Seasoned TV literary agent Renee Kurtz is switching to management. Kurtz is leaving CAA to join leading management and production company Principato-Young Entertainment where she will be a senior level manager. She is starting at the beginning of January 2017, right after the holidays.
Kurtz joined CAA in 2009 from WMA in the fallout of the WMA-Endeavor merger. She has been the longtime TV agent for top comedy writer-director-producer Paul Feig (Ghostbusters, Spy) who started in television. Other notable clients that Kurtz worked with at CAA include Charles H. Eglee (The Walking Dead); Smallville, Into the Badlands and The Shannara Chronicles creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar; 11.22.63 creator Bridget Carpenter; writers Jessica Chaffin (Ronna & Beverly) and Owen Ellickson (Superstore), and directors Sanaa Hamri (Empire) and Jeremy Podeswa (Game of Thrones).
It is unclear yet which of Kurtz’s clients will stay with her as a manager. Sources who know Kurtz suggest that the number would be significant because her clients have been loyal throughout her career. When Kurtz left WMA for CAA, virtually all of her clients followed her. And Feig’s strong relationship with Kurtz was considered one of the reasons for his decision to stay at CAA when a number of top comedy agents left for UTA. Feig currently has no management representation.
