UTA names two partners

16 June 2020 - Press release

Agents Emerson Davis And Chelsea McKinnies Elevated To Partners

 

Leading global talent and entertainment company UTA today announced the promotion of Chelsea McKinnies and Emerson Davis to partner status.

"As champions of powerful and unique voices, Chelsea and Emerson have been integral to the growth and evolution of UTA," said UTA Co-President David Kramer. "It is essential our partnership is comprised of dynamic and deserving leaders, particularly as we strive for our company to better reflect the world in which we live. Chelsea and Emerson make us better as a whole and will provide leadership and inspiration to colleagues who have been underrepresented in our partnership.  UTA is fortunate to have such esteemed colleagues to help lead us in these times."

 

The new partners both rose through agency ranks and collectively share over 25 years of experience.

• A 14-year UTA veteran, Davis is part of UTA's Motion Picture Literary Group. Rising through the UTA mailroom, he was promoted to agent in 2010. Representing some of the most cutting-edge creators and filmmakers working today, his roster spans film and television, including Hiro Murai, Kogonada, Terence Nance, Shaka King, Gillian Robespierre and Justin Tipping; authors Ta-Nehisi Coates and Michael Chabon; producer Stephanie Allain; as well as multihyphenate artists Hebru Brantley and Tyler Mitchell. Davis has worked closely with screenwriters Dave Callaham, Chris Bremner, Jonathan Herman, Ian Shorr, and Ben Collins & Luke Piotrowski. Davis is originally from Prince George's County, Maryland and is a graduate of Yale University.

• An agent in UTA's Talent department, McKinnies joined UTA in 2015. She started her agency career in 2008 on the CAA reception desk in New York and went on to be promoted to agent in 2012. McKinnies represents many artists at the intersection of film and television including Constance Wu, Tracee Ellis Ross, Amandla Stenberg, Cynthia Erivo, Anna Faris, Aidy Bryant, Martin Lawrence, Kiersey Clemons, Michael Che, Jemaine Clement, Jodie Turner-Smith, Phillipa Soo, Adriana Ugarte, Greta Lee and Yvonne Orji. McKinnies is originally from Bloomington, Minnesota, and graduated from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts.