It’s a pre-Thanksgiving surprise at two of the Big Three talent agencies. A trio of top film agents at Creative Artists Agency are defecting to rival WME Group, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
Film agents Adam Schweitzer, Matt Martin and Trevor Astbury are decamping from CAA for the Richard Weitz and Christian Muirhead-run WME, sources say. It’s not clear why the defections are under way but this time of year sees contract negotiations occur at the majors. And sometimes those talks don’t go the way you think they should.
New York-based Schweitzer, formerly co-head of the talent department at ICM, had joined the Bryan Lourd-led CAA when the mega agency closed its deal to buy ICM for $750 million in 2022. His clients include Rachel Zegler, Rebecca Ferguson, Cillian Murphy and Christoph Waltz.
Martin, who reps Lilo & Stitch helmer Dean Fleischer Camp, has been with CAA since 2010 as a motion picture literary agent. He also reps John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, who just signed on to direct Paramount’s next Star Trek movie.
Astbury, who has Bumblebee director Travis Knight, Now You See Me helmer Louis Leterrier, Dune writer Jon Spaihts and Arrival scribe Eric Heisserer, joined CAA in 2014 after a decade-plus at run at Paradigm.
