Jeremy Barber,the former president of Catch 23 Entertainment, has joined United Talent Agencyas an agent in the motion picture department.

Barber, awell-known face on the international festival circuit, will focus onrepresenting film-makers as well as packaging and financing in the independentfilm area. He will work with Howard Cohen, head of UTA's independentpackaging department, and Shana Eddy.

"Jeremy's unique experiencein the representation and film packaging businesses will add value to ourdepartment," said Jeremy Zimmer, UTA board member and head of the motionpicture literary department, in a statement. "We're glad he has joined the team, and we lookforward to his contributions."

"I havelong admired UTA's great success in representing filmmakers and theagency's vision for building careers," said Barber. "I thinkthis is a great fit and I'm excited to get started."

Barber left Catch 23 in Nov last year after clashes withCatch 23 chairman Bob Sturm. He was hired by Sturm in August 2000 to turn Catch23 into a production and management force. During his tenure he broughtmanagers into the company and clients including Renee Zellweger, StevenSoderbergh and Burr Steers. He also co-financed One Hour Photo with Fox Searchlight, teamed with UK super-agentDuncan Heath to form Catch 23 UK and put into development films with directorssuch as Martin Campbell, Mike Newell and Neil LaBute.

Prior to Catch23, Barber was executive vice president of production and acquisitions atArtisan Entertainment where he oversaw the production of films such as RequiemFor A Dream and theacquisition of hit titles like The Blair Witch Project, Buena Vista SocialClub and Chuck &Buck.

He began his Hollywoodcareer as an attorney at Loeb & Loeb where his clients included Requiem director Darren Aronofsky, Lasse Hallstrom, GeorgeRomero, actor Christian Bale and independent outfits The Shooting Gallery andLions Gate among others.

UTA numbers among itsclients M Night Shyamalan, the Coen Brothers, Christopher Nolan, Curtis Hanson,Wes Anderson, Lasse Hallstrom, John Singleton, Charlie Kaufman, Alan Ball andTom Shadyac as well as movie stars such as Jim Carrey, Harrison Ford, OwenWilson, Johnny Depp, Ben Stiller, Eminem, Charlize Theron, Claire Danes andJack Black.