Who Is Michael Ovitz?

4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars | 591 ratings

Price: 17.72

Last update: 10-21-2024


About this item

If you're going to listen to one book about Hollywood, this is the one.

As the cofounder of Creative Artists Agency, Michael Ovitz earned a reputation for ruthless negotiation, brilliant strategy, and fierce loyalty to his clients. He reinvented the role of the agent and helped shape the careers of hundreds of A-list entertainers, directors, and writers, including Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Meryl Streep, Sean Connery, Bill Murray, Robin Williams, and David Letterman.

But this personal history is much more than a fascinating account of celebrity friendships and bare-knuckled deal making. It's also an underdog's story: How did a middle-class kid from Encino work his way into the William Morris mailroom and eventually become the most powerful person in Hollywood? How did an agent (even a superagent) also become a power in producing, advertising, mergers & acquisitions, and modern art? And what were the personal consequences of all those deals?

After decades of near-silence in the face of controversy, Ovitz is finally telling his whole story, with remarkable candor and insight.


Top reviews from the United States

Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars So many stories!
Reviewed in the United States on January 10, 2020
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.
Leticia Souza
4.0 out of 5 stars Good Bio
Reviewed in the United States on July 17, 2022
A well-written story about a hustler in one of the probably more hustling industries in the world. Michael Ovitz is definitively someone looking for the next "big hit" regardless if that would be on an ad, campaign, movie or a new business trend.
Some interesting stories inside his career and inspiring for people to be always re-inventing themselves, working hard and being ahead of the curve.
Nice read.
JSV
5.0 out of 5 stars Ovitz: Profile of a Sui Generis American Icon
Reviewed in the United States on September 21, 2020
An engaging deep dive into the professional and personal lives of Hollywood scion Michael Ovitz.

As the co-founder of talent powerhouse CAA, Ovitz long wielded unprecedented power over the world’s entertainment capital. Choosing the people and platforms that would capture consumer attention spans, while impacting the career trajectories of many major Hollywood players.

Entrepreneurial, ambitious, visionary and demanding, Ovitz played an outsized role on the entertainment landscape for years. A feat made all the more remarkable by the fact that he was operating and innovating within one of today’s most ego-driven, Machiavellian communities—Hollywood and the global entertainment industry.

Yet, Ovitz prospered. At least until his growing restlessness brought him to look beyond Hollywood’s frontiers. At a time when many of his enemies sought to usurp his power.

A fascinating look at one of the more interesting facets of the American business landscape. And a unique profile in power, strategy, victory, defeat, and all of the accouterments that accompany them.

The book captures the essence of one of America’s sui generis business and entertainment figures. While providing the reader a wealth of entertainment and education.
Switch Natural
5.0 out of 5 stars A business book, Hollywood story, and memoir rolled into one
Reviewed in the United States on October 2, 2018
An interesting and fast read about one of the most successful people in recent Hollywood.

Ovitz combines business lessons, an inside look at Hollywood and a personal memoir all in one book. Anyone interested generally in business case studies will enjoy the book at the author built one of the most successful startups in Hollywood in the modern era. If you are interested in the film business specifically, the book is probably a must read.

You also get some insight on how he handled negotiations, employees, and clients. There are Hollywood anecdotes about stars and famous directors including a priceless paragraph about how he got his martial arts instructor, Steven Seagal, a movie deal.

The "memoir" part is also interesting. Ovitz doesn't get too specific but you get a feel for the background he came from and what drove him. He admits to some mistakes he made and discusses how he manipulated people and was stabbed in the back as well. As usual with memoirs, there is some self-promotion and score settling.

I'm surprised there aren't more reviews of Who is Michael Ovitz. Maybe Ovitz's Hollywood enemies have helped bury the book, which is one of the better reads of the year.
K. Jordan
5.0 out of 5 stars Details on Deals and Relationships
Reviewed in the United States on July 6, 2023
Interesting discussion of strategy, deals, and the personal fumbles. Not knowing much about Hollywood, there were times when I wanted more context to understand the thinking of others at the time, and other times when I wanted more on his thinking of strategy. The great arch of the story keeps it going. So many great connections to people-- seems like he has more people skills than he shares. I wanted to know more about him in some ways versus the deals, the successes, and the flops. Yet, I enjoyed it too!

Best Sellers in

 
 

What I Know for Sure: Tenth Anniversary Edition

4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 9779
7.4
 
 

The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year

4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 592
18.42
 
 

The Boys: A Memoir of Hollywood and Family

4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 10635
6.99
 
 

Lovely One: A Memoir

4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars 807
21.66
 
 

The Third Gilmore Girl: A Memoir

4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 1443
13.12
 
 

The 38 Letters from J.D. Rockefeller to His Son: Perspectives, Ideology, and Wisdom

4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 93
6.12
 
 

My Mother Was Nuts: A Memoir

4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 9956
17.5
 
 

I Once Was Lost: My Search for God in America

0 0 out of 5 stars 88
12.79