Episode · a16z Podcast · 2018-09-25
Books mentioned on a16z Podcast: New Upstarts in an Old Industry
with Michael Ovitz (@michaelovitz), Ben Horowitz (@bhorowitz), and Hanne Tidnam (@omnivorousread) When Michael Ovitz co-founded the Hollywood talent agency Creative Artists Agency (CAA), he turned a number of the entertainment industry's well-entrenched traditions on their head.
Hanne Tidnam discussed Who is Michael Ovitz? by Michael Ovitz.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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Who is Michael Ovitz?
Who is Michael Ovitz? by Michael Ovitz is a compelling memoir by the legendary Hollywood superagent detailing the rise of Creative Artists Agency and the mechanics of the entertainment industry.
Discussed“you talk about some of the key principles kind of in a little offhand way one of them was always plot out the tired end point there was another moment in the book where you talked about the importance of reading body language during negotiations”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (2) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
Plugged Who is Michael Ovitz?
“Michael has published a new book just out called who is Michael Ovitz”
Passing Jurassic Park
“The good news is we’ve got Cathy Kennedy, Steven Spielberg, and Michael Crichton with a detailed book that’s going to be a best-seller about dinosaurs, and we've got a screenplay and it’s going to cost this much money. Well, we own it, and you don’t. Now take those six to eight other studios that don’t get that phone call—they're not”