UTA Signs 'Brian' Filmmaker Will Ropp — SkimNews
Get the Culture newsletter
Daily culture — film, music, books, the trends and ideas worth your attention. Free.
- UTA signed filmmaker Will Ropp for representation in all areas, marking the agency's move to represent him alongside his existing teams at Entertainment 360 and Felker, McGinnis & Ryan.
- Will Ropp premiered his feature directorial debut, the coming-of-age comedy 'Brian,' at SXSW earlier this year, starring Ben Wang, William H. Macy, Randall Park and Natalie Morales, with Seth Meyers executive producing.
- 'Brian' centers on Wang as an anxious, socially isolated 17-year-old who runs for class president to win over his English teacher (Morales), with no release date yet announced.
- Ropp is in post-production on his sophomore feature 'Dedicated to Morris Burke,' a dark comedy starring Academy Award winner Da'Vine Joy Randolph as a widow who discovers her late husband's final novel is dedicated to a mysterious man rather than to her, with Kate McKinnon, Amy Sedaris and Alison Pill co-starring.
- Ropp built his career as an actor before directing, with credits in Gavin O'Connor's 'The Way Back,' Megan Park's 'The Fallout' and Peter Farrelly's 'The Greatest Beer Run Ever,' plus TV roles in 'Adults,' 'Fatal Attraction,' 'Dave,' 'The Sex Lives of College Girls' and 'Love, Victor.'
- 'Dedicated to Morris Burke' casts grief turning into obsession as Randolph's character becomes consumed with identifying the man to whom her husband's novel is dedicated.
Why it matters: UTA adding Ropp to its roster signals the agency's bet on a director whose SXSW debut and an Oscar-winning lead for his next project give him unusual early momentum. For Ropp, the signing puts a major agency behind packaging and sales on 'Dedicated to Morris Burke,' which pairs Da'Vine Joy Randolph with a high-profile comedy ensemble — a combination likely to attract buyers even before the 'Brian' release date is set.
Ask SkimNews
