Michael Bay Splits From Longtime Agency WME
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
EXCLUSIVE: Michael Bay has left WME, the agency where he has spent the bulk of his directing career. The exit has been in the works for a couple of weeks. Bay isn’t taking meetings at the moment, and in a memo he sent the agency, he left open the possibility of a return. But it seems unlikely from here.
Bay had been repped for years principally by Ari Emanuel, and this goes back to when his primary was John Fogelman, the latter of whom exited the agency a decade ago. Bay has had a number of point agents, but his main guy has been Rich Cook. Until Cook exited to be one of the founding partners of Range Media Partners. Cook continued to share Bay with WME at Range, but the Transformers director’s run with WME seemed to sour over the experience with his most recent film, the shot-in-the-pandemic actioner Ambulance. The pic was backed by Endeavor Content, and there was a dispute over fees and budget spend.
More from Deadline
Sources said it came down to a director-producer whose films and TV series have grossed billions not feeling the love at the agency, with Emanuel focused on running a corporation and Cook out of there. Both sides said the split is amicable, with each side saying they’ll reassess in six months. Range will rep him, but this isn’t a case where the management/production company tried to cut out the agency. With a few notable exceptions — Tom Hardy, Bradley Cooper and Keira Knightley among them — Range has been fine keeping its clients with agencies, and 96% of its clients have agents.
Bay doesn’t have his next film but is percolating a few things, and it likely will be a big-budget endeavor. Stuff might blow up, but not here.
Best of Deadline
Sign up for Deadline's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
