The Exchanges

Q like different levels to this. It's like a fundamental difference between like reading about something and then observing it. So I want to tie this together, like I was expecting you on your competitive drive. When you jumped into the agent business in the very beginning, Was it obvious that you were just gonna be able to outwork everybody else around you? Was it obvious to you at that time?

A It was obvious to me, but no one else. Everyone said we were gonna fail. One of my closest friends I worked with at William Morris, I said something to me I have not forgotten since he said it to me in 1974. It's something I will never forget, and it, it, it turned out to be such a fantastic stimulant for me to this day. We were sitting together. We were having a coffee. He said to me, so good that you're starting this business. In a year, you'll be looking for a job. I said, really? And what makes you think that? He said, oh, you're gonna fail. I said, really? He said, yes. You can't make it. There's almost 200 agencies out there. You're not gonna compete with the big ones. Second incident, within six months of that, a leading TV literary agency run by the best friend of one of our guys. We met with the thought of merging, which would give us what we needed, which were writers, because they're the font of packaging, right? In the meeting, and I told you this story before, so I want to say it fast and not repeat it in detail. The four partners of that agency said, you know, we'll never represent any movie stars. And I looked at them, I said, why do you say that? He said, you'll never get them. I said, we're gonna have all of them. And he said, you're just so arrogant. I said, I'm not arrogant at all, actually. I just know I'm gonna outwork every one of them. Every time we signe…

AI assessment note: “It was obvious to me, but no one else.”

Q What can you tell me about your relationship with Michael Crichton?

A Certain people have touched my life in a very unique way. Um, Ben Horowitz and Marc Andreessen in 99 put me on their board, and I never met either of them, and they had the confidence in me to go into a business that I told them I knew nothing about. I mean, I had some experience in tech from 92 with my Andy Grove Intel CAA deal, meeting Gates in 93, but You know, nothing like they did. They grew up in Silicon Valley. That was a huge, ah, life change for me. Michael Crichton was one of these guys that, at the beginning, I just needed to sign as a client to be on the roster, and after two or three meetings, I just said, my God, this man is so special. He was not just intelligent to a degree I'd never seen at that time. This is 1979. He was thoughtful. He was Ahead of everybody in his thinking. He was talking about computers in the early eighties. He was an Apple fellow when it was, no one knew what the hell that was. He traveled extensively and wrote articles about it, but kept notes on everything he did. And he loved art. He wrote the definitive textbook on Jasper Johns. To this day, it's the definitive book. And I talked to him every day of my life, seven days a week. Seven days a week. And if I didn't talk to him, It was odd, and I missed it. I would talk to him no matter where I was. I could be in Japan. I could be in Europe. I could be in New York. Didn't make any differenc…

AI assessment note: “And I talked to him every day of my life, seven days a week.”

Q and bring more voices Stories and ideas to every corner of the world. Deal is trusted by over 40,000 businesses. Learn how they can help your business today by going to deal.com forward slash Senra. That is deal.com forward slash Senra. So we talked about the opportunity cost of your time, and picking which project to dedicate your attention to, your resources to. Why did you choose to do this?

A I think music is a critical component going forward in the new internet era, particularly with AI. We've seen it, what's going on with Suno and Udio, where they're taking IP that other people own, even 10 seconds of it, and Constructing custom-made songs. Music is never going away. I think the, um, advent of Daniel X Spotify, which he developed in a garage in Sweden, in Stockholm, is a game changer, and I think that music's at the foundation of so many things that are digitally based from games to movies, television, AI, All of the image capturing that's done. Don't you find it fascinating that on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, almost everything you see, someone chooses music to go behind it? It's part of our culture worldwide, not, it's not country by country. There's a common denominator of British and American music around the world, and it's a door opener. It's a, it's something everyone can hear and relate to, even if they don't speak the same language. So, I love the idea. I love the bills financing capability. I love Lucian's management and talent expertise, and I like the fact that I grew up in that business. My first job was in the music business. Started a music division at CA that to this day is the tops. I think it's a lot of complementary factors. Whether we get it or not, I have no idea. It's frankly up to one shareholder, and that's one family that controls 28% …

AI assessment note: “I think music is a critical component going forward in the new internet era”

Q So what is the role that you're playing in the projects that you're pursuing right now?

A I will basically do whatever is needed to help form these businesses, and the reality of business, which very few people really grasp, is that the basics of business, no matter what the field is, are exactly the same. The blocking and tackling parts are the same. So as pointed out to me, A film or a television show or a book or a song is packaged around talent. Talent, creator, engineer, same thing. Talent needs someone to help execute. Engineer needs people around them to help get the business in line and organize, coded, whatever they need done. The creative person making the entertainment then has to get financing. The engineer or founder of a company needs venture capital. With the entertainment maker, he then has to get distribution. Founder has his product. He's got to find a DSP or someone else to distribute his work, or just take it on his own on the internet. Either way, both also need marketing. How do you put the name into the ether? And then how do you sell the product? How do you make a profit? How do you build a culture? How do you build something that lasts beyond you? We started CA in 1974. In 2026, it's as strong today as it was when I was there, because we set a business model in place that has stood the test of time, and the guys that took it over followed the trajectory of where they needed to take the business and kept the same values and principles. And at…

AI assessment note: “I will basically do whatever is needed to help form these businesses”