UK literary agents leave PFD agency

Theatrical and literary agents are taking lead roles in a corporate drama in London, resigning one after another from a major agency and threatening to take their clients with them.

The exodus from the PFD agency could be a star-studded parade, potentially including actors Kate Winslet, Keira Knightley and Ewan McGregor, playwrights Tom Stoppard and Alan Bennett, novelist Julian Barnes, crime writer Ruth Rendell and Poet Laureate Andrew Motion.

PFD, successor to the venerable Peters Fraser & Dunlop, is one of the biggest talent agencies in Britain with 500 writers and more than 450 actors on its books.

Since 2001, it has been owned by CSS Stellar PLC, whose background is in sports.

At least half a dozen of the 40 agents at PFD reportedly have resigned after being repeatedly rebuffed in their bid for a management buyout. CSS Stellar's new executive team, installed in the past two months, hasn't budged from opposing a buyout.

The threat to CSS Stellar PLC is that the clients will follow the agents out of the door.

The company's CSS Stellar Management unit advises sports clients, including race driver Dario Franchitti, golfer Sandy Lyle, and Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar.

"It's never been a happy marriage. They (literary and theatrical agents) feel that a lot of money they made in recent years has leaked elsewhere in the company," said Joel Rickett, news editor of The Bookseller, a trade journal.

The first agent to resign was Pat Kavanagh, whose clients include the highly regarded novelist Julian Barnes. Her stable also includes Rendell, Motion, P.J. Kavanagh, Joanna Trollope and the estates of Dirk Bogarde and writer Michael Dibdin.

Others who reportedly have resigned include Lindy King, agent for Knightley, McGregor and Susannah York, Winslet's agent Dallas Smith and Anthony Jones, who represents playwright Stoppard, Bennett and screenwriters Richard Curtis, Mike Leigh and Sir John Mortimer.

CSS Stellar reported a net loss of 495,000 pounds in 2006, after losing 17.4 million pounds in 2005. The company's shares have fallen from around 300 pencein 2002 to today's 40 pence (EUR0.57 US$0.80).

The boardroom has been in turmoil this year.

In May, activist shareholder Duncan Soukup forced an extraordinary general meeting with the aim of firing chief executive Sean Kelly and most of the board.

At that time, CSS' management said it was focused on developing its core business in sports and event management. It said nothing about PFD, but said it was committed to disposing of noncore assets.

Though Soukup's motion was defeated, and he then disposed of nearly all of his 10 percent stake in CSS, Kelly stepped down and was replaced by corporate restructuring specialist David Buchler.

On Sept. 12, Buchler lured Caroline Michel, a publishing heavyweight who jumped from the rival William Morris Agency, to come aboard as PFD's chief executive.

Michel, who has a reputation as a persuasive charmer, has said she hopes to keep the agents on board.

The resignations will be effective at the end of the year, according to an industry source who was familiar with the agents' actions. The notice period for clients to leave the agency are subject to contract, and reportedly range from 28 days to a year.

PFD traces its history to a more genteel age. A.D. Peters founded the agency in 1924, representing authors including Hilaire Belloc, C.S. Forester, Arthur Koestler, Nancy Mitford, J.B.Priestley, Evelyn Waugh and Rebecca West.

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Author`s name Angela Antonova
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