Hooray for Hollywood
Journalist James Andrew Miller has a
written a way to long (752 pages in the print edition) and a way too
hagiographic oral history of the Hollywood behemoth, Creative Artists Agency. It
is filled with anecdotes about famous actors, writers and directors. However, by
the end it reads like the promotional material an investment bank would use for
an initial public offering, which, trust me, is coming. In their own words
Powerhouse tells the story of five break away agents from the William Morris Agency
to form Creative Artists in 1975. The lead players are Michael Ovitz, Ron Meyer
and William Haber.
Ovitz, of course is the most famous, and
is the driving force behind Creative Artists first 20 years. Although he didn’t
invent packaging, where an agent puts together all of the key elements of a
television series or motion picture, he certainly refined it to a high art. He
is also a visionary with respect to technology by fully anticipating video
streaming and the delivery content wirelessly.
The early days of Creative Artists are
very reminiscent of my days at the old Salomon Brothers. It was an eat what you
kill environment and everyone was hungry. In fact Ovitz acted as an investment
banker with respect to the sale of Columbia Pictures to Sony and the sale of
Universal to Matsushita.
However in 1995 Ovitz leaves for Disney
which turns out to be a disaster for all of the parties involved and Haber
leaves to run Universal. After they leave the “Young Turks” takeover and
Creative Artists continues to thrive, but changes radically when they take in
the private equity firm, TPG as a partner. In the 2000s Creative Artists
branches out into sports management and continues the Ovitz initiatives in
brand management.
The problems with the book are that it
is too long and you don’t really hear from by the many people wronged by the
agency.
The full amazon URL appears at: https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/R3NCILK5TXXEFM/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B016I3ANU4
No comments:
Post a Comment