MTA's Okin opens book of Genesis
Stone, Hopkins, Johnson are some clients making switch
Clients making the leap to Genesis include Ed Stone ("Happy,Texas") Karen Leigh Hopkins ("Stepmom"); Matt Johnson ("Adreneline" set up at Warner Bros.) and Ron Mita & Jim McClain ("Swat," set up at Columbia).
Okin, who reps a mix of writers and directors, had been with MTA for the past eight years, having started there as a talent agent.
"In order to succeed as a literary agent," Okin said in an interview with Daily Variety, "I knew I was going to have to make it on my taste for material. I mean, it wasn't like a studio like Universal had to service a small shop like Metropolitan. But while it wasn't as fast-paced as talent representation, it's more creatively satisfying."
Okin will be working alongside Genesis feature agents Lee Cohen, Ken Greenblatt, Soyun Kim and Maha Dakhil.
Genesis partner Jeff Benson, himself a former partner at Metropolitan -- though the two had never worked together previously -- said that "buyers stress (Okin's) excellent taste," and added, "He's got a terrific list of writers and directors. We're extremely pleased."
Other Okin clients include Analisa LaBianco & Tempest Farley ("The Cutout," "The Nth Degree"), Nina Colman ("The It Girl"), Jeff Spencer & Allen Zeleski ("Learning to Fly") and Eric Freiser ("Old").
