William Morris Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

As Deadline revealed last night, former Verve CEO Bill Weinstein has joined Paradigm along with former Verve colleague Devon Schiff. Both join as agents in the Literary Content department and will be working out of Paradigm’s Los Angeles office.

Charles D. King made history tonight, becoming the first African American producer to accept the PGA Milestone Award.

Todd Longwell Charles D. King has an impressive list of accomplishments, including an Oscar nomination for best picture for his 2021 feature “Judas and the Black Messiah.” But his proudest moment came when he told his young sons that he was quitting WME, where he was the first Black partner, to launch Macro, a multi-platform media company amplifying the voices and perspectives of people of color. “They said to me, ‘Dad is going to be a boss!’ and started jumping up and down on their bed,” recalls King.

Chris Petrikin, a former Paramount, Fox and William Morris Agency communications executive, has joined consulting firm Actum LLC as a managing director.

Sam Haskell Jr., the son of a prominent television producer, pleaded not guilty to three counts of murder today in a Los Angeles court. Haskell appeared shirtless in court today, something he did previously.

Ken Fritz, was a personal manager of Tom and Dick Smothers for the better part of 60 years. In 1964 and recently out of college, Fritz started out as a sort of advance man for their tours before becoming their full-time road manager. Later, he co-managed them with Ken Kragen and eventually assumed solo management for all aspects of their careers. He was also an executive producer on many of their projects, including the groundbreaking The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. His other clients have included Neil Diamond, Peter, Paul and Mary and George Benson. Here, Fritz reflects on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour as well as Tom Smothers as a comedian, businessman and friend.

Body parts found in November in an Encino trash bin were positively identified today as the remains of a woman whose husband has been charged with killing her and her parents.

William Morris Endeavor want nothing to do with Billy Cosby or a sexual assault case against the much-accused comedian.

The son of a prominent Hollywood television producer has been arrested on suspicion of murder in connection with a dismembered female torso discovered several miles from his Los Angeles home, authorities said.

EXCLUSIVE: A+E Networks is the latest entertainment company to undergo a shake-up.

The Sun that the California-based royals recently had a power lunch with John Travolta, 69, at The Beverly Hills Hotel’s exclusive Polo Lounge. “They got on extremely well,” the insider said of the Sussexes and the “Grease” star — who famously danced with Harry’s mom, Princess Diana, at the White House back in 1985.

APA has taken a big step to fortify its future as a full-service talent agency by combining with touring powerhouse Artist Group Intl. to create the newly named Independent Artist Group, led by APA president Jim Osborne. Osborne will become CEO of Independent Artist Group (IAG), taking over day-to-day management of the firm. Jim Gosnell, APA’s longtime leader, segues into board member role with a mandate to evaluate growth and acquisition opportunities for the new venture. Dennis Arfa, co-founder of Artist Group Intl., will serve as chairman of IAG’s Music division. Artist Intl. Group president Marsha Vlasic becomes vice chairman of music.

Peter Meyer a prominent talent agent who prior to launching his company was a William Morris agent for over a decade, died Monday following a years-long battle with sarcoma. He was 68.“After a heroic five-year battle against sarcoma, Meyer found peace surrounded by his family.

Peter Meyer, a beloved Hollywood manager and the founder of Meyer Management, passed away at the age of 68 on May 14, the news of which was shared in a statement by his sister Patricia K. Meyer. The industry veteran, known for being a rep to A-listers like Tom Hanks and Kevin Costner, died after a five-year battle with Sarcoma at a Santa Monica hospital.

Sophia Scorziello editor Peter Meyer, beloved entertainment industry manager, died on May 14 at St. John’s Hospital in Santa Monica, Calif. after a five-year battle with sarcoma, his sister Patty K. Meyer shared. He wast 68. Meyer was an agent and manager to numerous Hollywood industry professionals. Since 1990, he represented clients under his agency, Meyer Management. “He was known and beloved by hundreds of industry pros,” Patty said. Most recently, he represented rights holders and producers on Denzel Washington’s “The Equalizer.” Meyer attended Yale University where he wrote his senior thesis, “MGM and the Studio System in the Age of Mass Production.” The thesis was later published as an award-winning book and was also printed in Variety.

The search for Scotland's Home of The Year continued this week as the judging panel examined three stunning properties in the central region.

Stranger Things star Millie Bobby Brown will have her first novel published by William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins, this fall, the publishing house announced today.

William Earl Joel Zimmerman, one of the top agents in electronic dance music (EDM) and a 13-year veteran of WME, has joined Range Media Partners as a partner in the company’s music division. Range, launched two years ago, is helmed by managing partners Matt Graham, Jack Minihan, Tyler Henry, Melissa Ruderman, Chris Thomas and Evan Winiker, and boasts a label partnership with Capitol Music Group (CMG) and Virgin Music & Artist Label Services (Virgin). Among its clients are Jack Harlow, Justin Tranter, Cordae, Midland, Nova Wav, Tyga, PARTYNEXTDOOR, Hailey Whitters, Lauv, MAX, HARV, Sean Douglas and Wondagurl, among others. While at WME, Zimmerman acted as primary agent for dozens of top acts, helping grow EDM into a billion-dollar business by representing such artists as Calvin Harris, Pharrell Williams, 88rising, Steve Lacy, Avicii, Martin Garrix, Steve Aoki, Psy, Kygo, Swedish House Mafia and Deadmau5 (whose real name is also Joel Zimmerman). His run at the agency followed the founding of Division One Talent in 2006, which was brought in-house to William Morris, marking the first time a department was specifically dedicated to EDM. There, Zimmerman helped establish long-term DJ residencies in Las Vegas and throughout the world.

Award-winning producer Ben Feigin, who served as an executive producer on Schitt’s Creek, died Monday of pancreatic cancer. He was 47.

Penske Media Corp. purchased Deadline for a reported $14 million, with her remaining editor-in-chief and continuing her reporting and commentary.Finke was legendary in her day, writing scoops on her Deadline blog that often proclaimed “Toldja!” when something she’d reported turned out to be true.But although she was required daily reading in Hollywood, Finke was also feared and hated by many, as she became notorious for threatening sources and trading one piece of information to get another more damaging piece of information.Among the targets of her often personal-seeming grievances were then-NBC chief Ben Silverman, the former head of the William Morris agency and many other Hollywood power players of the early oughts.She suffered from lifelong diabetes and was notoriously reclusive because of her discomfort over being overweight, having been a society debutante as a young woman.

Emily Longeretta Norman Reedus never dreamt of being a star — and he definitely never thought it’d be possible to have his name on a star the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The “Walking Dead” actor, who has been part of the massive AMC franchise for 12 years and will continue after the show ends with his own spinoff, has come a long way since being discovered the day he was fired from a motorcycle shop after getting into an argument with his boss. His attitude may have gotten him fired — but it also opened another door wide open. “A friend of mine said, ‘Hey, let me take you to a party to make you feel better. It was one of those big Hollywood parties in a big house,” he recalls of that night in 1990. “I was being an idiot, and got up on the second floor, looking down in the living room and just started yelling at people. This manager came up to me and said, ‘Hey, you ever thought about being an actor?’”

EXCLUSIVE: The Imitation Game outfit Black Bear Pictures is bolstering the senior ranks of its fledgling management division with the hire of respected former ICM Partners and William Morris agent Joanne Roberts Wiles.

William Earl Some 30 years after its first bow, music festival Lollapalooza is headed to India on January 28 and 29, 2023.To be held in Mumbai, it marks Lollapalooza’s first time on the Asian continent, following international editions in Berlin, Stockholm and Brazil, among other countries in Europe and South America, in addition to its homebase at Chicago’s Grant Park.A lineup for the Indian edition has yet to be revealed. An announcement touts “a full two days of music across four stages as well as innovative culinary selections, art, fashion and more.”The music of India is transcendental, it draws our spirits East,” said Lollapalooza founder Perry Farrell.

EXCLUSIVE: Former Warner Bros. Development Executive Paul Perez has inked a production deal at the Burbank, CA lot.

EXCLUSIVE: LA-based literary management and production company Heroes and Villains Entertainment has elevated longtime managers Benjamin Blake, Henry Huang and Jennifer Ray to partner. The trio are the first managers HVE has elevated to partner since the company’s formation in 2008. They join founding partners Markus Goerg, Mikhail Nayfeld and Dick Hillenbrand in their new station.

Shirley Halperin Executive Editor, MusicTom Windish is the head of business development and A&R for the talent agency Wasserman Music, where his clients include the artists Lorde, the xx and Coachella headliner Billie Eilish. And like the most seasoned of booking agents, he got his start while still in college.

Molly Shannon is looking back at her early days in Hollywood!

EXCLUSIVE: Upload and Resident Evil: Welcome To Raccoon City actor Robbie Amell and El Cid star Alicia Sanz have joined Sam Worthington and Jordana Brewster in thriller Hello Stranger, which began filming in Canada this week.

A Grangemouth garden has become a winter wonderland ahead of Christmas Day - and it's all for a good cause.

“ICM has not been what it used to be 15 years ago,” the Endeavor CEO said. “I think what [CAA] bought was five incredible TV writers… a very good book business and a very good soccer rep business out of Europe.” Emanuel also said that CAA’s move was just “validating my strategy in 2008” to merge Endeavor with William Morris, saying that his agency didn’t spend money to make the merger happen and that he has focused on “organically” growing WME’s representation business.

Zoe Ball has announced that she will be leaving her job hosting It Takes Two. The presenter has decided to take a step back from the Strictly spin-off after 10 years fronting the hit show.The 50-year-old announced that she would be “waltzing away” from the BBC and support the 2021 series from her sofa instead.

Katie Price’s younger sister Sophie has given a sneak peek inside her gorgeous nursery as she prepares to welcome her little one.The 30 year old half-sister of the former glamour model, 42, announced she was expecting a baby with her partner Harry Brooks in November and shared a snap of a sonograph to her Instagram.

Chris Willman Music WriterDick Alen, a music agent renowned for a six-decade-plus career that included representing icons like Aretha Franklin, Chuck Berry and Little Richard, died of natural causes Nov. 27.

Erik Pedersen Managing EditorHerbert F. “Herb” Solow, who as an executive at Desilu Productions took Gene Roddenberry’s original pitch for Star Trek and also held exec posts at several showbiz companies, has died.

After the Coronavirus crisis devastated the music touring business and left creators with an uncertain future, former Paradigm agents Patrick McAuliff and Phil Egenthal and ex-William Morris Endeavor agent C. J.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorC.J. Strock, formerly of William Morris Endeavor, joins Patrick McAuliff and Phil Egenthal, formerly of Paradigm Talent Agency to form Mint Talent Group, the new company announced early Tuesday.