How UTA’s Jeremy Zimmer Lost the Troops

Pushed out of the top talent agency he co-founded and ran, Zimmer became a victim of the pressures from a changing Hollywood and the private equity investors who increasingly call the shots.

Zimmer had a great run, growing UTA, which he co-founded back in 1990, into a solid number three talent agency behind CAA and WME.

Matthew Belloni

March 18, 2025

Was anyone really surprised to see United Talent Agency replace its longtime C.E.O. Jeremy Zimmer? That’s what the announcement was this morning, of course: an old-fashioned Hollywood firing by UTA’s board of directors, spun as a long-planned “succession” with the usual “staying on board to aid the transition” language. Zimmer is an old-school talent agency guy, so I kinda wish he had just come out and said it the way agents often talk about studio executives: “I got shitcanned.”