Founders PodcastThe Rise and Fall (and Rise) of the Most Powerful Man in Hollywood: Michael Ovitz
CHAPTERS
- 0:00 – 10:23
Opening Excerpt and Why Autobiographies Matter
David Senra opens with the Michael Ovitz book excerpt about betrayal by Jay Mullooney, Michael Eisner and Ron Meyer. He explains that he has now read the book twice and has since had dinner with Ovitz. He argues that autobiographies are valuable because an older man looks back honestly on his life.
- •Excerpt on betrayals by Jay Mullooney, Michael Eisner and Ron Meyer
- •Senra first read the book years ago and re-read it after getting to know Ovitz
- •Autobiographies combine honest regret with practical business ideas
- •Ovitz describes himself as a 'Terminator' whose image he came to hate
- •He calls himself a frustrated artist, and says the agent's zero-sum game cost him
- 10:23 – 16:40
Growing Up in the Valley: A Father's Boxed-In Life
Senra covers Ovitz's childhood in Encino and his resolve not to live his father's constrained life. He covers his grandmother's expectations, his early work ethic and his reading of biographies. He also covers his fascination with the movie studios.
- •Ovitz's father dreamed of a liquor store and feared risk
- •His grandmother told him he could be better than his father
- •Paper routes at nine, and voracious reading of biographies
- •'Totally in or totally out' became his mantra but left no room for shades of gray
- •'This can't be my life' and 'insecurity and ambition make a powerful cocktail'
- 16:40 – 22:25
Universal Studios Guide and the Lew Wasserman Model
Ovitz lands a job as a Universal studio guide through a personal connection and outworks the other guides. He becomes fascinated with power and with Lew Wasserman, who he patterns himself on. Senra draws parallels between Wasserman's rise and Ovitz's.
- •Who you know matters: a Little League connection got him the job
- •He arrived at 7 AM and stayed until 9 PM, studying the lot
- •He cared about who held power, not about the stars
- •Wasserman's simple rules and corner on the talent market
- •Wasserman broke up his own agency amid the antitrust threat
- 22:25 – 29:47
William Morris Mail Room and Making Himself Indispensable
After college Ovitz joins William Morris in the mail room and bargains for a faster path. He studies the file room and becomes Sam Weisbord's unpaid after-hours assistant. Senra ties this to his advice on mastering your craft.
- •Sam Weisbord's habits were observed, and Ovitz planted himself where he would be noticed
- •He proposed learning the job in 120 days
- •He charmed the file room keeper to gain access to the files
- •Judy's support and the 'investing in your life' line
- •Bill Gurley's advice to hone your craft obsessively
- 29:47 – 36:52
Founding CAA: Revolt, Principles and Hardball
Underpaid and frustrated, Ovitz and Ron Meyer leave William Morris and start CAA with a few partners. Ovitz sets founding principles including equal equity, shared clients, truth-telling and creating opportunities. William Morris threatens a lawsuit, and his bluff to its lawyer forges CAA's siege mentality.
- •Ovitz brought in $2 million and received a $7,500 bonus
- •Ron told him he had no gamble in him
- •Principles: even equity, get big fast, share clients, tell the truth, create opportunities
- •Senra's Genghis Khan aside on reducing internal conflict
- •The bluff to the William Morris lawyer and 'hardball for 20 years'
- 36:52 – 44:33
Scrappy Startup Tactics and the First Big Hit
CAA starts in TV for fast cash and tells clients to think of themselves as small corporations. Ovitz works literary agent Mort Janklow every week for a year and uses red-covered scripts for publicity. Marty Baum joins, and the 'Shogun' deal delivers a million-dollar commission.
- •TV writers and actors paid reliably, so CAA started there
- •Belief comes before ability: 'I'm going to get them all'
- •Weekly Thursday calls to Mort Janklow led to the novel 'Chiefs'
- •Marty Baum's client list helped bring in 'Shogun'
- •He took on opportunity that others passed over
- 44:33 – 49:22
Knowing the Industry and Doing the Job Before You're Hired
Ovitz watched every film that won a big-five Oscar and built a wish list of directors. He signs clients by acting as their agent before they hire him, and he works without paper contracts. Senra also relays Ovitz's view of the three betrayals he suffered.
- •Ten-year project of watching every major Oscar winner
- •Poaching clients by assumption, as with Steve Gordon's script
- •No letters of engagement, so clients had no anniversary prompting departure
- •Ovitz said he had been betrayed by three people out of a thousand
- •He envisioned representing the whole food chain and flipping power from studios to artists
- 49:22 – 55:19
Landing Sydney Pollack and Ted Ashley's Warning
Ovitz overhears agent Evarts Ziegler on a car-phone party line and campaigns for Sydney Pollack. He ends up hiring Ziegler's junior partner. Ted Ashley's advice to work less is one Ovitz admits he ignored.
- •Overheard Ziegler on the shared car-phone channels
- •Spent up to two hours a day courting Sydney Pollack
- •Hired junior partner Steve Roth for far less than Ziegler's price
- •Ted Ashley said working 10% less would have cost nothing and made him happier
- •Ovitz still believes the advice is true
- 55:19 – 1:03:09
Packaging Films, Partner Tensions and Learning from Scorsese
Ovitz asks for a larger share of equity, planting an emotional time bomb with his partners. He pioneers packaging in film, as with Ghostbusters. He learns to see movies through Martin Scorsese's eyes.
- •Larger equity allocation hurt partners emotionally even though they agreed
- •Ron's hidden animus toward Bill is a warning sign
- •Golden age of commercial film as favorable timing
- •Packaging ideas and positioning yourself as the solution to the buyer's problem
- •Watching old films with Scorsese as a source of ideas
- 1:03:09 – 1:08:49
Exhaustion, Family Cost and Ron's Gambling
Ovitz describes a typical day of up to 300 calls and its toll on his family. Senra shares advice about being present with his own son. Ron's multimillion-dollar poker losses shake Ovitz's confidence in reading people.
- •Daily schedule beginning at 5:45 AM and ending with screenplays and VHS tapes
- •His children said 'Earth to Dad'
- •Senra's advice to imagine yourself thirty years from now
- •Ron lost over $5 million and then $6.5 million in poker
- •Ovitz wished he hadn't tried to appear all-knowing and invulnerable
- 1:08:49 – 1:11:14
Michael Crichton and the Discipline Others Skip
Senra shares that Ovitz named Michael Crichton as one of the smartest people he met. He recounts Crichton's extreme writing routine and a favorite line from the book on persistence.
- •Crichton wrote at 18 hours a day until finished
- •Wikipedia describes his ritualistic self-denial
- •He was married five times
- •'Everyone stopped. I didn't stop.'
- 1:11:14 – 1:18:49
From Agent to Dealmaker: Sony, Panasonic and Coca-Cola
Ovitz's exposure to Sony's CBS Records purchase leads him to M&A. He studies Akio Morita and Panasonic's founder and brokers the Panasonic purchase of MCA Universal. He then applies the same approach to advertising for Coca-Cola.
- •He read Akio Morita's autobiography when no one else he knew had
- •M&A resembled assembling a movie package
- •Learned from Herb Allen's integrity
- •Panasonic's MCA deal paid CAA about $60 million
- •Coca-Cola paid $1 million a month, and a bonus check of $31 million after he returned a $10 million one
- 1:18:49 – 1:24:56
Burnout and Ron Leaves CAA
Ovitz lists why he was tired of agenting at 48, and he wanted to build equity like Eisner and Diller. After he declines the MCA job, Ron takes it without him. The partnership ends in a breakup that leaves Ovitz crushed.
- •Tired of 300 calls a day, 600 flight hours a year and clients' petty demands
- •Wanted to build equity like his executive peers
- •Ron negotiated and took the MCA job after Ovitz backed out
- •Ron's pent-up grievances exploded, 16 years after the equity fight
- •Ovitz sold CAA to the young agents
- 1:24:56 – 1:31:25
Disney, Eisner's Betrayal and the Closing Lesson
Ovitz ignores warning signs and takes the number-two job at Disney under Michael Eisner. He is fired after 14 months. He then moves on to new ventures, and the book closes with his reflection in the empty CAA building that what he misses most is the people.
- •Warnings that Eisner could not share
- •Both men said it was a mistake before the announcement
- •Eisner blocked Ovitz's ideas and had him fired
- •In the empty fortress he says you carry your origins with you
- •He misses the camaraderie, and Senra ties this to Munger's seamless web of deserved trust
