Talk:United Talent Agency/Archives/2018

Draft article for Jay Sures
Hello! I work for Executive Writing, and as part of my consultancy work for UTA, I've drafted a new Wikipedia article for Jay Sures, who serves as co-president. I've saved my draft for review here: User:EWChristine/Jay Sures. Additionally, you can review my request on the article's talk page. Edits are primarily formatting, updates and additional sourcing. Are any page watchers willing to review the draft and replace the existing article? I believe I've disclosed my conflict of interest appropriately, but please let me know if not. Thank you in advance. EWChristine (talk) 01:36, 1 August 2018 (UTC)

Proposed article improvements
Hello again! I've been working with United Talent Agency to propose improvements to Wikipedia articles related to the company. Since I have a financial conflict (I work for Executive Writing and UTA is my client), I've studied Wikipedia's guidelines regarding COI editing, and will limit my edits to those I believe to be uncontroversial and otherwise solicit help via talk page requests to volunteer editors. I believe my disclosures have been posted appropriately, and I've saved my draft UTA article here for editors to review: User:EWChristine/United Talent Agency.

Identifying problems with the current "Divisions" section
I recognize there is way too much content for editors to review at once, so I'd like to submit a series of requests, starting with addressing the problematic "Divisions" section of the existing article. Currently, this section has 2 subsections: one for UTA Brand Studio and another about Keywords Press. Both of these topics should be covered in some way, but each section is problematic in their current form. I'll explain why below.

"UTA Brand Studio" section
The "UTA Brand Studio" section is almost entirely unsourced and contains a significant amount of promotional content. See the following claims:
 * "In 2012, UTA hired brand industry veterans Laurence Vincent and Michellene DeBonis to launch the UTA Brand Studio to offer strategic brand consulting services to corporate clients, ranging from technology start-ups to established luxury and lifestyle brands, providing brand definition and naming to identity systems and brand experience development."
 * "The firm would come to be known for a narrative approach to branding emphasizing research and insights to inform its work."
 * "Housed within United Talent Agency, the Brand Studio would provide its consumer-facing clients direct access to tastemakers and influencers."

I'd like to think we can all agree this is a very promotional description (not to mention, unsourced). The only part of the section that's sourced is the publishing history of Laurence Vincent. Again, I assume editors will agree that details about the two books he published before joining UTA are not worth including in a company biography. For these reasons, I propose removing the current "UTA Brand Studio" section altogether.

"Keywords Press" section
The two sentences in the "Keywords Press" section are not erroneous, but they do not require a standalone section. Instead, I propose moving mention of the imprint to the "History" section. As you can see, I've included mention of Keywords Press in my proposed "History" section, and I'm not sure much more detail is required. I will be submitting subsequent requests to improve the "History" section, but for now, I propose either moving mention of the imprint to the current "History" section, or removing mention altogether (whichever reviewing editors prefer). With these 2 sentences moved/removed, there's no need for the "Divisions" section.

Proposed replacement
If editors agree with the concerns I've outlined above, I propose replacing the current "Divisions" section with a proposed "Service areas" section, which does a much better job at describing the company's structure and services. Below, you'll see a proposed section with subsections for each service area.

Each subsection provides a short, neutral summary, using Wikipedia-appropriate sourcing. For the UTA Brand Studio, since there is a separate Wikipedia article, the summary here is little more than a short description ("provides brand strategy consulting services for corporate brands") and a handful of notable clients.

Please see the collapsed rendering below for an overview of UTA's service areas:

UTA Brand Studio provides brand strategy consulting services for corporate brands as well as UTA's traditional talent. UTA Marketing advises clients including Amazon, Delta Air Lines, General Motors, LinkedIn, and Lyft.

UTA's digital department focuses on entertainment and programming on emerging platforms, digital talent, event management, and development of new ventures. Clients and projects include Rhett and Link, Hannah Hart, Marc Smerling, The Lonely Island, and Smosh, as well as the podcasts and networks Wondery, My Favorite Murder, S-Town, and Up and Vanished. Its ventures division made early investments in Crowdrise, Lyft, and AwesomenessTV, incubating the latter through its ultimate sale to DreamWorks Animation. The digital division also represents technology trade shows, including the Consumer Electronics Show and VidCon. UTA IQ specializes in third-party data analysis and predictive analytics. UTA and Rentrak worked together to develop the social data analysis product called PreAct, which helps predict box office success based on social media engagement.

UTA represents actors, directors, writers, producers, and other professionals across scripted and unscripted film and television projects. Clients include Judd Apatow, the Coen brothers, Angelina Jolie, Frances McDormand, Kumail Nanjiani, Seth Rogen, and Amy Schumer.

The agency's independent film group conducts film finance, packaging, production, and sales work. UTA's television literary department represents creators, showrunners, and writers.

UTA's fine art division manages the careers of contemporary and visual artists by securing project financing and sponsorships, and providing opportunities for artists to collaborate with other industries.

In 2016, UTA opened a 4500 ft2 venue, called UTA Artist Space, in Los Angeles' Boyle Heights neighborhood. It also partnered with Swire Properties to conduct a week-long program at Art Basel Hong Kong. The artist space relocated to Beverly Hills in mid 2018. Ai Weiwei collaborated on the renovation of the new venue.

Fine Arts clients include Joe Bradley, Larry Clark, Kurt Cobain,  Dennis Hopper, Mike Kelley, Nate Lowman, and Elizabeth Peyton, Ai Weiwei, and Pae White.

The company's music division has agents representing and booking talent such as Guns N' Roses, Post Malone, Lenny Kravitz, Marshmello, Mariah Carey, Toby Keith and DJ Khaled. Artists span multiple genres, including classical, country, electronic, hip hop, independent, jazz, pop, reggae, and rock.

UTA's News & Broadcast division represents television news professionals in local and national markets, including Anderson Cooper, Chuck Todd, Jake Tapper, Don Lemon, Dana Bash, Jodi Kantor and Norah O'Donnell.

UTA's speakers division books public speaking events in the business, entertainment, media, politics, and sports fields. Clients include Billy Beane, Preet Bharara, Mark Burnett, Alex Rodriguez and George Takei.

Markup
Below is markup for the above rendering, which editors can use to copy and paste appropriately:

==Service areas==

===Branding and marketing===

UTA Brand Studio provides brand strategy consulting services for corporate brands as well as UTA's traditional talent. UTA Marketing advises clients including Amazon, Delta Air Lines, General Motors, LinkedIn, and Lyft.

===Digital=== UTA's digital department focuses on entertainment and programming on emerging platforms, digital talent, event management, and development of new ventures. Clients and projects include Rhett and Link, Hannah Hart, Marc Smerling, The Lonely Island, and Smosh, as well as the podcasts and networks Wondery, My Favorite Murder, S-Town, and Up and Vanished. Its ventures division made early investments in Crowdrise, Lyft, and AwesomenessTV, incubating the latter through its ultimate sale to DreamWorks Animation. The digital division also represents technology trade shows, including the Consumer Electronics Show and VidCon. UTA IQ specializes in third-party data analysis and predictive analytics. UTA and Rentrak worked together to develop the social data analysis product called PreAct, which helps predict box office success based on social media engagement.

===Film and television=== UTA represents actors, directors, writers, producers, and other professionals across scripted and unscripted film and television projects. Clients include Judd Apatow, the Coen brothers, Angelina Jolie, Frances McDormand, Kumail Nanjiani, Seth Rogen, and Amy Schumer.

The agency's independent film group conducts film finance, packaging, production, and sales work. UTA's television literary department represents creators, showrunners, and writers.

===Fine arts=== UTA's fine art division manages the careers of contemporary and visual artists by securing project financing and sponsorships, and providing opportunities for artists to collaborate with other industries.

In 2016, UTA opened a 4500 ft2 venue, called UTA Artist Space, in Los Angeles' Boyle Heights neighborhood. It also partnered with Swire Properties to conduct a week-long program at Art Basel Hong Kong. The artist space relocated to Beverly Hills in mid 2018. Ai Weiwei collaborated on the renovation of the new venue.

Fine Arts clients include Joe Bradley, Larry Clark, Kurt Cobain,  Dennis Hopper, Mike Kelley, Nate Lowman, and Elizabeth Peyton, Ai Weiwei, and Pae White.

===Music=== The company's music division has agents representing and booking talent such as Guns N' Roses, Post Malone, Lenny Kravitz, Marshmello, Mariah Carey, Toby Keith and DJ Khaled. Artists span multiple genres, including classical, country, electronic, hip hop, independent, jazz, pop, reggae, and rock.

===News and broadcast=== UTA's News & Broadcast division represents television news professionals in local and national markets, including Anderson Cooper, Chuck Todd, Jake Tapper, Don Lemon, Dana Bash, Jodi Kantor and Norah O'Donnell.

===Speakers=== UTA's speakers division books public speaking events in the business, entertainment, media, politics, and sports fields. Clients include Billy Beane, Preet Bharara, Mark Burnett, Alex Rodriguez and George Takei.

I won't be editing the article directly, and I'd like help from volunteers to update the entry appropriately. I realize even just this section is still a lot for editors to review, and I invite feedback on one section at a time if that helps. I will be keeping an eye on this page and will be happy to respond to comments. Thank you! EWChristine (talk) 01:16, 4 August 2018 (UTC)

Proposed Changes
Overall, these proposed changes appear to bring the article into better compliance with Wikipedia standards re: sourcing and avoiding promotional verbiage. I have made a few additional edits to your proposed changes for the same reasons. Penny75 (talk) 15:45, 6 August 2018 (UTC)

Jeremy Zimmer draft
Hello again! Similar to the Jay Sures draft mentioned above, I've drafted a new Wikipedia article for Jeremy Zimmer, who serves as CEO. I've saved my draft for review here: Draft:Jeremy Zimmer. Are any page watchers willing to review the draft and make the article live? I believe I've disclosed my conflict of interest appropriately on the talk page, but please let me know if not. Thank you in advance. EWChristine (talk) 18:10, 27 August 2018 (UTC)