Who Is Michael Ovitz?

by Michael Ovitz

We instituted CAA’s famous gifts office in the late seventies on the uncontroversial theory that people love free stuff. I had learned about gifting from my father, with his bottles of Seagram’s. So one of my assistants kept track of all our clients’ hobbies and charities. When an agent found out some new bit of relevant data—Tom Hanks is taking scuba lessons, or the like—it got passed to the gifts assistant via a buck slip, or interoffice memo. The next time the client had a birthday or a book coming out or a movie shooting, he’d get an outdoor watch or a nice piece of luggage or, say for Paul Newman and Tom Cruise on The Color of Money, an ornate pool cue. When Ron told me Sylvester Stallone admired my old Ferrari, I gave Sly the title. When Laverne & Shirley became a hit and I kept redoing Penny Marshall’s deal, I told Paramount’s Gary Nardino, “By the way, add a washer and dryer as a gift. From you to Penny.”