EXCLUSIVE: UTA has signed creative agency and production company Native Foreign for representation.
Native Foreign is an Emmy-nominated, Women’s Business Enterprise National Council-certified women-owned, creative agency and storytelling company that incorporates AI into their creative practice. Their stories are crafted soup to nuts with strategic intent, deploying their deep understanding of AI while still appreciating the use of traditional hand skills, touts UTA in a release.
The company was behind the recently viral Toys“R”Us brand film, which utilized OpenAI’s Sora to create a visual narrative of the origin story of the toy brand. With the help of AI, the film went from concept to completion in a few weeks.
Nik Kleverov, Native Foreign’s Chief Creative Officer who directed the project, was announced as one of seven Sora alpha artists by OpenAI in late March. Since then, Kleverov has been experimenting with how the AI model will impact the future of creative and agency work. He was previously nominated for a Primetime Emmy for his work on Narcos.
On the entertainment side, Native Foreign has worked on projects for Netflix, Amazon Prime and Showtime. On the brand side, they have worked with companies like OpenAI, Topgolf and Williams Sonoma, among others.
The company has been nominated for two Emmy Awards for Storyline Online – a collaboration with the SAG-AFTRA Foundation where actors read children’s books to promote children’s literacy worldwide. They’ve also collaborated with Oprah, Kristen Bell and Chris O’Dowd, to name a few.
UTA will work with Native Foreign to deepen its ties to the film/entertainment/branded content spaces, leveraging its capabilities with AI and storytelling.