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Who Is Michael Ovitz?
"When the history of Hollywood is written, few people will have played a larger role than Michael Ovitz.... It is impossible to read such a chronicle and not see Mr. Ovitz as the Steve Jobs of agenting, possessing a version of Jobs's fanatical drive and a similar desire to remake an industry." --The Wall Street Journal
Who is Michael Ovitz? He's a striver who talked his way into the famous mailroom of the William Morris Agency without any connections, then worked his way out of the mailroom in record time.
He's an entrepreneur who left a safe job to launch Creative Artists Agency, growing it from five guys in a rundown office to the most powerful agency in the world.
He's a friend and confidant to megastars such as Steven Spielberg, Tom Cruise, Robert De Niro, David Letterman, Sean Connery, Bill Murray, Paul Newman, and Martin Scorsese.
He's a pioneer who reinvented the role of the agent in packaging actors, directors, writers, and producers, which made CAA the essential hub of countless movies and television shows.
He's a master negotiator who drove historic deals for many of his clients, as well as the acquisitions of two major studios by Sony and Matsushita.
He's a self-taught connoisseur of art and architecture, a generous philanthropist, a devoted father...
And to his detractors he's a world-class jerk and a ruthless manipulator who double-crossed his friends, crushed his enemies, and let nothing stand in his way, ever.
After decades of near silence in the face of relentless controversy, Ovitz finally tells his whole story in this memoir, with remarkable candor and insight. If you're going to read just one book about how show business really works, this is the one.
Who is Michael Ovitz? He's a striver who talked his way into the famous mailroom of the William Morris Agency without any connections, then worked his way out of the mailroom in record time.
He's an entrepreneur who left a safe job to launch Creative Artists Agency, growing it from five guys in a rundown office to the most powerful agency in the world.
He's a friend and confidant to megastars such as Steven Spielberg, Tom Cruise, Robert De Niro, David Letterman, Sean Connery, Bill Murray, Paul Newman, and Martin Scorsese.
He's a pioneer who reinvented the role of the agent in packaging actors, directors, writers, and producers, which made CAA the essential hub of countless movies and television shows.
He's a master negotiator who drove historic deals for many of his clients, as well as the acquisitions of two major studios by Sony and Matsushita.
He's a self-taught connoisseur of art and architecture, a generous philanthropist, a devoted father...
And to his detractors he's a world-class jerk and a ruthless manipulator who double-crossed his friends, crushed his enemies, and let nothing stand in his way, ever.
After decades of near silence in the face of relentless controversy, Ovitz finally tells his whole story in this memoir, with remarkable candor and insight. If you're going to read just one book about how show business really works, this is the one.
384 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 228 reviews
October 6, 2018
Don’t believe the bad review in the New York Times. This is a really strong & honest memoir about a very powerful Hollywood figure who regrets a lot of his excessive behavior & his life priorities. There’s plenty of fascinating stuff on how Ovitz & CAA spearheaded the production of classics such as ‘Rainman’ & ‘Tootsie’ but the best sections deal with friendships busted by business pressures. The way that Ovitz broke up with best friend & partner Ron Meyer for years & then repaired the relationship is very moving.
January 1, 2019
I gave it 5/5 stars but this book deserves all of the stars. If you are in business you should read it. If you are doing deals you should make a ton of notes. Gave me a ton of inspiration on how to run my company.
Ovitz's biography is insane. He was investor in Loudcloud and a partner in Andressen Horowitz. He strategized business expansion in palantir. Brokered multibillion dollar M&A deals. Was a COO at disney. What a character, what a story.
Ovitz's biography is insane. He was investor in Loudcloud and a partner in Andressen Horowitz. He strategized business expansion in palantir. Brokered multibillion dollar M&A deals. Was a COO at disney. What a character, what a story.
October 30, 2018
Deal me in.
This is the memoir of Hollywood’s superagent telling how he went from a kid taking tourists on sight-seeing tours of the studios to setting up talent agency CAA and becoming one of the most influential figures in a notoriously ruthless industry. Along the way, he changed the way the Hollywood system worked – to the delight of some (the talent) but not all (the studios who had to pay a lot more to acquire it).
In the 70s and 80s, CAA worked with all the major stars of the era - Newman, Redford, Hoffman, Cruise, Scorsese, Sly, Bill Murray, Connery, Streep, De Niro and all the rest. Yet Ovitz is discreet; there is no gossip to be gleaned about any of them. This book is more about the mega deals he made and the mergers and acquisitions he managed; he had a unique ability to read a spreadsheet as well as he read a script.
Many readers may not like Michael Ovitz, nor indeed anything he stands for, but I for one found his audacity and tenacity made for an absorbing read. Stand-out chapters include the year-long wooing of a Japanese electronics giant to buy a leading Hollywood studio and the Don Draper-like razzmatazz of pitching groundbreaking commercials to Coca Cola. In highly readable prose, Michael Ovitz provides real insight into the workings of a business like no other: show business.
My thanks to WH Allen for the review copy courtesy of NetGalley.
This is the memoir of Hollywood’s superagent telling how he went from a kid taking tourists on sight-seeing tours of the studios to setting up talent agency CAA and becoming one of the most influential figures in a notoriously ruthless industry. Along the way, he changed the way the Hollywood system worked – to the delight of some (the talent) but not all (the studios who had to pay a lot more to acquire it).
In the 70s and 80s, CAA worked with all the major stars of the era - Newman, Redford, Hoffman, Cruise, Scorsese, Sly, Bill Murray, Connery, Streep, De Niro and all the rest. Yet Ovitz is discreet; there is no gossip to be gleaned about any of them. This book is more about the mega deals he made and the mergers and acquisitions he managed; he had a unique ability to read a spreadsheet as well as he read a script.
Many readers may not like Michael Ovitz, nor indeed anything he stands for, but I for one found his audacity and tenacity made for an absorbing read. Stand-out chapters include the year-long wooing of a Japanese electronics giant to buy a leading Hollywood studio and the Don Draper-like razzmatazz of pitching groundbreaking commercials to Coca Cola. In highly readable prose, Michael Ovitz provides real insight into the workings of a business like no other: show business.
My thanks to WH Allen for the review copy courtesy of NetGalley.
September 11, 2020
Is it possible to read a memoir with an author trying to paint themselves as positively as possible and you still walk away feeling that you probably wouldn't like this guy? Yes, it is completely possible. Michael Ovitz has lived a larger life than most, but no, I would not trust this guy as far as I could throw him. There are some parallels between his business and mine, which lead to some positive takeaways. I wouldn't recommend this to someone who doesn't read much, but if you are a reader, it is worth the time.
March 23, 2019
Really strong honest autobiography from the founder of CAA, the most influential entertainment talent agency of our era. Mr Ovitz used to hang out at a16z sometimes while I was there, and while we never really had a proper conversation, there is so much at that firm that Marc & Ben have brought from his approaches to the venture world, and you can get a glimpse of from this book. There is some behind the scenes Hollywood stuff and a bit of (justified) name dropping, but the best part is the vulnerability Ovitz shows analysing himself versus the unforgiving tough guy persona he has had to project to build the kind of business has he had.
And bonus points for the background stories about Japanese and US negotiations of major studio acquisitions.
And bonus points for the background stories about Japanese and US negotiations of major studio acquisitions.
November 10, 2018
Could not put this book down. It's like Cheetos. It felt very honest and was very moving on top of all the interesting stories detailed in this memoir.
June 12, 2019
Pros:
1) Very compelling biography
2) Appreciate some of Mr. Ovitz's candor
3) Appreciate his business acumen and sharing numbers with us - that was incredible and much appreciated.
CONS
1) It read like a resume.
2) Some parts were not very truthful. He stated that the stars never fighted at CAA. Then how does he explain Dustin Hoffman and Al Pacino fighting over 'American Buffalo' back in 1995. Pacino was incensed that Hoffman took the role he did on Broadway. This made industry news all over town. I worked in the industry. There were many more stories of stars bickering that made Variety and caused some stars to leave or avoid CAA like Van Damme.
3) One comedian once said, "Who is Michael Ovitz? What has he done other than take 10% from people who've actually done something. I'm not running out and buying a Michael Ovitz album or seeing a Michael Ovitz film he directed." Maybe Ovitz heard this and that's why he spends an entire chapter talking about how he created a Coke commercial. He literally drools over creating a commercial in the most boring chapter of all. Now he understands how artists feel in actually creating something. He created an empire over taking from artists.
4) He still lives in a myopic bubble and does not grasp that he did NOTHING to help, for instance, Christian filmmakers or artists. Or Hispanic-Americans or Asian-Americans - all of whom are disenfranhised groups like any other minority. It's disingenuous to say you helped everyone and made Hollywood an open place for all artist and not include all minority groups.
5) His enormous 'sucking machine' (that built his IM Pei building in Beverly Hills) drained the creative life out of filmmakers and writers. How? His monopoly over packages and screenplays and talent meant he literally had more power than even studio heads who feared him. This meant his 'army of soldiers' at CAA shut out films of faith in the 1990's and early 2000's and focused solely on films they wanted - horror, violence, sex - and of course Holocaust films (which he's so proud of). And that's it. This anti-faith monopoly ended in 2004 with 'The Passion of the Christ' breaking out.
6) He spends far little time on the most dramatic of all: Getting fired at Disney and then his AMG start-up failing spectacularly. He glosses over why no one wanted to work with him.
7) His last chapter about how he's now in Silicon Valley read like a total resume - name-dropping all these Silicon titans so they can invest in his new ventures. Boring as sin.
8) Speaking of Silicon Valley, he never addresses how he once sued Uber founder Travis Kalanick who founded Scour.net in 2000. Kalanick had to file for bankruptcy. But guess what Kalanick goes on to start Uber and now is worth $5.1 billion at age 42. I'd much rather read Kalanick's biography as he's done much more for the people around the world than Ovitz ever did.
In the end, reading Ovitz's biography was useful in that it shows the mind of a pure Narcissist who still thinks he did something amazing for the people when all he did was do something amazing for the jerk agents and his movie star clients. That's it, folks.
1) Very compelling biography
2) Appreciate some of Mr. Ovitz's candor
3) Appreciate his business acumen and sharing numbers with us - that was incredible and much appreciated.
CONS
1) It read like a resume.
2) Some parts were not very truthful. He stated that the stars never fighted at CAA. Then how does he explain Dustin Hoffman and Al Pacino fighting over 'American Buffalo' back in 1995. Pacino was incensed that Hoffman took the role he did on Broadway. This made industry news all over town. I worked in the industry. There were many more stories of stars bickering that made Variety and caused some stars to leave or avoid CAA like Van Damme.
3) One comedian once said, "Who is Michael Ovitz? What has he done other than take 10% from people who've actually done something. I'm not running out and buying a Michael Ovitz album or seeing a Michael Ovitz film he directed." Maybe Ovitz heard this and that's why he spends an entire chapter talking about how he created a Coke commercial. He literally drools over creating a commercial in the most boring chapter of all. Now he understands how artists feel in actually creating something. He created an empire over taking from artists.
4) He still lives in a myopic bubble and does not grasp that he did NOTHING to help, for instance, Christian filmmakers or artists. Or Hispanic-Americans or Asian-Americans - all of whom are disenfranhised groups like any other minority. It's disingenuous to say you helped everyone and made Hollywood an open place for all artist and not include all minority groups.
5) His enormous 'sucking machine' (that built his IM Pei building in Beverly Hills) drained the creative life out of filmmakers and writers. How? His monopoly over packages and screenplays and talent meant he literally had more power than even studio heads who feared him. This meant his 'army of soldiers' at CAA shut out films of faith in the 1990's and early 2000's and focused solely on films they wanted - horror, violence, sex - and of course Holocaust films (which he's so proud of). And that's it. This anti-faith monopoly ended in 2004 with 'The Passion of the Christ' breaking out.
6) He spends far little time on the most dramatic of all: Getting fired at Disney and then his AMG start-up failing spectacularly. He glosses over why no one wanted to work with him.
7) His last chapter about how he's now in Silicon Valley read like a total resume - name-dropping all these Silicon titans so they can invest in his new ventures. Boring as sin.
8) Speaking of Silicon Valley, he never addresses how he once sued Uber founder Travis Kalanick who founded Scour.net in 2000. Kalanick had to file for bankruptcy. But guess what Kalanick goes on to start Uber and now is worth $5.1 billion at age 42. I'd much rather read Kalanick's biography as he's done much more for the people around the world than Ovitz ever did.
In the end, reading Ovitz's biography was useful in that it shows the mind of a pure Narcissist who still thinks he did something amazing for the people when all he did was do something amazing for the jerk agents and his movie star clients. That's it, folks.
October 27, 2018
You can't put the toothpaste back in the tube, Mikey.
June 12, 2022
So many stories!
This book is such good fun to read. The pace of story telling is relentless, which is what it must have been like to be around this man.
As a tech person with no background (or interest) in Hollywood I was still gripped by his stories. My outsider knowledge is similar to his description of LA movie people ignorant of New York finance people: “Hollywood, where people didn’t know Goldman Sachs from Saks Fifth Avenue”. He worked with so many people moving behind the scenes with such high profile outcomes.
Ovitz transformed the commercial artist representation business, in the process dramatically raising the price and power of talent for the studios. In an industry built on luck and relationships he scaled up hard work and hard ball to make an almost monopolistic agency that often represented all the major actors, directors and producers in each movie so the studio could not play any off against the other.
He then expanded the agency to handle mergers and acquisitions, selling 2 of the 7 Hollywood studios to Japanese companies. And extended further to advertising, winning a $31 million Coca Cola contract from a standing start in the advertising industry. He would have done much more if it was not for the guilds stopping him.
The CEO of Disney did not allow him to succeed when he hired him as the COO of Disney. But Orvitz got $130 million severance out of it. He latest act was to become a successful technology investor in Silicon Valley.
The secret to his enormous success is clear - he works harder and longer than anyone else, and his hard work has compound interest. I do not understand how he managed to sustain such a pace but he really did.
I also do not understand why he still cares because he clearly does. Once you get $130 million for being fired and the court confirms that you were mistreated by your employer, why does the mistreatment still hurt you? Once you sell Columbia to Sony, why does your LA colleagues’ annoyance at your being in Japan during the deal still upset you? Once you have signed up every important actor and director away from their previous agent, why be angry that the agents you beat and the buyers whose buying power you crushed are angry at you? But the book is full of hurt, upset and anger. Even though he won, and won massively, I don’t think he got to enjoy it.
Nevertheless, what an extraordinary collection of stories of winning in difficult situations. One story stuck with me from his founding of the agency. He and four cofounders left their previous agency employer to found the new agency. The employer found out about this before they had fully set up because the banker setting up their account was friends with the employer and tipped off the employer. The employer fired them, blocked others in the industry from working with them, and convinced another company to sue them for the trademark name of the new agency. A spurious lawsuit, but it would take time and money to fight and the new team has neither. Back against the wall, Mike remembered that the massive company suing his tiny startup was being investigated by the Federal government anti trust team. Hands shaking, voice quivering, he calls the company’s lawyer and says he will tip off the federal government that this lawsuit is another example of monopolistic practices. He gives the lawyer 2 hours to send a letter cancelling the law suit before Mike will call his contact. Mike has no such contact. But in 1 hour and 45 minutes he has a hand delivered a letter cancelling the law suit.
There is always a move.
It’s inspirational to read Mike share some of his moves.
This book is such good fun to read. The pace of story telling is relentless, which is what it must have been like to be around this man.
As a tech person with no background (or interest) in Hollywood I was still gripped by his stories. My outsider knowledge is similar to his description of LA movie people ignorant of New York finance people: “Hollywood, where people didn’t know Goldman Sachs from Saks Fifth Avenue”. He worked with so many people moving behind the scenes with such high profile outcomes.
Ovitz transformed the commercial artist representation business, in the process dramatically raising the price and power of talent for the studios. In an industry built on luck and relationships he scaled up hard work and hard ball to make an almost monopolistic agency that often represented all the major actors, directors and producers in each movie so the studio could not play any off against the other.
He then expanded the agency to handle mergers and acquisitions, selling 2 of the 7 Hollywood studios to Japanese companies. And extended further to advertising, winning a $31 million Coca Cola contract from a standing start in the advertising industry. He would have done much more if it was not for the guilds stopping him.
The CEO of Disney did not allow him to succeed when he hired him as the COO of Disney. But Orvitz got $130 million severance out of it. He latest act was to become a successful technology investor in Silicon Valley.
The secret to his enormous success is clear - he works harder and longer than anyone else, and his hard work has compound interest. I do not understand how he managed to sustain such a pace but he really did.
I also do not understand why he still cares because he clearly does. Once you get $130 million for being fired and the court confirms that you were mistreated by your employer, why does the mistreatment still hurt you? Once you sell Columbia to Sony, why does your LA colleagues’ annoyance at your being in Japan during the deal still upset you? Once you have signed up every important actor and director away from their previous agent, why be angry that the agents you beat and the buyers whose buying power you crushed are angry at you? But the book is full of hurt, upset and anger. Even though he won, and won massively, I don’t think he got to enjoy it.
Nevertheless, what an extraordinary collection of stories of winning in difficult situations. One story stuck with me from his founding of the agency. He and four cofounders left their previous agency employer to found the new agency. The employer found out about this before they had fully set up because the banker setting up their account was friends with the employer and tipped off the employer. The employer fired them, blocked others in the industry from working with them, and convinced another company to sue them for the trademark name of the new agency. A spurious lawsuit, but it would take time and money to fight and the new team has neither. Back against the wall, Mike remembered that the massive company suing his tiny startup was being investigated by the Federal government anti trust team. Hands shaking, voice quivering, he calls the company’s lawyer and says he will tip off the federal government that this lawsuit is another example of monopolistic practices. He gives the lawyer 2 hours to send a letter cancelling the law suit before Mike will call his contact. Mike has no such contact. But in 1 hour and 45 minutes he has a hand delivered a letter cancelling the law suit.
There is always a move.
It’s inspirational to read Mike share some of his moves.
July 23, 2023
It’s a fair question: would anyone under 30 in 2018, when this book came out, have a clue who Michael Ovitz was? I recall sitting in Patrick’s Roadhouse, a lovable old diner on the Pacific Coast Highway en route to Malibu, one Tuesday afternoon, and noticed that no one was there eating a late breakfast but me—and Mike Ovitz, and a young woman who was interviewing him without much apparent interest. How bad has life gotten that Mike Ovitz is in an empty diner with Matt Wilder on a Tuesday afternoon!
By the end of this starchy, filler-y memoir, Ovitz has gotten his comeuppance, like Georgie, the antihero of Welles’ mutilated masterpiece THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS. For a good fifteen years, Ovitz ran Hollywood by amassing all the best clients and servicing the top ones with courtesan-like focus and care. His A list was guys you can imagine hanging with Mike Ovitz: Sydney Pollack, Rob Reiner, Tom Cruise, eventually Spielberg. He made a lot of money, climaxing in Lew Wasserman’s sale of MCA-Universal to a Japanese behemoth. But when he left CAA to join Michael Eisner at Disney, the CEO treated him with condign contempt. Since getting canned from the Mouse, Ovitz has wandered the earth like a hungry ghost, pretending to be some kind of player in Silicon Valley, fiddling about with charity, “having ideas,” as very rich dudes who have passed their sell-by date tend to do.
But like other shotcallers of his generation, like Barry Diller, Jeffrey Katzenberg and, yes, Eisner, Ovitz looks diminished. If you plunked any of these guys in a mail room today, would they rise to stratospheric heights? I doubt it. These were not idea guys. They inherited a business from a generation that was, to them, soft, nepotistic, a sleepy land of low-hanging-fruit pickers. They brought an MBA ruthlessness and efficiency. And that’s about it. And when the Internet came along, they were all finished. Eisner, for Christ’s sake, sold baseball cards.
Ovitz failed to flourish outside of his power center of absolute control in CAA’s I.M. Pei building because everyone genuinely disliked him; and the book gives little to suggest anything human inside this terminator. When he talks about his “taste” in art, he sounds like a guy mansplaining wine to show he has a hard-to-get fancy expertise. There’s no emotional connection. And it is a little sad to see him being worked by Bill Murray and Dustin Hoffman, who, to their eternal disgrace, called him up to play gigglypants and tell him jokes. Ovitz saw true friendships there. We see teacher’s pets.
There is not a lot of emotional firepower in this book, but there are a few odd anecdotes that raised my eyebrows. Like:
* Ovitz’s first Learjet he co-purchased with Sydney Pollock.
* Spielberg eye-rollingly told Ovitz that Cruise brought Scientology proselytizing tents to the set of WAR OF THE WORLDS.
* Ovitz told Barbra Streisand that his son was a real horndog but even he didn’t think Babs was hot.
* STAND BY ME was turned down by every buyer but the one who eventually bought it.
* Dustin Hoffman’s go-to assault phrase for TOOTSIE director Sydney Pollack was “I’m not fucking Bob Redford!”
You sure ain’t. This is a miserable, depressing book.
By the end of this starchy, filler-y memoir, Ovitz has gotten his comeuppance, like Georgie, the antihero of Welles’ mutilated masterpiece THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS. For a good fifteen years, Ovitz ran Hollywood by amassing all the best clients and servicing the top ones with courtesan-like focus and care. His A list was guys you can imagine hanging with Mike Ovitz: Sydney Pollack, Rob Reiner, Tom Cruise, eventually Spielberg. He made a lot of money, climaxing in Lew Wasserman’s sale of MCA-Universal to a Japanese behemoth. But when he left CAA to join Michael Eisner at Disney, the CEO treated him with condign contempt. Since getting canned from the Mouse, Ovitz has wandered the earth like a hungry ghost, pretending to be some kind of player in Silicon Valley, fiddling about with charity, “having ideas,” as very rich dudes who have passed their sell-by date tend to do.
But like other shotcallers of his generation, like Barry Diller, Jeffrey Katzenberg and, yes, Eisner, Ovitz looks diminished. If you plunked any of these guys in a mail room today, would they rise to stratospheric heights? I doubt it. These were not idea guys. They inherited a business from a generation that was, to them, soft, nepotistic, a sleepy land of low-hanging-fruit pickers. They brought an MBA ruthlessness and efficiency. And that’s about it. And when the Internet came along, they were all finished. Eisner, for Christ’s sake, sold baseball cards.
Ovitz failed to flourish outside of his power center of absolute control in CAA’s I.M. Pei building because everyone genuinely disliked him; and the book gives little to suggest anything human inside this terminator. When he talks about his “taste” in art, he sounds like a guy mansplaining wine to show he has a hard-to-get fancy expertise. There’s no emotional connection. And it is a little sad to see him being worked by Bill Murray and Dustin Hoffman, who, to their eternal disgrace, called him up to play gigglypants and tell him jokes. Ovitz saw true friendships there. We see teacher’s pets.
There is not a lot of emotional firepower in this book, but there are a few odd anecdotes that raised my eyebrows. Like:
* Ovitz’s first Learjet he co-purchased with Sydney Pollock.
* Spielberg eye-rollingly told Ovitz that Cruise brought Scientology proselytizing tents to the set of WAR OF THE WORLDS.
* Ovitz told Barbra Streisand that his son was a real horndog but even he didn’t think Babs was hot.
* STAND BY ME was turned down by every buyer but the one who eventually bought it.
* Dustin Hoffman’s go-to assault phrase for TOOTSIE director Sydney Pollack was “I’m not fucking Bob Redford!”
You sure ain’t. This is a miserable, depressing book.
March 28, 2022
This is a memoir by the co-founder of CAA. Ovitz talks about starting the agency, convincing architect I.M. Pei to design the building, taking on big clients, helping movies get made, moving on to corporate deals, making lots of enemies, working and failing at Disney, and finally moving up into the Bay Area to join Silicon Valley. Oh yeah, and he says he doesn’t think it’s lying if the person saying the untruth has a reason for saying it. Dubious!
I liked this book. It’s an interesting picture of mostly-90s Hollywood. Of insecurity, workaholism, ambition, passion, doggedness. I like how Ovitz describes throwing himself into his work. How he lets it consume him. I appreciated his appreciation of art and artists. I don’t think I would want to be him. At one point, after he’s talked over and over about accomplishing the near impossible, he says something along the lines of “there were very few female directors in that day, which is a shame.” Hello? He clearly could have done a lot to have changed that. That was basically his whole job – connecting people who had talent and ambition. There have been plenty of women with talent and ambition for the whole of human history. I think the takeaway lesson from reading this book, for me, is: do the work, come prepared, play to win. It’s energizing.
I liked this book. It’s an interesting picture of mostly-90s Hollywood. Of insecurity, workaholism, ambition, passion, doggedness. I like how Ovitz describes throwing himself into his work. How he lets it consume him. I appreciated his appreciation of art and artists. I don’t think I would want to be him. At one point, after he’s talked over and over about accomplishing the near impossible, he says something along the lines of “there were very few female directors in that day, which is a shame.” Hello? He clearly could have done a lot to have changed that. That was basically his whole job – connecting people who had talent and ambition. There have been plenty of women with talent and ambition for the whole of human history. I think the takeaway lesson from reading this book, for me, is: do the work, come prepared, play to win. It’s energizing.
February 12, 2021
If you work in entertainment or are a serious fan who likes the story of how the shows are made, then you may really enjoy this book. But if not, then that's all this is, the story of the deals and the man who made most of them happen.
But there's a bigger limiting factor: this is the autobiography of a man who openly admits (multiple times in the book) that he doesn't have any problem with lying or manipulating people. He said he just sees them as skills, as tools of the trade that he respects when it's done well, even to him.
So, you have to read the story with not a grain of salt, but a bucket of salt. There is a lot of undeniable truth in the book (the names of the stars and the specifics on their projects) but the human parts of the story, well, it's the story he wants us to hear and I'm sure some of it is true, but equally sure some of it isn't. It's a well written mix of fact and fiction.
But there's a bigger limiting factor: this is the autobiography of a man who openly admits (multiple times in the book) that he doesn't have any problem with lying or manipulating people. He said he just sees them as skills, as tools of the trade that he respects when it's done well, even to him.
So, you have to read the story with not a grain of salt, but a bucket of salt. There is a lot of undeniable truth in the book (the names of the stars and the specifics on their projects) but the human parts of the story, well, it's the story he wants us to hear and I'm sure some of it is true, but equally sure some of it isn't. It's a well written mix of fact and fiction.
December 12, 2018
This is a great composite of life stories told by Ovitz. He was THE guy in Hollywood to get shit done and was an innovator in the entertainment industry. His side of the story concerning his time at Disney is fascinating. It seems this book was written to ease the authors conscience on a few relationships that went sour as he climbed his way to the top of the entertainment business.
November 28, 2018
Michael Ovitz autobiography is an interesting tale of the heavy hitters of Hollywood and the backstabbing and the lack of human support found within the industry. The book is very well written and at times does get bogged down with too much information when dealing with mergers and buying of corporations. This is an interesting aspect of Ovitz’s story but can be a little labour intensive at times especially in the final third of the book.
The book gives details on the phenomenal career of Orvitz from building CAA which anyone who reads entertainment magazines should know this name. He was one of the charismatic movers and shakers who put packages together for Jurassic Park, Tootsie, Rain Man to name a very few. He was also the agent who steered the careers of Dustin Hoffman, Bill Murray, Cher and multiple others to make them the memorable powerhouses that they are today. He is very professional by not over gravying any dirt about his clients and he is very astute on his observations without being catty.
He does address his personal faults that he believes that he should have addressed which became clearer in hindsight. I admire that he is able to take responsibility for some of his actions but there seems to be a lot of spoiled children gathered around him in the industry. At times, he is a bit hard on himself considering that he was building a company that would benefit everyone. He unfortunately had three partners who were self destructive and not able to take responsibility for their own actions. Maybe, Mr Ovitz at times, reviews his life a little too harshly and although he comes across as having a hard exterior, his insides seem to be an emotional gooey centre.
Overall, this is a very interesting book that I had found it to be very interesting. I enjoyed hearing the story from Orvitz’s point of view. I did find admiration for him as a businessman and him as a person. It also highlighted the press and how they demonise a person du jour in order to sell papers and how people are followers and not leaders. People tend to jump on a bandwagon because original thought seems to be something that the individual is not strong enough to pursue. This is a very thought provoking book and if you love the entertainment industry with its warts and all stories, you can not go wrong with this book. It is often densely written but it is very informative and gives you the other side, the one that the press will never let you know.
Excellent read.
The book gives details on the phenomenal career of Orvitz from building CAA which anyone who reads entertainment magazines should know this name. He was one of the charismatic movers and shakers who put packages together for Jurassic Park, Tootsie, Rain Man to name a very few. He was also the agent who steered the careers of Dustin Hoffman, Bill Murray, Cher and multiple others to make them the memorable powerhouses that they are today. He is very professional by not over gravying any dirt about his clients and he is very astute on his observations without being catty.
He does address his personal faults that he believes that he should have addressed which became clearer in hindsight. I admire that he is able to take responsibility for some of his actions but there seems to be a lot of spoiled children gathered around him in the industry. At times, he is a bit hard on himself considering that he was building a company that would benefit everyone. He unfortunately had three partners who were self destructive and not able to take responsibility for their own actions. Maybe, Mr Ovitz at times, reviews his life a little too harshly and although he comes across as having a hard exterior, his insides seem to be an emotional gooey centre.
Overall, this is a very interesting book that I had found it to be very interesting. I enjoyed hearing the story from Orvitz’s point of view. I did find admiration for him as a businessman and him as a person. It also highlighted the press and how they demonise a person du jour in order to sell papers and how people are followers and not leaders. People tend to jump on a bandwagon because original thought seems to be something that the individual is not strong enough to pursue. This is a very thought provoking book and if you love the entertainment industry with its warts and all stories, you can not go wrong with this book. It is often densely written but it is very informative and gives you the other side, the one that the press will never let you know.
Excellent read.
October 17, 2022
one of the most entertaining business-y books i've ever read, essentially a memoir by Michael Ovitz about the creation of Creative Artists Agency, arguably the most important film/TV/lit agency of the last 30-40 years; CAA (with ovitz at the helm) basically repped/reps everyone giant and ran LA for a few decades. pretty fascinating angle to think about 'commercial art' and where creative work bumps up against business impulses (this reminded me a lot of bob iger's 'the ride of a lifetime') + the ways large industry stakeholders influence how works are produced / exert traditional market power. CAA's strategy is also, interestingly, a model for a16z and ovitz was pretty deep in tech for a few years.
rounding down from 4.5 because this ran fairly long / repetitive / at times felt very name-droppy, BUT a legitimately fascinating angle to view Hollywood / TV / the 'entertainment industry' and to see how cutthroat / intense Ovitz was + both where it served (and hurt him). also interesting to see some of the perils of extremely relational-based work (Ovitz having a ton of personal rels with clients / other agents / finding these rels extremely transactional / ungenuine later in life), plus encoding extremely strong cultural norms into CAA and the downstream impacts of CAA's approach in the way film/TV are still made today. I think most interestingly, Ovitz is incredibly transparent about some of the more objectionable relational norms of the industry / ways in which he played into them + his status anxiety throughout. for example: "Insincere flattery was actually more flattering than sincere flattery, because it was a tacit acknowledgment that I had power and had to be propitiated. But understanding that dynamic did make it hard to trust anyone."
anyways, being really into movies and growing up in LA around some of this (also, 'agenting people,' as a concept, LOL) made this a particularly wild / engaging read. very much recommend
rounding down from 4.5 because this ran fairly long / repetitive / at times felt very name-droppy, BUT a legitimately fascinating angle to view Hollywood / TV / the 'entertainment industry' and to see how cutthroat / intense Ovitz was + both where it served (and hurt him). also interesting to see some of the perils of extremely relational-based work (Ovitz having a ton of personal rels with clients / other agents / finding these rels extremely transactional / ungenuine later in life), plus encoding extremely strong cultural norms into CAA and the downstream impacts of CAA's approach in the way film/TV are still made today. I think most interestingly, Ovitz is incredibly transparent about some of the more objectionable relational norms of the industry / ways in which he played into them + his status anxiety throughout. for example: "Insincere flattery was actually more flattering than sincere flattery, because it was a tacit acknowledgment that I had power and had to be propitiated. But understanding that dynamic did make it hard to trust anyone."
anyways, being really into movies and growing up in LA around some of this (also, 'agenting people,' as a concept, LOL) made this a particularly wild / engaging read. very much recommend
January 2, 2020
Insane, the crossovers are extraordinary. I had no idea who Michael Ovitz was until listening to Michael Caines memoir and the links between him and my favourite films and people are everywhere even down to me currently watching Bob Iger’s MasterClass, he’s mentioned in here several times!
We definitely don’t agree on what constitutes a lie but the gains Ovitz talks about simply by doing what others were unwilling to do as early as marking out his mail route around the studios so he’d finish as early as possible to learn the other departments is a basic ethic that permeates his work ethos for his whole career no matter the level. Extraordinary. The 90’s Coke campaign has to be my favourite for the book, just amazing. Ideas and the balls to risk it all. Great read! Excellent birthday gift ☺️
We definitely don’t agree on what constitutes a lie but the gains Ovitz talks about simply by doing what others were unwilling to do as early as marking out his mail route around the studios so he’d finish as early as possible to learn the other departments is a basic ethic that permeates his work ethos for his whole career no matter the level. Extraordinary. The 90’s Coke campaign has to be my favourite for the book, just amazing. Ideas and the balls to risk it all. Great read! Excellent birthday gift ☺️
January 12, 2019
Knew that it would be hard to relate to this book, due to limited context around LA / Hollywood. However, Ovitz lays out a gripping tale - which is well summarised in his original title of the book “X deals” (I forget what X was). The book picked up pace as Ovitz ventured into Japan, with the Sony and Panasonic deals. Ovitz is kind on himself, and glazes over the implosion of his role at CAA / Disney. But then, as a contributor to history, he has that privilege as many others before him.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 29, 2021
Super interesting story about the (at one point) most powerful man in Hollywood. I grew up hearing stories from my Uncle Billy about the players in the NBA and college coaches, so this felt like hearing stories from the Hollywood version of an uncle. Really enjoyed it, ironically i do wish it had a bit of a clearer story structure, but still a great book nonetheless. Biggest takeaway; i could care less about making a ton of money or winning awards in Hollywood, i care a lot more about what type of impact I’m having on people. At the end of the day, people are all we have
April 8, 2019
Co-founder of Creative Artists Agency (CAA), Michael Ovitz shares his story with us in this memoir. I'd honestly never heard of this guy before but I love any books about the true stories of Hollywood, and this one did not disappoint in depicting the inside scoop on being a successful agent.
It was fascinating to read how Ovitz got his start conducting studio tours, and it was interesting to see how Ovtiz cultivated a tough persona which eventually took over and caused issues for him later on. I enjoyed it for the most part, although the last few chapters were tougher to get through as there was quite a lot of information on various takeovers which isn't as compelling as the film industry. Overall, it's a good read.
Thanks to NetGalley & publishers Penguin Random House UK / Ebury Publishing, for the opportunity to review an ARC.
It was fascinating to read how Ovitz got his start conducting studio tours, and it was interesting to see how Ovtiz cultivated a tough persona which eventually took over and caused issues for him later on. I enjoyed it for the most part, although the last few chapters were tougher to get through as there was quite a lot of information on various takeovers which isn't as compelling as the film industry. Overall, it's a good read.
Thanks to NetGalley & publishers Penguin Random House UK / Ebury Publishing, for the opportunity to review an ARC.
December 16, 2024
Beginning was great, then got less interesting once MCA and Bronfman come up.
April 12, 2025
Really interesting to learn about inner workings of Hollywood but not nearly enough self awareness for a book thats supposed to be an autobiography, not just a professional history
February 25, 2019
Who is Michael Ovitz? I don’t think he fully wants to tell us—as candid as he comes off. It was fascinating parsing what is truth, what is elaboration, and what is spin considering it’s the autobiography of perhaps the greatest spin doctor ever. All that being said, ovitz is fast, loose, and efficient w names, places, and projects. Hard to ask for more 4.5
June 25, 2025
Good mix of entertaining anecdotes about the hollywood and business worlds, a strategic review of how to build an empire by a master deal maker, and some pop culture/LA trivia to boot.
October 26, 2018
Just finished this...
I have a read a lot about CAA and Mike Ovitz over the years and was curious as to what he might add color on or if he would raise anything new or unkown.
Clearly this had some revisionism in it but it is interesting to also see a more humbled side of the former super Agent and creator of one of the world's most influential talent and packaging agencies.
I liked it. I especially felt a bit for him when he describes going back to the empty I.M. Pei CAA building recently and reliving the ghosts of the past...
I have a read a lot about CAA and Mike Ovitz over the years and was curious as to what he might add color on or if he would raise anything new or unkown.
Clearly this had some revisionism in it but it is interesting to also see a more humbled side of the former super Agent and creator of one of the world's most influential talent and packaging agencies.
I liked it. I especially felt a bit for him when he describes going back to the empty I.M. Pei CAA building recently and reliving the ghosts of the past...
October 21, 2018
This guy was ruthless. Enjoyed reading the book and learning about CAA and the man behind it. Very honest account of behind the scenes and what it took to become number 1 but at the loss of realationships
May 1, 2023
4.5/5
crazy ride of how Ovitz goes from being a tour guide in universal studios to becoming a small time tv-agent, later changing hollywood's power structure by representing the entire food chain of making movies, then starts brokering billion-dollar m&a deals and producing multimillion ads for int'l conglomerates, afterward joins and quickly gets fired from Disney as a top exec, and finally winds up in VC with a16z just as the 90's software revolution kicks off
crazy ride of how Ovitz goes from being a tour guide in universal studios to becoming a small time tv-agent, later changing hollywood's power structure by representing the entire food chain of making movies, then starts brokering billion-dollar m&a deals and producing multimillion ads for int'l conglomerates, afterward joins and quickly gets fired from Disney as a top exec, and finally winds up in VC with a16z just as the 90's software revolution kicks off
January 2, 2019
For a book entitled Who is Michael Ovitz?, Who is Michael Ovitz? has vanishing little introspection from Ovitz. Instead it is a catalog of successful sales and the tactics used to make them from the world's greatest salesman. I don't say this in a pejorative way -- I had a lot of fun with this book. It is what it is.
Our story begins in the San Fernando Valley, where Ovitz is born to a middle class family. We learn about his first his job in the Universal backlot while a senior at UCLA, his move to the William Morris mailroom and climb through the ranks, and finally to his "gang of five" breakaway to form CAA in 1975. When I say that the introspection is thin: after the brisk introduction probably 80% of this book covers vignettes of different deals done at CAA, but what propelled Ovitz? Why does he do any of this? What made him most happy and energized and why? From time to time you get glimpses of this but I found it to be rather light. In any event, we get Ovitz's intimate view on crowning Letterman the king of late night; brokering a swap between Scorsese and Speilberg on directing "Schindler's List" and "Cape Fear", respectively; breathing life into "Jurassic Park", and finally getting into the weirder and highly lucrative things like selling studios to Sony and Matsushita in the early 90s.
There are a couple of tactics that Ovitz uses throughout. He talks at length about art before talking about business to establish bona fides. This reminds me of advice I once got about doing deals in the American south: "you should spend no more than 10 minutes of a 1 hour meeting talking about business". It also reminds me a bit of American Psycho. He at a couple of points works through wives and family members to get at a director or an actor. He fakes things (like acting like people's agent even when he isn't) until he makes it.
Maybe the thing that Ovitz is most expert at -- and the core of sales -- is finding peoples' discontent and driving a truck through it. This starts in the William Morris mailroom where a young Ovitz shows the file room attendant, a woman named Mary, some appreciation for her work with "little gifts - a box of candy, a scarf" (50) to endear himself and gain after hours access to the agency's records. But it's a pattern we see with directors and actors, and a sensitivity we see elsewhere when he thinks about "The Young Turks" at CAA, their ambitions, and his own imperative to leave after Ron Meyer departs.
There is a bit of Hemmingway in the style. Ovitz is a man of action. He likes his punchy sentences.
I sensed though that there may also be something insincere or at least not entirely truthful beneath the surface. Some parts of the saga seemed a bit unbelievable, like how the McCann team summarily capitulated in the war for Coca Cola (290). What parts of the story are left out as well? But also: what would you expect? In the penumbra of the text I suppose you do learn something about who Michael Ovitz is.
Our story begins in the San Fernando Valley, where Ovitz is born to a middle class family. We learn about his first his job in the Universal backlot while a senior at UCLA, his move to the William Morris mailroom and climb through the ranks, and finally to his "gang of five" breakaway to form CAA in 1975. When I say that the introspection is thin: after the brisk introduction probably 80% of this book covers vignettes of different deals done at CAA, but what propelled Ovitz? Why does he do any of this? What made him most happy and energized and why? From time to time you get glimpses of this but I found it to be rather light. In any event, we get Ovitz's intimate view on crowning Letterman the king of late night; brokering a swap between Scorsese and Speilberg on directing "Schindler's List" and "Cape Fear", respectively; breathing life into "Jurassic Park", and finally getting into the weirder and highly lucrative things like selling studios to Sony and Matsushita in the early 90s.
There are a couple of tactics that Ovitz uses throughout. He talks at length about art before talking about business to establish bona fides. This reminds me of advice I once got about doing deals in the American south: "you should spend no more than 10 minutes of a 1 hour meeting talking about business". It also reminds me a bit of American Psycho. He at a couple of points works through wives and family members to get at a director or an actor. He fakes things (like acting like people's agent even when he isn't) until he makes it.
Maybe the thing that Ovitz is most expert at -- and the core of sales -- is finding peoples' discontent and driving a truck through it. This starts in the William Morris mailroom where a young Ovitz shows the file room attendant, a woman named Mary, some appreciation for her work with "little gifts - a box of candy, a scarf" (50) to endear himself and gain after hours access to the agency's records. But it's a pattern we see with directors and actors, and a sensitivity we see elsewhere when he thinks about "The Young Turks" at CAA, their ambitions, and his own imperative to leave after Ron Meyer departs.
There is a bit of Hemmingway in the style. Ovitz is a man of action. He likes his punchy sentences.
I sensed though that there may also be something insincere or at least not entirely truthful beneath the surface. Some parts of the saga seemed a bit unbelievable, like how the McCann team summarily capitulated in the war for Coca Cola (290). What parts of the story are left out as well? But also: what would you expect? In the penumbra of the text I suppose you do learn something about who Michael Ovitz is.
March 27, 2022
Wow, this book is exceptional!
February 28, 2019
Business:
-Partnership teams know that if they don’t close with the CCA partnership team then Michael O will come in and the price will go up
—If boas has to get on the phone then price goes up
-Personal meeting’s should be in intimate place
-Point at people and yell out “yes! together we can make this a better world!”
-Clean Campus Campaign: get out 15 minutes early for the week if the campus is kept clean
-Return phone calls same day
-think big: form partnerships with entire companies over single individuals
-”we will bring the mountain to Mohamed.”
-everyone treated as the ceo of their own brand
-Ask for introductions: give gifts like Hershey Kisses each day until they cave
-Multiple agents per client in case an agent leaves, client still has tight relationships with others
-CALLED each employee when they didn’t show up for work, asked if they were okay, and offered to bring soup if they were sick
-They say, “no, you’re wrong.” You say, “that’s not what I’m hearing from the highest levels”
-Important gifts should not be disposable: spend some money: rate first edition book, etc..
-Get kids to tell their influential parents what’s really going on
Motto:
-Helping people become their best fullest selves
-Better Material, Better Information, Better Deals and we will make your dream project happen
-I’ll make your dreams come true, and I’ll fix your problems
-“You are going to make it with or without us. But we can keep you at the top because we see every project first, we develop for you, we represent every important studio executive so we can match you with the perfect projects. Going with us is just like taking out career insurance.”
Illegal:
-Bluff
—“It would be really interesting if this went to the Justice Department in the middle of their anti-trust investigation. You can rip up this letter and we can all be friends and forget about it. Or you can pursue it, and I will call a pal of mine who happens to work at Justice, and I’ll ask him to throw this into the hopper, and we’ll see how this all sorts out.”
-Partnership teams know that if they don’t close with the CCA partnership team then Michael O will come in and the price will go up
—If boas has to get on the phone then price goes up
-Personal meeting’s should be in intimate place
-Point at people and yell out “yes! together we can make this a better world!”
-Clean Campus Campaign: get out 15 minutes early for the week if the campus is kept clean
-Return phone calls same day
-think big: form partnerships with entire companies over single individuals
-”we will bring the mountain to Mohamed.”
-everyone treated as the ceo of their own brand
-Ask for introductions: give gifts like Hershey Kisses each day until they cave
-Multiple agents per client in case an agent leaves, client still has tight relationships with others
-CALLED each employee when they didn’t show up for work, asked if they were okay, and offered to bring soup if they were sick
-They say, “no, you’re wrong.” You say, “that’s not what I’m hearing from the highest levels”
-Important gifts should not be disposable: spend some money: rate first edition book, etc..
-Get kids to tell their influential parents what’s really going on
Motto:
-Helping people become their best fullest selves
-Better Material, Better Information, Better Deals and we will make your dream project happen
-I’ll make your dreams come true, and I’ll fix your problems
-“You are going to make it with or without us. But we can keep you at the top because we see every project first, we develop for you, we represent every important studio executive so we can match you with the perfect projects. Going with us is just like taking out career insurance.”
Illegal:
-Bluff
—“It would be really interesting if this went to the Justice Department in the middle of their anti-trust investigation. You can rip up this letter and we can all be friends and forget about it. Or you can pursue it, and I will call a pal of mine who happens to work at Justice, and I’ll ask him to throw this into the hopper, and we’ll see how this all sorts out.”
October 21, 2018
I loved the book. I didn't knew anything about Michael Ovitz prior. The title of the book is telling. Thanks to the show Entourage, I thought Ari Emanuel THE super-agent to the stars. This book changed my mind. Michael Ovitz and Creative Artist Agency wrote the script for Ari.
The book starts strong and you get to learn a bit about how Hollywood works and how CAA changed the game with packaged deals.
"No conflict, no interest".
"Momentum is everything. Once a company relaxed, it was done for."
"Our corporate culture was American team sports boosterism mixed with Spartan military tactics mixed with Asian philosophy, all overlaid by the communitarian spirit of the three musketeers."
I have to admit that the background stories about Dustin Hoffman, Tom Cruise, Robert Redford or Bill Murray tickled my checkout aisle curiosity.
Nevertheless, there are some good wise words, such as the four CAA commandments:
1. Never lie to your clients or colleagues
2. Return every call by the end of the day (or at least have your assistant buy you a day’s grace
3. Follow up and don’t leave people guessing
4. Never bad-mouth the competition
The second third of the book gets a little repetitive with more of the same stories.
The book gets really interesting again when Michael Ovitz tells his stories about mergers and acquisitions. When he tells the story about working with Sony and Matsushita. "About the Japanese: They’d rather be late to the party than crash while speeding to get there."
For someone with that much pull in Los Angeles, New York, Tokyo and Atlanta, the book ends a little bit on a downer. Unlike Jack Welch or Michael Bloomberg, you don't get the impression Michael Ovitz went out on top. (Damn you Michael Eisner!)
Loved reading the book and couldn't put it down.
The book starts strong and you get to learn a bit about how Hollywood works and how CAA changed the game with packaged deals.
"No conflict, no interest".
"Momentum is everything. Once a company relaxed, it was done for."
"Our corporate culture was American team sports boosterism mixed with Spartan military tactics mixed with Asian philosophy, all overlaid by the communitarian spirit of the three musketeers."
I have to admit that the background stories about Dustin Hoffman, Tom Cruise, Robert Redford or Bill Murray tickled my checkout aisle curiosity.
Nevertheless, there are some good wise words, such as the four CAA commandments:
1. Never lie to your clients or colleagues
2. Return every call by the end of the day (or at least have your assistant buy you a day’s grace
3. Follow up and don’t leave people guessing
4. Never bad-mouth the competition
The second third of the book gets a little repetitive with more of the same stories.
The book gets really interesting again when Michael Ovitz tells his stories about mergers and acquisitions. When he tells the story about working with Sony and Matsushita. "About the Japanese: They’d rather be late to the party than crash while speeding to get there."
For someone with that much pull in Los Angeles, New York, Tokyo and Atlanta, the book ends a little bit on a downer. Unlike Jack Welch or Michael Bloomberg, you don't get the impression Michael Ovitz went out on top. (Damn you Michael Eisner!)
Loved reading the book and couldn't put it down.
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