EXCLUSIVE: Josh Kesselman, Amy Zvi, and Katrina Escudero have joined Mgmt Entertainment, with Kesselman and Zvi being named partners, Deadline has learned.
Industry veterans, each with their own powerhouse roster, Kesselman, Zvi, and Escudero come to Mgmt from Sugar23, which as we told you first, recently completed a reorg, reorienting much of its focus to scaling its brand studio, with some staffers pivoting to new roles and many exiting to pursue new opportunities. For Mgmt Entertainment, the hiring of the Sugar23 trio will be helpful amid a continued emphasis on building out their lit, comedy, and production business across all current and emerging platforms.
“We are thrilled to have Josh, Amy & Katrina join us,” said Mgmt Entertainment owner/partners Christian Donatelli, Courtney Kivowitz and David Schiff. “They are widely respected, seasoned managers and producers with great taste, representing incredible artists. Most importantly, we know that they will seamlessly integrate into the collaborative, entrepreneurial culture that is the foundation of our growth strategy.”
Golden Globe-nominated for his work on Hulu’s The Great, the period comedy created by his client Tony McNamara, Kesselman brings over 27 years of experience in production and management. Other clients include Giancarlo Esposito, Owen King, Danny Brocklehurst, Danny Cannon, Matt Wheeler, Destry Allyn Spielberg, Dean Craig, Zak Hilditch, Ben Young, Scott Haze, The Birtells, James Moll, Dito Montiel, Noam Murro, Mackenzie Munro, and Robert Knott. As a producer, Kesselman has also worked on AMC’s Esposito-led crime drama series Parish, and most recently, Destry Allyn’s Please Don’t Feed the Children, starring Michelle Dockery and Esposito. He also exec produced The Estate, starring Toni Collette, Ana Faris and David Duchovny, and produced Where All the Light Tends to Go with Robin Wright and Billy Bob Thornton.
A talent manager and Emmy-nominated producer, Zvi brings with her a roster of predominantly comedic talent including Sarah Silverman, Jeff Ross, Nikki Reed, Sarah Tiana, Marina Franklin, Jeremiah Watkins, and BAFTA-winning director, Sindha Agha. In the business for 26 years, she’s an executive producer on Netflix’s Greatest Roast of All Time franchise and also recently EP’d Silverman’s Emmy, Grammy, Golden Globe and Critics Choice-nominated Netflix special, Post Mortem. Previously, she served as exec producer on TBS’s Stupid Pet Tricks, Hulu’s Emmy-nominated series I Love You, America from Silverman, as well as the critically acclaimed Jeff Ross Roasts Criminals. She came to management and producing after spending 11 years as a Publicist at BNC, where she was a Vice President in the Entertainment Division.
Prior to transitioning to management at Sugar23, Escudero was a Media Rights Agent at UTA, before that working in the Media Rights and Motion Picture department at ICM. She currently oversees a roster of accomplished literary clients including New York Times bestselling authors Tessa Bailey, Candace Bushnell, Tigest Girma, Marjan Kamali and Ann Liang. In addition, she reps journalists such as Emmy nominee Kate Taylor, who not too long ago had both the number one docuseries and documentary on Max with Quiet on Set and Brandy Hellville. Most recently, Escudero represented Jaime Oliveira’s short story “High Side,” which resulted in a seven-way studio bidding war. The project ultimately landed at Paramount as their first acquisition post-merger starring, with director James Mangold and Timothèe Chalamet set to reteam post-A Complete Unknown and Oliveira set to adapt. Escudero also represents Juliet McDaniel, whose novel Mr. and Mrs. American Pie was adapted into the Emmy-nominated Apple TV series Palm Royale.