The Post story made me take a closer look at late night. At CAA we kept a “dashboard” of every project under way in film, TV, music, and books. A copy was placed in each agent’s black binder, together with the latest box-office data, TV ratings, bestseller lists, and other pertinent data that might give us an edge at our 8:30 a.m. staff meetings (which were themselves scheduled to give us an edge—we started sixty to ninety minutes ahead of our competitors). Our rule at staff meetings was “No idea is too stupid.” I consulted the dashboard several times a day, looking for opportunities for
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