CAA has started the process of year-end evaluations that is expected to result in agents being let go in the next couple of months, sources tell Deadline.
While year-end performance reviews are typical for talent agencies (and other companies), the process at CAA is attracting an unusually big attention this year, with the Hollywood rumor mill churning names. Deadline has seen various circulating lists featuring about a dozen agents, including veterans with established client rosters.
It is plausible that some of those rumored would end up leaving though sources caution that the departments at CAA are in early stages of the review process and the bulk of the decisions will be made in the coming weeks. Deadline will provide updates in/when notable CAA agents’ exits are confirmed.
It also is possible that agents leave for new opportunities. The last months of the year are a period of high mobility when people tend to change jobs. CAA motion picture agent Bryan Diperstein just departed to join management and production company Adventure Media as a partner.
Unlike layoffs, where the focus is headcount reduction, word is that there is no set number of how many agents would be leaving. That said, the number is expected to be at the upper end of what such annual cuts entail.
When all is said and done, the tally could come close to the March round of layoffs when just under 20 people were let go across a handful of departments in content areas, including talent. A rep for CAA, which employees about 3,400 people, declined comment.
CAA just crossed the one-year mark under its new owner, Francois-Henri Pinault’s Artémis, which completed a majority stake acquisition last September.
Just before that, in August 2023— amid the double WGA and SAG-AFTRA strike — about 60 CAA staffers were laid off in departments such as TV Lit, music and IT.
