From top agents to prime real estate, Paradigm Talent and Literary Agency has been in acquisition mode for the past 18 months, and the latest item on its shopping list is talent and literary agency Writers and Artists Group International.

A spokeswoman for Paradigm confirmed Tuesday that the company is in talks to acquire Writers and Artists, headed by chairman and CEO Norman Aladjem. Financial details of the deal were still murky, but sources said the deal would be structured as an acquisition by Paradigm, headed by president and CEO Sam Gores, rather than a merger.

"Paradigm will continue to make moves to strengthen our agency for as long as we remain single minded in our efforts to improve the quality of representation for our clients," Gores said in a statement. "We hope to finalize this deal, as Writers and Artists has always impressed us as an organization and the integration of several key aggressive, intelligent and tasteful agents will be a valuable addition to an already strong group of agents."

Writers and Artists is understood to have about two dozen agents spread among its Los Angeles and New York offices. In addition to Aladjem, partners in Writers and Artists include Marti Blumenthal, William Craver and Stephen Small. Aladjem is expected to join Paradigm following the deal as a senior agent, but whether the remaining partners would remain with Paradigm was unclear. Aladjem did not return calls seeking comment.

The integration of Writers and Artists would particularly benefit Paradigm's New York-based business with the addition of numerous theater director and playwright clients, sources said.

Paradigm's talks to acquire Writers and Artists come less than four months after the agency scooped up the boutique literary agency Genesis and integrated its principals into its lit department (HR 3/23).

Eighteen months ago, Gores began planning for Paradigm's expansion by forking over $45 million, in partnership with his brother, Tom Gores, who runs the buyout firm Platinum Equity, to buy the Beverly Hills building at the intersection of North Crescent Drive and Little Santa Monica that was once home to the storied MCA talent agency run by Jules Stein and Lew Wasserman. Paradigm is scheduled to move into those renovated offices, which most recently housed the now-defunct telecom firm Global Crossing, on Aug. 30, an agency spokeswoman said.

In November, Paradigm recruited former WMA agent Robert Stein to head the agency's motion picture group (HR 11/11). In March, another WMA alumnus, Bill Douglass , joined Paradigm to help the agency step up its TV and film packaging efforts (HR 3/2).

Gores' colleagues at other midsized agencies have kept a close watch on Paradigm's moves during the past few years. One industry veteran said Tuesday that it was a savvy strategy for Paradigm to bulk up in a range of different showbiz sectors at a time when talent agencies large and small are feeling the squeeze on their profit margins amid the consolidation among the major studios and networks during the past decade.

The Big Three agencies -- CAA, WMA and ICM -- still dominate the rep lists for most of the industry's superstar actors, writers, directors and producers, albeit with significant competition, especially on the literary side, from UTA, Endeavor and Broder Webb Chervin Silbermann. With its flurry of deal-making, observers said Paradigm is positioning itself to become the dominant full-service alternative to the larger agencies, one that is equipped handle everything from representation of below-the-line talent to marquee names.

"If you have a pretty good business a lot of different areas, you can try for some economies of scale in your operating costs by going after more market share," one veteran talent representative said.

Paradigm was founded in March 1993 when Gores' Gores/Fields agency merged with three other boutiques. Writers and Artists was founded in New York in 1970 by former agency head Joan Scott. Paradigm's current client roster includes such actors as Chris Cooper, Laurence Fishburne, Andy Garcia, Allison Janney and Dennis Franz and writer-producers like "Law & Order: SVU" executive producer Neal Baer.