James Andrew Miller - Powerhouse: The Untold Story of Hollywood’s Creative Artists Agency

More than five hundred interviews were conducted for this book, and I tried to never take it for granted when someone invited me to their home, office, or favorite watering hole, and agreed to cooperate. A ton of gratitude and appreciation goes to all who were generous with their time and who spoke openly and honestly of their careers, their colleagues, their frustrationseven, as the wisest man said, their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor. Although many of the interview sessions were tremendous fun, there were bound to be raw and difficult moments as well. I am doubly grateful to those who displayed the fortitude to go back and revisit events they may have preferred to leave behind.

Its fair to say management at CAA wasat least initiallymuch less than enthusiastic about this book. I elected to pursue the project and even closed the deal before discussing it with anyone at the agency. It was no mystery what their answer would have been if I had asked permission first. The agency is known for its penchant for privacy, as evidenced by how rarely the majority of employees speak to journalists on the record. After months of discussion even about whether to have discussions, it was uncommonly decent and generous of them to cooperate to the extent that they did. More than two dozen current agentsand the entire agency leadershipalong with the partners of TPG, which now has a controlling interest, spoke with me. I will always be grateful. Executives in the entertainment industry, both past and present, are also to be thanked, as are key figures at other agencies in town, particularly those who opened doors and made their agents available.

The world of HarperCollins was new to me, but was a welcoming and supportive one from the start. Lynn Grady, Doug Jones, Michael Morrison, Beth Siflin, Liate Stehlik, and Mary Beth Thomas provided leadership and guidance. The production group at Morrow, including Mumtaz Mustafa and Leah Carlson-Stanisic, both brilliant designers, and Nyamekye Waliyaya, Shelby Peak, and Andrea Molitor, all exhibited great patience, for which I am grateful. Kelly Rudolph and Shelby Meizlik make the difficult look easy, and day in and day out, Madeline Jaffe exhibits acumen way beyond her years.

Heather Karpas and Colin Graham are always a pleasure and always come through. Annie Lee at CAA, and several of her other assistant colleagues there were gracious and truly helpful. The Special KsKris Fujihara, Kristina Walker, and Kari Zirklemake life easier. Others at agencies, studios, networks, and production companies showed hospitality that was equally appreciated.

This book was years in the making; over that time, a great support system flew in and out of the Powerhouse biosphere, led by Keegan Gray Hawkins and Benjamin Korman, two veritable forces of nature when it came to providing assistance. Many thanks extend to Greg Collins, Marshall Finch, Trevor Hawkins, Adam Khatib, Caroline Lazar, Daniel Locke, Tiffany Tao, Arin Segal, and Pat Walker.

There are, in addition, certain people who simply must be cited for their special support: Lori Andrew, Karen Andrews, Aimee Bell, Jim Bell, Mark Contreras, Natalie Famous, Risa and Michael Ferman, Susan Gordon, Bill LaPoint, Josh McLaughlin, Bill Phillips, Ted Schachter, Steve Skaggs, and Michael Traeger, chief among them.

Powerhouse is at Custom House because it is Geoff Shandlers imprint. There is no doubt this new enterprise will be wrapped in success for years to come. No one deserves it more than Geoff.

This is a book rooted in the world of agents, and for more than a decade, Ive been fortunate enough to be represented by the gold standard, Sloan Harris. Theres nothing better than to work with someone you trust professionallyand care about personally.

Last but arguably most, the indomitable Chloe Tess Miller deserves special praise and not only because her two older siblings, Zachary and Sophie, were away at college during preparation of this book. Chloe uncomplainingly and repeatedly settled for Japanese take-out when there wasnt time for a home-cooked meal. All three of my children remain my most important audience and dearest companions.

Thank you, and good night, all.

JAMES ANDREW MILLER is an award-winning journalist and co-author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Those Guys Have All the Fun: Inside the World of ESPN ; Live from New York: The Complete, Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live as Told by Its Stars, Writers, and Guests, which spent four months on the New York Times bestseller list; and Running in Place: Inside the Senate, also a bestseller. He has written for the Washington Post, the New York Times, Vanity Fair, and many other publications. He is a graduate of Occidental College, Oxford University, and Harvard Business School, all with honors.

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Nothing mattered except states of mind, chiefly our own.

JOHN MAYNARD KEYNES

RON MEYER, CAA Founder:

Where I grew up, in those days, there were three categories: you were a jock, a nerd, or a bad boy. I was neither of the first two, and being a bad boy was kind of the cool thing to be. So I created a character for myself. It was an identity.

I hung out with a bunch of guys who did the same thing, and we got into fights. In West L.A., there was a police departmentits still thereon Perdue Avenue, and they were aware of us. Both my parents escaped Nazi Germany in 1939, and though I was born in America, they werent savvy about American youth culture. My father knew only a little of what was going on with me then, because he was a traveling salesman and was on the road four out of every five weeks. But my mother knew all of it. I got arrested a lot. A number of my friends went to jail. Once I beat up a guy in front of his son. Of all the things in my life, I think about that all the time. I wish I could find these people and beg for their forgiveness; it really shamed me.

MICHAEL OVITZ, CAA Founder:

I was a kid who grew up in the San Fernando Valley, just four blocks from the old RKO Studios, and after my paper route, a bunch of us would go sneak into the studios under a fence. I was mesmerized by what I saw, and that went on for years and years and years.

My dad didnt make a lot of money. He was a liquor salesman. We had a fabulous family life, but my brother and I always had to earn our spending money for whatever we wanted. So from the time I was nine, I worked constantly.

BILL HABER, CAA Founder:

Im old enough to remember when there were no freeways in Los Angeles. My father was thirty years old when he decided to go to medical school after the Second World War, and we would drive to downtown Los Angeles up to the big, giant general hospital. I was very young. Sometimes wed go up Pico Boulevard because thats where El Rancho golf course was, and at five in the morning we would pick up golf balls so we could sell them for a dollar each. That money was really important to us at the time. Across the street was 20th Century Fox, and when I was nine years old, I said to my father, One day, Im going to go in there.