Word: ovitz
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...eminent New York investment banker Felix Rohatyn, who is Credit Lyonnais's official banker and represented MCA in the Matsushita deal, thinks his friend Ovitz may be getting perilously close to unavoidable conflicts of interest. "If Michael is involved both in the restructuring of the entertainment companies that Credit Lyonnais has an investment in -- by - bringing in talent, by directing their entertainment strategy, by helping them get television product or motion picture product -- and at the same time provides financial advice as to what to do with these companies, then he's probably going to be walking a very fine...
...energetically spreading the idea that Ovitz isn't minding the store. Says Block about CAA's extracurricular businesses: "Smart clients question what's the value-added service when senior agents are busy with outside deals, and they get shunted to junior agents." His boss Jeff Berg echoes that point: "My core business is managing the careers of talented people." This may be the major risk in Ovitz's expansive strategy; CAA clients could start to feel neglected and then restless, even if their fears were unjustified...
...says one CAA executive of his ICM counterparts, "who steal scripts from one another's desks." The Ovitzites say Berg is ranting and raving to make himself seem like Mike's equal -- an idea they find absolutely absurd. "I will not be intimidated by the threat of failure," says Ovitz, with uncharacteristic heat, "or coerced by that kind of talk. I will do what I have...
...Ovitz that means continuing to push the boundaries of what a Hollywood talent agency does. On his telephone is a sign that reads, COMMUNICATE! And early each morning, he slips on a high-tech headset, plugs the extralong cord into that phone and spends the next 12 hours working his relationships, cajoling, brokering, turning that exhortation into new ways of making money...
...rare interview, Michael Ovitz defends his power...