Peter Benedek
Peter Benedek is a Founding Partner and Board Member of leading talent and literary agency United Talent Agency. Benedek has helped steer UTA’s growth over two decades into a premier global talent and literary agency with a reputation for creating unsurpassed creative opportunities for artists, creators and brands. Based in Beverly Hills and New York, with offices in London, Nashville, Miami, and Washington D.C., UTA represents many of the world's most widely known figures in every current and emerging area of entertainment, including motion pictures, television, digital media, books, theatre physical production, music, touring and live entertainment. The agency is also globally recognized in the areas of film finance, corporate consulting, branding, licensing, and commercial endorsements.
Benedek is known as one of entertainment’s top representatives of television writers and creators, with a reputation for packaging many critically acclaimed and beloved television series. Benedek was the agent behind client David Chase’s seminal series The Sopranos and also set up client Lena Dunham’s critically-acclaimed series Girls. Benedek established the unique international financing structure for client Tom Fontana’s series Borgia and Copper, and was also involved with the financing for the The Young Pope on behalf of Paolo Sorrentino and Lorenzo Mieli. Benedek was also principally involved in NBC’s Law & Order franchise, which eventually spanned four series across multiple television platforms.
He represents Peter Morgan who created The Crown. Benedek’s clients also include Michael J. Fox, Anya Epstein, Danny Futterman, Jonathan Lisco, Alan Ball, Neil Cross, Blake Masters, Josh Brand, and production companies such as Parkes/McDonald, Heyday, Random House Studios, and Working Title Television.
Benedek has also overseen UTA’s successful expansion into corporate representation. He was the architect of UTA’s joint venture company United Entertainment Group, a NY and LA-based branded entertainment firm that creates original content and other marketing solutions for Fortune 500 companies, including Procter & Gamble, Frito-Lay, Samsung, AT&T, Starbucks, Nestle, Quaker and others. In addition Benedek has represented corporate giants such as Amazon.com and American Eagle Outfitters, providing strategic entertainment marketing services.
Benedek sits on the Boards of the Hammer Museum and the Paley Center for Media in Los Angeles. He additionally is on the Board of Governors of the L.A. Saban Free Clinic, and also sits on the Board of the UTA Foundation. He is head of the L.A. council for the Bicentennial 2017 Fundraising Campaign for the University of Michigan, and is the winner of the David Hermelin Award for his activities on behalf of the university. He also sits on the Board of the University of Michigan Museum of Art. Benedek is an active supporter of other L.A.-based organizations including the Rape Treatment Center at UCLA and the Motion Picture Television Fund.
Benedek earned undergraduate degrees from the University of Michigan and the London School of Economics. He earned his law degree from Columbia Law School, where he graduated with distinction in 1973. He began practicing law at the Beverly Hills law firm of Kaplan, Livingston, Goodwin, Berkowitz & Selvin, and was named a Partner in 1979. In 1981, he left to found the law firm of Weissman, Wolff, Bergman, Coleman & Schulman. In 1984, he left the practice of law to form the Bauer-Benedek Agency, which in 1991 merged with Leading Artists Agency to form United Talent Agency. In 1998, Benedek received the Arthur B. Krim Award from Columbia Law School in recognition of his outstanding achievement in the entertainment industry.
