World-class directors in the entertainment industry

"Qin, you came so early."

After walking the red carpet, they entered the infield and were greeted by Martin and others.

This time in the "Mission: Impossible" movie, there are too many CAA artists in the director, screenwriter, male lead, female lead, and supporting roles, so Martin had to come.

"I hate waiting, Martin, so I'm too lazy to wait later."

Qin Dong released his hold on Elizabeth's waist, nodded to Martin, and looked around at the situation in the infield. There were many celebrities.

"Elizabeth, you and Martha go together to get to know the people in the circle."

Martin glanced at Elizabeth and sent away the female artist under his banner.

"Okay, Honey, I'll go first."

Elizabeth nodded, said something to Qin Dong again, and followed Martin's agent Martha away.

Qin Dong watched Elizabeth leave, then turned to look at Martin:

"Is there anyone you want to introduce me to?"

There must be something wrong with driving Elizabeth away, so I asked this question.

Martin nodded, his expression a little confused and weird, and he was silent for a while before speaking:

"Actually, it's not a big deal. It's just this. How should I put it? He's my old friend and old boss."

"Our former founder of CAA single-handedly promoted CAA, but things are unpredictable..."

"He wants to meet you, and I can't shirk him. You see..."

At the end, Martin looked at Qin Dong, waiting for this man's decision.

Although some managers can play a role between artists and stock owners, when encountering difficulties, managers are just tools and have to be controlled by artists.

Qin Dong squinted his eyes and his mind turned quickly. The founder of CAA left CAA, looked at Martin and asked:

"Michael Ovitz?"

Martin was not surprised that Qin Dong could guess it. After all, it was no exaggeration to say that this man was once a famous figure in Hollywood. He nodded slowly.

Qin Dong frowned slightly, not understanding why he wanted to see him:

"Martin, I have no dealings with Michael Ovitz."

"And this person is also older. Now he is already the kind of person who has set his sights on the sunset."

"Do you think he can lure me away from CAA?"

Martin's nod made Qin Dong know that he had guessed correctly.

Michael Ovitz, this person can be recorded in the history of Hollywood. It is not an exaggeration to say that he is a legend.

In January 1975, Ovitz and his four brothers (one of whom is now CAA CEO Martin Bob) left William Morris [WMA] with complicated and excited emotions, and established their own innovative acting agency.

The company [is CAA].

In the early days of starting the business, the five people did not receive wages, rented an office, borrowed a printer and phone, and spent US$200 to buy all the office furniture at the flea market.

CAA first started with daytime TV shows with second-rate hosts, and established relationships with Time Warner, ABC, NBC, etc.

After surviving the first year, the division of labor among the five people was further refined, with Ovitz mainly tapping movie stars and producers.

He spends 10 days a month traveling to New York to visit top literary agents in the United States.

In the end, he met the famous literary agent Jean Crowe through self-recommendation and obtained the TV rights of the novel "The Boss".

After the drama was successfully sold to CBS, CAA's development entered a fast lane.

In order to expand his star resources, Ovitz began to poach people in the same industry, and Madi Baum, a partner of another acting agency, soon joined Ovitz's camp.

After Baum's guidance, Ovitz suddenly understood the power structure of Hollywood. It turned out that there was a second hand behind the stars-lawyers.

Through lawyer channels, the then 007 actor Sean Connery officially signed a contract with CAA in February 1979, and a superstar finally appeared on CAA's client list.

Ovitz was out of control and began to revolutionize the brokerage industry.

In the past, when a TV station wanted to produce a program, it had to find hosts, actors, producers, playwrights, etc., and had to deal with a large number of different agents.

Ovitz launched a "one-stop" service.

In addition to this, Ovitz also significantly reduced the commission rate to attract stars.

By 1980, CAA had recruited Oscar winners such as Paul Newman and Dustin Hoffman, as well as box office big names such as action star Stallone. Future superstar Tom Cruise was also discovered by Ovitz. CAA became king

The era has begun.

In order to ensure the stability of CAA itself and prevent agents from collectively defecting, Ovitz carefully set up the "cost of betrayal": superstars are not solely responsible for one agent; the agent's income is guaranteed to be considerable; CAA monopolizes the entire industry chain, making those who betray CAA

It is impossible to gather top-notch resources.

At the same time, CAA strives to create an atmosphere of equality internally.

Employees at CAA only have names, no titles, no signs are hung in the office, conference rooms and reception rooms can be used by anyone, and even the payroll is arranged alphabetically by last name.

Under Ovitz's hands, the film performance fees for outstanding actors under CAA increased from US$1 million to US$5 million, and then from US$5 million to US$10 million... This was an astronomical figure that was unimaginable before.

The last decade of the 20th century belonged to Ovitz.

In 1988, Sony, the island country's electronics giant, took the initiative to find Ovitz, hoping that he would help Sony enter Hollywood.

In October 1989, under Ovitz's operation, Sony successfully acquired Columbia Pictures Entertainment for US$3.4 billion.

Later, a bigger business came to the door. Panasonic Electric Co., Ltd. was also interested in entering Hollywood and had tens of billions of dollars in disposable funds. Ovitz recommended MCA to Panasonic, which Sony failed to acquire.

In order to complete this transaction, Ovitz secretly and frequently shuttled between the island country and North America. In order to reduce unnecessary complications, he even carefully planned the time when he called his company and friends. A year later, this transaction seemed to outsiders

The impossible deal was done.

In September 1990, Panasonic announced the acquisition of MCA for US$6.59 billion.

Ovitz's work this year was not in vain. After the transaction was completed, he personally received US$40 million in remuneration.

These two transactions established Ovitz's status as a super "promoter" in Hollywood.

While achieving CAA, Ovitz became a superstar agent in Hollywood and was elected "The Most Influential Person in Hollywood" for three consecutive years.

But he still thinks about new challenges.

In August 1995, Ovitz left CAA and announced that he would become president of Disney.

Unfortunately, this dramatic career transition was a mistake.

In the autumn of 1996, Ovitz's 50th birthday was approaching, and the plan to drive Ovitz out of Disney was also being intensively planned.

In January 1997, Ovitz was "kicked out" of Disney, and as compensation, Eisner agreed to pay him $120 million.

Ovitz then came out again and established Artist Management Group (AMG).

Unfortunately, times have changed, and there are already three big mountains in the field of brokerage companies. The new brokerage company established by Michael Ovitz did not make much of a splash.

"Who knows what Michael is thinking."

Facing Qin Dong's joke, Martin shook his head.

He is not worried about Qin Dong changing jobs at all. Michael Ovitz, his former partner and boss, is old and times have changed.

If it were WMA, ICM, one of the three major agencies that are as famous as CAA, Martin would be worried.

As for Michael Ovitz's company [AMG], forget it.

Michael had been brilliant for many years, but after the new century, he was no longer good. His AMG company didn't even have a superstar, so how could it afford to poach Qin Dong?

"Martin, do you think Michael Ovitz and I have something to talk about?"

Qin Dong didn't want to chat with irrelevant people. This kind of thing was not what he liked.

Martin looked at Qin Dong's face:

"Okay, Qin, I will tell Michael."

"For the sake of my old boss and old friend, I have tried my best."

Qin Dong nodded indifferently.

No matter how glorious he was, Michael Ovitz, who was already in the sunset, was not worth Qin Dong's time to talk to him.

For a brokerage company, CAA is enough. If you want to change companies, you should change to ICM or WMA, not a brokerage company like AMG that has no future.

If Qin Dong traveled back in time to the 1980s and 1990s, he would have had a lot of interactions with Michael Ovitz.

Unfortunately, it is now 2011, the first decade after the new century, and Michael Ovitz is already 66 years old.

AMG is just one of countless small and medium-sized brokerage companies under the three major brokerage companies. It no longer stands out and has become mediocre.