FX Taps Top CAA TV Talent Agent Michael Katcher As Head Of Casting

CAA veteran Michael Katcher is returning to the executive ranks as EVP and head of casting for FX Entertainment. To join FX Networks, Katcher is leaving CAA where he has been the head of the television talent department for the past 17 years. A replacement for him will be announced shortly.

At FX, this is a newly created position as the network and its in-house studio did not have a dedicated head of casting. Katcher will have oversight of casting and talent strategy for FX Networks and FX Productions. He will report to FX Entertainment Presidents of Original Programming Gina Balian and Nick Grad, as well as Sharon Klein, who was recently named EVP, Casting, Disney Television Studios and FX Entertainment.

Katcher, who is well liked in the casting community, represented a slew of top TV talent while at CAA, including award-winning actors Glenn Close, Andy Garcia, Viola Davis, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Rose Byrne, Lisa Kudrow, Omar Epps, Kiefer Sutherland, Emma Roberts, Kyra Sedgwick, Giovanni Ribisi, and Laura Dern among others.

Before going to CAA, Katcher was a manager at the short-lived Artists Management Group, heading the TV talent division, and SVP of talent relations and development at sister company Artists Television Group. There, he helped develop the CBS comedy series The Ellen Show, starring Ellen DeGeneres.

Prior to that, Katcher worked at CBS for five years as VP of casting. He oversaw the casting of such shows as Everybody Loves Raymond, The King of Queens as well as Ed, which originated at the network.

Katcher, who also is an accomplished photographer, started out as a casting associate and a casting director. He moved to Los Angeles from New York in 1989 to cast The Wonder Years with Meg Liberman and Marc Hirschfeld. He later went on to cast The Larry Sanders Show and the pilot of 3rd Rock from the Sun, for which he won the Casting Society of America Award for Comedy Pilot Casting.

“Michael is spectacular at what he does,” said Balian and Grad. “He has a keen ability to spot the greatest talent and cultivate enduring collaborative relationships. Those skills will be a great asset in casting and attracting talent to the network and studio.”