agents and executives that was designed by CAA for today’s rapidly changing world, building upon the rich heritage of the agency’s historical Training Program.

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