Michael Green, Reza Izad, and Dan Weinstein have reunited to form Underscore Talent, a management company helping creators leverage today’s “attention economy.” Joining them are Austin Mayster of UTA, Linnea Toney of Toney Media and Megan Brown of APA Named Partners.
Underscore Talent launches with a roster of artists, creators and entrepreneurs, including The LaBrant Family, The Royalty Family (YouTube’s top 10 channels in 2020), Alex Wassabi, Alex Costa, Jon Cozart, Kayla Nicole, The Onyx family, De’arra and Ken, John Kanell of Preppy Kitchen, and Joy Wilson.
In the last couple of months, the initial group has executed millions of dollars worth of brand deals with companies ranging from Clinique to Verizon.
Underscore Talent is the first company established by Green, Izad, Weinstein since pioneering the digital creator management space through Studio71, formerly The Collective. Together Green, Izad, and Weinstein bring decades of experience representing and working alongside such names as Rhett and Link, Lilly Singh, Martin Lawrence, Linkin Park, Kanye West, and Prince.
Digital Leaders Mayster, Toney and Brown join the company as partners. All have supported creator-first companies and initiatives throughout their tenures, with Mayster previously serving as a digital agent at UTA and manager at Studio71; Toney a manager for some of the biggest digital entrepreneurs, including Hannah Hart, formerly at Ryan Seacrest Productions; and Brown, former department head for branding and digital at APA.
Additional managers include Noah Swimmer of APA and Vanessa Beals, former partner manager at Collab.
“We are building a world-class team to find success for talent within digital and traditional entertainment,” said Izad. “We founded Underscore Talent to pioneer a new style of ‘representation’ – one born out of our new world and designed with an eye towards the future and not reliant on the playbooks of the past. We are not just looking at building brands based on reach, but on strong and diverse voices that contribute to society. As our company continues to expand, we are looking forward to not only working with a new breed of talent, but also entertainment and brand executives who want to evolve the way they work with these creators.”
Underscore Talent will offer a suite of services. Its main mission is to help its clientele capture and retain the attention of today’s audience across multiple platforms. Focuses will be on growth and optimization, to brand partnerships and ecommerce opportunities.
“We believe that the future belongs to those who can capture meaningful attention to win audiences and ultimately build real influence. The modern entertainer needs to be more than just a creator or personality, they need to be small media businesses growing enterprises optimized to drive engagement and scale of audiences.” added Weinstein. “Our team’s expertise combined with our company services, makes Underscore Talent the perfect partner for creators looking to build lasting value and revenue opportunities.”
Underscore Talent is looking to expand its management team, talent roster and brand partnerships throughout the first quarter of 2021.
Must Read Stories
Subscribe to Deadline Breaking News Alerts and keep your inbox happy.