PRIMARY WAVE’S TALENT MANAGEMENT DIVISION MERGES WITH INTELLECTUAL ARTISTS MANAGEMENT
Creating a Full Service Entertainment Management Powerhouse for Creative Talent Across All Industries from Music and Film to TV and Literary
The Combined Management Roster will Now Include Golden Globe winner Gina Rodriguez, Oscar winner Bobby Moresco, Grammy Award winners CeeLo Green, Melissa Etheridge, Cypress Hill, Eric Benet, along with William Fichtner, Mayim Bialik, Peter Facinelli, Gabrielle Union, AJ Cook, Natalie Imbruglia, Oni Press, and more
New York, N.Y. (January 19, 2015) — Primary Wave, one of the largest independent music marketing, talent management and music publishing companies in the US, confirms the merger of Primary Wave’s Talent Management divisions with Intellectual Artists Management, a full-service talent and literary management, media and content production company. By uniting Primary Wave’s expertise in music, digital, and branding with Intellectual’s strong hold on the film/TV industry, this newly formed talent management team will provide full access and opportunities for their roster across multiple platforms from music and film to TV and literary. The new powerhouse talent management company will work under the new name Primary Wave Entertainment and will be run by co-CEOs and industry leaders Larry Mestel, CEO/Founder of Primary Wave Music, David Guillod, CEO/Founder of Intellectual, and Mark Burg, CEO/Founder of Evolution, who will serve as Vice Chairman.
“Jeff, Patrick and I are very excited to partner with Larry and his team, which will perfectly position us to become a global entertainment, media, branding and licensing powerhouse. I look forward to our new relationship and our continued aggressive growth in the future,” states David Guillod.
In addition to the new name, Primary Wave Entertainment will combine its staff under one roof with New York and LA offices and will also refer to their two existing rosters as one. Intellectual’s roster consists of Oscar winning writer/directors Jim Rash (Descendants), Mike Radford (Il Postino) and Bobby Moresco (Crash) as well as, Golden Globe winner Gina Rodriquez (Jane the Virgin), David Arquette, Gabrielle Union, AJ Cook, Nia Long, William Fichtner, Donald Faison, Manu Bennett, Cole Hauser, and Peter Facinelli. Primary Wave’s current roster includes CeeLo Green, Melissa Etheridge, Cypress Hill, Eric Benét, Natalie Imbruglia, The Go-Go’s, Trevor Jackson, Ginuwine, Goodie Mob, Cris Cab, Big Gipp, producer/DJ Audien, actress Jane Lynch, among others. As part of the merger, this new, diverse roster consisting of recording artists, film/TV stars and writer/directors, will now all have access to Primary Wave’s in-house resources such as their Branding company, Digital Marketing division, and Sync team. Known as leaders in providing brand and digital strategies for their talent, Primary Wave and Intellectual also have combined direct brand alliances with Klipsch, VOX, Sprint, NIVEA, Tommy Hilfiger, Times Square Alliance, among many others.
“I’m proud to be entering into this partnership with David and his amazing team at Intellectual,” explains Larry Mestel, CEO of Primary Wave. “This is truly, an exciting business step for both companies and will give our roster of artists the opportunity to expand their brands across many platforms within the entertainment industry.”
With both company’s successfully making an impact in their respective industries, this new venture is a natural, complementing match and expansion for both teams. The announcement also follows the recent news that Primary Wave acquired the film/TV talent management and production company Evolution Entertainment Partners run by Mark Burg, which has produced over 40 films including Can’t Buy Me Love, The Sandlot, John Q and the entire SAW franchise as well as executive produced the TV series Two And A Half Men and 100 episodes of Anger Management. This acquisition will also fall under the new Primary Wave / Intellectual merger. In addition to talent management, the new Primary Wave Entertainment team will continue to produce, develop and finance new film and TV projects. Since expanding into the TV business in 2013, Primary Wave has overseen a development and production slate of over a dozen original projects in both the scripted and unscripted world and has placed three shows on air including TBS’ The Good Life and also extended the CeeLo Green brand into the film world, securing roles in Sparkle, Hotel Transylvania, and Begin Again.
In addition to Mestel, and Guillod, the senior management team will consist of Jeff Morrone & Patrick Hughes, Head of Film & TV Talent; Bryan O’Connell, Talent Manager; Justin Shukat, President of Primary Wave Music; Adam Lowenberg, CMO; Ramon Villa, CFO/COO; Jeff Straughn, Head of Brand Marketing; Robert Dippold, President of Digital Marketing; Steven Greener, Partner; Andrew Jameson, Head of TV Development for PW; Marty Silverstone, Head of Synchronization Licensing; Anne Watkins, Head of Press; Tiffany Kuzon, Senior Talent Management; Margot Menzel; Ben Press; Mike Gillespie; Brad Pence; Eric Skinner; Katherine Nedberg; Rebecca Ewing; Tony Sabistina, Director of Television Development; Brad Kaplan, Senior Literary Talent; music managers Hosh Gureli; Deb Klein; Seth Faber; Toya Hankins; Tom Maffei; David Simone; Winston Simone; Jake Livingston; Lakeisha Orange; Chris Maltese; Laurel Sterns; Zev Perilman.
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