Janklow & Nesbit Associates is opening their own Los Angeles office to extend their services in the film, television and digital communities. The agency says the move will allow it “to build on its existing relationships and expand its reach enormously in the service of its clients and their material.” Carlo Martinelli and Amanda Schweitzer comprise the new LA Team. Martinelli was at Vuguru, Michael Eisner’s online content company, after working for 10 years at Bona Fide Productions. Schweitzer has been at Millar Gough Ink and before that worked for Hugh Jackman’s Seed Productions. Luke Janklow says in the announcement that “this West Coast operation will serve as a force multiplier and allow J&N to be completely agnostic and more nimble in seizing…exciting new opportunities on many fronts.”
In UK agency news, head of books at the London office of William Morris Endeavor Eugenie Furniss is leaving to join talent management company James Grant Group, where she will establish a literary agency. The Bookseller, reporting on the move, says Furniss will begin at James Grant on March 23. That add that “the agency expects to announce the names of other literary agents joining in the coming weeks.”
Macmillan Children’s has hired Kate Lied as a publicist (she was associate publicist at Bloomsbury Children’s/Walker) and Katie Fee as a marketing manager (she held marketing positions at Penguin Children’s, Bloomsbury/Walker, and Scholastic).
Bookseller Jonathon Welch from Talking Leaves Books in Buffalo, NY has been nominated to join the board of the ABA.
In corporate news, Lagardere, which already reported sales for 2011, followed up with their earnings report. Recurring EBIT at the publishing division fell 11.8 percent, down almost 30 million euros to 220.8 million euros for the year. On sales of 2.038 billion euros, that comprises a margin of 10.8 percent (compared to 11.6 percent a year ago). The company says “2011 marked the return to a normal degree of profitability after three years of momentum due to the success of Stephenie Meyer.”