Verve CEO and Co-Founder Bill Weinstein Leaves Agency After 14 Years
Bill Weinstein has exited Verve talent agency after a little more than a year as CEO and 14 years after he helped launch the literary boutique on the heels of Endeavor’s takeover of the William Morris Agency.
The parting was confirmed late Monday by Verve in a statement.
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“We thank Bill as a co-founder and for his 14 years of service and wish him nothing but success in his future,” read a statement attributed to “Verve leadership.” The agency also confirmed that Weinstein’s role as CEO would not be filled but rather “shared by the founders and managing partner.”
Weinstein could not immediately be reached for comment.
The news is a major shift for Verve as Weinstein had been a driving force for the agency since it began operations in 2010. Weinstein and co-founders Bryan Besser and Adam Levine worked their way up together from the mailroom at Endeavor to junior film and TV literary agents in the early 2000s. By the end of the decade the trio set out on their own, once Endeavor became a much bigger company following its 2009 merger with William Morris Agency. Weinstein is the first of the three Verve founding partners to leave the business.
RELATED STORY: Verve Finds Footing in Agency World (2013)
Verve has grown since its earliest days. The company has developed a solid roster of TV and film clients, but it also faces the challenges of smaller shops to hold on to big-name clients and to weather industry storms. The battle over talent agency packaging fees in 2019-2020, the impact of pandemic closures followed by the 2023 strikes by Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA has delivered a string of blows that have landed hard on smaller agencies and talent-dependent businesses.
Last year, Verve moved into 53,000 square feet of new office space in Hollywood, housing about 50 agents and support staffers.
News of Weinstein’s departure was first reported by Deadline.
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