Word: ovitz
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Even before his latest coup, he was regarded as the most powerful man in Hollywood. Michael Ovitz, the town's No. 1 talent agent, can make or break a movie project or an actor's career. But as the power broker behind Matsushita's acquisition of MCA, Ovitz has reached an international stature that even legendary moguls might envy. "He is the mega-dealmaker," says an industry executive. "Not only on a film-by-film basis, but on the very largest scale of buying and selling studios. That is the most significant thing you can do in Hollywood...
...Ovitz, 43, has pursued power with the fierce concentration of a student of aikido, the Japanese martial art that he practices each dawn. "He's an economic samurai," says a colleague. Starting in 1975, when he and four young colleagues left the William Morris Agency to form their own firm, Ovitz has managed to assemble the hottest stable in town. Creative Artists Agency has a roster of 675 clients ranging from superstars Tom Cruise, Sylvester Stallone and Madonna to directors Oliver Stone and Martin Scorsese...
...POWER BROKERS in letters 1 1/2 in. high and names 11 of them (10 men and Madonna). Inside is an almost nonstop stream of gossip, scuttlebutt and awestruck praise about the rich and famous, including 65 miniprofiles of such figures as financier Michael-David Weil and Hollywood superagent Mike Ovitz. The prose is burnished, but not much of the dish is fresh, save for two first-rate pieces -- one by Ernest Volkman and John Cummings about Mob leader John Gotti, the other by Richard Morgan about advertising mogul Burt Manning -- that are spun off from books. The juiciest item...
Matsushita faces another challenge, which is the difficulty of blending its conservative corporate culture with MCA's Hollywood approach. The clash was less pronounced for Sony, which is considered more worldly and innovative. As did Sony, Matsushita is paying for the services of a Hollywood matchmaker, superagent Michael Ovitz of Creative Artists Agency, who is acting as middleman...
...groups will prod show people toward making environmental awareness as crucial a part of their scripts and songs as boy meets girl. The Environmental Media Association, a clearinghouse for save-the-earth societies, is fronted by such heavyweights as Disney Chairman Michael Eisner, Creative Artists Agency President Michael Ovitz, MCA President Sid Sheinberg, and Lear, who with his wife Lyn was a group founder. At the letter-stuffing level, the Earth Communications Office is targeting the few thousand actors, writers, producers and directors whose work reaches billions of people. In seminars and trips, ECO will educate creative folk on earth...