ICM Partners is a talent and literary agency with offices in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
,
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, Washington D.C. and
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
. ICM (International Creative Management) Partners represents clients in the fields of motion pictures, television, music, publishing, live performance, branded entertainment and new media. Its corporate headquarters are in
Constellation Place
Constellation Place is a 35-story, skyscraper in Los Angeles, California, located in the community of Century City. It houses the headquarters of Houlihan Lokey, ICM Partners, Knight Law Group, and International Lease Finance Corporation (ILFC). ...
in
Century City
Century City is a 176-acre (71.2 ha) neighborhood and business district in Los Angeles, California. Located on the Westside to the south of Santa Monica Boulevard around 10 miles (16 km) west of Downtown Los Angeles, Century City is one of ...
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
''. February 5, 2012. Retrieved on February 5, 2012.
History
ICM was formed in 1975 through the merger of
Creative Management Associates
ICM Partners is a talent and literary agency with offices in Los Angeles, New York City, Washington D.C. and London. ICM (International Creative Management) Partners represents clients in the fields of motion pictures, television, music, publi ...
Rizvi Traverse
Suhail R. Rizvi is an Indian-American businessman and co-founder and Chief Investment Officer of Rizvi Traverse Management LLC. He has a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and sits on the Wh ...
.
In 2006, ICM acquired the literary agency Broder Webb Chervin Silbermann.
In 2012, the agency completed a management buyout and formed a partnership with the new name, ICM Partners.
In March 2018, ICM acquired the Just For Laughs comedy festival, as part of a partnership with
Howie Mandel
Howard Michael Mandel (born November 29, 1955) is a Canadian-American comedian, television personality, actor, and producer. Mandel voiced the character Gizmo in the 1984 film ''Gremlins'' and the 1990 sequel '' Gremlins 2: The New Batch''. I ...
. A 51% majority was later sold to
Bell Media
Bell Media Inc. ( French: ) is a Canadian company formed by the amalgamation of several companies.
Establishment (2011–13)
On December 9, 2011, the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan announced the sale of its majority stake in Maple Leaf Sports ...
and Groupe CH to maintain a primarily-Canadian ownership. In June that year, ICM formed a partnership with esports-focused talent agency Evolved.
In December 2019, ICM Partners sold a one-third equity stake in the company to Crestview Partners, with the expressed goal to grow the company within the representation business with an emphasis on International growth.
In March 2020, ICM partnered with Primary Talent International, a London based music touring agency with over 700 touring clients. In August, they bought a significant minority interest in Albatros, a literary agency based in Stockholm and moved partner Pete Stone to Sweden to run ICM Europe. In October, the agency purchased Stellar Group, the largest football/soccer agency in the world and rebranded it ICM Stellar Sports.
Stellar Group CEO Jonathan Barnett was listed by Forbes as the #1 sports agent in the world by Forbes magazine in 2019.
In July 2021, ICM Partners and ICM Stellar Sports purchased one of the leading NFL representation agencies, Select Sports Group, a Texas based company headed up by Jeff Nalley and Erik Burkhardt.
In September 2021, it was announced that ICM would be acquired by
Creative Artists Agency
Creative Artists Agency LLC (CAA) is an American talent and sports agency based in Los Angeles, California. It is regarded as an influential company in the talent agency business and manages numerous clients. In March 2016, CAA had 1,800 emplo ...
(CAA). The deal closed in June 2022 at a value of $750 million. Following the acquisition, 105 positions from ICM were set to be eliminated, with about 425 staffers and agents joining CAA.
Departments
Television and movies
ICM Partners' television and motion picture departments represent film actors, actresses, directors and writers. The departments also feature a division dedicated to production professionals such as cinematographers, editors, 2nd unit directors, composers, production designers, costume designers and visual effects supervisors. The television department also represents on-air and creative talent.'
Publishing
ICM Partners represents writers and editors including
Patricia Cornwell
Patricia Cornwell (born Patricia Carroll Daniels; June 9, 1956) is an American crime writer. She is known for her best-selling novels featuring medical examiner Kay Scarpetta, of which the first was inspired by a series of sensational murders in ...
,
Thomas Friedman
Thomas Loren Friedman (; born July 20, 1953) is an American political commentator and author. He is a three-time Pulitzer Prize winner who is a weekly columnist for ''The New York Times''. He has written extensively on foreign affairs, global tr ...
,
Anna Quindlen
Anna Marie Quindlen (born July 8, 1952) is an American author, journalist, and opinion columnist.
Her ''New York Times'' column, Public and Private, won the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary in 1992. She began her journalism career in 1974 as a re ...
,
E.L. Doctorow
Edgar Lawrence Doctorow (January 6, 1931 – July 21, 2015) was an American novelist, editor, and professor, best known for his works of historical fiction.
He wrote twelve novels, three volumes of short fiction and a stage drama. They included ...
,
Walter Isaacson
Walter Seff Isaacson (born May 20, 1952) is an American author, journalist, and professor. He has been the President and CEO of the Aspen Institute, a nonpartisan policy studies organization based in Washington, D.C., the chair and CEO of CNN, ...
,
Carl Hiaasen
Carl Hiaasen (; born March 12, 1953) is an American journalist and novelist. He began his career as a newspaper reporter and by the late 1970s had begun writing novels in his spare time, both for adults and for young-adult readers. Two of his no ...
,
Tom Bissell
Tom Bissell (born January 9, 1974) is an American journalist, critic, and fiction writer. In 2021, he co-developed the television series ''The Mosquito Coast (TV series), The Mosquito Coast'' based on the novel of the same name. He is also known ...
,
Anthony Swofford
Anthony Swofford (born August 12, 1970) is an American writer and former U.S. Marine, best known for his 2003 book '' Jarhead'', based heavily on his accounts of various situations encountered in the Persian Gulf War. This memoir was the basis of ...
,
Chris Cleave
Chris Cleave (born 1973) is a British writer and journalist.
Biography
Cleave was born in London on May 14, 1973, brought up in Cameroon and Buckinghamshire, and educated at Balliol College, Oxford where he studied psychology. He lives in the ...
,
Candace Bushnell
Candace Bushnell (born December 1, 1958) is an American author, journalist, and television producer. She wrote a column for ''The New York Observer'' (1994–96) that was adapted into the bestselling ''Sex and the City (book), Sex and the City'' ...
,
John Feinstein
John Feinstein (born July 28, 1956) is an American sportswriter, author and sports commentator.
Early life
Feinstein was born to a Jewish family in New York City on July 28, 1956. His father was heavily involved in the arts having been the Gen ...
,
Ann Patchett
Ann Patchett (born December 2, 1963) is an American author. She received the 2002 PEN/Faulkner Award and the Orange Prize for Fiction in the same year, for her novel ''Bel Canto''. Patchett's other novels include '' The Patron Saint of Liars'' (1 ...
,
Carol Higgins Clark
Carol Higgins Clark (born July 28, 1956) is an American mystery author and actress. She is the daughter of suspense writer Mary Higgins Clark, with whom she co-authored several Christmas novels, and the former sister-in-law of author Mary Jane ...
and
Steve Martin
Stephen Glenn Martin (born August 14, 1945) is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer, and musician. He has won five Grammy Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and was awarded an Honorary Academy Award in 2013. Additionally, he was nominated ...
. In addition, the agency represents the estates of
Dr. Seuss
Theodor Seuss Geisel (;"Seuss" '' Arthur Miller
Arthur Asher Miller (October 17, 1915 – February 10, 2005) was an American playwright, essayist and screenwriter in the 20th-century American theater. Among his most popular plays are '' All My Sons'' (1947), ''Death of a Salesman'' ( ...
,
E.B. White
Elwyn Brooks White (July 11, 1899 – October 1, 1985) was an American writer. He was the author of several highly popular books for children, including ''Stuart Little'' (1945), '' Charlotte's Web'' (1952), and ''The Trumpet of the Swan'' ...
, and Tennessee Williams, among others.
Music, comedy, and lectures
ICM Partners' concert and live appearances department represents artists in music and comedy as well as lecturers. ICM Partners acquired New York City speakers agency, Royce Carlton, Inc., in 2017. From the acquisition until late 2019, the lecture division still went by the Royce Carlton name. On October 16, 2019, the division rebranded to ICM Speakers and relocated to the Washington, DC office. ICM Speakers' division services include the management and representation of professional public speakers. A few notable clients include author
Mitch Albom
Mitchell David Albom (born May 23, 1958) is an American author, journalist, and musician. His books have sold over 40 million copies worldwide. Having achieved national recognition for sports writing in his early career, he turned to writing the ...
, author
Jon Meacham
Jon Ellis Meacham (; born May 20, 1969) is an American writer, reviewer, historian and presidential biographer who is serving as the current Canon Historian of the Washington National Cathedral since November 7, 2021. A former executive editor and ...
, TV host
Karamo Brown
Karamo Karega Brown (born November 2, 1980) is an American television host, reality television personality, author, actor, and activist. Brown began his career in 2004 on the MTV reality show '' The Real World: Philadelphia'', becoming the first ...
, and activist
Nadia Murad
Nadia Murad Basee Taha (; ar, نادية مراد باسي طه; born 10 March 1993) is an Iraqi Yazidis, Yazidi Human rights activists, human rights activist who lives in Germany. In 2014, she was kidnapped from her hometown Kocho, Iraq, Koch ...
.
Branded entertainment
ICM Partners' global branded entertainment division's services range from celebrity endorsements, product placement and music tour sponsorship to brand integration, such as the creation and packaging of original branded films and television shows. The agency's celebrity endorsements department services all ICM Partners' film and television talent for on-camera, print and voiceover commercial work as well as for paid media campaigns.