ICM Partners Can’t Hang Onto Jon Hamm: He Won’t Take Meetings Until December
EXCLUSIVE UPDATE: I’m told that Jon Hamm is going “nowhere right now. He’s finishing up Mad Men and then will take [agency] meetings in early December.”
PREVIOUS: The leadership of ICM Partners made a calculated – and now clearly foolish – risk when it decided not to offer longtime agent Carol Bodie a partnerership during its management buyout completed last May. Last week the agency exited Bodie. And today its marquee client, AMC’s Mad Men star Jon Hamm, followed her out ICM’s door after a decade there. So did Bodie’s Lincoln and Jack Reacher actor David Oyelowo. It’s not clear yet whether the 41-year-old Hamm will stick with Bodie and/or sign with another agency. But what Hamm’s departure does spotlight is that ICM partners’ ruling duo Chris Silbermann and Rick Levy couldn’t hang on to one of the agency’s highest profile actors who has a long career ahead of him as a high-earning movie and/or TV star. But his movie career has been thwarted by the shooting schedule of Mad Men. Once the Lionsgate show ends, then the versatile Hamm who is equally adept at comedy and drama will have the luxury of choosing from a broader array of film roles to no doubt become a movie superstar – as well as keep his hand in TV if that’s what he desires. It’s like watching prestige depart through the tenpercentery door – not to mention dollars that ICM Partners desperately need to keep funding its financial restructuring. (The agency keeps lagging WME, CAA, UTA in new scripted TV packages at recent upfronts.) Bad news travels fast in Hollywood, and this client loss was kept under wraps for Friday’s end along with an agent shuffle.
Related: ICM’s Andrew Francis Joins UTA Licensing
Related: Longtime Agent Carol Bodie Leaving ICM
Related: Jeff Berg Leaving ICM To Start Own Agency In Month’s Time
Related: ICM Management Buyout Complete
Also expected to leave ICM are Al Pacino, Roman Polanski, and other Jeff Berg clients now that the longtime Chairman took a buyout and is setting up his own boutique agency. Hamm has received 5 Emmy nominations playing Don Draper on AMC’s Mad Men. His other recent TV credits include comic turns on 30 Rock and Saturday Night Live and his recent film credits include The Town, Bridesmaids, and Friends With Kids.
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