Who Is Michael Ovitz?

“When the history of Hollywood is written, few people will have played a larger role than Michael Ovitz.... It is impossible to read such a chronicle and not see Mr. Ovitz as the Steve Jobs of agenting, possessing a version of Jobs’s fanatical drive and a similar desire to remake an industry.” —The Wall Street Journal

Who is Michael Ovitz? He’s a striver who talked his way into the famous mailroom of the William Morris Agency without any connections, then worked his way out of the mailroom in record time.

He’s an entrepreneur who left a safe job to launch Creative Artists Agency, growing it from five guys in a rundown office to the most powerful agency in the world.

He’s a friend and confidant to megastars such as Steven Spielberg, Tom Cruise, Robert De Niro, David Letterman, Sean Connery, Bill Murray, Paul Newman, and Martin Scorsese.

He’s a pioneer who reinvented the role of the agent in packaging actors, directors, writers, and producers, which made CAA the essential hub of countless movies and television shows.

He’s a master negotiator who drove historic deals for many of his clients, as well as the acquisitions of two major studios by Sony and Matsushita.

He’s a self-taught connoisseur of art and architecture, a generous philanthropist, a devoted father...

And to his detractors he’s a world-class jerk and a ruthless manipulator who double-crossed his friends, crushed his enemies, and let nothing stand in his way, ever. 

After decades of near silence in the face of relentless controversy, Ovitz finally tells his whole story in this memoir, with remarkable candor and insight. If you’re going to read just one book about how show business really works, this is the one.

• Powerhouse: The Untold Story of Hollywood's Creative Artists Agency
• Powerhouse: The Untold Story of Hollywood's Creative Artists Agency
• Billion Dollar Whale: The Man Who Fooled Wall Street, Hollywood, and the World
• The King of Content: Sumner Redstone's Battle for Viacom, CBS, and Everlasting Control of His Media Empire
• Blitzscaling: The Lightning-Fast Path to Building Massively Valuable Companies
• The Messy Middle: Finding Your Way Through the Hardest and Most Crucial Part of Any Bold Venture
• Mastering the Market Cycle: Getting the Odds on Your Side
• Anything for a Hit: An A&R Woman's Story of Surviving the Music Industry
• The Fifth Risk
• Ovitz: The Inside Story of Hollywood's Most Controversial Power Broker