Michael Ovitz

In nineteen seventy-five, Michael Ovitz and four agents left William Morris with one hundred thousand dollars and rented office space in Beverly Hills. Creative Artists Agency started with zero clients. Agents earned ten percent commission on each client separately. A star earning five million meant five hundred thousand for the agency. Negotiating deals separately created friction and inefficiency. Ovitz bundled entire productions instead. One studio wanted a director, lead actor, screenwriter, and composer. Ovitz represented all four. He offered one package deal. Studios saved negotiation friction. CAA earned ten percent on every element—not one client, but four. A twenty million dollar production generated two million in commissions. The model multiplied revenue per deal. Bundling created leverage individual agents never possessed. If a studio wanted Tom Cruise, it had to take Ovitz's director, writer, and composer together. By the late nineteen eighties, CAA represented half of Hollywood's top talent.