EXCLUSIVE: After launching a literary department at the end of last year and appointing Rachel Mathias to run it, the UK-based Insight Management & Production has brought on industry veteran Luke Speed as a partner.
Speed comes to the company with 25 years of experience brokering global film and TV rights deals. He established his own firm, Speed Literary and Talent Management, in 2022, prior to that running the Media Rights Division at Curtis Brown Group.
With an extensive background in representing bestselling authors, as well as international screenwriters, directors and producers, Speed is also well-known for handling high-level investigative journalists and true-life stories. Clients set to join him at Insight include Nikita Lalwani, Louise Candlish, Slutty Cheff, Graham Norton, Tade Thompson, Shari Lapena, Helen Fitzgerald, Damien Lewis, Simon Hatt, Andrew Michael Hurley, Nicola Larder, Richard Kerbaj, Chris Salmanpour, Alex Perry, Henry Hemming, and Brooke Robinson, among others.
In recent years, the agent has brokered client deals for high-profile projects like Lessons in Chemistry and Disclaimer (both for Apple TV+), Mr Bates vs. The Post Office (ITVX), and The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare (Lionsgate/Amazon MGM), to name just a few.
Launched in 2020 by partners Maya Hambro, Tom Jeggo and Charlie Wilson, as well as agent Tim Bradbeer, Insight’s mission is to provide dedicated and personalized management to a small and curated selection of talent. Acting clients include Academy Award nominee Maria Bakalova (The Apprentice), Golden Globe winner Emma Corrin (Deadpool & Wolverine), BAFTA nominees Josh Finan (FX’s Say Nothing), Saffron Hocking (Netflix’s Top Boy) and Bilal Hasna (Extraordinary for Disney+), Olivier nominee Luke Thompson (Netflix’s Bridgerton), Jay Lycurgo (Netflix’s Steve), and Samuel Blenkin (FX’s Alien: Earth).
In a statement on their latest appointment, Hambro, Jeggo and Wilson said, “We are beyond excited that Luke is joining us as a partner. It was clear from our first meeting that our outlook and ambitions were aligned, and that Luke shares our passion for nurturing talented individuals and developing their careers with care and creativity as we navigate the ongoing changes of this industry. Luke’s years of expertise in the Literary and Media rights spaces as well as his exceptional list of clients will be an invaluable addition to Insight, and we could not be prouder to be taking this next step in the growth of the company we started almost five years ago.”
Stated Speed: “I’m absolutely thrilled to be partnering with Charlie, Maya, Tom and the brilliant team at Insight. They are true trailblazers, who despite having launched Insight Management and Production only five years ago have already built an incredibly successful business and a tremendous reputation through their client-first, creative and dynamic approach to management. It also helps that they are wonderful people. We are completely aligned in our vision and passion for developing and shaping careers in an ever-changing world and I am hugely excited to join the team and continue to help them grow the company.”
