Hollywood New Leaders: Agents and Managers

Each year Variety’s New Leaders feature profiles the most prominent up-and-comers in the entertainment business. To determine this year’s worthies, Variety looked for go-getters across disciplines, from television, digital, music and film, to law and finance, as well as content creators. They were proposed by their bosses and peers who have worked with them and seen their rise. All are age 40 or under, and Variety has measured them by the progress of their career trajectories: do they take calculated risks? How fast have they risen in their companies? Are they innovative and employ solutions to problems that are creative? While it’s hard to pinpoint the “it” factor, these folks embody that intangible. The people on the list have helped build the brilliant careers of their clients, shepherded hit television shows and successful movies, created small-screen series, films and animated shows, launched digital platforms, fostered hit music, counseled top dealmakers and financed them, and are some of the leading lights in the wildly expanding digital delivery and content world. As part of the salute to the qualities that keep the town humming, NBC Entertainment chairman Robert Greenblatt is also being honored with Variety’s Creative Leadership Award. The New Leaders, Variety’s 10 Assistants to Watch as well as Greenblatt will be recognized Oct. 18, at the Jeremy Hotel rooftop in West Hollywood. In the pages that follow, they share whom they like to emulate and the figures that gave them advice, and mentored them.

Antranig Balian
Co-founder/partner, Mortar Media; 37
Balian’s path into showbiz was not a straight one. He started out as a deputy district attorney, then got his MBA from USC, concentrating on entertainment, eventually moving into management posts. Balian has helped his deep roster of unscripted series stars and digital talents grow their brands, as he did with “Jersey Shore” star Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi, who’s got a house-flipping show on FYI Network, which he executive produced, and Richard Rawlings, star of Discovery Channel’s “Fast N’ Loud,” who has a fourth series set to debut, “Garage Rehab,” and has several national brand endorsements. As for signing clients, “My mom is my focus group — if she hasn’t heard of you then you aren’t as famous as you think you are.”

Kristen Billings
Agent, WPA; 38
Billings is integral to company expansion in the global marketplace with her heavy involvement at premiere cinematography festival Camerimage and spearheading WPA’s marketing and publicity department. She created and maintains WPA’s daily digital footprint across multiple platforms and countries. Her clients include top DPs Simon Duggan (“Hacksaw Ridge”), Alex Disenhof (“The Exorcist,” “Captive State”), Matthew Lloyd (FX’s “Fargo,” HBO’s “Insecure,” “Marvel’s The Defenders” for Netflix), Larkin Seiple (“Bleed for This,” “Swiss Army Man”) and Colin Watkinson (Hulu’s “The Handmaid’s Tale”). “People remember how you made them feel as much as they remember what you do for them.”

Jordan Cerf
WME agent, scripted TV; 34
Cerf’s roster includes Dee Rees (“Mudbound”), Ryan Coogler (“Creed”), Kevin Smith and Tim Kring (“Heroes”); he also guides talent with producing aspirations, including Michael Strahan, LeBron James and Milo Ventimiglia. Cerf helped sell limited series to Netflix with Octavia Spencer as star/EP, James and Maverick Carter (Springhill) and Zero Gravity executive producing through Warner Bros. TV. He closed a two-year overall producing deal for Ventimiglia and Russ Cundiff’s Divide Media at 20th Television. Cerf signed director Nicole Kassell (TNT’s “Claws” pilot, “The Woodsman”). “You have to believe in your clients if you’re going to help them succeed.”

Sam Hunt
Agent, Paradigm; 36
The Berkeley native got his start at the Windish Agency, which merged into Paradigm, and his diverse roster includes Diplo and Major Lazer, Solange, The xx, Raphael Saadiq, Run the Jewels and Big Boi. “Be prompt, courteous and honest with everyone. I know it’s a cliche, but you really do meet the same people on the way up that you do on the way down.”

Christina Kuo
Agent, alternative television, CAA; 32
A leader in the emerging buyers marketplace, packaging and selling non-scripted projects for Netflix, YouTube Red, Spotify and Facebook, Kuo recently closed a deal at Spotify for celeb cooking show “From Scratch” from client Danny Lee’s Calico, one of the first series purchased by the streaming service as part of its push into original content. Kuo inked a straight-to-series deal at Netflix for client Grandma’s House, for a business/investment-centered gameshow, co-created with Ashton Kutcher. Represents leading global production companies, including All3Media, Lighthearted Entertainment, Talos Films, Nutopia, BBC Worldwide Prods. “I’m excited and more passionate than ever to be supporting unique creative voices in this ever changing and expanding TV business.”

Chris Noriega
Verve, TV agent; 37
At 31, Noriega quit a successful finance industry career, joined Verve in 2012, and was promoted to agent in 2013. Noriega’s eye for identifying comedic and writing talent led him to handle such buzzy clients as Emmy-winning Ian Roberts (“Teachers,” “Key & Peele”), Chris Romano (“Blue Mountain State,” senior writer for Sarah Silverman’s upcoming Hulu series “I Love You, America”), Elliott Kalan (showrunner for Netflix’s “Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Return”), Josh Lehrman & Kyle Stegina (“Bizaardvark”) and Tom Sheppard (in-house director of Adult Swim’s“Robot Chicken”). “Best advice I ever got was from Bryan Besser, who told me not to worry about pursuing a career in comedy because most people in comedy aren’t funny either.”

Brett Pacis
Agent, corporate representation, ICM; 32
Pacis has helped build the corporate representation business for ICM’s Global Branded Entertainment group, with international marquee clientele such as Jaguar Land Rover as well as fashion and technology brands. He also handles commercials and endorsement deals for talent (including John Cena, Christina Hendricks, on behalf of Jaguar with Simon Cowell (CAA at the time) and Joe Manganiello (CAA). He makes crossover branding deals with the talent, literary, publishing, digital and theater departments, and placed playwright John Guare into a Kate Spade campaign and Nash Edgerton in a Mophie Super Bowl spot. “It’s really an exciting time in branding — we’re at the stage where we are raising the creative bar and helping make some truly innovative deals.”

Brian Speiser
Vice president of alternative & factual programming, APA; 34
Speiser helps define APA as the leading independent entertainment destination for non-fiction content creators. He packaged the Emmy-winning No. 1 TV docuseries “Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath.” Has helped grow the APA department into a top player in non-fiction series packaging, with clients including Authentic Entertainment, Back Roads Entertainment, Cineflix Prods., Collins Avenue, Ish Entertainment, Ping Pong Prods., Super Delicious and Tremendous! Entertainment. “You can’t do this job alone. Your colleagues and support staff are your partners and long term success requires embracing ideas that aren’t your own. That philosophy is the backbone of our culture at APA.”

Rachel Viola
Theater agent, UTA; 33
A leader in discovering and advocating for new and emerging female and LGBTQ-identifying talent, Viola represents an extensive slate of multi-hyphenate writers-performers, directors and designers including Alice Birch (“Lady Macbeth”), Clare Barron (“Dance Nation”), Jocelyn Bioh (the upcoming “School Girls; Or the African Mean Girls Play”), Boo Killebrew (co-creator of AMC’s “Aim High” and writer for Netflix’s “Longmire”), Jason Kim (“Girls and Love”), award-winning playwright Jen Silverman and costume designer Paloma Young. “Talent lies in choice. A teacher talked about this all the time. It was simple, yet poignant, and has always stuck with me.”

FILM
Kori Adelson
VP, film, Chernin Entertainment; 30
In her four years at Chernin, Adelson has worked as a creative executive on 30 films including “The Mountain Between Us” and sci-fi thriller “Underwater.” She spearheaded and packaged feature adaptation of R.L. Stine’s book series “Fear Street,” and attached horror director Leigh Janiak to helm the franchise. Adelson led the charge on acquiring feature rights to original musical stage show “Identical Twins,” and set it up at Fox. She acquired feature rights to award-winning playwright Jennifer Haley’s “Neighborhood 3: Requisition of Doom,” which David Fincher had been previously developing as a TV series. “I’ve learned to question everything and be fearless in the pursuit of bold storytelling and innovation.”

Dave Bishop
CEO, Protagonist Pictures; 40
Recently promoted from head of worldwide acquisitions at international sales and finance company Protagonist, Bishop now oversees its growing slate of decorated prestige films as a sales agent, as well as the company’s continued expansion into development, production and finance. Hot properties include “The Florida Project,” which sold to A24 and was directed by Sean Baker; and Toronto fest hit “Beast,” writer-director Michael Pearce’s feature debut. “A mentor advised me once to work across as many areas of the film business as possible. I have made this a focus throughout my career.”

Nate Bolotin,
Aram Tertzakian
& Nick Spicer
Co-founders, XYZ Films; All 35
XYZ specializes in creative financing structures, utilizing international co-productions to maximize soft money, North American backstop deals, SVOD pre-sales, crowd-funding and combinations of traditional debt and equity. The result? Fifty films produced and executive produced since 2008 and more than 200 feature films licensed since 2009. The trio have produced seven Netflix Originals in the past two years, licensed 21 films to major studios for production and distribution; they also launched “The Raid” franchise. In 2016, XYZ moved into distribution, branding the global release of “Under the Shadow” and horror anthology “Holidays,” and partnered with Vertical Entertainment to utilize its global digital platform deals. This year, their pic “I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore” won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance. They had six films accepted at Toronto, including Zoe Saldana starrer “I Kill Giants” and “Brawl in Cell Block 99,” starring Vince Vaughn. “We’ve always had full control over the company and our own careers. When people say passion makes movies happen, they really mean commitment. Passion ebbs and flows. Making movies is arduous and you need commitment to go the distance,” they say.

Katherine Bridle
Head of development, See-Saw Films; 34
Bridle joined the shingle in 2008 as an assistant, progressing to her current role as the company expanded into TV production. She was the first person at See-Saw to read and recommend the unsolicited play script that would become multi-Oscar-winning “The King’s Speech,” as well as the Vanity Fair article that would become multi-Academy Award-nominated “Lion.” Bridle is responsible for driving creative development of all See-Saw film projects, including upcoming “Mary Magdalene,” directed by “Lion’s” Garth Davis, and Steve McQueen’s “Widows.” “The best advice I ever received was, ‘There’s always a solution.’ It helps me to remember that in the creative process, apparent roadblocks often open up exciting new paths to explore.”

Jessica Virtue
Director, production, Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture Production, The Walt Disney Studios; 31
Virtue joined Disney in 2011 as assistant to president of production Sean Bailey, and was promoted to production executive in 2015. Virtue was intimately involved in the development and production of monster hits “The Jungle Book” and “Beauty and the Beast,” and is now working on Ava DuVernay’s upcoming “A Wrinkle in Time.” Virtue is lead executive on upcoming “Mary Poppins Returns,” “Christopher Robin” and “Cruella,” and junior executive on live-action “Mulan.” “Advice that echoes true for me right now came from Sean Bailey: Always speak with optimism. Even tough conversations require a sense of possibility and problem solving.”

Related stories

Hollywood's New Leaders in Digital

UTA CEO Jeremy Zimmer's Internal Memo: 'Harvey Earned His Demise' (EXCLUSIVE)

Unscripted Veteran Rob Lee Joins UTA

Subscribe to Variety Newsletters and Email Alerts!