Marking the first time in 70 years that it hasn’t been totally owned within the family, The Gersh Agency has sold a 45% stake to New York-based private equity firm Crestview Partners.
The talent agency hasn’t divulged the amount of equity its new partner is investing, but both sides said the aim is to accelerate Gersh’s domestic and international growth by expanding firm resources to support a growing staff and client roster. Deal was announced by Gersh Co-Presidents Bob and David Gersh and Brian Cassidy, Co-President and Head of Media at Crestview.
Longtime Senior Managing Partner Leslie Siebert has been elevated to Co-President, alongside David and Bob Gersh. Siebert will also join the Gersh brothers and members of Crestview on a newly formed board of directors. Siebert’s appointment represents the first step of Gersh’s long-planned management transition, the agency said.
Gersh was founded in 1949 by Phil Gersh,...
The talent agency hasn’t divulged the amount of equity its new partner is investing, but both sides said the aim is to accelerate Gersh’s domestic and international growth by expanding firm resources to support a growing staff and client roster. Deal was announced by Gersh Co-Presidents Bob and David Gersh and Brian Cassidy, Co-President and Head of Media at Crestview.
Longtime Senior Managing Partner Leslie Siebert has been elevated to Co-President, alongside David and Bob Gersh. Siebert will also join the Gersh brothers and members of Crestview on a newly formed board of directors. Siebert’s appointment represents the first step of Gersh’s long-planned management transition, the agency said.
Gersh was founded in 1949 by Phil Gersh,...
- 5/1/2023
- by Mike Fleming Jr
- Deadline Film + TV
After nearly 75 years of family ownership, Gersh Agency has sold a 45% stake in the company to private equity firm Crestview Partners.
Gersh Agency chiefs Bob Gersh and David Gersh said the investment from Crestview is designed to help the agency grow in new areas to better represent its core client base. The deal calls for the brothers to continue to stay at the helm. Leslie Siebert, Gersh Agency veteran who has long served as managing partner, has been promoted to co-president status alongside Bob and David Gersh.
Gersh Agency’s sale comes as all of its major talent agency competitors have brought in additional partners and investors to help provide much-needed resources and financial support for a notoriously volatile business. The brothers assert they will maintain control even as they bring in capital from Crestview. In 2019, Crestview Partners acquired a one-third stake in ICM Partners for about $150 million — a deal...
Gersh Agency chiefs Bob Gersh and David Gersh said the investment from Crestview is designed to help the agency grow in new areas to better represent its core client base. The deal calls for the brothers to continue to stay at the helm. Leslie Siebert, Gersh Agency veteran who has long served as managing partner, has been promoted to co-president status alongside Bob and David Gersh.
Gersh Agency’s sale comes as all of its major talent agency competitors have brought in additional partners and investors to help provide much-needed resources and financial support for a notoriously volatile business. The brothers assert they will maintain control even as they bring in capital from Crestview. In 2019, Crestview Partners acquired a one-third stake in ICM Partners for about $150 million — a deal...
- 5/1/2023
- by Cynthia Littleton
- Variety Film + TV
In the race to establish a foothold as Hollywood’s No. 4 agency, Gersh is taking private equity cash to fuel expansion in the talent representation space.
Investment firm Crestview Partners has secured a significant stake, 45 percent, in the Beverly Hills-based agency, the companies said on Monday. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, but the Gersh partnership will retain a majority stake in the agency that was founded in 1949 by rep Phil Gersh and currently run by his sons, David and Bob Gersh.
As part of the deal, members of Crestview will join a newly formed board of directors at the agency, with David and Bob Gersh also joining the board. (The number of seats is to-be-determined, but the Gersh partners have a majority.) Additionally, Leslie Siebert, the senior managing partner who joined the agency in 1984, has been promoted to co-president of Gersh and will join the board.
With the move,...
Investment firm Crestview Partners has secured a significant stake, 45 percent, in the Beverly Hills-based agency, the companies said on Monday. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, but the Gersh partnership will retain a majority stake in the agency that was founded in 1949 by rep Phil Gersh and currently run by his sons, David and Bob Gersh.
As part of the deal, members of Crestview will join a newly formed board of directors at the agency, with David and Bob Gersh also joining the board. (The number of seats is to-be-determined, but the Gersh partners have a majority.) Additionally, Leslie Siebert, the senior managing partner who joined the agency in 1984, has been promoted to co-president of Gersh and will join the board.
With the move,...
- 5/1/2023
- by Erik Hayden
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Hollywood talent agents are famously competitive with one another. Whether big or boutique, agencies parry and joust in wooing talent and sealing deals.
But some issues transcend money and ego. Hate speech is one of them.
Bob Gersh, longtime leader of the agency founded by his father in the 1960s, has watched Kanye West’s abhorrent outbursts of antisemitism over the past two weeks with dismay. On Saturday, the Gersh Agency chief reached out to Variety to express support for Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel’s call for businesses to condemn and cut ties with West. That list includes Apple, Spotify and Adidas. West has already had accounts restricted on Twitter and Instagram because of the nature of his comments about Jewish people.
“This is as low as it can get,” Gersh told Variety of West’s recent comments. “This is the most blatant form of hatred and antisemitism one could imagine.
But some issues transcend money and ego. Hate speech is one of them.
Bob Gersh, longtime leader of the agency founded by his father in the 1960s, has watched Kanye West’s abhorrent outbursts of antisemitism over the past two weeks with dismay. On Saturday, the Gersh Agency chief reached out to Variety to express support for Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel’s call for businesses to condemn and cut ties with West. That list includes Apple, Spotify and Adidas. West has already had accounts restricted on Twitter and Instagram because of the nature of his comments about Jewish people.
“This is as low as it can get,” Gersh told Variety of West’s recent comments. “This is the most blatant form of hatred and antisemitism one could imagine.
- 10/23/2022
- by Cynthia Littleton
- Variety Film + TV
Sam Adams, a literary agent whose career began in the postwar years at Warner Bros. and ended with the deal to bring The Handmaid’s Tale to the big screen, has died, according to multiple reports. He was 94.
Adams’ client list included Handmaid’s author Margaret Atwood, the recently-deceased Peter Bogdanovich, Saturday Night Fever director John Badham, TV giant Stephen J. Cannell, Oscar-winner Alvin Sargent, Casablanca star Paul Henreid and Nobel laureate Isaac Bashevis Singer.
Adams got his start in Hollywood delivering messages at Warner Bros. while he was still at Beverly Hills High School. At Warners, he met the likes of Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Errol Flynn, Bette Davis and Edgar G. Robinson. His stint at the studio was interrupted by 18 months of active duty in the army.
After the war he turned to journalism, serving stints at the William Randolph Hearst-owned Los Angeles Examiner, the Armed Forces Radio Services,...
Adams’ client list included Handmaid’s author Margaret Atwood, the recently-deceased Peter Bogdanovich, Saturday Night Fever director John Badham, TV giant Stephen J. Cannell, Oscar-winner Alvin Sargent, Casablanca star Paul Henreid and Nobel laureate Isaac Bashevis Singer.
Adams got his start in Hollywood delivering messages at Warner Bros. while he was still at Beverly Hills High School. At Warners, he met the likes of Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Errol Flynn, Bette Davis and Edgar G. Robinson. His stint at the studio was interrupted by 18 months of active duty in the army.
After the war he turned to journalism, serving stints at the William Randolph Hearst-owned Los Angeles Examiner, the Armed Forces Radio Services,...
- 1/14/2022
- by Tom Tapp
- Deadline Film + TV
He was super agent Phil Gersh’s signature client from the start of his acting career through his death in 1957, all through his heyday in the 1940s and 1950s in The Maltese Falcon, Casablanca, The African Queen, Key Largo, Treasure of the Sierra Madre and The Caine Mutiny. Now, Humphrey Bogart is back with the Gersh Agency, which has signed the Humphrey Bogart Estate.
While estate business signings are usually mundane, this was an excuse for a trip down Hollywood’s memory lane for Bob and David Gersh, who took over the agency from their father. As boys, they grew up around Bogart, and the other stars from dad’s stable that included William Holden, David Niven, Kirk Douglas, Lee J. Cobb, and Fredric March. David Gersh recalled the dialogue between his storied agent father and the legendary Bogart, and it’s not what you might think. “Every time Bogey saw my father,...
While estate business signings are usually mundane, this was an excuse for a trip down Hollywood’s memory lane for Bob and David Gersh, who took over the agency from their father. As boys, they grew up around Bogart, and the other stars from dad’s stable that included William Holden, David Niven, Kirk Douglas, Lee J. Cobb, and Fredric March. David Gersh recalled the dialogue between his storied agent father and the legendary Bogart, and it’s not what you might think. “Every time Bogey saw my father,...
- 4/6/2021
- by Mike Fleming Jr
- Deadline Film + TV
Beijing’s Er Dong Pictures will establish a joint venture with Hollywood’s Gersh Agency this year as part of the fast-growing Chinese film investor’s ambitious plans to expand at home and abroad.
The partnership means the 70-year-old American talent agency, which has more than 100 agents representing artists such as Kristen Stewart, Elizabeth Olsen and Tony Jaa, will share its talent resources with Er Dong, while leveraging the latter’s growing influence in the Chinese film industry.
Unveiling the collaboration at FilMart on Monday, Bill Gersh, grandson of the agency’s founder Phil Gersh, said: “As the Chinese film industry thrives, more and more Western talent is being showcased in Chinese films and television. Now is the time for Chinese stories to go global and we’ll have the opportunity to expand our artists’ careers into the Chinese and Asian markets.”
“Working with Er Dong presents an opportunity for expanding our reach globally.
The partnership means the 70-year-old American talent agency, which has more than 100 agents representing artists such as Kristen Stewart, Elizabeth Olsen and Tony Jaa, will share its talent resources with Er Dong, while leveraging the latter’s growing influence in the Chinese film industry.
Unveiling the collaboration at FilMart on Monday, Bill Gersh, grandson of the agency’s founder Phil Gersh, said: “As the Chinese film industry thrives, more and more Western talent is being showcased in Chinese films and television. Now is the time for Chinese stories to go global and we’ll have the opportunity to expand our artists’ careers into the Chinese and Asian markets.”
“Working with Er Dong presents an opportunity for expanding our reach globally.
- 3/18/2019
- by Shirley Lau
- Variety Film + TV
In the largest expansion in its 56-year history, the Gersh Agency has elevated longtime partner Leslie Siebert to the post of senior managing partner while also promoting another 10 agents to partner status. The expansion comes as Gersh prepares to build a new 40,000-square-foot headquarters in Beverly Hills and boost its presence in New York. All told, Gersh employs about 65 agents on both coasts under the direction of co-presidents David Gersh and Bob Gersh, the sons of agency founder Phil Gersh, who died last year at age 92. Gersh has long been known for the strength of its roster of actors and below-the-line production staffers, but in recent years the company has made a concerted effort to expand in the arenas of film and TV writers and directors, independent filmmakers, stand-up comedians, playwrights and book publishing.
- 7/19/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Phil Gersh, founder and president of the Gersh Agency whose more than 60 years as an agent spanned the Golden Age of Hollywood to today's conglomerate-owned movie business, died Monday of natural causes at his home in Beverly Hills. He was 92. During the course of his auspicious career, Gersh represented many of Hollywood's acting legends, including Humphrey Bogart, David Niven, Gloria Grahame, Dorothy McGuire, James Mason, Fredric March, Mary Astor, Lee J. Cobb and Zero Mostel, among many others. He was a leading fixture in the halcyon days of Hollywood, when studio chieftains staked their companies on a movie and where passion, rather than cautious corporate reports, was the impetus to great moviemaking. The Gersh Agency has represented such directors as Robert Wise, Arthur Hiller, Joseph Losey, Don Siegel, Joe Dante, Jan de Bont, Richard Benjamin as well as writer Ernest Lehman, cinematographer William Fraker and editor Michael Kahn, among many others. Over the course of its long evolution, the Gersh Agency also has represented such major talents as Lauren Bacall, Harrison Ford and Michael J. Fox.
- 5/11/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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