• by David Kaplan , February 9, 2005

Carat is the latest media shop to go Hollywood--unveiling Carat Entertainment on Tuesday, a new business unit to be headed by TV programming vet Michael Yudin.

Yudin, who recently ran his own production and consulting company, MY Entertainment, has developed programming for the likes of John Cleese, and a show celebrating Comedy Central's 13th birthday, "The Bar Mitzvah of Comedy Central."

Carat Entertainment, which is a part of the agency's national broadcast group, plans to chart a course that is more open-ended about the kinds of deals it will pursue--as opposed to other branded entertainment arms, which primarily look to create platforms to feature a variety of clients, said Yudin, who will report to Andy Donchin, executive vice president, director of national broadcast for Carat.

"David Verklin [Carat Americas' CEO] described Carat Entertainment as a bit like Switzerland, meaning that we want to do deals on behalf of our clients for anyone and everyone," Yudin said. "Of course, if Mark Burnett wants to create a show with us behind him, that's possible. But that's not the sole or even primary goal, as it is with other media agencies and their branded entertainment properties. Our main approach will be to just go into the marketplace with a client's need and then fulfill it."

Yudin further stressed that there would be "no restrictions on which distribution outlets or production companies are involved, as long as they can help our clients."

Talks between Yudin and Carat began about six months ago, he said, while Donchin noted that the agency has been considering how to position such a unit for the past year.