David Schiff began his career in the entertainment industry in 1978 at the William Morris Agency in New York. Soon after, he moved to its Los Angeles office and worked as an agent for several years.
He would later go on to work with International Creative Management, Creative Artists Agency, and InterTalent as a partner, which was absorbed by United Talent Agency in 1993. While a partner at UTA, Schiff packaged the blockbuster Universal feature 8 Mile, starring Eminem, and launched UTA’s branding division, which successfully developed Gwen Stefani’s clothing line, LAMB, and Christy Turlington’s NUALA line by Puma.
As one of Hollywood’s top agents, Schiff represented a diverse group of both established and up-and-coming, A-list talent including Harrison Ford, Jeff Bridges, Eminem, Gwen Stefani, Justin Timberlake, Bernie Mac, Sting, Sean Connery, Kevin Bacon, and Mark Wahlberg.
In 2006, Schiff left the agency world and founded The Schiff Company, later renamed MGMT. Entertainment, a production and management company. MGMT clients include Jeff Bridges, Kevin Bacon, Ethan Hawke, Melissa McCarthy, Donald Glover, Alia Shawkat, Michael B. Jordan, Katharine McPhee, Helena Bonham Carter, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Dane DeHaan, and Aubrey Plaza, while attracting such music talent as Eminem and Gwen Stefani, due to expertise in guiding cross-over career aspirations in acting, fashion, and product branding. He also recently served as an executive pro- ducer on Antoine Fuqua’s film Southpaw starring Jake Gyllenhaal.
Additionally, MGMT executive produces the award winning FX series Atlanta, starring client Donald Glover. Atlanta won numerous awards, including a Golden Globe for Best Comedy Series, Writers Guild of America Award for Comedy Television Series, another WGA Award for Best New Series, and Producer Guild Award for Outstanding Producer of Episodic Comedy Television.
Schiff sits on the board of California State Summer School for the Arts and is a member of the CalArts Board of Trustees. He also serves on the entertainment advisory board for Magic Leap. Most recently Schiff also served on the photography acquisition committee at MOCA. Schiff graduated with a BFA from CalArts, having specialized in world music, more specifically West African percussion.
