The Ledger
Every statement that passed quotation and attribution checks. Mix any filter with any other: certainty 1/5, debate potential 5/5, or both at once.
why aren't all 15 resolved? a statement only gets an assessment when the public record can support or contradict it. opinions and what-ifs never can, and 0 checkable ones are still open, waiting for their date. predictions held up or didn't; assertions are supported or contradicted. on every card: ▮▮▮▮▮ certainty · ▮▮▮▮▮ debate potential. speakers are clickable
Ovitz: Michael Eisner undercut me at every opportunity at Disney
“When I got to Disney, it was very clear there was a head-to-head conflict, and Michael undercut me every chance he could, and after a couple years, I just didn't want to deal with it anymore”
CAA packaged 350 films and treated traditional studios strictly as distributors
“Or any of the 350 films that we packaged, Tootsie, Rain Man, go down a forever list, you had a choice. You'd, you'd buy the package, or we'd sell it to somebody else, because we viewed the studios as distribution entities.”
Matsushita gave Michael Ovitz $120 million to distribute among deal consultants
“They gave me a hundred and twenty million dollars to pass out to all of the consultants. And I passed out money to everybody generously, because we had Washington lobbyists, we had PR people.”
CAA represented roughly 45 of the top 50 highest-grossing directors in 1990
“And frankly, as CAA gained momentum in the eighties and early nineties, they didn't have a lot of choice because of the 50 top grossing directors in the, for example, in 90, CAA represented like 45 of them. So it was impossible. You couldn't say no.”
Coca-Cola approved all 35 commercials CAA presented in their agency shootout
“We got awarded the account And of the 35 commercials we presented, they approved every single one.”
CAA ran the Coca-Cola advertising account with six people versus McCann's 300
“So we had McCann Erickson had 300 human beings working on the Coke account. We had six.”
CAA lost fewer than six clients over a 25-year period
“As a matter of fact, in a 25 year period, I think we lost under six, five or six clients.”
Ovitz: CAA was first to represent Hoffman, Pacino, and De Niro simultaneously
“So, you know, I, we signed Hoffman, Pacino, and De Niro, which had never been done in history.”
Sony co-founder Akio Morita wanted a studio because Betamax lost to VHS
“Mr. Morita came to see me and wanted to buy, get into owning content because he was upset that Betamax, which was a superior technology to VHS, was losing to VHS. So he wanted to own a studio”
Ovitz: Seagram offered Warner Bros $6B cash standstill after buying 14%
“We had quietly accumulated 14% of the stock through Allen and Company for the Bronfman family. And I met with Steve Ross three weeks before he passed away. He was one of the greatest guys in history of the business. And he gave me three hours of his time where…”
Lew Wasserman changed Hollywood by inventing backend profit participation deals
“Prior to that, artists were paid what's called flats, which is a flat fee, and they didn't get a basic participation. And I think that what he did is he changed the entire fabric of the business.”
Ovitz: CAA launched on $100K debt, repaid it in six months, and stayed debt-free
“And we started our business on a 100,000 dollars, and we never went into debt beyond that, paid that debt off in six months, and never carried 10 cents a debt, ever.”
Ovitz: CAA Doubled Director Mike Nichols's Fee From $2.5M to $5M
“I remember when we signed Mike Nichols, may he rest in peace, a great director. I'll never forget a call he made to me. He was getting two and a half million to direct. And when he became a client of ours, and he, we went to make a deal for him, I called him u…”
Ovitz: CAA was sparked by a William Morris staff meeting signing Ann Miller
“Crazy as it sounds, CAA was born out of a bad staff meeting at William Morris. Where the guy I worked for, who was head of the television department, his name was Sam Weisbord, announced with great pride and passion that he had signed Ann Miller, which will me…”