Agent community

California-based United Talent Agency's (UTA) decision to buy Curtis Brown GroupRepresents screenwriters and specialises in film and TV. Commission : 15-20%.

Website includes submission guidelines. Also represents directors, designers and actors.

Founded 1914. (CBG) is an opportunity to respond to the growing needs of clients as well as dealing with big publishers and streamers "in a constructive way" by having size and influence, according to CBG c.e.o. Jonny Geller.

Veteran literary agent Michael Sissons was born to make paint. The Hull-based family firm Sissons Brothers & Co had been doing just that since the 18th century, at one point making "Hall's Distemper" once regarded as the best paint in the British Empire. The Second World War ended all that.  Read more

In a tightening market for fiction and especially for debut authors looking for that big break, editors can be choosier - and many are more dependent than ever on literary agents to find their next debuts.

As giant companies battle over the shape of the book market, members of the committee of the Association of Authors' AgentsThe association of UK agents. Their website (http://www.agentsassoc.co.uk/index.html) gives a Directory of Members and a code of practice, but no information about the agencies other than their names. The association refers visitors to the UK agent listings from The Writers' & Artists' Yearbook on the WritersServices site. reflect on the position of agents and authors.