The Hollywood Reporter – 28.02.2018

7 Days of DEALS

Who’s inking on the dotted line this week

The Report

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 46 FEBRUARY 28, 2018

YOUNG, DAVID: MICHAEL JONES. SHAHIDI: JON KOPALOFF/FILMMAGIC. KIVES: KIMBERLY WHITE/GETTY IMAGES.

SPY

: COURTESY OF CALIFORNIA COLDBLOOD BOOKS. OTTO: ALBERTO E.

RODRIGUEZ. PROPERTY: PACIFICCOASTNEWS. YOUNG, BELLAMY: NOEL VASQUEZ/GETTY IMAGES. CARMICHAEL: MIKE COPPOLA/GETTY IMAGES FOR NAN

TUCKET FILM FESTIVAL.

A Spy in Time (CALIFORNIA COLDBLOOD BOOKS, AUGUST 2018)

BY Imraan Coovadia AGENCY Pontas Literary & Film (Spain)

Pitched as Black Panther meets Timecop, the award-winning

South African writer’s forthcoming novel is about a temporal secret

agent who leaps among global metropoli and from century to cen-

tury to save the timeline from a shadowy cabal.

To Kill a Kingdom (FEIWEL & FRIENDS, MARCH 6)

BY Alexandra Christo AGENCY UTA

This dark twist on The Little Mermaid — a siren princess who kills

human princes (she has 17 hearts so far) is transformed into a

human as punishment and meets a siren-killing prince — already

is going into a second printing.

Rights Available! Hot new books with Hollywood appeal BY ANDY LEWIS AND TATIANA SIEGEL

FILM

Yara Shahidi ( CAA,

Principal, Hirsch

Wallerstein) is in talks to

star in MGM and Warner

Bros.’ YA adaptation The

Sun Is Also a Star, with

Before I Fall’s Ry Russo-

Young directing.

Sam Rockwell (Gersh,

Untitled) has joined

Angelina Jolie in Disney’s

adaptation of The One and

Only Ivan.

Lupita Nyong’o (CAA,

Del Shaw) will play Trevor

Noah’s mother in the Daily

Show host’s adaptation

of his memoir Born a Crime.

Paddington franchise direc-

tor Paul King (WME, the

U.K.’s Independent, Nelson

Davis) will helm Disney’s

live-action Pinocchio.

Octavia Spencer (WME,

Jackoway Tyerman),

Transformers: The Last

Agent Michael Kives, who
has long straddled the
worlds of finance, enter-
tainment and politics, is
leaving CAA to set up
K5 Global, an international media and
financial-services advisory firm for
corporations, governments, start-ups
and investors.
Some of K5’s customers might include
such high-profile figures as billionaire
investor Warren Buffett (a Kives client
at CAA who calls him “one of the most
creative and well-connected profession-
als in his space”) and Snap CEO Evan
Spiegel, who also sings Kives’ praises. “I

Clintons’ L.A. Confidant Goes Solo

deeply respect and admire Kives,” Spiegel

tells THR. “He is a valued adviser, and I

appreciate his ability to think creatively

and develop unique opportunities.”

No immediate K5 clients were named

in the Feb. 26 announcement, but Kives’

CAA roster also has included Bruce Willis,

Jesse Eisenberg, Eric Stonestreet, Katy

Perry, Kate Hudson and Jessica Alba.

The departing agent says Los Angeles-

based K5 “will provide advisory and

operational services for companies across

media, sports, technology, finance, politics

and a variety of other industries.”

Before spending 15 years at CAA, Kives,

37, worked for President Bill Clinton and

then-Sen. Hillary Rodham

Clinton. A Democratic

fundraiser, he has hosted

several political events at

his Hollywood home, and his

new company is expected

to focus on the intersection

of politics and media.

“Because of his incredible instincts

and unique ability to connect people, he

has created a vast network that will

help to provide growth and opportunity

for anyone fortunate enough to work

with him,” says CAA president Richard

Lovett. “We look forward to working with

him in his new role.” — BORYS KIT

Big

Deal

Kives

WHY ARE AGENTS PRODUCING SHOWS?

WRITERS GUILD WOULD LIKE TO KNOW

The expanding scope of the talent agency business

may motivate the Writers Guild to take action.

WGA West executive director David Young is

planning to initiate an April renegotiation of a key

document — the “franchise agreement” between the

guild and the Association of Talent Agents — that

governs the relationship among writers and agents, a

well-placed source tells THR.

The focus of these talks, according to this source:

packaging fees and “ownership,” a buzzword that

covers scenarios in which talent agencies engage in

production or financing or are affiliated or owned in

whole or in part by companies that do.

These issues aren’t new, but the formation of

WME-affiliated Endeavor Content in October may

have lighted a fire under the guild, whose leader-

ship met with showrunners the following month.

An April notice also would start a one-year clock

running on termination of the agreement itself if the

parties can’t craft acceptable revisions. Exhibit A:

the SAG franchise agreement, which lapsed in 2002

in the wake of disputes over the ownership issue.

“We’re at an exploratory stage,” Young insisted to

THR. “There is no date set for anything. We’re just

talking with members.”

The next of those conversations was to be two

meetings in mid-February with screenwriters.

Exploratory or not, ATA executive director Karen

Stuart tells THR that she is surprised she hasn’t

heard directly from the WGA, which she considers

an industry partner, but adds that she anticipates

“thoughtful conversations” if the guild seeks talks.

At play are key ways that agencies now make

money. The archetypal 10 percent client commis-

sion isn’t so typical anymore. Instead, a different,

decades-old model prevails, especially in television,

where the most powerful agencies demand a 3-3-10

packaging fee: 3 percent of the license fee up front,

3 percent deferred and 10 percent of modified

adjusted gross receipts (profit), if any.

The studio pays the packaging fee, but writers

say that on a successful series, the agency can end up

making more than the client. That also can happen

if an agency-affiliated company is the project’s

financier or even producer, which happens more now

that agencies are starting companion businesses like

Endeavor Content to package and produce projects

with clients. The WGA calls the whole thing a conflict

of interest.

But veteran agent Chris Barrett, former head

of the boutique Metropolitan Talent Agency,

rebuts that the increasing size of the studios and

diminishing commissions have forced reps to

diversify. And, add others, getting a project made

at all is a win — and if the money’s good, who’s

harmed? — JONATHAN HANDEL

Deal

of the

Week

Young

Shahidi