Jamie Gold

Jamie Gold Wins The Main Event

2006-08-11

Jamie Gold raises to $1,700,000 and Paul Wasicka makes the call. The flop comes Qclub8heart5heart. Paul Wasicka bets $1,500,000 and Jamie Gold moves all in. Wasicka calls and shows 10heart10spade. However, Gold turns over Qspade9club for a pair of queens. The turn is the Adiamond and the river is the 4club. Paul Wasicka is eliminated from the tournament in 2nd place and earns $6,102,499. Jamie Gold wins the $10,000 Main Event, the bracelet and $12,000,000.

Gold mines advice from poker legend

2006-08-09

Less than 30 minutes before he was due at the table to begin his last push toward the final table of the main event at the World Series of Poker, Jamie Gold of Paramus was spending quality time with a man who's been there. "Right now I'm with Johnny Chan and we're talking things over," Gold said by phone Tuesday from his hotel room at the Rio in Las Vegas. "He's giving me a lot of good insight." Gold would be hard-pressed to find a better source of knowledge. Chan is the last person to win back-to-back main event titles and shares the WSOP career record of 10 wins with Doyle Brunson and Phil Hellmuth. And as the field played down from 27 to nine players Tuesday, whatever Chan said was working. Gold quickly eliminated two players in the first 90 minutes and increased his tournament-leading chip stack to $19.6 million. He continued to accumulate chips and had over $31 million with 12 players remaining as action went on late Tuesday. After a day of rest, the nine players left will vie at the final table beginning at 3 p.m. Thursday, with all guaranteed to be millionaires. For the 36-year-old Paramus High School graduate, being in position to capture the biggest title and payout in poker ($12 million to the winner) isn't a total surprise. "People were referring to me as the best minor league player out there," said Gold, who plays three times a week in the biggest cash game at Los Angeles' Commerce Casino and has won a lot of minor tournaments at L.A. casinos. The key for Gold was hooking up with Chan two years ago, when Gold was representing him as a Hollywood talent agent. "He started training me," Gold said. "He believed in me. He told me I could win this." That belief has translated into self-confidence for Gold. "If I play my best and the cards fall my way, I know I can win this," he said. But Gold, who took command of the tournament Saturday, is well aware of the pitfalls ahead. "They've been telling me nobody's ever done what I'm trying to do: going all the way after having taken the lead so early. "It's mine to lose, which is really unfortunate in a way. Because if I don't win, then everyone will be disappointed." Gold, who said the number of hours he's played since the main event began July 28 has exhausted him, has a big rooting party at the Rio. "It's around 27 people," Gold said, including his mom Jane, who arrived Tuesday night from Paramus. His best friend from senior year, Mitch Abrams, is headed out if he makes Thursday's final table. "Whatever he's been doing, he just needs to keep doing it," she said. In addition, Gold said he's heard from people he hasn't been in contact with for more than 20 years. But what's made the experience bittersweet for Gold is that his father, Dr. Robert Gold, is confined to his Paramus home with ALS. "The fact that he can't be here with me is sad," Gold said. "He's been so amazing to me that it would be so nice to be able to give something back to him." His father, a retired dentist, also is one of the reasons he's closing in on an enormous payday. "I wanted to move back full time, but then he felt like the pressure was on him to go," Gold said. "He didn't want it to feel like the end. He begged me to continue living my life. "But I made him promise that when it's the last year or six months that I can come home and stay until the end."

Former Hollywood Agent Battles for Lead

2006-08-06

A former Hollywood talent agent who was part of a celebrity team of players was battling for the lead in the World Series of Poker on Sunday with 3.2 million in chips. Jamie Gold, the 36-year-old former agent to "The Sopranos" star James Gandolfini and "Desperate Housewives" actress Felicity Huffman, amassed a terrifying stack that helped him command his table. "He was the table captain yesterday and he's the table captain today," said a discouraged Benjamin Logan, a table mate with a small fraction of Gold's pile. "He's had great hands which he's gotten paid off on. That's the key to the tournament." Gold trailed leader Lee Kort, who had 3.3 million in chips. Gold said he quit being an agent six months ago to become a television producer. And then there's his serious hobby - playing poker 40 hours a week in tournaments or at the "big cash game" at the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles. He had his seat paid for by bodog.com, along with other Hollywood stars "Lois and Clark" star Dean Cain and "ER" actor Mekhi Phifer, who were knocked out on their first day of play. "I'm all about poker," Gold said. "Every moment I'm not working, I play." At about 3 p.m., there were 96 players left in the world's largest poker tournament, from a record field of 8,773 entrants that began playing down July 28. Each player who put up $10,000 to play received 10,000 in dollar-equivalent chips. By Sunday, the players' stacks were so huge that even $1,000-denomination chips were small potatoes. After winning a pot with 1.9 million in chips at stake and three players all-in, it took the dealer 10 minutes just to count them all and push the crumbling mound over to Erik Friberg, a 23-year-old online poker pro from Sweden whose pocket kings won out over pocket 10s and an ace and king. "If I have to, I risk everything. But I'm just going to play my game," he said. "With a little bit of luck, this can go far." The only big name pro still in the running for the top prize of $12 million was Humberto Brenes with 610,000. Brenes said he threw away pocket jacks rather than risk calling an all-in bet from an opponent. "I have time. I'll come back," he said. Annie Duke, one of two women left in the room Sunday afternoon, busted out in tears when she pushed all in before the flop with an ace and three but was beaten by pocket eights when she couldn't catch another ace. She started the day with 919,000 in chips. None of the remaining players are going home empty-handed. The final 873 finishers in the tournament ended up "in the money," meaning they win some portion of the $10,000 buy-in back. Players going home early Sunday afternoon were taking home a payday of $51,129. Chris Back, a 23-year-old poker player from British Columbia, said his precipitous fall from 416,000 in chips to nothing in about half an hour Sunday was disappointing. Considering he played his way into the World Series with a $16 buy-in satellite on PokerStars.com, though, "It's a good investment I guess," he said. "I was really expecting to do a lot better today. But, two unlucky hands and then you're out. Not much you can do."

Gold Joins Buzzation As President of Production

2006-06-05

Buzzmarketing expert Mark Hughes and one of the leading Branded Entertainment experts, Jeff Greenfield, have joined forces with Jamie Gold to form Buzznation, LLC, a production arm of Buzz Media. As President of Production, Gold will handle all production for the new entity which begins shooting a branded reality television series in September 2006.

Jamie Gold Leads WSOP at end of Day 4

2006-08-06

At the end of Day 4 in the WSOP, the Buzznation head of production is in the lead with well over $3 million in chips. Here is the play that did it: Sun Aug 06 00:30:00 PDT 2006 Gold Still Hot With a flop of Kclub 8spade 2spade the player in the big blind bets $50,000 into the $120,000 pot. Jamie Gold raises to $100,000 and the big blind calls. The turn is a 3spade and the big blind checks again. Gold bets out $200,000 and tells his opponent, "You don't wanna call." His opponent angrily folds A-K face up. Gold mucks his cards into the discard without showing. His opponent is frustrated that Gold didn't shows his hand after he did. Gold is now up to $3,500,000.

E Online

2006-03-25

Do celebrities get paid to be very special guest stars on TV shows, or do they do it out of the kindness of their hearts? How much do regular actors get paid for guest spots? A.B. Replies: It would be natural to approach this query as a simple, common case of deep-discount Hollywood chumminess. Your working theory might go something like this: Grossly famous people get so many benefits out of popping in and hanging with less famous people that they charge little to nothing for the pleasure. By making that self-deprecating cameo as a bitter pizza-delivery goon, the guest star may end up getting something much more valuable than cash: fresh confirmation of his or her A-list status. This is a sound and logical theory. It is, however, wrong. Very wrong. Superstars charge for those brief appearances--especially if their cameos will be used heavily by publicists and promoters. According to manager Jamie Gold, who claims James Gandolfini and Felicity Huffman among his former clients, the asking price is closely tied to how the star's cameo will be marketed. If producers plan on milking the heck out of it, the star will probably milk the heck out of the producers first. "It's a case-by-case basis," dishes Gold, who says he has also managed Brandy and Donnie Wahlberg. "But the charge can be $10,000 to $1 million. Even more." Even if a star wanted to gain favor with a producer and appear at a deep discount, it isn't that simple, Gold says. "Sometimes the star will charge only the [Screen Actors Guild minimum] day rate," Gold says. But "that's very rare, because an actor's reps won't let that happen." Now, get out your calculators. According to the Screen Actors Guild, the current performer day rate is about $700. However, there's also a day rate for something called a "major performer," which includes a "special guest star," and that's between $3,000 and $6,200, depending on the genre of the show. Either way, that amount can't even buy you one shot of Restylane, much less a very special big-name guest star. So, when John Travolta showed up on Fat Actress last year as himself in an episode called "Big Butts," he probably wasn't just "helping" Kirstie Alley "out" as the New York Daily News so casually suggested. Sure, this B!tch suspects that Travolta genuinely wanted to boost Alley's now-defunct show, but I wonder if he also got to "help out" the checking accounts of his manager and agent, who get a percentage of his income. Ditto, our sources suggest, when Pauly Shore, Bob Saget and Brooke Shields all stopped in on Entourage, and when Kate Winslet and Ben Stiller did send-ups of themselves on HBO's Extras. For the record, I myself charge $500,000 for a cameo, not including meals catered by Warner over at Dominick's. The B!tchling, of course, comes for free.

Towns Renames Itself to SecretSanta.com

2005-11-22

Officials in the northern Idaho town of Santa, Idaho, on Monday voted to rename the 115-person hamlet SecretSanta.com, a service which manages gift exchanges for families and office workplaces online. In the late hours of the evening, the town's 5 member commission unanimously voted in favor of the new name in exchange for 50% of proceeds from an underway movie documentary about Santa residents including nationally acclaimed Elvis impersonator Doug Spencer, and the controversy surrounding the town's renaming. The movie has a working title of "Santa's Little Secrets," and is being edited and sold by Hollywood manager/producer Jamie Gold. Santa will receive a minimum $20,000 advance against net movie proceeds. Other deal terms include two signs to be put up by December 9, a web site for area residents which will link from SecretSanta.com during the tenure of the one year deal. Final agreements will be forthcoming and likely signed by the jurisdictional authority, Benewah County, Idaho, which will direct all funds to Santa's water & sewer commission. Gidget McQueen, the public official charged with coordinating the town's renaming said, "You're never going to make everyone happy, but this was too good to pass up for a village that's otherwise not on the map." The expected re-dubbing of Santa with ceremonies planned for December 9 is the brainchild of marketing guru Mark Hughes, author of the Penguin/Portfolio book Buzzmarketing, and the architect behind Halfway, Oregon's name change which sold to eBay (Nasdaq:EBAY) six months after its renaming for a sum of $300 million. "This one went down to the wire," says co-founder of PacketStudio, Franco Yuvienco, which owns SecretSanta.com. "Most secret santa's begin among extended family members at Thanksgiving. We reached an agreement in the nick of time for people at Thanksgiving to manage their family secret santa's online in one place." Santa is the latest in a lengthening list of rural communities to agree to selling naming rights to a brand of a company or service. Clark, Texas last week changed its name to Dish to promote EchoStar Communications Corp.'s (Nasdaq:DISH) Dish Network. Halfway, Oregon mayor Gordon Kaesemeyer says it set up a special non-profit corporation and transformed $20,000 of its money from the Halfway, Oregon deal through federal and state grants to a sum totaling almost half a million dollars.

Colin Malone Presents Colin After Dark Live

2002-05-22

Colin Malone, host and creator of TV's Colin After Dark, takes his premiere live event to the Key Club on Sunset Strip. His last installment of Colin After Dark Live, held last April, sold out Club Vynyl with over 700 guests, friends, and industry folk. Due to its overwhelming success, Colin's next event invades the Key Club with such well known acts as MVT buzz band Trik Turner, Powder, Edify, and Cypress Hill's Sen Dog, who will deliver his first solo rap performance, plus a DJ set by Sir Jinx (X-zibit, Ice Cube, Kurupt). The event, to be taped live for his television show, will also feature adult star co-host Houston and various other special guests, including the sexy dancers of D�j� Vu. Colin, a former L.A. comic, reached national fame when he combined adult film stars and rock bands on his cable access show Colin's Sleazy Friends. The show's popularity brought national syndication (plus network airtime in England) and press in Rolling Stone, Detour, Hypno, L.A. Times, Velocity, and others. Colin's new strictly music show, Colin After Dark, currently airs on local independent KJLA, reaching eight million homes. Colin also recently shot his own show for Fox Television, and highlights - which include interviews and hi-jinx with Jamie Foxx, Kathy Griffin, and Tenacious D - will be shown throughout the evening of the event. Colin will also be promoting titles from his DVD series, including Colin's Sleazy Friends - Raw & Extreme and Cooking with Porn Stars, the latter of which is an Entertainment Weekly DVD pick of the month. Both titles are available at the Virgin Megastore on Sunset. Phoenix-based rock/hip-hop hybrid Trik Turner could be considered among the hardest working bands in the modern rock community. Having just released their critically-acclaimed self-titled debut for RCA Records, the sextet are working relentlessly to have their message heard. The band's current single "Friends and Family" is tearing up the radio and video charts and the album has cracked Billboard's Top 100 chart. Also performing is the Los Angeles Music Awards reigning Best Rock and Best Live Show champs, Powder, whose sexy singer Ninette provided vocals for the feature film "Josie and the Pussycats" and whose guitarist Phil X has recorded with Tommy Lee, Andrew W.K., and Rob Zombie. Colin After Dark Live at the Key Club takes place Monday June 10, doors opening at 8:00 Pm. A limited number of tickets will be sold through Ticketmaster and at the door for $15.00. Special $10 admission to this exclusive event is available through Colin's Websites, ColinAfterDark.com, or to those who provide an official invitation at the door. Everyone who pays to get in will receive a free VHS copy of Colin's latest release, Colin's Sleazy Friends - Behind the Scenes & Uncensored, featuring over an hour of classic Colin studio shows, Colin's back-stage adventures, and Colin on-set with all of your favorite porn stars. The tape features Jack Black, Kid Rock, the Deftones, Corey Feldman, and much more.

DaHv to thug: 'Don't be silly'

2004-12-30

Eleven-year-old Dahv (just Dahv) is a pop star from southern Maine via Danvers. She's written several songs, and she's toured a little, performing them with the Radio Disney road show. They're glossy concoctions of bubblegum pop and hip-hop, with a smidgen of spunky mall punk tossed in. And she sings about the things you'd think a girl her age would sing about. "School" is about, well, school ("Gotta learn my 'rithmetic/French class makes me sick/At lunch is where I mix"). "Slumber Party" is a shout-out to sleepover sisterhood ("One more thing, no boys allowed/Tonight you're my girls and I'll say it proud"). Obviously targeting the tweenage demo, these songs aren't exactly striving for hard-core hip-hop street cred. So it was a little strange when some dude showed up on Dahv's message board (www.teamdahv.com) last week and called out her hip-hop bona fides. "[W]hat you all need to do is get off this site, pick up a gun, and have a suicide party, cuz this is the biggest joke ever, fuckin losers," he wrote. "[F]uck wanna be's [sic]." Then, it got worse. The guy posted again with lyrics of his own: "wastin time, thinkin you it/so i waste ya, bit by bit/pick up my gun, and kill that bitch." Jeff Greenfield, executive vice-president of World Class Media, the consulting firm hired by Dahv's parents to help promote her, explains that "last week, out of the blue, someone found her site and posted it on one of the underground hip-hop message boards. They were saying, 'Can you believe this girl thinks she's a rapper? She can't rap, yadda yadda yadda.' But we've never marketed her as a rapper; she's been marketed as a girl who sings pop-style music with age-appropriate lyrics. Rap is in every music these days, so she happens to rap a little. But she's not a 'rapper' per se." Still, within a week, "she was being discussed on about 500 Web sites. As this started to accumulate, a person from Iowa went on her message board and posted death threats." Greenfield tracked the guy's IP address to Iowa Telecom, which in turn traced it to a library in a town called Lake View. An e-mail address is required to log onto computers there, so police were able to track down the individual. Greenfield says the cops were familiar with him, and that "they characterized the young man as being 'a future highway sniper.' " When reached by telephone, Dahv just shrugs the whole thing off. "Yeah, it was kinda silly," she says, her chirping voice belying her maturity. "Some people that are older, and not age appropriate for my site, they're just gonna go a little crazy and think I'm a little strange for being so young and performing. I just thought it was kinda silly." The message-board malefactor - whose Yahoo profile identifies him as a 23-year-old "muthafuckinundergroundhiphopartist," with a photo depicting a hulking, tattooed thug - has been banned from the Lake View library, and Greenfield says police there have referred the case to county prosecutors, who will decide on further punishment. Meanwhile, Davh is just gonna keep rapping. (Look for a debut album this spring.) "Hip-hop today, sometimes it's about inappropriate stuff, like drugs and sex," she says. "That's not what I talk about. I talk about what I do, like sleepovers and just talking about me." Greenfield wonders why some fans find it so hard to tell the difference. "On certain boards, people have spoken up and said, 'Hey, I think her music is supposed to be for, like, nine-year-olds.' This kid didn't seem to get that point. Music can make you happy or make you angry, but when it's obviously not meant for you, you should just go away." Dahv puts it more plainly. "Those 22-year-olds, they're just kinda confused." So what would she say to the creep if she ever got the chance? "Oh, you mean the bad guy? Well, my manager made it so he couldn't go back on the site. But if he tried to get on, I'd just say, 'Hey, welcome to Team Dahv!' or whatever. That's what I usually say to people there who are a little crazy." Listen to Dahv's music at www.dahv.com, or say hello - nicely! - on her message board at www.teamdahv.com.

If it's weird, sexy or outrageous, it's probably on public-access

1998-11-16

They represent, without question, the last remaining grassroots voice of the TV industry, a monophonicMonophonic whisper in a sea of Dolby Surround Sound. Laugh at them if you must. Watch them if you dare. Just understand one thing: This is the First Amendment we're talkin' about here, baby. If these people don't exist, maybe none of us do. Introducing America's free-expression foot soldiers, the personalities of public-access cable TV. They're an eclectic lot, a motley collection of religious fanatics, quack healers, New Age claptrap vendors, frustrated comedians, painfully earnest talking heads and screwballs of every stripe. In an age of $600,000-per-half-hour sitcoms, their half-hour productions go for 35 bucks a throw to cover studio costs and running nightly over Century Cable (Channel 3 in West Hollywood and Marina del Rey, Channel 37 in Beverly Hills and Channel 77 elsewhere), Media One and others. They generally have no set schedule, airing sporadically every few weeks or months or years or decades. Their only common denominator is that there is no common denominator. That, and a distinct lack of slickness. And there is but a single necessary qualification: that the host be breathing. These low-budget wonders have names like "Mourning Knitwit Knews," "Ask the Genius," "Eye on Needles," "Born to Kibitz," "Beer TV," "Art Fein's Poker Party" and the current cult rage "Colin's Sleazy Friends." Some are elaborate auditions designed to attract showbiz attention (any attention will do). Others simply do it for the thrill. This is, quite simply, the activity for which the term "humble beginnings" was invented. Yet, to hear Century Cable public-access supervisor Gail Fetzer tell it, people do watch this stuff. Sometimes even the right people. "It is good exposure," declares Fetzer, who has been in her job for eight years. "These shows are watched by people in the industry." Fetzer adds that some notable performers have traveled the access route, though she couldn't think of any off the top of her head. Colin Malone surely hopes he'll wind up one of those few who parlay public-access fame into something that pays actual money rather than requiring a fee. His "Colin's Sleazy Friends" is one of the few access programs that air in a regular weekly timeslot: It has been on Wednesdays at midnight for some four years. During a phone interview, Malone gushes that he had just come from a meeting at HBO and another at Playboy -- the interest borne of having a rare breakout access hit. As he understands: "Anyone who can actually form a sentence has a leg up in the access world." Prior to his public access show, Malone worked with the Groundlings comedy troupe and did a guest spot on "Seinfeld." But he found his performing career heading nowhere -- and he was, in fact, working in a video store with partner Dino Everet -- when the two decided to shoot "Colin's Sleazy Friends." It's a no-holds-barred effort centered on porn-star interviews and including "some nudity and a nice chunk of profanity." While Malone claims now to be "a known quantity in L.A." and "hasn't bought a drink in a long time," he still can't rub two dimes together. Yet. "It's kind of like having the same fame as a serial killer," Malone says. "You know -- lots of notoriety and an empty bank account." Joseph May, who has produced 16 episodes of his "Weekend Update"-style spoof "Mourning Knitwit Knews" in four years, is a TV writer who has enjoyed his time in the public-access spotlight but is finally giving in to burnout, he says. "It's fun to do, and I got one bite of interest from this producer from Australia who saw us," May says. "There's also this other foreign investor who might want to do something with me. But it's a hard sell." Indeed. Of course, access producers are barred from doing any overt peddling of their show or their concept. Nothing that smacks of, "Hire me, please." But it is permissible to list one's address and/or phone number at a show's conclusion. "Once I started putting my number at the end, I started receiving calls," says Rick Sandack, a freelance writer by trade and co-host (with actor Michael Kagan) of the public-access chatfest spoof "Born to Kibitz." Sandack is proud of the fact that when he and Kagan promoted the mock plastic surgery procedure "Petoplasty" (implanting human faces on pets) on the air, he received calls from viewers asking how they could purchase this for their dog or cat. "Some people actually bought it!" he exults. However, Sandack would be even more thrilled to land a syndication or big-time cable deal. "What we're doing is perfect for Comedy Central," he declares. "It's as funny as anything on TV." Not everyone in the public-access world is using his or her platform as a springboard to the big time (or at least the bigger time). Some of the players simply are letting the exhibitionist inside them come out and play. That would seem to be the case with Betty and Elton White, hosts of PA's "The Elton and Betty White Show." Betty, 72, a former Arkansas co-worker of President Clinton, plays the ukulele and likes to dress in a beaded bikini. Elton, 41, is black and very tall, a onetime NBA prospect who wears a Speedo stuffed with socks and likes to play a toy keyboard salvaged from a trash can. Betty and Elton are married. You can find them either on Venice Beach cavorting for handouts or strutting their stuff on public access. They are a sight to see wherever you happen to find them. "We bring a lot of diversity in life and opinions to the table," Betty deadpans. Jerry Cerwonka, the 56-year-old host of both the magazine-show spoof "Eye on Needles" and the parody "Ask the Genius" (a call-in show without call-ins) on public access under the catch-all title "The Edge of Comedy," has been at this since 1987 and admits that he, like most others, does it primarily for the ego-tripping. "I count myself among those few who represent a tiny island of first-rate programming on access," says Cerwonka, who produces TV commercials and teaches traffic school to earn his keep. "What I do may not be as entertaining as the guy who comes on with a puppet who quotes from the Bible, but I'm trying." While Cerwonka has been an access presence for better than a decade, he can't approach the dean: Connie Martinsen, host of "Connie Martinsen Talks Books." She started her book series 17 years ago and claims to have made more than 4,000 shows (airing at present over government-funded channels). This labor hasn't earned Martinsen a penny but she can't stop doing it. Why? "I love to read," Martinsen says simply. "And this way, I get to do what I want, because I don't do gurus, I don't do avant-garde and I don't do angels." And then there is Dr. Susan Block, a sex educator and therapist who hosts her own sexually-oriented call-in series on access that runs every week. Block has some particularly strong beliefs about public access and what the service represents. "I really think of it as the People's Broadcasting Network," Block says. "It's uncorrupted and uncensored by commercialism. It's the very embodiment of the American ideal. Thomas Jefferson and Thomas Payne would have broadcast on public access. That's why I do it." Any other reason? "Oh yeah," Block adds, "I'm also an exhibitionist."

Good Ship Lollipop

2005-10-08

Kaci Brown, Hope Partlow, b5 and Sabrina Bryan are graduates of Radio Disney's Incubator program. Now the 12-year-old unsigned DaHv is poised to follow in their footsteps�as she will be featured in the Incubator program. Already, college students have picked up on one of her songs, "Pass the Shirley Temple," which has become an underground drinking song for them. In fact, sources tell Track that DaHv is fielding requests from colleges for live performances. Of course, DaHv has also been contacted by conservative online community townhall.com, which wants to distribute a DaHv CD during the holiday season. Who said irony was dead?

CAA inks Hawk amid lifestyle drive

2005-11-10

CAA has signed skateboarding star Tony Hawk in the latest push by the talent agency to build up its lifestyle and licensing business, which already has added more than a dozen clients during the past year. As part of that effort, CAA recently hired licensing veteran Maggie Dumais, who will expand CAA's licensing work for both its lifestyle and traditional clients. The proliferation of reality shows and how-to cable programs that provide platforms for experts of all sorts has clearly led to the growth of the lifestyle category for CAA, as well as other talent agencies like WMA. In fact, WMA said it has signed about two dozen lifestyle clients during the past couple of years, and in May it established a merchandising and licensing division headed up by marketing and licensing veteran David Palmer. The diverse personalities added to CAA's client roster during the past year include home decor, food, fitness and fashion experts along with doctors, athletes and even an advice columnist. "We are in the business of helping clients build and expand their careers by securing the most interesting and meaningful creative and commercial opportunities," CAA president Richard Lovett said. "The lifestyle and licensing business is a very natural extension of this philosophy. We bring together our varied expertise throughout the company � in areas like consumer marketing, licensing, television, publishing and technology � to build powerful brands around personalities." The lifestyle clients CAA has signed during the past year include Food Network host and author Sandra Lee; Beverly Hills plastic surgeon Dr. Jan Adams, host of Discovery Health's top-rated show "Plastic Surgery: Before and After"; pediatrician and best-selling baby book author Dr. Harvey Karp; and "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" co-host Kyan Douglas. Others on the list are Stacy London, co-host of TLC's "What Not to Wear"; Carter Oosterhouse, co-host of "Three Wishes" and a former "Trading Spaces" handyma ; renowned fitness expert Denise Austin, who hosts two exercise and fitness shows that air weekdays on Lifetime; Rebecca Kolls, host of HGTV's "Rebecca's Garden"; advice columnist Dear Abby; surfer Laird Hamilton; and skateboarder Ryan Sheckler. Among WMA's lifestyle clients are "Trading Spaces" designer Genevieve Gorder, golf phenom Michelle Wie, tennis star Serena Williams, architect David Rockwell, BMX stunt rider Mat Hoffman and about a dozen Food Network chefs including Bobby Flay, Rachael Ray and Emeril Lagasse. Hawk, who has won more than 80 skateboarding competitions and rose to stardom in Activision's best-selling "Tony Hawk" video game series, is the latest addition to CAA's lifestyle business. He was previously represented by WMA. CAA said it will focus on creating opportunities for Hawk in television, film, licensing, wireless and touring and will help Hawk build on the success of his television and film production efforts by expanding into more narrative-driven shows and features. The hiring of Dumais will boost CAA's efforts to build or expand the brand equity of its lifestyle clients. "Maggie's tremendous experience in licensing and retailing will have obvious applications in the lifestyle area," said Michael Yanover, who, along with Lisa Shotland, currently works most closely with CAA's clients in the lifestyle group. Prior to joining CAA, Dumais served as senior vp licensing and product development at Bravado International Group and director of licensing and consumer products at Sony Entertainment. She has overseen acquisitions, marketing and retail placement for Hilary Duff, Eminem, Christina Aguilera, Jon Bon Jovi, Led Zeppelin and the Duchess of York, among others.

Indie 'Broke' the ticket for Pras

2001-03-19

Rapper-actor Pras toplines the low-budget indie comedy feature "Go for Broke" for Jean Claude La Marre, who directs from his own script and will take a role in the project. Principal photography started Monday in and around Los Angeles. Pras stars alongside Michael Goorjian ("SLC Punk!") and LisaRaye in the story of a pair of loser best friends (Pras and Goorjian) who find themselves in a heap of gambling debt. Miraculously, they purchase a winning lottery ticket, only to have it stolen by a woman (LisaRaye) while she is robbing the burger joint in which they are eating. Singer Bobby Brown, Glenn Plummer and Ed Lauter round out the cast. Pras, a member of hip-hop group the Fugees, is co-producing the project with La Marre through the duo's production company Warning Films, which they launched in July. Darryl Taja is executive producing, and Patrick McIntire is co-producing. Pras most recently starred in Warning Films' first feature "Higher Ed," written and directed by La Marre. Pras' other acting credits include New Line Cinema's "Turn It Up" and Universal Pictures' "Mystery Men." He is repped by United Talent Agency. La Marre is repped by Metropolitan Talent Agency and attorney Adam Kaller. LisaRaye is repped by manager Jamie Gold at JMG Management. Goorjian is repped by Metropolitan Talent Agency and manager Steven Fenton.

Incognito Management's Jamie Gold signs Andrew Divoff and Lisaraye

1999-11-19

Incognito Management's Jamie Gold has signed actor Andrew Divoff and actress Lisaraye. Divoff's feature credits include "Air Force One" and "Another 48 HRS." Lisaraye has appeared in "The Wood" and "The Players Club."

Tim Kelleher added to cast of 13 Days

1999-10-04

Steven Culp ("JAG"), Tim Kelleher ("The Negotiator") and Tony Award winner Frank Wood ("Side Man") have been added to the cast of the Kevin Costner-toplined "13 Days." Culp will play Robert F. Kennedy, and Kelleher will portray JFK adviser-speechwriter Theodore Sorenson. Wood will play McGeorge Bundy in the drama, set in the White House during the 1962 Cuban missile crisis. Culp, repped by the Paul Kohner Agency and manager Miriam Milgrom, next stars in "Nurse Betty." Kelleher is repped by GVA and Incognito Management's Jamie Gold. Wood is repped by Judy Schoen & Associates' Jinny Raymond.

William Morris Agency has signed actors Chris Demetral and Darlene Dahl

1999-09-02

The William Morris Agency has signed actors Chris Demetral and Darlene Dahl. Demetral, who was a regular on HBO's "Dream On," will be repped by Stephen Caserta. Dahl appears on ABC's "All My Children" and has a role in the upcoming Paramount Classics feature "Company Man." Both actors are managed by Incognito's Jamie Gold.

Tambor running for Whoville post

1999-05-11

Jeffrey Tambor is in final negotiations to play the Mayor of Whoville in Universal Pictures and Imagine Entertainment's "Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas." Tambor, best known as Hank Kingsley on "The Larry Sanders Show," will be paired with Christine Baranski as his wife Martha Who-ert in the Ron Howard-directed film. The film also stars Jim Carrey as the Grinch and Molly Shannon and Bill Irwin as husband and wife Betty and Lou Lou Who. Tambor, repped by the Gersh Agency's Leslie Siebert and Brillstein-Grey's Jed Weitzman, is shooting the Ed Harris-directed "Pollock." He next stars in Kevin Williamson's "Teaching Mrs. Tingle" as well as "Muppets in Space" and "Girl, Interrupted." In addition to Tambor, stand-up comic Walter Franks has joined the "Grinch" cast as one of the townspeople of Whoville. Franks, repped by JMG Management's Jamie Gold and attorney Neil Meyer, recently starred as Little Richard in ABC telefilm "And the Beat Goes On: The Sonny and Cher Story." Imagine's Brian Grazer is producing "Grinch" from a script by Peter Seaman and Jeffrey Price. Shooting begins in late August with a Thanksgiving release date.

Wahlberg role makes 'Sense' in Disney film

1998-09-10

Donnie Wahlberg is set to play a small role in Bruce Willis starrer "The Sixth Sense" for Disney. The cast also includes Toni Collette, Olivia Williams and Haley Joel Osment. The film begins lensing Sept. 21 in Philadelphia, with Wahlberg shooting his part in the middle of October. He is in a pivotal scene at the start of the picture. "The Sixth Sense" is the story of a psychotherapist charged with treating a young boy who purportedly has paranormal powers. M. Night Shyamalan ("Wide Awake") is directing the film from his own screenplay. Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall and Barry Mendel are producing. Buena Vista Motion Picture Group president David Vogel set up "Sixth Sense" last year in a deal worth more than $2 million for Shyamalan. Wahlberg, repped by IFA and manager Jamie Gold at JMG Management, recently completed production on TNT telefilm "Purgatory," which will air in December. He also stars in upcoming independent film "Southie." In that picture, he plays Danny Quinn, a recovering alcoholic who returns home to aid his dysfunctional family only to be brought back into the life of crime he had escaped from. John Shea directed and Rose McGowan, Anne Meara, Lawrence Tierney and James Cummings star. Feature credits for the former member of the New Kids on the Block include "Ransom"; "Black Circle Boys," which premiered at the 1997 Sundance Film Festival; and "Bullet," which featured Mickey Rourke, the late Tupac Shakur and Julian Temple. He has also done telefilm "The Taking of Pelham 123" for ABC and "Body Count" for the Movie Channel.

Donnie Wahlberg has signed with IFA for representation.

1998-06-19

Donnie Wahlberg has signed with IFA for representation. He continues to be represented by Jamie Gold at JMG Management. Wahlberg is in production on the TNT feature "Purgatory: West of the Pecos" opposite Sam Shepard. Other credits include "Ransom," "Bullet" and the upcoming "Southie."

Felicity Huffman has signed with Jamie Gold of Gold-Bouchard for management

1997-01-13

Obie Award winner Felicity Huffman has signed with Jamie Gold of Gold-Bouchard for management. Huffman, who won the Obie for "The Cryptogram," starred on Broadway in David Mamet's "Speed the Plow" and has a leading role opposite Steve Martin and Campbell Scott in Mamet's upcoming film "Spanish Prisoner." Huffman continues to be represented by Paradigm.

Hinton Battle signed for management with Jamie Gold

1997-01-13

Actor-singer-dancer-choreographer Hinton Battle has signed for management with Lisa Hyde and Jamie Gold at Gold-Bouchard. Battle is a three-time Tony Award winner for "Sophisticated Ladies," "The Tap Dance Kid" and "Miss Saigon." He is preparing a one-man show for the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, Colo., next month.

Lawrence Monoson signed to Gold Bouchard

1996-08-27

Lawrence Monoson, the star of NBC's "Prince Street," has signed with Gold -- Bouchard Inc. He will be managed by Jamie Gold and Lisa Hyde. Monoson was nominated for a CableACE Award for his role in HBO's "And the Band Played On." Monoson will continue to be repped by Suzanne Bennett at Writers and Artists Agency.

Tom Amandes has signed with Writers and Artists Agency

1996-08-01

Veteran Chicago theater actor Tom Amandes has signed with Writers and Artists Agency for theatrical representation. Amandes played Elliot Ness in the series "The Untouchables" and starred in last season's NBC series "The Pursuit of Happiness." This fall, he will be seen opposite Geena Davis in Shane Black's "The Long Kiss Goodnight," directed by Renny Harlin. Amandes is managed by Jamie Gold and Lisa Hyde at Gold-Bouchard Inc.

Kaye heads HWA literary unit

1994-07-27

HWA Talent Representatives, which recently changed its name from the Triton Agency, has created a literary department and hired Graham Kaye to head the division. The Los Angeles office, which opened three years ago with two people, now has seven agents. The agency made other news this week when it placed client Natasha Henstridge in the lead role in MGM's science-fiction thriller ''Species'' (HR 7/27). Kaye comes over from Metropolitan Talent Agency. He previously worked at Susan Smith and Associates and the Agency for the Performing Arts. He brings with him all his literary clients as well as a few performers. ''We have wanted to start a lit department for a long time, but not until we met Graham did we feel we had found somebody who combines great skills and strong ethics,'' said company principal Patricia Woo. ''He has been in the industry for only a few years and in that time has established a very strong list of new writers and a very strong Rolodex of executives at all the studios.'' For HWA, this marks the second recent name change. The company was originally called Harter Manning Woo. Company principals are Woo, who heads the Los Angeles office, and Barbara Harter, who runs the New York office, which has more than a dozen employees. ''This agency is very goal-oriented, the agents are extremely talented (and) it was a perfect fit,'' said Kaye. He added that his policy is to read anyone's material. ''Most of the spec scripts sold to studios are from first-time writers,'' he said. ''Graham is wonderful. His skill and integrity combined with an unstoppable hustle make him the ultimate find for us,'' said motion picture-TV department head Jamie Gold.