Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 1588 More Painful Than Divorce
Ron Mayer actually only said one sentence on the phone, which made Ovitz go crazy.

That line was, "Guess what? I met with Edgar Jr., and there's a change of plans. He wants me to run Universal MCA, and I think I'll take it."

For a long time, Ovitz didn't know what to say, just silent into the phone receiver. Normally, when Ovitz loses his temper, such as when a star rejects his proposal, or a major studio denies his production plan, or when the movie he promotes does not win an award, he will vent his anger in the office first, and then make realistic plans to move forward.

Usually at this time, it was Ron Mayer, whom Ovitz called the best second-in-command in Hollywood, who would accompany him through the psychological crisis, listen to his complaints, and then remind him at the most appropriate time that he had to continue working.

But this time it was different. The source of the crisis was that Ron Mayer abandoned him and accepted Bronfman Jr.'s offer to go to Universal MCA as the next No. 2. The top CEO was someone no one expected: Frank Biondi, who Bronfman Jr. had poached from Viacom's Redstone.

In Hollywood's listed companies, the logic of personnel appointments does not change just because it is in the entertainment industry.

Ovitz's biggest shortcoming, which he did not expect, is that he lacks a proven track record of managing a large studio. Even if everyone in Hollywood recognizes his production ability, on Wall Street, if you have never done similar work, you are a potential risk.

Ron Meyer perfectly inherited all of Ovitz's strengths and avoided all of his weaknesses. Judging from his resume, those box office hits led by CAA, all the successful projects marked with Ovitz's mark, also have Ron Meyer's mark.

What Mayer was looking for was not a CEO, but a deputy in charge of production matters who would report to the CEO. In this way, his lack of experience, like Ovitz, would no longer be a disadvantage.

A change of position makes the original disadvantage become the biggest advantage. Since you have no experience as a CEO, you will not feel unbalanced by being a deputy. After working in this position for a few years, if you have achieved results, you can take over the position of CEO as a deputy who is familiar with the business.

However, Ovitz was one of the top salesmen in Hollywood after all. After he took a new glass with trembling hands, poured a glass of whiskey and drank it in one gulp, he gradually regained control of his body that was shaking with shock.

"Cough cough..."

After trying it out and feeling that he could speak in a relatively normal voice without breaking his voice, Ovitz quickly adjusted his mood and began what might be the most important sales speech of his career to Ron Mayer.

"Ron, you are the most important person to me. All my successes have been with you by my side. I can't imagine a job without you. I can't..."

When he was emotional, Ovitz even had a tearful tone. He was like a husband who was caught cheating on his wife, pitifully recalling the good times when they were in love, hoping that his wife would consider their past relationship and not divorce him and take away half of his property.

"How dare you say that?"

Unexpectedly, Ron Meyer, who always appeared to be a good-natured person in front of Ovitz, suddenly exploded after hearing this.

He began to loudly denounce the many unfair things Ovitz had done to him in the past, such as not asking for more treatment and a better position for him in front of the Bronfman family, suppressing his influence within CAA, and only caring about taking the shares for himself when several other partners withdrew, without considering that Ron Mayer was also a founding partner.

What made Mayer most angry was money and power. Ovitz grabbed the majority of the shares, and as a result, every time dividends were distributed, Ron Mayer felt that he was deprived of the share he deserved for his hard work and could only get less than 20%...

When the five founders started CAA, everyone was equal, and there was no hierarchy. Everyone's business card was headed by "partner". But in 1990, when Ovitz was looking for advertising for Fortune companies, he used the excuse that he needed a proper headline to deal with big companies and named himself CEO.

Although Ron Mayer was dissatisfied, he had no choice but to accept Ovitz's strong equity. In the end, he was given the position of president. But the bitterness in his heart was never resolved. Ron Mayer now became the president who had to report to the CEO. The originally equal partnership relationship was deliberately turned into a superior-subordinate relationship by Ovitz.

Ron Meyer became angrier and angrier as he talked, and even his voice on the phone began to sound strange, as if the famous good man of CAA had turned into a nagging woman complaining about her cheating husband.

"You think you are indispensable. You want to leave the negotiations with Universal MCA for such excessive treatment. Have you ever considered my feelings? Every time you negotiate with Bronfman Jr., you say me, me, me. Have you ever said anything about Ron?

Was going to Universal a decision you made alone? Was it only about you and me? At every Christmas party and Oscar ceremony, you talked to the stars and treated me as your deputy...

Michael, I'm telling you, my days as your deputy are over, I'm going to strike out on my own now, it's time to let the world see what Mayer looks like without Ovitz..."

"You..." Ovitz almost gasped when he heard this. How come this was similar to what he had seen many celebrity wives say when they wanted to divorce them?

Ovitz felt that he had suffered the highest level of betrayal and was very panicked. The consequence of not having Ron Mayer to work with him was that the road to Warner Bros. would become very narrow and that door would be closed.

Ovitz himself understands that these big studios have a similar distrust of him, that is, Ovitz has never really managed a big studio. Although everyone knows that his packaging strategy actually contributed to many movies, he is also equivalent to an invisible producer. Even Dustin Hoffman thanked him individually in his Oscar acceptance speech.

But who knows what problems Ovitz might encounter in a big studio? At this time, he needs a deputy he trusts to help him control the production business so that he can concentrate on the political struggle within the studio.

From the beginning, Ovitz and Ron Meyer were a duo, just like Peter Guber and Jon Peters who went to Sony Columbia. They were two outsiders who came in and worked closely together to calm the weird things in the studio.

Columbia's performance was not good at the time, and Guber had to lay off Peters to keep his position. Not long after, Guber himself was forced to resign.

Now that Ron Mayer has gone to Universal alone, Ovitz's competitiveness in other studios has plummeted. He no longer has the reassuring appeal of the previous duo.

Ovitz lowered his attitude and begged Ron Mayer to come back and form a duo with him again. But Mayer had already got a job at Universal MCA, so it was futile to reject Bronfman Jr. and come back to team up with Ovitz to fight for the illusory opportunity at Warner Bros.

But Ovitz is not an ordinary person. He could do anything for his clients back then. He also took out the skill of playing the victim, which he had learned in the early days of his business, from the depths of his pocket. Ovitz begged Mayer on the phone for two hours.

But things are different now. Ron Mayer knows all of Ovitz's tricks, and nothing he says can help.

Ovitz saw his hope was extinguished bit by bit, so he had to take out his trump card. "Ron, don't forget that it was me who helped you get out of jail when you got into trouble with your gambling debts. For my help..."

"If you want to threaten me with this..." Ron Meyer didn't expect Ovitz to be so shameless, threatening to expose his huge gambling debts and ruin his new job. "Don't forget that we were like brothers for 20 years. I know as much about the skeletons in your closet as you know about mine..."

"No, I will never do that. I just beg you to change your mind." Ovitz regretted what he said as soon as he said it. Mayer also knew what he had done.

"That's impossible. I advise you not to do anything out of line. Think carefully about whether there are any new job opportunities. Here's a free piece of news for you: Disney's Eisner is also looking for someone."

Ovitz hung up the phone helplessly. He had known for a long time that Eisner was looking for someone. Eisner had called him several times to invite him over.

But is Eisner an easy boss to get along with?
Many years ago, Eisner's friend, John Angelo, CEO of the Baltimore Orioles baseball team, told Ovitz that Eisner was good at everything except sharing it with others.

Just a year ago, Ovitz was one of the first few people to be told by Eisner that he had ruthlessly laid off his hard-working and meritorious younger brother Katzenberg.

But now that things have come to this, maybe it’s time to consider Disney as a way out. After all, when he was at CAA, Ovitz had helped Eisner many times and became his closest friend. He should be immune to Eisner’s morbid suspicion.

……

The news that Ron Meyer kicked Ovitz did not remain secret for long. The next day, the partners of CAA began discussing the details of this "divorce".

Many people are puzzled. Why did Mayer and Ovitz, who are like the mother and father of CAA, suddenly fall out?

However, the news has been confirmed by many related partners. While everyone is shocked, they also begin to consider what impact this will have on themselves.

One obvious impact is that Ovitz found that his authority was greatly weakened. He was originally a tyrant, yelling at his subordinates at every turn within CAA, and many young agents regarded him as the most terrifying person.

They would rather face picky celebrity clients and very difficult-to-persuade studio executives than face Ovitz's anger. Sometimes Ovitz deliberately drives these agents to keep calling to promote their stars - if you are afraid of facing rejection from studio executives, then try facing Ovitz...

Usually, at such times, the one who came out to ease the tension was Ron Mayer. Everyone generally had a better relationship with Mayer and was willing to talk to him about things and then ask him to pass on the message to Ovitz.

Now that Mayer has left, these young Turks have no way to communicate with Ovitz.

Although Ovitz tried very hard to build good relationships with these young partners, he painfully discovered that their attitude toward him was getting worse.

This also means he has one less card in his hand. If he cannot go to Universal and continue to work as CEO of CAA, he will have to face a group of young partners who are ready to rebel and are eyeing him.

Who could have imagined that at such a critical moment when he was charging on the front line, Meyer, the person he trusted the most and took the most care of, suddenly stabbed him in the back from behind.

But no matter what, life and work must go on. With a heart full of resentment of betrayal, Ovitz packed his bags and took a private plane with his wife to Sun Valley, Idaho, to attend the Allen & Co. Sun Valley Conference held by Herbert Allen there.

Sun Valley is a famous holiday resort in America. It is one of the most upscale ski resorts in winter and has many golf activities in summer. Herbert Allen is the head of Allen & Co., an investment bank on Wall Street. This small boutique investment bank focuses on the media industry and usually provides consulting advice to industry leaders.

The Sun Valley Conference is a high-end conference that is purely invitation-based, where bigwigs discuss things that are not convenient to discuss at ordinary times. Bigwigs from Wall Street, the media industry, and Hollywood are all invited by him, and recently new IT industry upstarts have been added.

Arriving at Sun Valley, the weather and sunshine were as good as in previous years, but Ovitz's heart was unusually cold. As soon as he arrived at the golf course, he saw Ron Meyer and Edgar Bronfman Jr. were also there.

The two of them were talking and laughing, and Ron Meyer's smile was the same as the one he had in front of him before. Originally, it was his own, but he didn't expect that Meyer's attitude over the years was all fake!
When Ovitz thought that the person who was chatting and laughing with Bronfman Jr. could have been him, he felt a little regretful and very angry. He regretted that he might have been too careless and was backstabbed, and he was also angry why the Bronfman family did not agree to his conditions and finalize the matter earlier, so that Mayer and I would not have the chance to be sentenced.

No wonder my celebrity clients are so miserable when they get divorced. It turns out that it’s not just a loss of money, but also the pain of being betrayed.

Thinking of this, Ovitz clenched his fists, opened his eyes wide, and glared at the two people who were flirting there.

"Yo, you okay, Michael."

Suddenly, a familiar voice came. Ovitz also realized his mistake and turned around to say thank you, but he didn't expect that it was against the light. He saw a tall figure slowly approaching in the bright sunshine, which made his eyes feel very painful.

Finally, Ovitz, with his eyes narrowed, saw the person clearly, and he felt so angry that he felt uncomfortable again.

"I, I'm fine. I'm fine, Ronald."