The Hollywood Reporter recognized some of the entertainment industry’s shrewdest and most in-demand financial gurus on Wednesday morning at its annual Power Managers breakfast at Spago in Beverly Hills.
The 16th annual event, presented by City National Bank and sponsored by Venable LLP, coincided with the publication of THR’s annual Business Managers Power List, which honors excellence in the often under-recognized business of advising high-profile creatives and overseeing their financial ventures and fortunes. This year, Platinum Financial Management Inc. CEO Michael Ullman received THR’s Business Manager Icon award at the event, which also featured a keynote conversation with United Talent Agency CEO David Kramer and a fireside chat with Lisa Callif, founding partner at the prominent entertainment law firm Donaldson Callif Perez.
After THR executive vp and publisher Lori O’Connor opened the breakfast with welcoming remarks, editor-in-chief Maer Roshan took to the stage with UTA’s Kramer to discuss recent upheaval in Hollywood, from Netflix’s layoffs of top executives to the merger of Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery. Kramer stressed that as a modern-day talent agency focused on a wide portfolio — including not just film and television but also sports, music, publishing and creators — UTA has “always been a place about innovation and change.”
Still, UTA hasn’t been immune from the seismic shifts. Kramer admitted that he knows some projects will be casualties of the Paramount-Warner Bros. deal, though on a positive note, he added that the merged company will also greenlight new stories. The recent consolidation of the business does make an impact on representatives like himself who are finding work for their clients, he said. “Like all sellers, you need more buyers, not less,“ he said. “But you need those buyers to be healthy.”
Top stars themselves have more diversified portfolios than they did in the past, making them less captive to the whims of specific companies, he said. “Clients in the old days stayed in one lane. We know now clients are as ambitious as ever, they want to try out all the new things,“ said Kramer.
THR business and legal writer Winston Cho then joined Callif, who specializes in representing indie producers in their film, television and digital work (Richard Linklater and the Safdie brothers, for instance, are clients), for a fireside conversation. Callif was frank in her assessment of the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger: “I wouldn’t say it’s the best thing for independent content creation,” she said, despite the fact that CEO David Ellison has made some indie film commitments. “I do think it opens up opportunities for other entities to come aboard, for other people to do things in a true indie spirit, but I think that myself, my clientele and our peers are not excited about the merger, especially for independent filmmaking.”
Callif said she’s advising clients not to bank on getting deals with the merged company and, as an example, said she was working on a film that Paramount Skydance was initially “bullish about moving full steam ahead” on but whose prospects at the company died about two weeks ago.
As a founding partner at a practice that primarily works on nonfiction projects, Callif also has a unique window into the way that documentary creatives are using, or not using, generative AI in their work. As of now, she told Cho that the technology is primarily used as a tool in postproduction to help with “menial tasks” like enhancing graphics. When generative AI is used in a more significant way, the discussion around ownership remains nuanced at the U.S. Copyright Office, which requires human authorship, she added. “It’s really a process,” she said. “You have to be really transparent and detailed with the Copyright Office and let them know what‘s going on if you really want protection for your work.”
After, City National Bank senior vp entertainment Steven Shapiro began to set the stage for Ullman to receive the Business Manager Icon award. Shapiro, who has been Ullman’s banker since 2003, drew laughs from the crowd as he recalled initially interviewing with the manager at a lunch in Beverly Hills and being “interrogated by him until the sun went down.” He added, “What came across loud and clear, with a heat lamp pointed in my eyes, is how fiercely loyal and dedicated Michael was to his clients.“
Longtime client Sugar Ray Leonard then introduced Ullman by telling a personal story about his experience with the Platinum Financial Management Inc. CEO. During the 2025 Palisades Fire, Michael went “above and beyond to help us all,” putting down his own credit card to secure Leonard a hotel. “He didn’t hesitate, he just stepped up,” Leonard said. “Whether it’s a business matter, a personal challenge or something completely unexpected, he’s always there when you need him.”
And it wasn’t just Leonard: Clients Brooke Shields, Miles Teller and Linda Cardellini also sent in video tributes to the manager, who Shields called a “trusted adviser” and “loyal friend.” (Teller, for his part, went so far as to joke that Ullman was the second true love of his life, outside his wife.)
In his own remarks, Ullman recalled his career starting in a humble manner: He answered a classified ad in the Los Angeles Times for a business management firm in Encino. “I had absolutely no idea what I was getting myself into, much less where that one decision would take me,” he said.
Ullman thanked his late mother, his father, Al, who works with him, his partner and his colleagues at Platinum for helping him to get to this point in his career. “As I look back at the past 37 years, what strikes me most isn’t the business we’ve built or the milestone’s we’ve reached, it’s the people,” Ullman said. “I’m fortunate enough to spend my career doing something I love surrounded by people I admire and care deeply about and I don’t take a single bit of this for granted. So while while I’m incredibly honored to be called an icon, I think I’m perfectly happy to go back to being Michael fucking Ullman.”
