U.K. Talent Firm Troika to Be Rebranded, YMU Group Confirms

YMU Group has confirmed it will rebrand leading scripted talent firm Troika as YMU Drama and Comedy, effective July 1. The Troika brand will be discontinued as the division is fully integrated within the group, following a management shakeup.

As reported exclusively by Variety in May, Troika co-founders Conor McCaughan and Michael Duff have left the agency. Collectively, they represented some of the British industry’s top names, including Jamie Dornan, Michael Fassbender, Paddy Considine, Ruth Wilson, Babou Ceesay, Peter Capaldi, Holliday Grainger, Michaela Coel and Lena Headey.

Melanie Rockcliffe, the third co-founder of Troika, now a director of YMU Group, said: “Although I am of course sad to see the Troika name disappear, I’m excited for my team and clients to be part of the new integrated, forward-thinking and future-facing YMU Group.”

Former Curtis Brown CEO Ben Hall joined Troika in May as executive chairman.

YMU Group said the division will now “optimize and benefit from the group’s range of first-class services,” such as creative development and financing of original content, theater, books, social media, audio, brand partnerships, and business management.

YMU Group Global CEO Neil Rodford said: “We have to have the courage to stick with our fundamental conviction that an integrated management proposition is what best meets our clients’ needs in 2020 – our advice to clients is increasingly international and complex, and often crosses over genres. In this moment of enormous global change, we need to look forward, not back, and ensure our service aligns with what clients will need going forward. We are committed to growing in this area of the group. That will not be easy, and it will take time if we are to make the material difference we believe we can.”

YMU Group U.K. CEO Mary Bekhait said the company was looking to “add value to the business in the scripted space” through acquisition “to fuel our next stage of growth,” and hiring new staff to represent its clients. “A focus on developing valuable IP, alongside our clients, remains at the forefront of our thinking,” she said.

Bekhait added that it was “determined to find new client voices – especially from groups who have historically been under-represented.”

Bekhait is leading a formal consultation with all executives at the Drama and Comedy division, and that review will conclude next month.