Ricky Velez Signs with William Morris Endeavor (WME)

Posted on October 14, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

Ricky Velez is ready for new endeavors…

William Morris Endeavor (WME) has signed the Latino comedian for representation in all areas.

Velez has an upcoming one-hour comedy special titled Ricky Velez: Here’s Everything—executive produced by himself, Judd Apatow, and Pete Davidson—debuting on October 23 via HBO.

On the acting front, the Queens native starred in (and co-produced) the 2020 film, The King of Staten Island. He’s also appeared in Netflix’s Master of None.

Velez was a correspondent on Comedy Central’s The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore and has appeared on Comedy Central’s This Week at the Comedy Cellar.

Demi Lovato Signs with United Talent Agency (UTA)

Posted on June 16, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

Demi Lovato is making a switch…

The 28-year-old half-Mexican American singer, songwriter and actor is making the move from William Morris Endeavor (WME) to United Talent Agency (UTA).

Lovato will be represented by UTA in all areas worldwide.

Over the course of their music career, Lovato has released seven albums, all of which have landed in the top 10 on the Billboard 200 chart, according to MRC Data. The artist’s 2009 album Here We Go Again reached No. 1 on the tally.

Lovato has also landed 35 Billboard Hot 100 hits, including four top 10s, according to MRC Data. They have sold 2.7 million albums and 23.8 million song downloads and their songs have registered 5.6 billion on-demand U.S. streams.

According to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore, Lovato’s tours have grossed $56.8 million and sold 1.1 million tickets. Their most recent tour, 2018’s Tell Me You Love Me Tour, was their biggest yet, earning $21.5 million.

In 2020, Lovato kicked off a career resurgence when they debuted their ballad “Anyone” during a stripped-down performance at the Grammy Awards and performed the national anthem at Super Bowl LIV.

In April, Lovato’s Dancing With The Devil…The Art of Starting Over reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200. The album coincided with the launch of Lovato’s powerful four-part documentary series from YouTube Originals and director Michael D. Ratner entitled Demi Lovato: Dancing with the Devil.

The docuseries opened the 2021 SXSW festival and detailed Lovato’s life as a pop star and the trauma they have faced. For the first time, Lovato opened up about every aspect that led to their nearly fatal overdose in 2018 and their awakenings in the aftermath. That series was preceded by a YouTube Originals documentary in 2017 titled Simply Complicated, which has garnered more than 35 million views.

On May 19, 2021, Lovato premiered their new podcast, 4D With Demi Lovato, where they announced that they identify as non-binary and have officially changed their pronouns to they/them.

Lovato has been honored over the years with numerous awards and accolades for their work, including an MTV Video Music Award, 14 Teen Choice Awards, five People’s Choice Awards, an American Latino Media Arts Award, a Latin American Music Award and a GLAAD Vanguard Award for their services to LGBT activism. They have also received two Grammy Award nominations, four Billboard Music Awards nominations and three Brit Award nominations for their work.

Outside of music, Lovato’s film and television credits include Smurfs: The Lost Village, Sonny with a Chance, Glee, Barney & Friends and the final season of Will & Grace. They were also featured alongside Will Ferrell, Rachel McAdams and Pierce Brosnan in Netflix’s hit feature film Eurovision and have appeared as a mentor on the U.S. version of The X Factor.

Lovato is next starring in the NBC single-camera comedy pilot Hungry, which follows a group of friends who belong to a food-issues group. They are executive-producing the project, which comes from Sean Hayes and Todd Milliner’s Hazy Mills, SB Projects and Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group. Peacock has additionally ordered the four-part series Unidentified with Demi Lovato, which will see the singer, their best friend Matthew and their sister Dallas attempt to uncover the truth about the UFO phenomena.

Lovato continues to be represented by Scooter Braun Projects, Carroll Guido Groffman at Cohen Bar & Karalian, LLP and the Nordlinger Group.

Mariah Carey Leaves Roc Nation for Management Representation with Range Media Partners

Posted on June 9, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

Mariah Carey is expanding her range…

The 52-year-old half-Venezuelan Grammy-winning singer/songwriter has departed Roc Nation and partnered with Range Media Partners for management.

Carey will work with Melissa Ruderman, her former rep at Roc Nation who joined Range Media in January.

Carey’s move to Range Media follows a report in U.K. tabloid The Sun that the singer and Roc Nation founder Jay-Z fell out following an “explosive meeting.”

Carey, who signed with Roc Nation in November 2017, subsequently set out to quell the rumor by tweeting, “The only ‘explosive’ situation I’d ever ‘get into’ with Hov is a creative tangent, such as our #1 song ‘Heartbreaker.’”

Ruderman and Carey’s relationship goes back over 15 years, when Ruderman worked for manager Benny Medina and handled day-to-day management for Carey during the release cycle for her 2005 album The Emancipation of Mimi.

During her five-year stint at Roc Nation, Ruderman helped execute several major deals for Carey, including two consecutive residencies at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace, a TV deal with Apple and a publishing contract that led to the publication of the New York Times-bestselling memoir The Meaning of Mariah Carey.

Carey has had a long list of managers over the years. Before signing with Roc Nation, she was with Stella Bulochnikov and, before that, Kevin Liles, with whom she signed in 2014 following the dissolution of her management relationship with longtime collaborator Jermaine Dupri. At various points earlier in her career, Carey was managed by ex-husband Tommy Mottola, Randy Jackson and Red Light Management.

Range Media Partners was launched in Sept. 2020 by former Entertainment One chief strategy officer Peter Micelli and a coalition of former CAA, WME and UTA agents.

Valentina Garza Signs with William Morris Endeavor (WME)

Posted on March 12, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

It’s a new endeavor for Valentina Garza.

The 45-year-old Cuban-American writer and producer has signed with William Morris Endeavor (WME).

Garza, whose credits include co-executive producer roles on the CW’s Jane the Virgin and ABC’s The Baker and the Beauty, is currently under an overall deal at Universal Television.

She also wrote and executive produced the Jane spinoff pilot Jane the Novela; the project ended up not going forward. She also has developed for Lee Daniels Productions/20th as well as ABC Studios/ABC.

This most recent development season, Garza sold a Latinx family drama to NBC. It revolved around an explosive incident that brings a woman’s mentally ill mother crashing back into her life. She’s now forced to revisit her family’s painful past and blur carefully constructed boundaries between her mother and the family she’s chosen.

The project explores themes of race, mental health, housing instability, immigration and generational trauma.

Earlier in her career, Garza spent six seasons on Fox’s The Simpsons rising to supervising producer, then served as supervising producer on Fox’s Bordertown.

William Morris Endeavor (WME) Signs Gina Rodriguez & Her Production Company

Posted on March 1, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

It’s a new endeavor for Gina Rodriguez…

William Morris Endeavor (WME) has signed the 36-year-old Puerto Rican actress and her production company I Can and I Will Productions, run by Molly Breeskin, in all areas.

The Golden Globe-winning former Jane the Virgin star was previously at Creative Artists Agency (CAA).

Rodriguez played the title role in the CW series Jane the Virgin for 100 episodes, winning a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a TV Series Musical or Comedy in 2015.

Rodriguez recently starred in the Focus Features title Kajillionaire opposite Evan Rachel Wood and Richard Jenkins. The Miranda July directed feature made its world premiere at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival.

Rodriguez’s upcoming projects include the Netflix film Awake and the miniseries Lost Ollie for the streamer.

She has starred in Sony/Screen Gems’ Miss Bala and the Netflix feature Someone Great, a film in which she also served as a producer.

Her voice can be heard in the title role of Netflix’s Carmen Sandiego, and she also had starring voiceovers in Twentieth Century Fox/Blue Sky’s Ferdinand, Warner Brothers’ Smallfoot and Scoob, and Sony’s The Star.

In addition to her acting career, the native Chicagoan and NYU Tisch School alum is a driving force for inclusion and the empowerment of women in all ways, particularly in the entertainment industry. This passion led her to create her production company, I Can and I Will Productions, with a mission directly reflecting her commitment to create art and tell stories from those who are traditionally unseen and unheard.

The company has finished its second season of Diary of a Future President where Rodriguez directed, produced, and performed as the future president.

With her family, she established the We Will Foundation, which aims to uplift and champion underprivileged youth through arts, education, scholarship funding, and financial literacy.

Wagner Moura to Star in Apple TV+’s Metaphysical Thriller Series “Shining Girls”

Posted on February 27, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

Wagner Moura has a shining new role…

The 44-year-old Brazilian actor, filmmaker, musician, journalist and Narcos star has been cast as a lead opposite Elisabeth Moss in Shining Girls, Apple TV+’s metaphysical thriller series.

The series, based on Lauren Beukes’ 2013 best-selling novel, comes from Leonardo DiCaprio’s Appian Way and MRC Television.

Created and written by Silka Luisa, The Shining Girls book centers on a Depression-era drifter who must murder the “shining girls” in order to continue his travels.

Moura will play Dan, a veteran journalist breaking the widening story of a copycat attack. Moss plays a Chicago reporter who survived a brutal assault only to find her reality shifting as she hunts down her attacker.

In addition to starring, Moss executive produces via her Love & Squalor Pictures. MRC Television is the studio.

Moura is known for his scene-stealing role as real-life drug cartel boss Pablo Escobar in the first two seasons of Narcos, which earned him a Golden Globe nomination. He recently was seen in the Netflix thriller Sergio and is set to co-star in Gray Man, Joe and Anthony Russo’s next big-budget action film at Netflix.

Moura is repped by WME, Brent Travers and attorney Greg Slewett.

Taylor Zakhar Perez Signs with WME & Anonymous Content

Posted on February 10, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

Taylor Zakhar Perez is ready to take his career to the next level…

The young Latino actor has signed with WME and Anonymous Content.

Perez is coming off of a breakout role on the Vince Marcello-helmed hit Netflix franchise The Kissing Booth.

Based on the YA novel by Beth Reekles, the teen rom-com follows the romantic adventures of Elle, played by Joey King, her bad-boy boyfriend Noah (Jacob Elordi), and her best friend Lee (Joel Courtney). Perez first appeared in last year’s Kissing Booth 2, in the role of Marco, a handsome, charismatic new classmate who complicates Elle’s love journey.

Netflix reported that The Kissing Booth 2 was viewed by more than 65 million people in the first four weeks on the platform.

Perez is set to return for the third installment, which will debut this summer. It picks up where the second one left off. It’s the summer before Elle heads to college, and she has a secret decision to make. She has been accepted into Harvard, where boyfriend Noah is matriculating, and also Berkeley, where her BFF Lee (Noah’s brother) is headed. Which path should she choose?

Perez was also recently cast in the HBO Max comedy pilot Minx from Ellen Rapoport, Paul Feig’s Feigco Entertainment, and Lionsgate Television.

Eva Longoria to Star Opposite Ice Cube in Untitled Sci-Fi Film for Universal

Posted on October 19, 2020 by Tom Castaneda

Eva Longoria is breaking the Ice…

The 45-year-old Mexican American actress, producer and director will star opposite Ice Cube in an untitled grounded sci-fi movie, with Patrick Aiello and Timur Bekmambetov producing. Rich Lee will direct from a script by Kenneth Golde.

Plot details are vague other then it being described as a grounded sci-fi film in the vein of District 9 already that touches on themes of privacy versus surveillance. Universal has greenlighted the film and has fast tracked it by having it go into production this month.

Universal landed the package last month and what really sealed the deal was the technology that Bekmambetov has been fine-tuning ever since signing his five-picture deal with the studio. The idea behind this format that was part of the presentation is a production that had the look of commercial event film but at the budget of a contained thriller. This new technology will allow for a fully remote production with all actors and crew working from their individual separate locations. So basically if Cube or Longoria wanted his part of the shoot to be done from his home, it could be done without a problem and with crew working from somewhere else.

The shoot would be a first of its kind at this scope and is not only done at a lower budget but also provides the safe working environment every studio is trying to achieve during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Longoria, who recently signed with WME, was most recently seen Dora and the Lost City of the Gold and Slyvie’s Love. She also set to star in Flamin’ Hot for Searchlight, the recently announced Spa Day for Sony and 24/7 for Universal, which she will also direct.

Wagner Moura Signs with William Morris Endeavor (WME)

Posted on October 2, 2020 by Tom Castaneda

It’s a new endeavor for Wagner Moura…

The 44-year-old Brazilian actor, filmmaker, musician and journalist has signed with William Morris Endeavor (WME).

Moura, a Golden Globe nominee for his role as Pablo Escobar in the Netflix acclaimed series Narcos, was previously represented by UTA.

He can currently be seen starring in two Netflix films; Sergio, which he also produced, and Wasp Network, opposite Penelope Cruz and Gael Garcia Bernal.

Wagner made his directorial debut with Marighella, which premiered at the 2019 Berlin Film Festival.

His other credits include Walter Salles’ Behind The Sun for Miramax, Sony’s Elysium, opposite Matt Damon, and Jose Padilha’s Elite Squad, which won the Golden Bear at the 2008 Berlin Film Festival.

Eiza González Signs with William Morris Endeavor (WME)

Posted on August 22, 2020 by Tom Castaneda

Eiza González has new representation…

The 30-year-old Mexican actress/singer has signed with William Morris Endeavor (WME) for representation in all areas.

González rose to acclaim after her roles in El Rey’s series From Dusk till Dawn, in which she collaborated with Robert Rodriguez. She further increased her star power in the United States after appearing in Edgar Wright’s 2017 summer blockbuster Baby Driveras Darling, the heist girlfriend to Jon Hamm’s Buddy, in the $227M grossing movie.

González has scored roles in notable movies, including Nyssiana in the Rodriguez-directed 20th Century Fox sci-fi movie Alita: Battle Angel($404.8M WW), Madame M opposite Jason Statham and Dwayne Johnson in Hobbs & Shaw($759M WW), and the upcoming Legendary/Warner Bros. sequel Godzilla vs. Kongdue out on May 21, 2021.

She most recently starred in Sony Pictures’ Bloodshotopposite Vin Diesel and Guy Pearce, which earned her an Imagen Award nomination for Best Actress in a Feature Film.

González will next be seen opposite Rosamund Pike and Peter Dinklage in I Care A Lot, which will premiere at the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival.

The Mexico City native studied at the American School Foundation, the Edron Academy, M&M Studio and Televisa’s Centro de Educación Artística.’

Her breakthrough came in the teenage telenovela Lola: Érase una vezin 2007. González also starred in numerous additional series in Mexico. She signed with Universal Music, and recorded five albums.

Her other feature credits include Robert Zemeckis’ Welcome to Marwen, and voiceover credits in DreamWorks’ The Croods and 20th Century Fox’s Alvin and the Chipmunks and Horton Hears A Who!

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