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UTA Promotes Hansen to Alternative TV Department Chief

Sep 14, 2006  •  Post A Comment

Beverly Hills-based talent agency UTA has named agent Brett Hansen head of the agency’s alternative television department. The department had been run by agent Chris Coelen, who departed UTA in February to run RDF Media USA.

In addition, UTA has named Feroz Taj to agent in the department. Mr. Taj has been training under Mr. Hansen and will join the ranks of the alternative department agents, which include Geoff Suddleson, Hayden Meyer, Lee Horvitz, Jonathan Swaden and Carlos Carreras.

Mr. Hansen began in the UTA mailroom and eventually became an assistant to partner Sue Naegle and later to partner and UTA co-founder Peter Benedek. In 2001 he was promoted to agent in the TV literary department, and he moved into alternative television in 2004.

UTA has packaged or repped the creators and showrunners for a variety of alternative series, including Bravo’s “Project Runway,” Fox’s “The Simple Life,” FX’s “Thirty Days” and Oxygen’s “Janice Dickinson’s Modeling Agency.” The department also packaged Sony Pictures Television’s new syndicated talker “The Greg Behrendt Show.”