Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"Why would I let such a bad actor join my crew? She doesn't respect my beliefs..."

Tom Cruise is the first victim of Ovitz's new policy. An actress under CAA wanted to be packaged into his new project, no matter what the role was.

The actress was the daughter of a studio executive and just wanted to show her face in the movie. But she was a little outspoken and said something inappropriate about Cruise's Scientology beliefs, and was betrayed on the spot.

Tom Cruise immediately took the opportunity to explode and ran to Ovitz's office to ask for an explanation. He was very serious about his belief in Scientology.

"It's just a misunderstanding, Tom, I promise. I'll let her come and apologize to you..." Ovitz had to appease one of his most important male stars first.

"I need respect, Ovitz, respect. Last time when I was on the set, someone said something bad about the microphone made by Scientology. Guess what happened? The producer announced that all my future shots will be made with microphones made by Scientology..."

"I will make sure that you get the same treatment in all CAA projects in the future. I personally guarantee this..."

Ovitz quickly made a promise here. If the star suddenly has an idea and makes some strange requests, it's not right to refuse or agree. This opportunity is just right to show respect for Tom Cruise at the lowest cost.

"This is very unprofessional and does not match the professionalism that you CAA advocates..." Tom Cruise was almost out of it and took a sip of the coffee on the table.

"Yeah, I'm reaffirming CAA's principles and cornerstones with them. Everything is based on the interests of customers and CAA. I think you will soon feel the return of this basic value..."

"That's good, otherwise I will reconsider my cooperation with CAA."

"Hey, Tom, Tom, look at me. We have been working happily since you debuted, right? You asked Paula to bring the list of film directors you wanted to work with, and we have almost realized it for you in the past ten years.

Give me some confidence, Paula may be a little slack, but I have never let you down, right?"

"I believe in you and believe that you will not let me down in the future."

"Don't worry, I will strengthen the strength of your team. Also, do you want to consider adding an agent? Or, some of our clients will consider changing an agent after working with an agent for a long time..."

"..."Tom Cruise was silent. He didn't expect there was such a trick. He came to complain, but he didn't expect Ovitz to take the opportunity to persuade him to change his agent.

"Think about it, we have a lot of young people here, full of energy..."

"..."Tom Cruise suddenly had an idea, "Any recommendations?"

"Ha, Tom, Tom, I have a lot of people here, who will jump for joy when they hear that they can provide you with services... What do you need? We can start with your needs..."

"I want to strengthen my public relations work, and it would be best if I have some connections on the East Coast..." Tom Cruise set his conditions according to the candidate he liked.

"Well, public relations is very important. The most competitive person here is Kevin Huwen... I will arrange a meeting for you."

"But what about me?"

Tom Cruise was very satisfied with Kevin Huwen, who was an ally of Niceta's family and had served as a temporary agent for Ronald. He could be regarded as half of his own. Therefore, he did not mention the issue of candidates, so as to prevent Ovitz from continuing to increase his candidates and deliberately mentioning the matter of Paula Wagner.

"I understand, I understand. She was the first agent who saw your potential. Leave everything to me. I will do everything for you without you having to show up. Paula is a professional agent, she will understand."

...

"You want me to give up my role as Tom Cruise's agent?" Paula Wagner loudly retorted to Ovitz who came to announce the decision to her, "Don't forget, you all didn't want to sign this big boy back then, and I gambled my career and signed him..."

"This is your client's idea. I'm just here to tell you this decision. In the agent business, if someone else has to tell you that the client doesn't want you to do it, then you can't do it. When the agent makes a decision, should you think about your own problems?

This is an irreversible decision. Kevin Hooven will take over your position and become Tom Cruise's agent. All handover work must be completed before the end of get off work today. By the way, although you and Niceta are husband and wife, you can't interfere with Cruise's work in the future..."

"You are blackmailing me. I will call Tom and ask him to withdraw this decision..."

"Do you think I will make a mistake in this matter? You can call and see what Tom says?"

"Hello, Tom..." Wagner couldn't wait to call Tom Cruise.

"Hello, this is Tom. I'm not here now. If you have anything, you can contact my agent Paula..." It was his recorded phone call.

It was a message transferred from Paula herself, as if mocking herself.

"This is a scam. You want to make a surprise attack when Tom is not convenient to answer the phone?"

"I have already said that all the information must be handed over before the end of get off work this afternoon. You can't take anything out of this office.

If you don't comply, I'll ask security to ask you to leave. Getting fired is not a good experience for your next job. You don't want me to be honest with your next employer over the phone, do you? Paula…”

"You want to fire me?" Paula pointed at Ovitz and yelled, her fingers shaking.

"If you continue to show uncooperation like this."

"Fuxckyou, you have a good idea, I resign!"

Paula Wagner cursed loudly and threw the papers on the table into the air. Then she angrily swept several photos on the table, including photos of her with Niceta, her children, Ronald's family, and the young Tom Cruise, into a cardboard box. , then turned around and left, closing the door loudly.

…

"How's it going?" Paula Wagner left the CAA building and went straight to Ronald's mansion, where Tom Cruise was waiting for her.

"It went more smoothly than expected. I resigned." Paula Wagner had abandoned the excitement and anger on her face to the Pacific Ocean, smiling calmly.

"Very good, Kevin Huvin is about to take over Tom's business. Rick (Nisita) will go and fight for some compensation from you..."

"It doesn't matter, I just want to do a good job in Tom's new role now..."

"Hahaha, I didn't expect that Paula, your acting skills are also very good." Tom Cruise laughed next to him. What originally required some twists and turns, was successfully completed with Ovitz's unconscious cooperation.

"Oh, now I really understand how difficult it is for an actor. When I watched your performance as Tom on the set, it was effortless to play opposite Jack Nicholson. But when I got angry, I was afraid that Ovitz would see through it. , even my fingers are shaking..." Paula Wagner lost no time in flattering Tom Cruise.

Although her new job is no longer an agent, she still has to work closely with Tom Cruise.

"I think if Paula is not a better and more potential producer, and indeed has the potential to be an actress, maybe she can play opposite Tom..." Ronald directed the servant to open a bottle Champagne and a toast to both of you.

"By the way, what's the name of your new company?" Ronald also wanted to sign a co-production agreement with them.

"Call CW Films..." Tom Cruise took a sip of champagne and showed a charming smile, with neat and white teeth, which was indeed very charming. When Ronald made a joke just now and asked Paula to play with him, Paula Wagner's eyes were filled with laughter.

"Cruel Wagner Pictures, very good, very good..." Ronald was very satisfied with this concise name. When the news was announced, Ovitz twisted his mouth in anger?

"Ha, you've already started celebrating..." Belatedly arriving were Wagner's husband, Rick Niceta, and Ronald's agent, Richard. They just got a severance package from Ovitz for Paula Wagner.

"Any news update?" Ronald asked them.

"With the very good conditions, the subsidy from the confidentiality agreement, and the severance allowance equivalent to two years' income, Ovitz can't wait for Paula to leave without giving her any chance to regret."

"Ahahaha..." Paula Wagner was very happy. The money allowed her to concentrate on working for the new CW Films without any worries.

"You pay for the takeout later..." Ronald also smiled at Paula.

"Uncle Ronald, Uncle Tom..." Zachary, the son of Niceta and Paula, is five years old this year. He just ran around in Ronald's house and found a "Top Gun" video tape. He quickly He ran out to offer the treasure, "Look, your names are on it..."

…

"We would also like to follow the Paula Wagner model, but I don't have a husband who is a partner at CAA, so can you keep me in my role and allow my partner to start a production company? My client Chris is also very interested. Want to repeat this business model..."

Of course, the news of the establishment of Cruise Wagner Pictures quickly spread throughout Hollywood, and it also triggered an upsurge of discussion in CAA.

Many brokers went to discuss with Ovitz whether they could use this model to run their own and client's businesses.

Unlike other brokerage companies, each client here at CAA is shared by three or more brokers, so the share each broker gets is much less than that of other brokerage companies.

Coupled with the work spirit that Ovitz admires, he always has to work overtime and always answer calls from clients. Young people at CAA generally work much longer than traditional Hollywood agents, and they have to answer calls 24 hours a day after get off work. Customer calls, otherwise you will face pressure from other broker colleagues to compete for business.

The working hours are long and the income is small, which actually makes CAA's young agents complain. However, in recent years, CAA has gradually obtained the agency contracts of nearly half of Hollywood stars, which gives them no confidence to oppose this working model.

After all, even if your relationship with your clients is as strong as Paula Wagner and Tom Cruise, if you leave CAA, your capabilities will be greatly reduced. Many of them can be obtained through the packaging model at CAA. You may not be able to get the role if you leave CAA.

But Paula Wagner's move suddenly lit up a light that illuminated a different path for these relatively successful young agents, the group of agents known as the Young Turks.

After resigning, you won't get any more compensation from the agency contract, but you can set up your own studio or production company with your clients?

In today's Hollywood, which star wouldn't want to do this? With my own production company, in addition to being able to gain more initiative in negotiations with the seven major studios, I can also receive production profits as a producer.

Within CAA, there are actually many agents who are bound together through various close relationships. In fact, everyone can imitate Wagner's model. One is tied to the star in the agency, and the other is cooperating with the star in the production business. A two-pronged approach, it is double insurance and you can get two kinds of money.

"Paula is the one who personally discovered Tom Cruise and has served him for nearly eleven years. Can you and Chris guarantee such a relationship? Besides, Paula and Rick are husband and wife. You and your partner …With all due respect, this relationship is not recognized by the courts in America, right?”

Ovitz is overwhelmed. This is the third agent who has approached him today to discuss a similar cooperation model.

In recent years, he has mainly been negotiating with studios, exerting pressure, and negotiating packaging agreements. His time with clients has actually been reduced.

These young Turks are already the main agents of the most important stars under CAA. Relying on his status as the founder and the prestige brought by overpowering the executives of several major studios in Hollywood, he suppressed these people and prevented them from joining forces, while still enjoying the benefits of their dedicated customer service every day. of good customer relations.

But this incident with CW Pictures has dealt a heavy blow to the foundation of the employee relationship that he most wants to maintain.

The young Turks discovered that Ovitz was not as powerful as he had boasted and they had imagined for many years.

It turns out that as long as you build a good relationship with your customers, coax them well, and make them trust you, you can also cooperate with them in another capacity.

In Hollywood, whoever controls the stars controls the funds for production. Whoever has the power to select scripts and negotiate on behalf of the stars also controls the stars.

These people suddenly realized that the most powerful group of people in CAA were themselves!

"Do your job, David. You will have this day too, and when that day comes, I won't stop you. But for now, it's better to think more about how to promote more packaging agreements. After all, we have already Signing a big director like Spielberg, we all know that a director can bring countless opportunities to actors..."

Ovitz was already very angry inside, but on the surface he still wanted to pretend that I had a good deal with Paula Wagner and the others.

Once the ambitions of these young Turks are aroused, it will be like the scene when he founded CAA (he forgot that there were four partners) in anger after being unfairly treated by William Morris. Similar?

It only took more than ten years for me to go from having only a few telephones and a second-hand desk to being the largest agency in Hollywood. These people now have much more resources than they did back then.

", Michael..." The young agent was no longer blinded by these illusory illusions of power.

"Spielberg didn't sign a sharing contract. He just negotiated cooperation with the studio through CAA. We can't get many good roles from him."

"What!"

Ovitz was shocked. Who revealed this secret? This was his ultimate move to suppress the internal factions of Niceta and others. I paid a huge price, with no commission, just a fixed annual fee, to win over Spielberg. The purpose is to use Spielberg's reputation to suppress internal opponents.

Now if this secret is revealed and becomes a secret known to everyone in the company, he has used various means to take over the shares of the other three founders over the years, and the power system established with him as the center will be There is a possibility of collapse.

"Who is it? Who revealed this top-secret news?"