Prompt Cast
The Creation of Jurassic Park and the Success of CAA
TLDR Michael Ovitz discusses his close relationship with Michael Crichton and how it led to the creation of Jurassic Park, as well as the successful strategies employed by Creative Artists Agency (CAA) in securing the Coca-Cola advertising account and gaining a monopoly on talent in the television and film industry.
Timestamped Summary
00:00
Michael Ovitz, the founder of Creative Artists Agency (CAA), discusses his close personal relationship with Michael Crichton and how their friendship led to the creation of the movie Jurassic Park.
06:51
Michael Ovitz discusses his close personal relationship with Michael Crichton and how their friendship led to the creation of the movie Jurassic Park, including how he convinced Steven Spielberg to direct the film.
15:11
Jurassic Park grossed over a billion dollars, with the creative team and CAA keeping 50% of that.
22:39
Lou was an agent who went from fighting for artists to being a studio boss, and he made a decision to buy the pre-1948 Paramount Library for Universal, which led to better economics on the studio side of the deal.
30:30
Michael Ovitz and his team at CAA were able to secure the Coca-Cola advertising account by leveraging their knowledge of culture and their ability to predict what audiences wanted to see.
38:33
Michael Ovitz and his team at CAA were able to secure the Coca-Cola advertising account by presenting 35 ideas and acting them out, ultimately winning the account and getting approval for every single commercial.
46:28
CAA was able to secure the Coca-Cola advertising account by presenting 35 ideas and acting them out, ultimately winning the account and getting approval for every single commercial, while outsourcing the animation work to a company called Rhythm and Hughes.
54:08
CAA made a conscious decision to focus on the television industry before expanding into the movie business in 1978, which allowed them to cash flow the business and avoid going into debt.
01:01:19
CAA was able to sign famous movie stars and gain a monopoly on talent by working as a team and putting teams of people on clients, rather than having one agent per client like other agencies.
01:08:32
CAA was able to create a loyalty factor and run a successful business by having a monopoly on the high-end TV and film business, paying out to executives, and implementing a team-oriented approach with effective communication and systems.
01:16:00
Michael Ovitz worked with Herbert Allen to bring financing to the struggling film industry, building relationships with companies like Matsushita Electric and Sony, and eventually arranging the sale of Columbia and TriStar to Sony.
01:24:16
Michael Ovitz tried to buy MCA Universal for Sony, but was turned down, however, when the stock price dropped, Matsushita ended up owning Universal for 10 years before selling it to Seagrams, then Vivendi, then NBC, and Lou Wasserman, the CEO of MCA Universal, didn't understand the Japanese owners and couldn't make the transition from entrepreneur to employee.
01:31:48
Michael Ovitz worked hard at Disney but had a conflict with Michael Eisner, and ultimately didn't want to deal with it anymore, leading him to leave Disney and pursue other opportunities in the digital world.
01:38:42
Michael Ovitz considered diversifying CAA by running it public, selling it to private equity, or buying an ad agency, but ultimately couldn't figure out how to divide it up amongst the players and decided to make a clean break and pursue other opportunities.
01:46:14
Michael Ovitz didn't care about immediate payment or money as a driving force, and he knew he had a deal with Disney lined up, so he made the decision to leave CAA and pursue other opportunities.
Categories:
Technology
Business
