Former RGM agents Tracey Silvester and Theresa Huska have launched Independent Management Company with the backing of music and theatre impresario Paul Dainty.
The move marks the biggest shake-up in the talent agency business since Natasha Harrison and Lee-Anne Higgins departed Shanahan Management three years ago and formed United Management with Trish McAskill and Catherine Handley.
More than a dozen RGM clients have crossed to Independent Management. They include Olivia DeJonge, Sigrid Thornton, Dustin Clare, Rick Donald, Sharni Vinson and Chai Romruen.
US-born, Perth-raised Devon Terrell, who left RGM earlier this year, has landed the lead in Codes of Conduct, HBO’s drama pilot from Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave). Terrell, who graduated from NIDA last year, is playing a young black man who enters New York high society.
Huska, who had been with RGM for 10 years, departed in June. She had known Dainty, whom she met via an RGM client, for 10 years. Silvester left RGM in July after six years with the agency. She met Dainty and agreed to join him and Huska in the new venture.
Dainty, who produced the stage shows Jersey Boys, Mamma Mia! and Hairspray, had long toyed with the idea of getting involved in the talent management business.
“For years people asked me to manage them but I did not have the resources and back-up,” he told IF. "Theresa is a great spotter and nurturer of talent and Tracey is fantastic. Sometimes industries need a shake-up; that is healthy.”
A former actress, Huska told IF, “I have been in the industry for close to 15 years. It’s the right time to do it for ourselves.” Silvester said, “We are looking to grow a great agency. It’s a great opportunity to do this together with Paul.”
Dainty produced the AFI awards show for six years. This year he staged tours by Bon Jovi, Eminem, Lionel Ritchie, John Farnham, Michael Bublè, Queen with Adam Lambert, the WWE and Miley Cyrus, with Katy Perry to come.
He sees plenty of potential synergies with the new company, noting that he and his partners met two weeks ago in Hollywood with the big US agencies, with whom he deals on their music clients. “I have knowledge, contacts, experience and advice I can bring to the table," he said.
Former RGM agent David Wheal has joined as associate. The agents say the booming Australian TV business is creating plenty of jobs.
“Shows such as Playmaker Media’s Hiding, The Code and Love Child and FremantleMedia’s Wentworth mean we can keep some of our higher-ranked talent from going overseas,” Silvester said.
DeJonge co-stars with James Stewart, Kate Jenkinson and Lincoln Younes in Hiding, an eight-part ABC drama about a family that’s forced to enter a witness protection program.
She’s just landed a key role in M. Night Shyamalan’s next project, Sundowning, which will star Kathryn Hahn as a single mother whose two young children visit their grandparents when things go wrong. Aussie Ed Oxenbould (Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, Paper Planes) plays her son.
Donald is among the ensemble cast of US series Friends with Better Lives. Clare is shooting the fourth series of Cinemax’s Strike Back in Budapest with Sullivan Stapleton, Michelle Yeoh and Philip Winchester.
Vinson’s recent credits include Patrick and Bait and Romruen is shooting Jonathan M. Shiff’s Mako: Island of Secrets.
The new Independent Management Company logo.