EXCLUSIVE: If one wanted to encapsulate the surreal interruption of the way Hollywood dealmaking has functioned for decades, here is a good example. Universal last Friday won in competitive bidding Rubble, a Patrick Pittis-scripted spec whose premise we will keep under wraps other than to call it a contained thriller…

For a second time in three years, the talent agencies find themselves in an awkward situation heading into the May upfronts. And this time, it may result in the cancellation of most agency parties.

The same time in 2017, the major agencies were planning their soirees under the threat of a WGA strike as the guild was in…

EXCLUSIVE: Veteran indie film producer Ross Putman has been hired as an agent at Verve, where he will work alongside Amy Beecroft in the agency’s independent film sales and finance division Verve Ventures.

The move comes as Putman’s latest film as producer, the romantic comedy Plus One, is set to premiere next month…

Australian filmmaker Bradley Slabe, writer and co-director of the stop-motion animated short film Lost and Found, which was named as part of the Oscar shortlist, has inked with Verve for representation.

The 7-minute film follows a crochet toy dinosaur who must completely unravel itself to save the love of its life.

Los…

Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse co-director Peter Ramsey has joined the client roster at Verve.

Ramsey co-directed Sony’s Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse with Robert Persichetti Jr. and Rodney Rothman. The film, which opens on Dec. 14, was produced by Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, Amy Pascal, Christina Steinberg…

Christine Crokos, writer/director of the Lee Daniels-produced drama, Pimp, has joined the client roster of Verve.

The film, which hit theaters November 9 via by Vertical Entertainment, stars Keke Palmer, Haley Ramm, Aunjanue Ellis, Vanessa Morgan, and Edi Gathegi. The story follows a struggling female Pimp, Wednesday…

EXCLUSIVE: Directors Yoav and Doron Paz, the Israel-born brothers behind the 2015 indie zombie horror hit Jeruzalem who are now working on its sequel, have signed with Verve for representation.

Their most recent film, The Golem, just had its North American premiere at Screamfest in Los Angeles. The pic, from Epic…

EXCLUSIVE: Former Real Housewives of New York cast member Carole Radziwill has signed with Verve in all areas. Verve has also recruited veteran producer Bill Thompson to bolster the agency’s growing unscripted space.

Radziwill exited Housewives in July after six seasons and will appear on Part 3 of the reunion episode…

EXCLUSIVE: Scott Stewart, the writer, director and producer behind Dark Skies, Legion and Priest, has signed with Verve.

Stewart most recently has been working on the TV side. He directed the pilot of Freeform’s mermaid drama Siren, which premiered in March and was renewed in May for a second season. He also has in…

EXCLUSIVE: Global Road Entertainment has closed a deal to acquire Rawhide Down, a thriller spec script from scribe Alex Cramer that details in real time the day of President Ronald Reagan’s assassination attempt outside the Washington Hilton on March 30, 1981. We’re hearing that Global Road took the spec off the table…

Literary agency Verve has launched a Publishing division, hiring InkWell Management’s Liz Parker to oversee it. She will bring along her roster of upmarket and literary fiction, and sociopolitical, narrative and platform-driven nonfiction clients, and also service Verve’s clients who have books in the marketplace. She…

Zach Carlisle will be joining ICM Partners as an agent in the TV Lit department effective Monday, February 12.

Carlisle comes to ICM from Verve, where he was one of the boutique lit agency’s first employees after leaving WME along with Verve partners Bryan Besser, Bill Weinstein and Adam Levine in 2010. Carlisle was…