UTA CEO David Kramer (left) with his CEO predecessor Jeremy Zimmer, sent a scathing memo about the Variety piece. UTA via Getty Images Everyone’s talking about a new feud in Hollywood…. but the beef began in Cannes.
A good old-fashioned media maelstrom broke out yesterday following the publication of an article in Variety documenting a string of high-profile client defections from UTA. Headlined “Inside UTA’s Bummer Summer: Client Departures, Stalled M&A and Agent Anxiety,” the piece was written by veteran journalist Matt Donnelly, who has become a thorn in the side of the third largest agency in the industry, one that has had some high-profile client defections lately.
But it was UTA’s scorched-earth reaction to the piece that really got the town chattering yesterday, and threatened to turn a fairly benign takedown into a multi-day news cycle.
Donnelly’s piece noted the obvious — the sudden departures of comedian Nikki Glaser and podcaster Alex Cooper (drawing on some of Page Six Hollywood’s scoops, ps!). Talent agencies are notoriously sensitive when it comes to bad press, and none enjoy having their setbacks dissected in the pages of the trades.
But it hit a major nerve inside UTA and quickly spilled out into the public sphere after UTA’s CEO David Kramer penned a memo to the agency’s staff not only refuting the Variety report but putting its author on blast — including alleging the scribe was unfairly hellbent on damaging UTA’s business.
The memo was leaked shortly after hitting UTA inboxes to Semafor’s Max Tani, who posted the miffed missive on X.
“This morning Variety published an article with a clear bias against our business. It distorts recent events, is agenda-driven and does not reflect the strength or momentum of UTA,” read the memo by Kramer. “This is a reporter that has declared in an email that UTA is a ‘flagrant and hostile enemy,’ and in a text that there would ‘be consequences both from Variety/PMC and myself’ to UTA, and stated to UTA employees his intent to damage UTA’s business.”
Even more shocking, Kramer came just short of accusing Donnelly of harassing women (without any specifics). “He has recently subjected women at UTA to hostile and unprofessional behavior,” wrote Kramer, who then strangely put on an ombudsman-like hat adding, “that does not live up to any editorial standard. We will not tolerate it.”
UTA declined to provide any further evidence of Donnelly’s said behavior. Most of UTA’s comms team is made up of women, led by Cassandra Bujarski who was hired in 2025.
“David is usually more reserved so I think he wanted the other agents at UTA to hear this. Part of it feels performative,” said a source.
A crosstown rival was more blunt, saying the leaked email reeked of “desperation.”
It’s not uncommon for tough business stories about the industry to lead to testy exchanges between reporters and the communications pros tasked with protecting their employer. According to sources inside UTA, Kramer was less offended by the article’s content and more by Donnelly’s interactions with the UTA PR team leading up to publication.
The beef between Donnelly and UTA dates back several years and flared up during the Cannes Film Festival in May when Donnelly wrote an anodyne Q&A with UTA partner and head of the agency’s independent film group Rena Ronson.
There are dueling versions of what transpired, but it started as a back-and-forth over text with Ronson complaining that she sounded “inarticulate” (isn’t that how every Cannes interview reads?). She then asked that the story be taken down from Variety’s site. Donnelly refused and shot back that he had accurately quoted Ronson. “Matt took offense to the requests and had an outsized reaction,” a source claims.
But another source says UTA took the requests too far and then threatened to spread the word that Ronson was misquoted. That’s when Donnelly noted that there would be “consequences” to being maligned, and said he’d release the full audio of the interview which would vindicate him.
(Variety defended its long-time staffer, who was recently promoted to executive film editor, on Wednesday. A statement to Page Six Hollywood stated: “We stand by our reporting and our editor Matt Donnelly. The email and texts cited by UTA in its memo to staff date from last May when a UTA executive initiated a heated back and forth.”)
Fast forward three months, and a string of UTA defections became ripe for media coverage. (Full disclosure, Page Six Hollywood had been reporting out a UTA story, but we certainly hadn’t even gotten near the “flagrant and hostile” stage yet.) For the past year, UTA has been the subject of rumblings that it would either make a key business acquisition (i.e. Casey Wasserman‘s up-for-sale firm) or be acquired (WME was rumored to be interested). But neither happened.
Over the past three years, Variety wrote in its “Bummer Summer” report, “whales” like Greta Gerwig, Ben Stiller, Kevin Hart and Judd Apatow have left the agency, along with the more recent Cooper and Glaser. The Hollywood Reporter also reported this week that “Hawaii Five-O” star Daniel Dae Kim jumped to CAA.
On Aug. 19, a meme featuring a Mad Magazine-like cartoon of a Titanic-esque ship capsizing in the background with the words “UTA” on it — while Glaser, Cooper and “Barbie” director Gerwig paddled away on a life raft — began making the rounds. One top agent at a UTA rival shared the meme with us with the caption, “Going around town!”
Donnelly went to UTA for comment on Saturday for his story, and gave them until Monday to respond, we hear. On Monday, according to sources, UTA initiated calls with a top Variety editor to discuss its concerns, requested the story be spiked and referenced that Donnelly’s texts from May were “on the record,” which sources inside Variety interpreted as a threat, insiders say.
When the story published, Kramer went on the offensive with the odd memo that sparked plenty of rubbernecking from UTA’s rivals and industry insiders.
“You don’t chase bad publicity. They should have just let it die,” says one veteran communications executive. “One of the first rules of public relations is you don’t put gasoline on the fire unless you need to.”
