Dontanville
Steve Dontanville will end his 27-year run as a talent agent when he retires from the Wil-liam Morris Agency on June 30.
After a six-month sabbatical on his Ojai ranch, Dontanville plans to try his hand at writing and producing films. Client management is also a possibil-ity.
Dontanville informed the agency of his decision Tuesday and has begun the process of guiding his long talent roster to other WMA agents.
His current list includes Reese Witherspoon, Holly Hunter, Liev Schreiber, Radha Mitchell, Kiefer Sutherland, Brendan Fraser, Tommy Lee Jones, Sean Hayes, Patrick Stewart, Alfred Molina and Benjamin Bratt.
The agent decided to retire after being approached to reup by agency head Jim Wiatt.
Dontanville said he's mov-ing toward retirement for several years, sparked by a growing frustration over the diminishing quality of studio films and a nagging feeling that he could do better.
Dontanville also said he was inspired when publicist Bumble Ward dissolved her successful business to write scripts and by the recent announcement that Warner Bros. corporate head Barbara Brogliatti would retire to a life in Napa Valley.
Dontanville grew up a film buff and studied film at Loyola Marymount U. before moving from the ABC mailroom to the agency biz; he became an agent in 1979 for the Rush/Flaherty agency.
He had also been an agent at the Gage Group, Paul Kohner and ICM and spent the last five years at WMA. He said he had put off his filmmaking ambi-tions long enough.
"I didn't get in this business to become rich, powerful, to drive a black Mercedes and wear Prada suits," Dontanville said. "I did it because I loved filmmaking and felt it was a profound artistic profession that could change the world. It's gotten harder and harder. If you look at the last five major movies that have come out, I haven't wanted to see any of them.
"I've experienced the frus-tration of finding a great piece of material for an actor and then watching it get destroyed because the people involved didn't understand what they had in their hands."
In a statement, Wiatt said, "I cherish the 22 years Steve and I have worked together, and while I will miss him tremen-dously, I respect and admire his decision to do what he feels is best for himself and those he loves at this point in his life."
After advising his partner, producer David Yudain, on several projects, Dontanville decided to take the leap.
"I intend to entertain all of the instincts I have suppressed for the past 27 years while I helped others realize their dreams," he said.
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