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Powerhouse: The Untold Story of Hollywood's Creative Artists Agency
An astonishing—and astonishingly entertaining—history of Hollywood’s transformation over the past five decades as seen through the agency at the heart of it all, from the #1 bestselling co-author of Live from New York and Those Guys Have All the Fun.
The movies you watch, the TV shows you adore, the concerts and sporting events you attend—behind the curtain of nearly all of these is an immensely powerful and secretive corporation known as Creative Artists Agency. Started in 1975, when five bright and brash employees of a creaky William Morris office left to open their own, strikingly innovative talent agency, CAA would come to revolutionize the entertainment industry, and over the next several decades its tentacles would spread aggressively throughout the worlds of movies, television, music, advertising, and investment banking.
Powerhouse is the fascinating, no-holds-barred saga of that ascent. Drawing on unprecedented and exclusive access to the men and women who built and battled with CAA, as well as financial information never before made public, author James Andrew Miller spins a tale of boundless ambition, ruthless egomania, ceaseless empire building, greed, and personal betrayal. It is also a story of prophetic brilliance, magnificent artistry, singular genius, entrepreneurial courage, strategic daring, foxhole brotherhood, and how one firm utterly transformed the entertainment business.
Here are the real Star Wars—complete with a Death Star—told through the voices of those who were there. Packed with scores of stars from movies, television, music, and sports, as well as a tremendously compelling cast of agents, studio executives, network chiefs, league commissioners, private equity partners, tech CEOs, and media tycoons, Powerhouse is itself a Hollywood blockbuster of the most spectacular sort.
The movies you watch, the TV shows you adore, the concerts and sporting events you attend—behind the curtain of nearly all of these is an immensely powerful and secretive corporation known as Creative Artists Agency. Started in 1975, when five bright and brash employees of a creaky William Morris office left to open their own, strikingly innovative talent agency, CAA would come to revolutionize the entertainment industry, and over the next several decades its tentacles would spread aggressively throughout the worlds of movies, television, music, advertising, and investment banking.
Powerhouse is the fascinating, no-holds-barred saga of that ascent. Drawing on unprecedented and exclusive access to the men and women who built and battled with CAA, as well as financial information never before made public, author James Andrew Miller spins a tale of boundless ambition, ruthless egomania, ceaseless empire building, greed, and personal betrayal. It is also a story of prophetic brilliance, magnificent artistry, singular genius, entrepreneurial courage, strategic daring, foxhole brotherhood, and how one firm utterly transformed the entertainment business.
Here are the real Star Wars—complete with a Death Star—told through the voices of those who were there. Packed with scores of stars from movies, television, music, and sports, as well as a tremendously compelling cast of agents, studio executives, network chiefs, league commissioners, private equity partners, tech CEOs, and media tycoons, Powerhouse is itself a Hollywood blockbuster of the most spectacular sort.
768 pages, Paperback
First published May 10, 2016
542 people are currently reading
3968 people want to read
About the author
James Andrew Miller
9 books192 followersJAMES 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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Displaying 1 - 30 of 199 reviews
August 30, 2016
If you've read the epic oral histories of SNL and ESPN, then you may know what you're in for when you're starting this one about CAA.
At its best this is a business book about managing people, negotiating contracts, finding your passion, building a career and portfolio, lessons learned, teamwork, work/life balance, mitigating success and failure, and some awesome stories about old LA (working your way up from the mailroom, the right place right time conversation, matching convertibles with vanity plates) with a healthy mix of celebrity gossip, excess, and trivia.
At its worst this is an overwrought messy long-winded book bogged down in the details, the hand-wringing over compensation checks, the infighting between partners, the poaching of agents, drugs/death/suicide, gross inflated egos, sexism, racism, harassment, threats, hearsay, and even worse - buzzword packed responses that read like press release copy, statements that come off like marketing copy and testimonials, and snippy boasting between millionaires.
So... I guess it depends how much you like LA. I found the talent prospecting, deal packaging, company culture cultivating, innovative contract amendments, and building a business from the dining room to the board room story endlessly and nostalgically fascinating and fun. There is a LOT I didn't know about how movies come together, a division emerges from one idea, and a person can shape a company and entertainment world. But don't get too tripped up on the rest of the bullshit along the way.
At its best this is a business book about managing people, negotiating contracts, finding your passion, building a career and portfolio, lessons learned, teamwork, work/life balance, mitigating success and failure, and some awesome stories about old LA (working your way up from the mailroom, the right place right time conversation, matching convertibles with vanity plates) with a healthy mix of celebrity gossip, excess, and trivia.
At its worst this is an overwrought messy long-winded book bogged down in the details, the hand-wringing over compensation checks, the infighting between partners, the poaching of agents, drugs/death/suicide, gross inflated egos, sexism, racism, harassment, threats, hearsay, and even worse - buzzword packed responses that read like press release copy, statements that come off like marketing copy and testimonials, and snippy boasting between millionaires.
So... I guess it depends how much you like LA. I found the talent prospecting, deal packaging, company culture cultivating, innovative contract amendments, and building a business from the dining room to the board room story endlessly and nostalgically fascinating and fun. There is a LOT I didn't know about how movies come together, a division emerges from one idea, and a person can shape a company and entertainment world. But don't get too tripped up on the rest of the bullshit along the way.
September 2, 2016
An interesting magazine article lost in an overwrought boring 600 page package. Loved LIVE FROM NEW YORK and THOSE GUYS HAVE ALL THE FUN. Biggest difference is those oral histories are told by storytellers and creators, this is from a bunch of millionaires who find their own contract extensions to be tales of myth and wonder.
September 2, 2016
Loved the book because I lived it during my 25 years at CAA and knew all the players/stories.
February 5, 2017
I took this out of two separate libraries in two different states to finish it, so I would say it's compelling. But also uneven, overly detailed in parts, and really hard to remember who was who - especially since almost every single major player is male (cough cough). Glad I read it.
September 12, 2017
Very entertaining reading and very informative about the agency world. I loved the format of the back and forth comments by all the relevant parties. I recommend this book to anyone in the sports/entertainment business.
July 15, 2019
After reading "Who is Michael Ovitz" I felt that I needed to go deeper into the history of CAA. What happened after Ovitz and Mayer left the company? What's the story of a private equity fund TPG involvement? Is onesided Ovitz's version of this history shared by other people?
This book provided me with answers to much of my questions. CAA seemed to be the most powerful service organization in the world (excluding investment funds). The history of their journey (into being less client service, more financial and more focused on other businesses than representing their clients) is fascinating. Next week I'll speak to Casbeg employees so that I will provide them insight into how CAA has grown and what it had become.
This isn't exactly a page-turner. 750 pages of the company biography said in short comments from the author and an overwhelming amount of accounts from founders, employees and other constituencies.
This book provided me with answers to much of my questions. CAA seemed to be the most powerful service organization in the world (excluding investment funds). The history of their journey (into being less client service, more financial and more focused on other businesses than representing their clients) is fascinating. Next week I'll speak to Casbeg employees so that I will provide them insight into how CAA has grown and what it had become.
This isn't exactly a page-turner. 750 pages of the company biography said in short comments from the author and an overwhelming amount of accounts from founders, employees and other constituencies.
September 16, 2016
More than anyone could possibly care to know about Hollywood talent agents.
June 15, 2025
An entertaining first three-quarters, a trying final quarter.
Miller's oral history of the Hollywood talent agency spans forty years, from its bare-bones beginning in 1975 up to 2015, shortly after the private equity firm TPG Capital upped its corporate ownership to 52%.
As a fan of reading about the start-up of businesses, I really enjoyed learning about the agency's first twenty years. The book is steeped in huge personalities, both on the agent and client side. There are great showbiz stories, with contributions from a ton of industry players. I ate up everything, from packaging Tootsie to Michael Ovitz's and Ron Meyer's machinations to run Universal to the building of the erstwhile I.M. Pei-designed headquarters in Beverly Hills. As with Miller's HBO book and the SNL history he wrote with Tom Shales, it's interesting to compare participants' (sometimes wildly) different perspectives: for every person who thinks Michael Ovitz is a superhero (David Letterman) there's another who thinks he's the devil incarnate (David Geffen).
The book falls flat, though, in 1995, when the last three of the five original CAA founders—Ovitz, Meyer, and Bill Haber—leave the agency. The final 200-plus pages focus primarily on the business of business, less about the personalities; at this point it even becomes tough to tell who's who and remember who's responsible for what; this is complicated still more as agents leave CAA for other agencies. (Of course, many of the interviewees in 2015 were still employed at CAA, which probably affected what and how they talked about their employer and co-workers.) It sure doesn't help this reader that the bulk of the second twenty years is dedicated to CAA's sports business with a side-order of the TPG Capital investments.
Miller's oral history of the Hollywood talent agency spans forty years, from its bare-bones beginning in 1975 up to 2015, shortly after the private equity firm TPG Capital upped its corporate ownership to 52%.
As a fan of reading about the start-up of businesses, I really enjoyed learning about the agency's first twenty years. The book is steeped in huge personalities, both on the agent and client side. There are great showbiz stories, with contributions from a ton of industry players. I ate up everything, from packaging Tootsie to Michael Ovitz's and Ron Meyer's machinations to run Universal to the building of the erstwhile I.M. Pei-designed headquarters in Beverly Hills. As with Miller's HBO book and the SNL history he wrote with Tom Shales, it's interesting to compare participants' (sometimes wildly) different perspectives: for every person who thinks Michael Ovitz is a superhero (David Letterman) there's another who thinks he's the devil incarnate (David Geffen).
The book falls flat, though, in 1995, when the last three of the five original CAA founders—Ovitz, Meyer, and Bill Haber—leave the agency. The final 200-plus pages focus primarily on the business of business, less about the personalities; at this point it even becomes tough to tell who's who and remember who's responsible for what; this is complicated still more as agents leave CAA for other agencies. (Of course, many of the interviewees in 2015 were still employed at CAA, which probably affected what and how they talked about their employer and co-workers.) It sure doesn't help this reader that the bulk of the second twenty years is dedicated to CAA's sports business with a side-order of the TPG Capital investments.
January 4, 2022
Too narrow and too broad at the same time. Anecdotes from power-hungry agents all start to blend together after only 10 pages, and this book is 700 pages...
November 6, 2016
Back in the early 2000s I read scripts in a Hollywood production company for a year, and frankly had no idea that the scripts that came with the red and white covers had so much intrigue, ego, and cash behind them!
This was a great story of five guys who left the comfort of their careers with the William Morris Agency and decided to set off on their own. From humble beginnings of a card table and some telephones, these guys outgrinded everyone around them, forming an agency that started with TV but quickly moved into the movies and grabbed every major star imaginable.
The book is equally divided between the first and second decades. The first was dominated by the likes of Mike Ovitz, the ultra-driven Hollywood super agent who outworked, outplayed, and outgunned everyone around him, and Ron Meyer, his more personable pseudo-second in command (even though they were equal partners on paper). The second half was dominated by the Young Turks, a league of young men driven by the love of money and a desire to build CAA into something even greater, where it evolved into a powerhouse that included investment banking, sports, and a host of other businesses.
The book is also a very unique style, told in snippets from interviews with over a hundred different people, including agents, stars, and the likes of Ovitz and Meyer themselves. You’ll hear the story-behind-the story behind iconic films like Risky Business (and where Tom Cruise got his start), Ghostbusters, and Jurassic Park. You’ll also learn some of the creative financing options that these super agents created for their clients, which resulted in more than a few mega-millionares as many clients, from Bill Murray to Tom Hanks, opted for highly-lucrative backend deals instead of collecting the typically inflated salaries associated with Hollywood blockbusters.
The early days were fascinating, as was the political infighting surrounding the original gang of five. Ovitz left to work for Eisner at Disney for a year, and after a failed attempt to recruit Ovitz, Universal changed their tune and brought in Ron Meyer to run their studio. The story started to lose me for the last quarter as they went into the backstory behind CAA’s extension into sports, at which point it felt like another typical story of a billion-dollar firm that reached out into every possible side vertical it could (losing it’s way along the way).
This was my only complaint with the book. If you’re interested in the business of Hollywood, and you’re interested in getting a backstage tour direct from the mouths of the players both on and offscreen, pick up a copy. It’s a long book, fitting with the long journey the agency took to become the firm it is today, so settle in and prepare to be entertained!
This was a great story of five guys who left the comfort of their careers with the William Morris Agency and decided to set off on their own. From humble beginnings of a card table and some telephones, these guys outgrinded everyone around them, forming an agency that started with TV but quickly moved into the movies and grabbed every major star imaginable.
The book is equally divided between the first and second decades. The first was dominated by the likes of Mike Ovitz, the ultra-driven Hollywood super agent who outworked, outplayed, and outgunned everyone around him, and Ron Meyer, his more personable pseudo-second in command (even though they were equal partners on paper). The second half was dominated by the Young Turks, a league of young men driven by the love of money and a desire to build CAA into something even greater, where it evolved into a powerhouse that included investment banking, sports, and a host of other businesses.
The book is also a very unique style, told in snippets from interviews with over a hundred different people, including agents, stars, and the likes of Ovitz and Meyer themselves. You’ll hear the story-behind-the story behind iconic films like Risky Business (and where Tom Cruise got his start), Ghostbusters, and Jurassic Park. You’ll also learn some of the creative financing options that these super agents created for their clients, which resulted in more than a few mega-millionares as many clients, from Bill Murray to Tom Hanks, opted for highly-lucrative backend deals instead of collecting the typically inflated salaries associated with Hollywood blockbusters.
The early days were fascinating, as was the political infighting surrounding the original gang of five. Ovitz left to work for Eisner at Disney for a year, and after a failed attempt to recruit Ovitz, Universal changed their tune and brought in Ron Meyer to run their studio. The story started to lose me for the last quarter as they went into the backstory behind CAA’s extension into sports, at which point it felt like another typical story of a billion-dollar firm that reached out into every possible side vertical it could (losing it’s way along the way).
This was my only complaint with the book. If you’re interested in the business of Hollywood, and you’re interested in getting a backstage tour direct from the mouths of the players both on and offscreen, pick up a copy. It’s a long book, fitting with the long journey the agency took to become the firm it is today, so settle in and prepare to be entertained!
October 27, 2016
Power! Money! Fame! Influence! Luxury! Scandal! Art! This book is about all of these things . . . but most of all it is about . . . HURT FEELINGS. Pretty much every senior male agent or executive interviewed for this book complains about being underappreciated and undercompensated. There are so many variations of "Sure, I got paid a lot, but I was paid $X million less than I was bringing in in revenue. Lots of guys there didn't pull their weight." This is interesting, particularly considering that CAA was well-known for paying extra for talent so their people would not look elsewhere. Either these guys are mistaken or there was one terrible agent losing the company hundreds of millions over the years--like a black hole of revenue.
Anyway, this is lively and fun if you like James Andrew Miller's way of doing things. The only part that I found dull was the sports-related material near the end.
Anyway, this is lively and fun if you like James Andrew Miller's way of doing things. The only part that I found dull was the sports-related material near the end.
October 14, 2016
Great book, you can easily tell the abundant of effort the author did to make this book great. Book is based on numerous interviews and here and there the author outlines and provides additional details.
Only issue for me was keeping track of the numerous number of people. I knew the main characters well but trying to remember other agents and their significance to the main characters they started to all blend in together. The book is quite long (about 800 pages) but crazy all the drama that took place. I wonder if they'll ever make such a story into a movie (maybe not since it is all about the movie/entertainment industry-they wouldn't want to hurt their reputation). But you get a good understand what is behind the movie and actors playing in them and all the politics that sadly is involved.
Only issue for me was keeping track of the numerous number of people. I knew the main characters well but trying to remember other agents and their significance to the main characters they started to all blend in together. The book is quite long (about 800 pages) but crazy all the drama that took place. I wonder if they'll ever make such a story into a movie (maybe not since it is all about the movie/entertainment industry-they wouldn't want to hurt their reputation). But you get a good understand what is behind the movie and actors playing in them and all the politics that sadly is involved.
April 20, 2020
I found this book fascinating. Not necessarily for the writing, (this is primarily a compilation of over 500 interviews with the various players involved in the CAA saga since the mid 1970s), but for the story itself. I'm not in a career that involves the sports or entertainment industries, so I've never had any exposure to the agency business. This book will tell you everything you didn't want to know about how the business of Hollywood works and how it has evolved over the years.
To think up until now I thought is was the major movie production companies that really ran the entertainment business...
Highly recommend.
To think up until now I thought is was the major movie production companies that really ran the entertainment business...
Highly recommend.
January 26, 2017
The author conducted over 500 interviews with entertainment agents, executives, studio chiefs, actors, actresses, sports personalities and other Who's Who of Hollywood starting from around 1975 when 5 William Morris agents split and formed CAA which over the years became a"Powerhouse" in the entertainment business. Most liked and enjoyed about the book was the writer's format that each paragraph stated a name and excepts from that person in the interview process over the years and the reader sits back and is like a person across the desk listening these people taking to you.
June 13, 2017
Could have been 300 pages shorter.
April 15, 2017
James Andrew Miller is the man, he knocked it out of the ballpark with this one too. Same style as the one he used with "Those Guys Have All the Fun: Inside the World of ESPN".
The world that these agents navigate is fascinating and this book is testament to the bright and dark sides of Hollywood.
I strongly recommend this exquisite and entertaining book.
The world that these agents navigate is fascinating and this book is testament to the bright and dark sides of Hollywood.
I strongly recommend this exquisite and entertaining book.
June 12, 2020
Really great book. My only issue with it is the way it's written. It's more of an anthology of quotes than a real narrative or analysis. You get a good idea about what's going on but it's just a bit weird.
July 25, 2017
Who cares.
Well, I do, but this oral history never really justifies itself either in terms of the subject matter or the stories.
Well, I do, but this oral history never really justifies itself either in terms of the subject matter or the stories.
January 20, 2021
Fascinating but about 200 pages too long
November 6, 2022
Well done, but very, very long!
November 30, 2022
A well presented piece of journalism up until its final segment which devolved rather instantaneously through no fault of the interviewer into propagandistic spewing by the then employees of various agencies.
November 14, 2018
After two years of picking this thing up periodically and immediately putting it down, I have to finally admit to myself that I'm never going to finish it. I'm not quite sure who this book is for. It's an oral history a la Miller's SNL book Live From New York, but I guess it's aimed only at big fans of talent agencies. Which, I think, don't exist. If you're Michael Ovitz or any of the other power players who spend the entirety of this book bragging about ruling the entertainment industry, I'm sure you love how this book portrays you as some sort of genius who changed Hollywood via sheer force of deals.
But for a book about a place called Creative Artists Agency, it scrimps pretty heavy on the Creators and Artists. The odd quote from Bill Murray is tossed in, but it's mostly just agents talking about how great they are, to a vastly unbelievable degree. There's simply no way most of this is true, and Miller does very little to make that clear.
The early sections of the book, featuring stories about the foundation of CAA and its central players inherent competitiveness and assholery can be fairly entertaining. There are some great stories shared by assistants and other lower-totem-pole people that give some context for what this place was really like. But these stories quickly give way to the boastery I mentioned, and that takes over almost entirely, until finally it gets into the modern era where it's mostly mind-numbing stories about day-to-day operations.
So, long story short, this book is for no one. I wanted a trashy, back-stabbing tale of Hollywood deception and overblown personalities, but really it's just a bunch of name drops and sad old men reliving incorrectly-remembered glory days. Skip it.
But for a book about a place called Creative Artists Agency, it scrimps pretty heavy on the Creators and Artists. The odd quote from Bill Murray is tossed in, but it's mostly just agents talking about how great they are, to a vastly unbelievable degree. There's simply no way most of this is true, and Miller does very little to make that clear.
The early sections of the book, featuring stories about the foundation of CAA and its central players inherent competitiveness and assholery can be fairly entertaining. There are some great stories shared by assistants and other lower-totem-pole people that give some context for what this place was really like. But these stories quickly give way to the boastery I mentioned, and that takes over almost entirely, until finally it gets into the modern era where it's mostly mind-numbing stories about day-to-day operations.
So, long story short, this book is for no one. I wanted a trashy, back-stabbing tale of Hollywood deception and overblown personalities, but really it's just a bunch of name drops and sad old men reliving incorrectly-remembered glory days. Skip it.
December 15, 2025
Key Lessons from Powerhouse Applied to Being a Better Talent Agent
1. Think in Careers, Not Deals
Great agents optimize for long-term trajectories, not single outcomes.
Every action should improve the next set of options, not just close the current opportunity.
Test: Does this decision make future decisions easier or harder?
2. Align Incentives Before Building Relationships
Loyalty follows rational alignment, not chemistry.
If success naturally keeps people working with you, trust compounds on its own.
Test: If this person becomes more successful, do they still need me?
3. Aggregate Optionality
Power comes from being involved in many connected paths rather than owning one outcome.
The goal is to be unavoidable, not dominant.
Test: Does this increase my presence across the ecosystem or isolate me in one lane?
4. See the Whole Board
The agent’s advantage is perspective.
Understand how talent, capital, platforms, and timing interact then reduce complexity for others.
Test: Am I solving the real constraint or just responding to symptoms?
5. Absorb Risk for Others
Trust is built by acting before certainty exists.
Taking early reputational or relational risk is what earns long-term loyalty.
Test: Am I protecting myself, or protecting the people I represent?
6. Use Information Quietly
The strongest leverage comes from pattern recognition, not secrets.
Calm confidence signals understanding better than persuasion.
Test: Do I already know how this likely plays out?
7. Build Architecture, Not Just Representation
Modern talent doesn’t need someone to sell them they need systems that scale them.
The agent’s job is to professionalize success, not chase it.
Test: Am I helping build something that lasts beyond this moment?
8. Measure Power Differently
Real influence shows up in when people call you, not how visible you are.
Being the first call matters more than being credited.
Test: Do people come to me before decisions are made?
Bottom Line
The best agents don’t control outcomes.
They design incentives, shape paths, and make the right outcomes inevitable.
—————
Powerhouse traces the rise of CAA and explains how Michael Ovitz and Ron Meyer redefined what a talent agency could be. Instead of acting as transactional middlemen, they built an institution that aggregated talent, information, and leverage across Hollywood and later sports turning representation into a form of quiet power.
The book shows how CAA shifted the industry from star-by-star dealmaking to packaging, strategic alignment, and ecosystem control, reshaping incentives for studios, networks, and talent alike. In doing so, CAA not only dominated its era but also unintentionally laid the groundwork for its fiercest future competitor: WME-Endeavor.
At its core, Powerhouse is a study of how influence compounds when relationships, information, and incentives are designed as a system rather than managed piecemeal.
What Made Michael Ovitz So Special
Ovitz’s edge was not charisma or aggression it was systems thinking applied to people.
Key attributes:
• Total preparation: He obsessively gathered information before every interaction.
• Long-term orientation: He thought in careers, not contracts.
• Institution builder: He didn’t want to be powerful he wanted CAA to be inevitable.
Ovitz understood that the agent who knows everything doesn’t need to say much.
He also redefined trust. Talent trusted him not because he promised outcomes, but because he consistently reduced uncertainty. Studios listened because dealing with CAA simplified their own risk.
Ovitz’s real innovation was recognizing that control doesn’t require ownership it requires alignment.
The Shift: From WME to CAA and the “Young Turks” Era
CAA was born when Ovitz, Ron Meyer, and others left William Morris after realizing the old model was structurally limited:
• Individual agents competing internally
• Little incentive to share information
• Focus on commissions, not leverage
The founders felt they could do it better through:
• Team-based representation
• Shared incentives
• Packaging talent together to increase bargaining power
At CAA:
• Agents worked as a unit
• Information flowed horizontally
• The firm, not the individual, was the asset
The power wasn’t in the deal it was in the coordination.
This cultural break was the real revolution.
Creating the Monster: How WME-Endeavor Emerged
Ironically, CAA’s dominance inspired its future rival.
WME and Endeavor learned from CAA but pushed the model further:
• Vertical integration (representation + production + distribution)
• Aggressive acquisitions
• Willingness to use capital and balance sheets, not just relationships
Endeavor turned the agency model into a platform company, blending:
• Talent
• Content
• IP
• Live events
• Sports leagues
CAA proved agents could wield power.
Endeavor proved that power could be financialized.
Why Private Equity Loves This Business (Despite It Being People-Heavy)
At first glance, talent agencies look unattractive:
• Low margins
• High dependence on individuals
• Relationship risk
But PE sees something deeper.
1. Recurring, Diversified Cash Flows
Top agencies don’t rely on one client. They represent portfolios of talent, smoothing volatility.
2. Embedded Growth
As clients grow, agency revenue grows automatically. There’s no marginal sales cost.
3. Information Advantage
Agencies sit upstream of demand. They see trends before markets do.
4. Optionality
Agencies can expand into:
• Production
• IP ownership
• Sports franchises
• Media rights
• Brand partnerships
5. Control Without Capital Intensity
Unlike studios, agencies don’t fund projects they shape them.
Private equity isn’t betting on people it’s betting on the system that captures their upside.
Endeavor is the proof case: once the model is institutionalized, people risk decreases and platform value emerges.
Key takeaway:
• Influence scales when incentives are aligned
• Institutions outlast individuals even in talent driven industries
Michael Ovitz didn’t win because he was the best agent/business man.
He won because he designed a system where being inside it was the rational choice for everyone else.
1. Think in Careers, Not Deals
Great agents optimize for long-term trajectories, not single outcomes.
Every action should improve the next set of options, not just close the current opportunity.
Test: Does this decision make future decisions easier or harder?
2. Align Incentives Before Building Relationships
Loyalty follows rational alignment, not chemistry.
If success naturally keeps people working with you, trust compounds on its own.
Test: If this person becomes more successful, do they still need me?
3. Aggregate Optionality
Power comes from being involved in many connected paths rather than owning one outcome.
The goal is to be unavoidable, not dominant.
Test: Does this increase my presence across the ecosystem or isolate me in one lane?
4. See the Whole Board
The agent’s advantage is perspective.
Understand how talent, capital, platforms, and timing interact then reduce complexity for others.
Test: Am I solving the real constraint or just responding to symptoms?
5. Absorb Risk for Others
Trust is built by acting before certainty exists.
Taking early reputational or relational risk is what earns long-term loyalty.
Test: Am I protecting myself, or protecting the people I represent?
6. Use Information Quietly
The strongest leverage comes from pattern recognition, not secrets.
Calm confidence signals understanding better than persuasion.
Test: Do I already know how this likely plays out?
7. Build Architecture, Not Just Representation
Modern talent doesn’t need someone to sell them they need systems that scale them.
The agent’s job is to professionalize success, not chase it.
Test: Am I helping build something that lasts beyond this moment?
8. Measure Power Differently
Real influence shows up in when people call you, not how visible you are.
Being the first call matters more than being credited.
Test: Do people come to me before decisions are made?
Bottom Line
The best agents don’t control outcomes.
They design incentives, shape paths, and make the right outcomes inevitable.
—————
Powerhouse traces the rise of CAA and explains how Michael Ovitz and Ron Meyer redefined what a talent agency could be. Instead of acting as transactional middlemen, they built an institution that aggregated talent, information, and leverage across Hollywood and later sports turning representation into a form of quiet power.
The book shows how CAA shifted the industry from star-by-star dealmaking to packaging, strategic alignment, and ecosystem control, reshaping incentives for studios, networks, and talent alike. In doing so, CAA not only dominated its era but also unintentionally laid the groundwork for its fiercest future competitor: WME-Endeavor.
At its core, Powerhouse is a study of how influence compounds when relationships, information, and incentives are designed as a system rather than managed piecemeal.
What Made Michael Ovitz So Special
Ovitz’s edge was not charisma or aggression it was systems thinking applied to people.
Key attributes:
• Total preparation: He obsessively gathered information before every interaction.
• Long-term orientation: He thought in careers, not contracts.
• Institution builder: He didn’t want to be powerful he wanted CAA to be inevitable.
Ovitz understood that the agent who knows everything doesn’t need to say much.
He also redefined trust. Talent trusted him not because he promised outcomes, but because he consistently reduced uncertainty. Studios listened because dealing with CAA simplified their own risk.
Ovitz’s real innovation was recognizing that control doesn’t require ownership it requires alignment.
The Shift: From WME to CAA and the “Young Turks” Era
CAA was born when Ovitz, Ron Meyer, and others left William Morris after realizing the old model was structurally limited:
• Individual agents competing internally
• Little incentive to share information
• Focus on commissions, not leverage
The founders felt they could do it better through:
• Team-based representation
• Shared incentives
• Packaging talent together to increase bargaining power
At CAA:
• Agents worked as a unit
• Information flowed horizontally
• The firm, not the individual, was the asset
The power wasn’t in the deal it was in the coordination.
This cultural break was the real revolution.
Creating the Monster: How WME-Endeavor Emerged
Ironically, CAA’s dominance inspired its future rival.
WME and Endeavor learned from CAA but pushed the model further:
• Vertical integration (representation + production + distribution)
• Aggressive acquisitions
• Willingness to use capital and balance sheets, not just relationships
Endeavor turned the agency model into a platform company, blending:
• Talent
• Content
• IP
• Live events
• Sports leagues
CAA proved agents could wield power.
Endeavor proved that power could be financialized.
Why Private Equity Loves This Business (Despite It Being People-Heavy)
At first glance, talent agencies look unattractive:
• Low margins
• High dependence on individuals
• Relationship risk
But PE sees something deeper.
1. Recurring, Diversified Cash Flows
Top agencies don’t rely on one client. They represent portfolios of talent, smoothing volatility.
2. Embedded Growth
As clients grow, agency revenue grows automatically. There’s no marginal sales cost.
3. Information Advantage
Agencies sit upstream of demand. They see trends before markets do.
4. Optionality
Agencies can expand into:
• Production
• IP ownership
• Sports franchises
• Media rights
• Brand partnerships
5. Control Without Capital Intensity
Unlike studios, agencies don’t fund projects they shape them.
Private equity isn’t betting on people it’s betting on the system that captures their upside.
Endeavor is the proof case: once the model is institutionalized, people risk decreases and platform value emerges.
Key takeaway:
• Influence scales when incentives are aligned
• Institutions outlast individuals even in talent driven industries
Michael Ovitz didn’t win because he was the best agent/business man.
He won because he designed a system where being inside it was the rational choice for everyone else.
February 6, 2023
Really entertaining and breezy book that could have used an editing job. Ironic, because one of the quotes in the book mentions, falsely in my opinion, that the film Casino was 45 minutes too long. This is unfortunate because shortly after the above quote, I noticed that another paragraph I was reading seemed to be very familiar. I flipped the book back a bit and confirmed that he had copied and pasted the same interview twice into the book. A more judicious editor would have excised that duplicate paragraph and probably found many more pages that could have been cut.
It was still worth reading just to show how normally intelligent people with decent people skills were able to accrue such power and then get utterly changed by it. Like these were people pulling in millions of dollars a year and still obsessed with personal slights and other things that really don't matter and therefore were really not able to enjoy any of these riches. There's a parable about human nature lurking within these covers and it would have been more potent if said covers were a bit closer together.
It was still worth reading just to show how normally intelligent people with decent people skills were able to accrue such power and then get utterly changed by it. Like these were people pulling in millions of dollars a year and still obsessed with personal slights and other things that really don't matter and therefore were really not able to enjoy any of these riches. There's a parable about human nature lurking within these covers and it would have been more potent if said covers were a bit closer together.
October 16, 2017
Up until 1995, this book is incredible. Amazing story, interesting people profiled, and a great look at how movies and packages used to come together. Then the new wave took over CAA, and it all got super muddy super quick. Where you really knew Mike Ovitz and his time at CAA, and the projects he made happen through his power, you got no sense of the 5 Young Turks who replaced him, and almost all the anecdotes stopped. But still a really fun read into a fascinating world.
July 22, 2018
From this take on show business, you can learn a lot about any business, and a lot about the culture entertainment shapes and is shaped by. Efforts are usually collaborative, incremental, and well-intentioned.
August 28, 2016
Enthralling history on CAA with loads of entertaining stories and anecdotes on Hollywood and the movie business. Loved.
August 9, 2025
“Teamwork makes the dream work.”
Three parts fascinating, two parts too long, and very “inside Hollywood” Powerhouse, by James Andrew Miller is the story of the Creative Artist’s Agency (CAA). Random thoughts:
Provenance: Library
Expectations: Born and raised in Los Angeles, I don’t really get into the celebrity-sighting thing, but I was interested to read about the guys who took on William Morris and created the best talent agency in the world.
The Story Constrained by the stodgy, traditional William Morris agency, five agents – including Michael Ovitz and Ron Meyer – break away to form CAA.
This is an oral history of the founding of CAA and the growth of the business as they became the largest talent agency in the world and Michael Ovitz became one of, if not the, most powerful people in Hollywood.
What it's really about: What set CAA apart from the other agencies on the road to success was the idea of teamwork. At William Morris, agents and their clients were siloed. If you were an actor, you dealt only with your agent. If you were a musician, you dealt only with yours. CAA flipped the script on that, which talent being represented by the agency, not necessarily a particular agent. This worked very well because it allowed CAA to create crossover opportunities for their clients. If you were a musician who wanted to get into film, you had a film agent at CAA who handled that part of the business for you, because that was their area of expertise.
This allowed CAA to also be more proactive in getting their clients work. Instead of waiting for a studio or a casting director to call and request a particular name, CAA could package their celebrities and go to the studios with some version of, “we’ve got this script, with Spielberg, Tom Cruise, and Nicole Kidman attached to it, what will you pay for it?”
This “one for all, all for one” attitude also helped when a project wasn’t right for a particular artist. Because everyone helped everyone else, an agent could say, “my person is committed to something else, but have you thought about this other actor?”
It’s hard to believe, but this attitude was unusual in the 80’s and 90’s and it gave CAA a leg up on the competition. At one point, the book argues, 90% of the biggest moneymakers in movies and television were represented by CAA.
Of note: There are a lot of great Hollywood gossip stories in the book. These two stood out as the cattiest.
Director Ivan Reitman: “Deborah Winger was just probably the worst person I’ve ever worked with in 40 years of making films with all kinds of stars and all kinds of actors.”
Jeffrey Katzenberg: “There is no question that Michael Ovitz is someone who consistently dealt in ways that were destructive, deceitful, and in bad faith.”
Picking Nits: Large parts of this book are very “inside Hollywood,” describing how deals are put together and how they are structured. As someone growing up in Los Angeles, I am familiar with the language and the terms, but it might be tough for some people to follow along with parts of it.
I think Miller could have used a better editor. At over 600 pages, the book is a behemoth but, more than that, he puts some recollections in places where they detract from the story he’s telling. It’s almost as if he said to himself, “I’ve got the cool thing that Tom Hanks said but I’ve got no where to put it. Oh well, let’s just put it here instead of cutting it.”
The last portion of the book is very dry. After the founders leave, a group of agents known as the “Young Turks” take over. At this point, the rest of the story is about mergers and private equity and deals between corporations, which was, honestly, kind of boring.
Recommendation: If you love entertainment and celebrities, and want to learn about the business of Hollywood, the first 2/3 of this book is great. The stories are fun and the telling is paced pretty well. After that, it reads more like case studies from a business class.
Three parts fascinating, two parts too long, and very “inside Hollywood” Powerhouse, by James Andrew Miller is the story of the Creative Artist’s Agency (CAA). Random thoughts:
Provenance: Library
Expectations: Born and raised in Los Angeles, I don’t really get into the celebrity-sighting thing, but I was interested to read about the guys who took on William Morris and created the best talent agency in the world.
The Story Constrained by the stodgy, traditional William Morris agency, five agents – including Michael Ovitz and Ron Meyer – break away to form CAA.
This is an oral history of the founding of CAA and the growth of the business as they became the largest talent agency in the world and Michael Ovitz became one of, if not the, most powerful people in Hollywood.
What it's really about: What set CAA apart from the other agencies on the road to success was the idea of teamwork. At William Morris, agents and their clients were siloed. If you were an actor, you dealt only with your agent. If you were a musician, you dealt only with yours. CAA flipped the script on that, which talent being represented by the agency, not necessarily a particular agent. This worked very well because it allowed CAA to create crossover opportunities for their clients. If you were a musician who wanted to get into film, you had a film agent at CAA who handled that part of the business for you, because that was their area of expertise.
This allowed CAA to also be more proactive in getting their clients work. Instead of waiting for a studio or a casting director to call and request a particular name, CAA could package their celebrities and go to the studios with some version of, “we’ve got this script, with Spielberg, Tom Cruise, and Nicole Kidman attached to it, what will you pay for it?”
This “one for all, all for one” attitude also helped when a project wasn’t right for a particular artist. Because everyone helped everyone else, an agent could say, “my person is committed to something else, but have you thought about this other actor?”
It’s hard to believe, but this attitude was unusual in the 80’s and 90’s and it gave CAA a leg up on the competition. At one point, the book argues, 90% of the biggest moneymakers in movies and television were represented by CAA.
Of note: There are a lot of great Hollywood gossip stories in the book. These two stood out as the cattiest.
Director Ivan Reitman: “Deborah Winger was just probably the worst person I’ve ever worked with in 40 years of making films with all kinds of stars and all kinds of actors.”
Jeffrey Katzenberg: “There is no question that Michael Ovitz is someone who consistently dealt in ways that were destructive, deceitful, and in bad faith.”
Picking Nits: Large parts of this book are very “inside Hollywood,” describing how deals are put together and how they are structured. As someone growing up in Los Angeles, I am familiar with the language and the terms, but it might be tough for some people to follow along with parts of it.
I think Miller could have used a better editor. At over 600 pages, the book is a behemoth but, more than that, he puts some recollections in places where they detract from the story he’s telling. It’s almost as if he said to himself, “I’ve got the cool thing that Tom Hanks said but I’ve got no where to put it. Oh well, let’s just put it here instead of cutting it.”
The last portion of the book is very dry. After the founders leave, a group of agents known as the “Young Turks” take over. At this point, the rest of the story is about mergers and private equity and deals between corporations, which was, honestly, kind of boring.
Recommendation: If you love entertainment and celebrities, and want to learn about the business of Hollywood, the first 2/3 of this book is great. The stories are fun and the telling is paced pretty well. After that, it reads more like case studies from a business class.
March 10, 2018
Powerhouse was a book that I found endlessly fascinating until it got to be 250 pages too long. Unfortunately, the CPA in me requires me to finish any book that I'm already 400 pages into, so I had to power through the post-Mike Ovitz/Ron Meyer era, which is basically the experience of reading about the history of a mildly interesting corporation and probably could have done without 90% of it.
That said, I could have read stories about Mike Ovitz and Ron Meyer all day long. While Ovitz was the leader/king/most powerful man in Hollywood, Meyer was my favorite and the guy that I'd want to have dinner with. Seems like I'd have to get in line as there were probably 15 people that were interviewed for this book that consider Ron Meyer their best friend. In addition, there wasn't one client that the author could find that would say a bad thing about him, he probably made a few hundred million dollars by the time it was all done (though there was a gambling habit that shaved that figure downward…nevertheless, I'm sure there are some interesting stories from that era), and it sounds like he had a pretty prolific dating life as it relates to actresses. "I guess you could say I left my wife because of [Ali Macgraw]" was a nice throwaway comment that found its way into the book. Ovitz seemed interesting in his own 'insatiable drive' kind of way. Although I suppose the world should be ever-indebted to the man who turned his personal Aikido instructor into Steven Seagal.
CAA as an organization was really interesting to read about as well. They seem to have been a pioneer in a lot of different ways, whether it be taking a collaborative approach to agenting, serving to "package" scripts with actors and directors to sell to the studios, or expanding into areas outside of film like ad campaigns and sports. CAA seems to have also been pioneering in having women in positions of power and being respected as professionals to a surprising extent in light of the Weinstein, et al. stories that have emerged about the toxic atmosphere within Hollywood. There were several stories of female agents quickly working their way up the ranks and several also made comments about how well they were treated at the agency, (if not necessarily with their clients within the industry). The other part that was consistently fun to read about was the way that agents are in the room and/or impacting what comes into our screen. To wit, Rambo would have died in the end if not for Ron Meyer and Sylvester Stallone. ER wouldn't have come about if an agent didn't sift through Michael Crichton's 20-year-old movie scripts. If it wasn't for CAA, Rain Man would have had an older brother instead of a younger brother and he wouldn't have been Tom Cruise.
As mentioned, the back half of the book really fell off. Part of it is that it became more standard in-house corporate gossip that's not very interesting, especially when you're not familiar with the players. The next generation of CAA leadership seems to mainly be steering the ship that was already built and lack the iconoclast personalities that drive these types of books (too bad Ari Emanuel had to jump to another agency). Finally, the end of the book really came as a surprise because we had just gotten finished reading about what an industry changing juggernaut CAA is and then the author slips in that William Morris is 5x the size of CAA? That question is going to be left unanswered for me as I think I've gotten my fill of the agency industry for the time being; happy to have learned about it and happy to move on to another topic.
That said, I could have read stories about Mike Ovitz and Ron Meyer all day long. While Ovitz was the leader/king/most powerful man in Hollywood, Meyer was my favorite and the guy that I'd want to have dinner with. Seems like I'd have to get in line as there were probably 15 people that were interviewed for this book that consider Ron Meyer their best friend. In addition, there wasn't one client that the author could find that would say a bad thing about him, he probably made a few hundred million dollars by the time it was all done (though there was a gambling habit that shaved that figure downward…nevertheless, I'm sure there are some interesting stories from that era), and it sounds like he had a pretty prolific dating life as it relates to actresses. "I guess you could say I left my wife because of [Ali Macgraw]" was a nice throwaway comment that found its way into the book. Ovitz seemed interesting in his own 'insatiable drive' kind of way. Although I suppose the world should be ever-indebted to the man who turned his personal Aikido instructor into Steven Seagal.
CAA as an organization was really interesting to read about as well. They seem to have been a pioneer in a lot of different ways, whether it be taking a collaborative approach to agenting, serving to "package" scripts with actors and directors to sell to the studios, or expanding into areas outside of film like ad campaigns and sports. CAA seems to have also been pioneering in having women in positions of power and being respected as professionals to a surprising extent in light of the Weinstein, et al. stories that have emerged about the toxic atmosphere within Hollywood. There were several stories of female agents quickly working their way up the ranks and several also made comments about how well they were treated at the agency, (if not necessarily with their clients within the industry). The other part that was consistently fun to read about was the way that agents are in the room and/or impacting what comes into our screen. To wit, Rambo would have died in the end if not for Ron Meyer and Sylvester Stallone. ER wouldn't have come about if an agent didn't sift through Michael Crichton's 20-year-old movie scripts. If it wasn't for CAA, Rain Man would have had an older brother instead of a younger brother and he wouldn't have been Tom Cruise.
As mentioned, the back half of the book really fell off. Part of it is that it became more standard in-house corporate gossip that's not very interesting, especially when you're not familiar with the players. The next generation of CAA leadership seems to mainly be steering the ship that was already built and lack the iconoclast personalities that drive these types of books (too bad Ari Emanuel had to jump to another agency). Finally, the end of the book really came as a surprise because we had just gotten finished reading about what an industry changing juggernaut CAA is and then the author slips in that William Morris is 5x the size of CAA? That question is going to be left unanswered for me as I think I've gotten my fill of the agency industry for the time being; happy to have learned about it and happy to move on to another topic.
September 1, 2017
I purchased this book at Skylight Books in LA because I wanted to read something about the city I was visiting and what is more LA than the lives and deaths of Hollywood talent agents?
An oral history of one talent agency to rule them all, CAA has a great business story, a mythology that has been polished over the years, something you can tell because towards the end when you get to present-day, the spin hasn't really taken off with its safe, boring public-facing statements that lack any resemblance to storytelling. CAA got its start when a couple of intrepid agents, sick of the bureaucracy obstructing innovation and risk-taking and the lack of collaborative culture at the traditional William Morris, set out to create their own talent agency. Michael Ovitz and Ron Meyer are the two main personalities of the agency as they transform how talent agencies do deals, whether that is landing new talent, booking them jobs or putting packages together for the studio.
There's plenty of office politics in the servants quarters too. It all seems so quaint - getting your start in the mailroom where you did insane tasks such as booking a same-day flight to France to convince talent to fly back on for a project that got the green light, agents having relationships with actresses, vanity plates for convertibles, dinner upon dinner upon dinner meetings. There is so much here about doing what it takes to make the deal; there are personal sacrifices in the long work days but also marvelous moments in doing what appears to be at first impossible. What I found inspiring was learning how some agents did not take no for an answer but found their own unique way to yes.
The talk of compensation among the agents was also pretty delicious to read.
How CAA revolutionized packaging actors, stories, writers, and directors together to a studio was superbly fascinating because it not only showed how open and supportive the team was in fitting the pieces together, but it also made their deals much more attractive to the studios/broadcasters. As CAA becomes more established with Ron and Michael in positions of influence and the Young Turks on the rise, Michael is exploring technology, marketing and even handling merger and acquisition consultation work through the agency. Ron is hanging out with actresses and does not like working with Michael. There was an interesting shift in the narrative when Ron takes Michael's studio position upon his CAA exit, and I'm not sure I truly believe what Michael or Ron say on the subject. On the flip side of CAA's secret formula (everyone shares news together, do not work in silos), there is balancing perspective on relieving the intimacy of the agent-talent relationship with some agents wanting to be the advocate for their talent rather than having the talent shuffled back and forth.
As we move into the mid-1990s when the Young Turks take over, I did begin to skim. The new leaders of CAA are pretty interchangeable and the focus on CAA Sports was not something that my brain could focus on because when I have to listen to sports, the part of my brain that makes meaning out of the sound of words shuts off.
Highly recommend this for people who need an airport read, and don't know too much about inner machinations of the Hollywood machine but would be interested to learn more.
An oral history of one talent agency to rule them all, CAA has a great business story, a mythology that has been polished over the years, something you can tell because towards the end when you get to present-day, the spin hasn't really taken off with its safe, boring public-facing statements that lack any resemblance to storytelling. CAA got its start when a couple of intrepid agents, sick of the bureaucracy obstructing innovation and risk-taking and the lack of collaborative culture at the traditional William Morris, set out to create their own talent agency. Michael Ovitz and Ron Meyer are the two main personalities of the agency as they transform how talent agencies do deals, whether that is landing new talent, booking them jobs or putting packages together for the studio.
There's plenty of office politics in the servants quarters too. It all seems so quaint - getting your start in the mailroom where you did insane tasks such as booking a same-day flight to France to convince talent to fly back on for a project that got the green light, agents having relationships with actresses, vanity plates for convertibles, dinner upon dinner upon dinner meetings. There is so much here about doing what it takes to make the deal; there are personal sacrifices in the long work days but also marvelous moments in doing what appears to be at first impossible. What I found inspiring was learning how some agents did not take no for an answer but found their own unique way to yes.
The talk of compensation among the agents was also pretty delicious to read.
How CAA revolutionized packaging actors, stories, writers, and directors together to a studio was superbly fascinating because it not only showed how open and supportive the team was in fitting the pieces together, but it also made their deals much more attractive to the studios/broadcasters. As CAA becomes more established with Ron and Michael in positions of influence and the Young Turks on the rise, Michael is exploring technology, marketing and even handling merger and acquisition consultation work through the agency. Ron is hanging out with actresses and does not like working with Michael. There was an interesting shift in the narrative when Ron takes Michael's studio position upon his CAA exit, and I'm not sure I truly believe what Michael or Ron say on the subject. On the flip side of CAA's secret formula (everyone shares news together, do not work in silos), there is balancing perspective on relieving the intimacy of the agent-talent relationship with some agents wanting to be the advocate for their talent rather than having the talent shuffled back and forth.
As we move into the mid-1990s when the Young Turks take over, I did begin to skim. The new leaders of CAA are pretty interchangeable and the focus on CAA Sports was not something that my brain could focus on because when I have to listen to sports, the part of my brain that makes meaning out of the sound of words shuts off.
Highly recommend this for people who need an airport read, and don't know too much about inner machinations of the Hollywood machine but would be interested to learn more.
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