UTA theater boss Mark Subias leaves a production company’s bootleg office

EXCLUSIVE: UTA partner and theater director Mark Subias is leaving the agency to take a newly created position at production company Smuggler.

Subias, who has led UTA’s theater division for the past decade, joins Smuggler as managing partner of a new management arm at Smuggler, an international advertising, theater and film production company. Subias will also develop and produce theater, television and film projects for the company.

“Mark helped fly the UTA flag in the theater community and we are grateful to him for building the company and the amazing team of agents he hired, nurtured and mentored,” said UTA President David Kramer. “We are excited to see what Mark does and to continue working with him in his new company.”

As Managing Partner, Subias will oversee the development and growth of the newly created Smuggler Management. He will be tasked with guiding the careers of a select few artists (to be announced) and working closely with his former colleagues and the industry at large.

Subias clients over the past two decades include Danai Gurira, Dave Malloy, David Cromer, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Itamar Moses, Ivo van Hove, Lucy Prebble, Thomas Ostermeier, Cynthia Erivo, Pam MacKinnon, Benedict Andrews and Marco Ramirez Heidi Among others, Schreck, Bash Doran, Jordan Harrison and Joe Penhall.

Subias’ departure from UTA coincides with a round of layoffs at the agency and is, along with Be Smith, who has also been thinking about management for some time, the second UTA partner to leave the firm in the past week.

Smuggler was founded in 2002 by producers Patrick Milling-Smith and Brian Carmody. Smuggler is an independent creative platform that develops content for all media, from global advertising campaigns to Broadway shows and documentaries. Notable projects include Macbeth with Daniel Craig and Ruth Negga; Broadway-oriented musical sing street; and the 2019 Skittles Commercial: The Broadway Musical with Michael C. Hall, a one-time charity event for candy makers instead of a typical Super Bowl commercial.

Smuggler also produced Emmy-winning commercials for Sandy Hook Promise and SquareSpace; and was producer of the Tony Award-winning musical Once. The company has offices in Los Angeles, New York and London.

“I have known and loved Patrick for most of my career,” Subias said in a statement, “and I have always admired his intelligence, taste, wit and humanity, all of which are top notch. It will be great to work with Smuggler.” He calls his time at UTA “the most profound of my career; deep respect and gratitude.”

“It’s a welcome privilege and a great opportunity for all of us at Smuggler to have the chance to build and dream big with an old friend and a true force like Mark Subias,” said co-founder Milling- Smith, who owns Subias, said. “a well-deserved reputation for good taste, loyalty, high integrity and strong instincts.”