{"id":1592,"date":"2023-09-20T13:58:42","date_gmt":"2023-09-20T13:58:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/demo3.aiwalls.com\/thesemovies\/2023\/09\/20\/does-caa-have-a-succession-problem-the-hollywood-reporter\/"},"modified":"2023-09-20T13:58:42","modified_gmt":"2023-09-20T13:58:42","slug":"does-caa-have-a-succession-problem-the-hollywood-reporter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/demo3.aiwalls.com\/thesemovies\/?p=1592","title":{"rendered":"Does CAA Have a Succession Problem? \u2013 The Hollywood Reporter"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n\tFor those of a certain age who like to think that they\u2019re still young \u2014 and who doesn\u2019t? \u2014 it is sobering to realize that when Michael Ovitz bowed out of the agency business in 1995, neither Tom Holland nor Zendaya had even been born.<\/p>\n

\n\tPeople who weren\u2019t around in those days can\u2019t begin to appreciate the fear that Ovitz inspired in Hollywood. He wielded the kind of power that no agent has mustered since and no agent ever will again. How the times and the town have changed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tOne thing has remained constant in all the years since Ovitz left the building: Three then-young men who had emerged as future leaders of CAA well before Ovitz departed are still at the helm. Perhaps in spite of himself, Ovitz nailed the succession question that has led to so much drama at Disney and Paramount. But those three men \u2014 now in their 60s \u2014 have shown no discernible signs of repeating that trick. In the wake of French billionaire Fran\u00e7ois-Henri Pinault\u2019s deal to acquire a majority interest in the agency \u2014 a deal valuing it at a rich $7\u00a0billion \u2014 Bryan Lourd, Richard Lovett and Kevin Huvane are sticking around as co-chairmen. Lourd, now a grandfather, will be CEO \u2014 apparently the capo di tutti capi <\/em>\u2014 which is not a bad gig at a still-dominant agency, even if it doesn\u2019t pack the wallop it did in the Ovitz era. All three have committed to stay for an unspecified period. (CAA won\u2019t say how long, but competitors are guessing at least three\u00a0years.)\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe fact that no group has emerged as possible successors has not gone unnoticed. \u201cIf I were a young person at CAA right now, I\u2019d be like, \u2018Fuck, these guys are never going away,\u2019\u202f\u201d says a person knowledgeable about the inner workings of the agency. There are rumblings of possible discontent after a Financial Times <\/em>report on info shared with lenders, which revealed that \u201ctop staff\u201d will split up $200\u00a0million without specifying who\u2019s in that group.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tA source says Endeavor\u2019s <\/strong>Ari Emanuel and a couple of associates have seized the moment to call important CAA agents to argue that the green could be greener in their shop, though how persuasively they can frame that argument is not clear. Endeavor stock has remained mostly underwater. (An Endeavor source notes that, unlike their counterparts at CAA, insiders can liquidate their shares as soon as they vest, as the company is publicly held.)\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tIt was the same sense that advancement wasn\u2019t possible that led Ovitz and four other restless young agents to leave the William Morris Agency in 1975. They built CAA from a small office furnished with card tables and rented chairs into a powerhouse with its own I.M. Pei-designed headquarters, which the agency had already outgrown by the time it was finished.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThey also built a killer client list at a time when stars truly mattered: Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Barbra Streisand, Julia Roberts. One small example of how Ovitz wielded his power: When Tom Pollock <\/strong>(who died in 2020) was chairman of the Universal film studio, he told me Ovitz bullied him into casting Bill Murray as the third lead in the modestly budgeted 1993 movie Mad Dog and Glory<\/em>, requiring the studio to pay millions more than it intended for what was seen as a role that could go to a much less expensive actor.<\/p>\n

\n\tOvitz stomped on people so regularly that fellow founding partner Ron Meyer used to compare himself with the character in Pulp Fiction<\/em> assigned to clean the car after someone\u2019s brains were blown out \u2014 or sometimes with abused wife Nicole Brown Simpson. In 1989, in fact, screenwriter Joe Eszterhas alleged in a widely leaked letter that Ovitz had literally threatened to have \u201chis foot soldiers\u201d blow Eszterhas\u2019 brains out if he left CAA. Ovitz denied it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tEven when Ovitz was at the peak of his influence, it was clear that another group of impatient young men \u2014 Lourd, Lovett, Huvane, David O\u2019Connor and Jay Moloney \u2014 had emerged as potential future leaders of CAA. In 1991, I dubbed the group the Young Turks when they got their own line in the Premiere<\/em> magazine power list. (And wow, did that ever stick, though it probably wouldn\u2019t fly today.) I have previously written about how I had borrowed the term from the law firm world, where it was commonly used to refer to restless junior partners.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\t\"From<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>

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\t\t\t\t\tFrom left: Kevin Huvane, Bryan Lourd and Richard Lovett.<\/span><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tKatie Jones\/Getty Images<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tIn <\/strong>James Andrew Miller\u2019s 2016 book Powerhouse: The Untold Story of Hollywood\u2019s Creative Artists Agency<\/em>, Ovitz referred to his prot\u00e9g\u00e9s as \u201ca bunch of young guys who I was overpaying who thought I wasn\u2019t paying them enough.\u201d Busy trying to build the agency into a multifaceted business, he gave them the opportunity to work with his big-name clients. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t that he was so selfless,\u201d says a source with firsthand knowledge of the situation. \u201cIt was the opposite.\u201d If he had to sit on the phone with Robert Redford for an hour, this person continues, he couldn\u2019t pursue his grander plan to turn CAA into something more than\u00a0an agency.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen Meyer and then Ovitz both left CAA for high-level studio jobs, the agency named a leadership group that included some older agents, such as Rick Nicita and Jack Rapke, and every single one of the Young Turks. Sadly, Moloney fell into a struggle with addiction and mental health issues. He left the agency in 1996 and died by suicide in 1999, days after his 35th birthday. After working to launch CAA\u2019s dominant sports representation business, O\u2019Connor left the firm in 2015, first to be CEO of Madison Square Garden and then to found a venture capital firm.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the wake of Ovitz\u2019s departure, Lovett was named president of the agency, and it wasn\u2019t hard to see why. An insider remembers him as \u201can incredible micromanager [who] was booking incredible numbers\u201d \u2014 better numbers than the other four. Though the Young Turks had no training or experience in management, they managed to grow CAA from about 300 agents to a firm with more than 3,000 employees. (Full disclosure: In the wake of CAA\u2019s acquisition of ICM, I am now a CAA client.)<\/p>\n

\n\tBut by several accounts, Lovett\u2019s client list has diminished, though it still includes Tom Hanks and Will Smith. There have been repeated rumors of strain in his relationship with Lourd \u2014 though one CAA source dismisses that idea as \u201cwishful thinking\u201d on the part of competitors. These days, Lovett spends some of his time painting at his studio in Santa Monica\u2019s Bergamot Station. Meanwhile, Huvane is content with managing his enviable client list, which includes Nicole Kidman, Jennifer\u00a0Aniston, Meryl Streep and Tom\u00a0Cruise.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tAs for Lourd, he should be better pleased with a new majority shareholder that connects the agency to the luxury goods group that owns Gucci, Saint Laurent, Bottega Veneta, Balenciaga and Alexander McQueen; the auction house Christie\u2019s; and a series of wine estates. A source with knowledge of the agency says the previous relationship with TPG was \u201ca mismatch\u201d that didn\u2019t do CAA that much good. \u201cWith a company in the consumer branded retail business, there\u2019s probably a lot more synergies there,\u201d this person continues. \u201cIt\u2019ll be good to have a new sponsor. It\u2019ll be a shot of energy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tPowerhouse<\/em> author Miller agrees. In Lourd, he says, \u201cYou\u2019re talking about a guy who loves the world of fashion. People say he\u2019s revitalized.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThat may not be what younger agents who harbor ambition to advance at CAA want to hear. Over the years, some have grown frustrated at the apparent lack of opportunity for advancement and have headed for the exit.<\/p>\n

\n\tAgents at CAA will closely watch how leadership manages whatever windfall the change in ownership may bring. Surely no one at Endeavor has forgotten how, in 2017, Emanuel and Patrick\u00a0Whitesell each sold $165\u00a0million of equity while others were left waiting for their\u00a0big payday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tUnless the CAA leaders are generous with their colleagues, the issue could lead the rank and file \u2014 or even some star agents \u2014 to seek an alternative with an exit strategy, be it WME, or UTA, which recently received private equity investment from Sweden\u2019s EQT Partners. \u201cThey seem to have a problem! No liquidity (or very little) for those who have vested and waited for nine years!\u201d a well-connected source says. And the clock is ticking, with year-end bonuses and equity grants on the\u00a0horizon.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tOne observer familiar with the agency speculates that the leadership\u2019s compensation will turn out to be a sticking point. \u201cThey\u2019re going to take so much now,\u201d he says of the three not-so-young Turks. \u201cWe\u2019ll see how much they\u2019re going to give to the\u00a0minions.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThis story first appeared in the Sept. 20 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine.\u00a0Click here to subscribe<\/em>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

#CAA #Succession #Problem #Hollywood #Reporter<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For those of a certain age who like to think that they\u2019re still young \u2014<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1593,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2496,1821,2498,1822,2497],"class_list":["post-1592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-news","tag-caa","tag-hollywood","tag-problem","tag-reporter","tag-succession"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/demo3.aiwalls.com\/thesemovies\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/27rep_opener-CAA-MAIN-H-2023.jpg",1024,576,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/demo3.aiwalls.com\/thesemovies\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/27rep_opener-CAA-MAIN-H-2023-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/demo3.aiwalls.com\/thesemovies\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/27rep_opener-CAA-MAIN-H-2023-300x169.jpg",300,169,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/demo3.aiwalls.com\/thesemovies\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/27rep_opener-CAA-MAIN-H-2023-768x432.jpg",640,360,true],"large":["https:\/\/demo3.aiwalls.com\/thesemovies\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/27rep_opener-CAA-MAIN-H-2023.jpg",640,360,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/demo3.aiwalls.com\/thesemovies\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/27rep_opener-CAA-MAIN-H-2023.jpg",1024,576,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/demo3.aiwalls.com\/thesemovies\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/27rep_opener-CAA-MAIN-H-2023.jpg",1024,576,false],"chromenews-featured":["https:\/\/demo3.aiwalls.com\/thesemovies\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/27rep_opener-CAA-MAIN-H-2023.jpg",1024,576,false],"chromenews-large":["https:\/\/demo3.aiwalls.com\/thesemovies\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/27rep_opener-CAA-MAIN-H-2023-825x575.jpg",825,575,true],"chromenews-medium":["https:\/\/demo3.aiwalls.com\/thesemovies\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/27rep_opener-CAA-MAIN-H-2023-590x410.jpg",590,410,true],"arpw-thumbnail":["https:\/\/demo3.aiwalls.com\/thesemovies\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/27rep_opener-CAA-MAIN-H-2023-50x50.jpg",50,50,true]},"author_info":{"display_name":"admin","author_link":"https:\/\/demo3.aiwalls.com\/thesemovies\/?author=1"},"category_info":"Movie News<\/a>","tag_info":"Movie News","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo3.aiwalls.com\/thesemovies\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo3.aiwalls.com\/thesemovies\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo3.aiwalls.com\/thesemovies\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo3.aiwalls.com\/thesemovies\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo3.aiwalls.com\/thesemovies\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1592"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/demo3.aiwalls.com\/thesemovies\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1592\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo3.aiwalls.com\/thesemovies\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1593"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo3.aiwalls.com\/thesemovies\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo3.aiwalls.com\/thesemovies\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo3.aiwalls.com\/thesemovies\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}