Powerhouse : the untold story of Hollywood's Creative Artists Agency / James Andrew Miller.
Material type:
TextPublisher: New York, NY : Custom House, an imprint of William Morrow, [2016]Copyright date: ©2016Edition: First editionDescription: xxxv, 707 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cmContent type: - text
- still image
- unmediated
- volume
- 9780062441379
- 006244137X
- Title on dust jacket: Power house CAA : the untold story of Hollywood's Creative Artists Agency
- Powerhouse CAA
- Powerhouse Creative Artists Agency
- Power house Creative Artists Agency
- 792.06073 23
| Item type | Current library | Collection | Call number | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Book
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Bedford Public Library Non-Fiction | Non-Fiction | 792.06 MIL | Available | 32500001709964 |
Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
A New York Times bestseller
An astonishing--and astonishingly entertaining--history of Hollywood's transformation over the past five decades as seen through the agency at the heart of it all, from the #1 bestselling co-author of Live from New York and Those Guys Have All the Fun.
The movies you watch, the TV shows you adore, the concerts and sporting events you attend--behind the curtain of nearly all of these is an immensely powerful and secretive corporation known as Creative Artists Agency. Started in 1975, when five bright and brash employees of a creaky William Morris office left to open their own, strikingly innovative talent agency, CAA would come to revolutionize the entertainment industry, and over the next several decades its tentacles would spread aggressively throughout the worlds of movies, television, music, advertising, and investment banking.
Powerhouse is the fascinating, no-holds-barred saga of that ascent. Drawing on unprecedented and exclusive access to the men and women who built and battled with CAA, as well as financial information never before made public, author James Andrew Miller spins a tale of boundless ambition, ruthless egomania, ceaseless empire building, greed, and personal betrayal. It is also a story of prophetic brilliance, magnificent artistry, singular genius, entrepreneurial courage, strategic daring, foxhole brotherhood, and how one firm utterly transformed the entertainment business.
Here are the real Star Wars--complete with a Death Star--told through the voices of those who were there. Packed with scores of stars from movies, television, music, and sports, as well as a tremendously compelling cast of agents, studio executives, network chiefs, league commissioners, private equity partners, tech CEOs, and media tycoons, Powerhouse is itself a Hollywood blockbuster of the most spectacular sort.
Rebels: 1974-1979 -- New York-London-Rome: 1980-1985 -- Gyokai wo Shihaisuru: 1986-1988 -- "Katy, bar the door!": 1989-1994 -- The Prince of Denmark: January 1, 1995-August 15, 1995 -- Partial Sid: August 16, 1995-2001 -- Bar hopping: 2002-2009 -- Cool summers: 2010-2016.
"An oral history by the best-selling co-author of Those Guys Have All the Fun chronicles the revolutionary role of the forefront Hollywood talent agency through the stories of its influence on major film, television, sports, music and business ventures throughout the past half century,"--NoveList.
Author notes provided by Syndetics
Adam Fields: He said, "Don't curse at me! Who are you?" I said, "The guy who's going to get you your job back. You're wasting time and you need to go now." He said, "Why? When's the plane?" I said, "In twelve minutes." He goes, "I'll never make it." I said, "You will make it. Just stop talking." So I called up the airline and called in a bomb scare to delay the plane and hung up.Michael Ovitz: There were three ways to go through the entertainment business in the '60s through the '90s. One was to go for money; one was to go for power; and the other was to go for fun. I decided to go for all three. I wanted money, power, and fun.
David O'Connor: Chris was crying and it was very emotional. Then Bernie looked at him and said, "Kid, I've seen this movie before. It's John Belushi. If you continue doing this, you are going to die. I guarantee you. You're going to die."
Peter Sealey: I had my accounting people issue a check for $10 million, payable to Michael Ovitz. Three days later I get an envelope from Michael with the same check and a little Post-it note on it. The check is voided and the Post-it says, "Pete. Let's discuss this." And I said to myself, Oh. Christ. Here we go.
Kevin Huvane: We had almost three hundred employees. We had led departments, but we had not led a company. It was like learning a new language. We were really good agents, and now we had to learn how to be really good businessmen. I had never looked at a spreadsheet before, and I remember thinking, Oh my God, we spend that much on fruit?!
Ari Emanuel: When Richard Lovett heard that Patrick and I were talking to Teddy and he thought we were going into sports, he got into sports, without any conception of what sports was or what to do in it. I mean, he's a moron. He has not done one novative thing in the company.
Sonya Rosenfeld: He called me a liar, and then started calling my client a It which really pissed me off. And then he said, "Honey, listen " And I go, "Did you just 'honey' me?!"
Martin Lesak: Every agent at every other agency has at one time or another wc dered what it was like to work at CAA-to play for the Yankees, so to speak. You could say they're still the Yankees, but look at what's happened to that team.
Richard Lovett: We are the leader in all categories in which we compete.