Electronic Arts announced today that it's planning to "significantly ramp up" its film and television slate with the help of leading Hollywood talent and literary agency UTA (United Talent Agency). UTA will aid EA in developing "a comprehensive strategy for moving its intellectual property into the realm of large-budget motion pictures and television series."

Although no specific IP is mentioned as being attached to the deal, franchises highlighted in the press release include Army of Two, Need for Speed and upcoming titles such as Dead Space and Mirror's Edge – both of which had positive buzz from E3.

"UTA is an ideal partner for us to bring the richness and story telling nuance of our popular games into other forms of media that give consumers more ways to experience these creative concepts," said Patrick O'Brien, Vice President of EA Entertainment. "Some of our teams have already made steps to expand our games into other forms of media like online, social networks and print publication. This partnership will help us take these efforts to the next level and match each of our titles with the right artists, producers and financiers."

"We view EA as an emerging entertainment force, not just because they are a great untapped IP rights holder, but because at their core they care most about how viewers respond to their stories and creative vision," said UTA partner Richard Klubeck. "We're excited to work alongside the EA team as they make this important expansion of their intellectual property strategy."

Apart from the UTA relationship, EA already has a feature version of the The Sims in script development at 20th Century Fox with producer John Davis, a MySims animated television series in development at Film Roman, and an animated DVD feature version of Dead Space to launch with the game, in production with Starz/Film Roman.