UTA Alum Anna Berthold-Zuk Joins Stampede Ventures

Stampede Ventures has tapped former UTA animation head Anna Berthold-Zuk as executive VP of animation and kids and family.

Berthold-Zuk will guide Stampede’s existing kids and family initiatives and oversee expansion in the sector as she continues to build out creator-driven ventures aimed at launching kids and family franchises.

Berthold-Zuk’s hiring will bolster Stampede’s ability to expand its kids and family reach in tandem with its existing ventures such as Mo Willems’s Hidden Pigeon Company with RedBird Capital Partners and also HappyNest Entertainment, a co-venture with UTA, which Berthold-Zuk co-founded alongside Greg Silverman, Chris Bosco and Gregory McKnight. Berthold-Zuk will work closely with Sadaf Cohen Muncy and HappyNest and their franchise partners.

Berthold-Zuk joins from UTA, where she spent over a decade. She served as a motion picture literary agent and helped spearhead the company’s foray into kids and family by establishing UTA Animation in 2017. Under her leadership, UTA Animation’s roster quadrupled in size. She represented clients from some of the largest global franchises, including Bluey creator Joe Brumm; creator Chris Nee (Doc McStuffins; Vampirina; Ada Twist, Scientist; Ridley Jones); Glen Keane (Tangled, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid); Alessandro Carloni (Kung Fu Panda, How to Train Your Dragon); and Erica Rivinoja (Trolls, Cat in the Hat). She also represented animation studios and producers such as Rough Draft Studios (Disenchantment, Futurama), Brad Graeber of Powerhouse Animation (Castlevania) and The Jim Henson Company, among others.

Additionally, Berthold-Zuk launched multiple new services for UTA Animation, including corporate consulting, mergers and acquisitions and co-founded UTA’s kids and family content venture HappyNest. She is the only woman to have launched a content venture for the agency.

In her new role, Berthold-Zuk will continue to work with a number of her UTA clients through various projects and entities now set up within the Stampede Ventures family, including Paris Hilton, Jenna Bush Hager, Gracie’s Corner, Nee, Chris Viscardi, Tiffany Ford, Brad Graeber and Erik Benson.

“As we expand our footprint in the animation and kids and family space, we’re thrilled to welcome Anna Berthold-Zuk, one of the most forward-thinking minds in entertainment, to join Stampede Ventures and help our portfolio companies,” said Chris Bosco, president. “She is a deeply skilled individual with an advantageous understanding of the progressively evolving sector, setting us up for further success.”

Berthold-Zuk commented, “Now more than ever, the kids and family sector is breaking free from conventional distribution and franchise-building norms. Stampede Ventures embraces the current industry shifts as opportunities, and as an agile independent studio, is poised to pioneer new approaches to financing and production. The team’s innovative spirit aligns perfectly with my vision to elevate kids and family content to new heights, and I’m thrilled to join a team that supports artists in launching their projects outside the confines of traditional studio systems.”