The representation landscape in Hollywood appears to be shifting once again.
Anonymous Content, the management and production company that’s backed The Revenant, Mr. Robot, and clients Samuel L. Jackson and Emma Stone, is exploring an acquisition of fast-rising firm Grandview/Automatik. The latter has of the moment clients such as Top Gun: Maverick director Joe Kosinski, House of the Dragon showrunner Ryan Condal, and Dan Trachtenberg, the director of Hulu’s most watched movie, Prey.
Spokespersons for both companies declined to comment but chatter of a possible merger surfaced in recent weeks. It is not clear in what stages the talks are in.
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Anonymous, like several other large-size firms, is backed by private equity — Laurene Powell Jobs’ Emerson Collective is a financier — while Grandview/Automatik, founded in 2014 by former CAA agents, is one of the few significant concerns still in private hands. The company has been fielding offers from various companies, including financial institutions, for a while now.
Part of the impetus for the acquisition is industry consolidation and perhaps the rise of Range Media, the management company founded in 2020 that has quickly become the largest, employee-wise at least, if not marquee client-wise, in town. Range also boasts divisions that deal with financing and branding as well as buying into the concept of client silos.
“Big changes are coming to the management sphere,” said one partner at an agency. “There is going to be consolidation and part of it is being driven by the end of packaging fees and streaming’s suppression of fees.”
Part of Anonymous’ growth was driven in its ability to leverage its literary list to the production side. The success of Spotlight, True Detective and 13 Reasons Why, on top of Revenant and others, highlight that strategy. And in an industry that still needs content for a media company to be king, other management firms are envious of their lit list.
Grandview also has a production side — Automatik — and had some success, seen in films such as La La Land. But it’s their hot lit list and young actors that makes the nimble company a player in the rep scene.
If a deal makes, “this is smart play for both,” said a rival manager. “This will feed the production side.”
