UTA Signs Web Publishing Phenom Tavi Gevinson

11:10 AM PDT 8/6/2012 by Merle Ginsberg

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The 16-year-old creator of the online magazine Rookie has been cast in her first feature, a drama from writer-director Nicole Holofcener.

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When The New York Times profiled 16-year-old Tavi Gevinson on July 29 during a monthlong U.S. tour to promote her online magazine Rookie, it probably didn't anticipate that within a week, she'd also have two other quite-major notches in her already-considerable belt: a starring role in a movie and representation by a major Hollywood talent agency. Sources tell The Hollywood Reporter that UTA will represent her in all areas.

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Gevinson and the agency have closed a deal for her to make her acting debut in writer-director Nicole Holofcener's untitled new film at Fox Searchlight. She will play Chloe, an only child who never received much attention from her parents, forcing her to grow up faster than her peers. While Gevinson has quite attentive parents -- as noted in the Times feature -- she definitely can relate to growing up fast.

Gevinson started her blog, Style Rookie, at age 11, commenting on fashion and teen issues, and wound up in the front row of major fashion shows all over the world -- both for her blog and her unique personal style. The blog gained credibility in the fashion world, and in September, Gevinson launched the online magazine Rookie (RookieMag.com). The site focuses on issues impacting teen girls and features such guest contributors as Judd Apatow, Miranda July, Lena Dunham, Paul Rudd, Joss Whedon, Jon Hamm and John Waters. It's got major cred in the teen magazine world. The New York Times tallies the current readership of the site at 1 million. The print edition of the magazine, Rookie Yearbook One, will be published by Drawn & Quarterly next month.

Gevinson, who spoke at the TED conference about teens and pop culture, has done singing gigs during New York fashion week and provided voice-over for an animated short film. She continues to be represented by attorney Linda Lichter.

Others set for Holofcener's upcoming film include Julia Louis-Dreyfus, James Gandolfini, Catherine Keener and Toni Collette, so Gevinson obviously will be in very good company.