CAA film agent Bart Walker exits for Cinetic Media
Sept 7, 2007
Walker and Sloss have long been the two figureheads in the New York film sales business. Walker was the de facto head of the film division of CAA's New York offices for three years, where he repped Julian Schnabel, Julie Taymor, John Turturro, Mira Nair, Tamara Jenkins, Sofia Coppola, Jim Jarmusch and such production companies as American Zoetrope. It's unclear just how many of Walker's clients may walk away with him.
Sloss often competed with Walker to rep independent film sales. Cinetic recently scored the record Festival de Cannes sale of James Gray's "We Own The Night" to Columbia Pictures for $11.5 million this May, and also had the all-time-biggest Sundance Film Festival sale of "Little Miss Sunshine" to Fox Searchlight for $10.5 million last year.
Walker's list of film sales, often involving his clients, includes Sofia Coppola's "Lost in Translation," to Focus Features, Mira Nair's "The Namesake" to Fox Searchlight and Julian Schnabel's "The Diving Bell & The Butterfly" to Miramax Films.
"We share a passion for representation in broad terms and feel we are at an inflection point in the way films are financed, produced and distributed. We see Cinetic as a new kind of service company, one that will create innovative structures that benefit filmmakers as well as financiers so that their creative and economic goals are realized," said Cinetic founder Sloss and Walker in a joint statement.
"Filmmakers and financiers have an unprecedented opportunity to take greater control of the process, from creation to consumption. We are dedicated to being instrumental in that evolution," they continued. "Cinetic's move into management is a strong step in the direction of bringing artists into close proximity with ownership, finance, sales and distribution."
Toldja! Bart Walker Exits CAA For Sloss
Back on August 9th, I reported the rumors that Bart Walker had been fired from CAA. 
And again, on August 22nd, I reported the more specific rumor that the New York agent was leaving CAA to join indie prince John Sloss.
Of course, a CAA partner swore up and down to me that none of this was happening. I told him I didn't believe him.
Well, I was right: Walker today departed CAA to join Sloss as a partner in film sales agency Cinetic Media.
The partners will launch a new talent management division, Cinetic Management.
"We see Cinetic as a new kind of service company, one that will create innovative structures that benefit filmmakers as well as financiers so that their creative and economic goals are realized," Cinetic founder Sloss and Walker said in a joint statement.
"Cinetic's move into management is a strong step in the direction of bringing artists into close proximity with ownership, finance, sales and distribution."
Walker headed the motion picture division of ICM's NY office until he went to CAA in 2004.
His most famous indie client Sofia Coppola has lost momentum as has Julie Taymor so it's not clear which of his clients will follow him.
So why did Walker's move take so long? Well, CAA has this habit of placing its discarded agents around the Industry to make it look as if everything is amicable. In turn, the grateful peon is pathetically beholden to the agency for not being humiliated.
