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Creative Artists Agency

also referred to as: caa

9 statements across 1 episodes · 2 bullish · 1 bearish · 1 people on the record · first statement Feb 3, 2026 by Michael Ovitz · said 12 times in 1 episodes since 2026 · across every show →

Mentions by year

brought up most by Shane Parrish (6), Michael Ovitz (6)

tap a year for its mentions
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2026 12 mentions in 1 episode

every mention, scene by scene, with the transcript →

Everything said about Creative Artists Agency, oldest first

Feb 3, 2026
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Ovitz: CAA recruited roughly 80% of executives internally or from standout competitors
“Matter of fact, we recruited, I'd say, 80% of our executives like that. We either groom inside or recruited them from the competition because they had our standards and they were at the wrong place in our mind.”
Michael Ovitz Feb 3, 2026 ▶ 1:19:13 Michael Ovitz: The Psychology of Power
Feb 3, 2026
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Ovitz: CAA ran out of money and was sued in week three
“We ran out of money the third week we were in business, and we got sued by our former employer, and we didn't even have money to defend ourselves.”
Michael Ovitz Feb 3, 2026 ▶ 43:47 Michael Ovitz: The Psychology of Power
Feb 3, 2026 neutral
Disclosure
Ovitz: CAA banned internal political discussions during meetings to protect clients
“I didn't even allow political discussions to take place in meetings. I didn't want to get involved with our clients' politics.”
Michael Ovitz Feb 3, 2026 ▶ 1:00:48 Michael Ovitz: The Psychology of Power
Feb 3, 2026
Disclosure
Ovitz: CAA instituted a strict rule against badmouthing non-clients' products
“We did have another rule that it was inappropriate to bad mouth non-clients product because that was a age-old trick in the entertainment business.”
Michael Ovitz Feb 3, 2026 ▶ 28:34 Michael Ovitz: The Psychology of Power
Feb 3, 2026
Disclosure
Ovitz: CAA agents were required to answer colleagues before clients or buyers
“Our inner office rule was you had to answer your associates first before the clients, before the buyers.”
Michael Ovitz Feb 3, 2026 ▶ 5:01 Michael Ovitz: The Psychology of Power
Feb 3, 2026 bullish
Assertion Contradicted
Ovitz claims CAA never lost a single client during his entire tenure
“In the years I was at CA, we never lost a client, and the reason was if they tired of one person, they'd go to the next, but everyone was up to speed.”
Michael Ovitz Feb 3, 2026 ▶ 4:47 Michael Ovitz: The Psychology of Power
Feb 3, 2026
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Ovitz: CAA required staff to read a 200-publication multidisciplinary list in 1974
“We had at the agency in 74 a 200 single line list bibliography of monthly magazines and books to look at because, and they weren't in a singular space, and I had at one time, I was a magazine junkie,”
Michael Ovitz Feb 3, 2026 ▶ 23:14 Michael Ovitz: The Psychology of Power
Feb 3, 2026 negative
Opinion
Ovitz: 1970s Hollywood agents fabricated answers over half the time
“When I started CA in seven day four, it became very clear to me that lying was a industrial problem in the entertainment business. Everybody didn't tell the truth. One of the reasons they did not tell the truth is since they didn't know the term knowledge is p…”
Michael Ovitz Feb 3, 2026 ▶ 2:58 Michael Ovitz: The Psychology of Power
Feb 3, 2026 positive
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Ovitz: CAA financially supported early executive allies who fell on hard times
“You know, at CA we kept a list of every single executive That helped us in the first three or five years that then had trouble, and we got everyone a job, and if we couldn't get them a job, we made sure they had money. Because they helped us when we had nothin…”
Michael Ovitz Feb 3, 2026 ▶ 38:59 Michael Ovitz: The Psychology of Power
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