Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 1596 Game of Thrones

"Non-compete agreement? You actually asked me to sign this? Have you forgotten that I founded CAA?"

Ovitz returned to Los Angeles, and many young partners including Richard, Niceta, Kevin Huwen, etc. took out an agreement and asked him to sign it.

This agreement is actually not the traditional non-compete agreement that prohibits former employees from joining the agency industry for a certain number of years. This is because the top Hollywood lawyers hired by Richard and his team suggested that such an agreement would not be easy to establish in court.

America has traditionally been a place that encourages freedom and innovation and hopes that people with entrepreneurial spirit will grow up in a wild environment and then solve legal problems in the process of growing up when they grow up.

Therefore, although there are legal precedents for non-compete agreements, they are usually subject to strict scrutiny by judges, and without sufficient grounds, they are likely to be declared invalid by a judge.

This time, the Young Turks group, except for a few who followed Ovitz to Disney, united to discuss and pass the agreement.

The main content of this agreement is to prohibit three aspects. The first is that Ovitz cannot disclose CAA's trade secrets, whether to Disney or to other companies that he may work for in the future.

This is easy to understand. The trade secrets of the agency involve the personal privacy of many clients and some insider knowledge that CAA relies on to maintain its relationship with the studios. If Ovitz wants to set up a new agency, or let his subordinates set up a company that he can remotely control, these secrets can be used to threaten current CAA clients to switch to his new company.

The second point is fiduciary responsibility. As a founding partner of CAA, Ovitz cannot actively and deliberately poach CAA's clients or deliberately interfere with the cooperation agreement between CAA and its clients.

This is also easy to understand. Ovitz went to Disney to take a top management position. No matter what he did in that position, it would be easy to influence the choices of CAA's star clients. If he hinted or made it clear that star clients would get roles in Disney's big movie projects if they switched to a new company, it would be difficult for CAA's young people to resist such an offensive.

The third and most crucial point is that the liability for breach of contract and the burden of proof for the first two points all belong to Ovitz, not the young partners of CAA. Compared with a top manager of Disney, the partners of the agency are no match in terms of the resources they can mobilize.

"Of course not. This is an insurance we bought for ourselves, Mr. Ovitz." Richard stepped forward on behalf of all the young people and negotiated the terms with Ovitz.

"Richard, I didn't expect you to stand up at this time..." Ovitz couldn't help but smile bitterly and shook his head. Of all the young people he had high hopes for, only the "honest man" Richard Levitt was not afraid in the face of his intimidation and was able to come out and face him...

I almost didn't keep this trainee agent back then, but when he faced injustice, he dared to speak up for himself. On the contrary, those young people who regarded me as a role model in life did not dare to stand up at such a big scene at a critical moment...

"Of course, we have no doubt about your love for CAA, but you should not doubt our love for it, which is as strong as yours. Therefore, in order to protect the CAA brand, we have no choice but to ask you to sign this document. Business is business, but this goes beyond business. This is the belief of us young partners and the most precious legacy you left to CAA... None of us would want to destroy it, including you..."

Ovitz began to shake his head again. Who could have thought that Richard's sales ability was so outstanding? This sentence was not only spoken to himself, but also to all the young partners present. If he did not agree, it would be tantamount to violating the values ​​he had been preaching in the company for 20 years - customers first, company second, and individuals third...

Not only will my dignity be lost in front of these people after I leave CAA, but if I need to ask them for some care or priority for Disney's projects in the future, I will be rejected - if you don't take CAA seriously, there is no need for us to do anything for you, let's just do our job impartially.

"Jay, where is Jay Moloney? Did you kick him out of CAA?" Ovitz thought about it and decided that the person in CAA whose working style was most like his own was Jay Moloney, a somewhat dull young man.

At that time, he could rush into my office and ask to see the account book without caring about anything, which shows that he is impulsive and easily provoked. Later, I scared him away with just one sentence, which shows that he is very afraid of my accumulated power. Now let him jump out and say something good for me. Such a young man is also easily manipulated by words.

"Are you going to fire him just because he doesn't agree with you?" Ovitz looked at Richard. This move was meant to attack the heart of the company and also the other partners present. Does Richard really represent the interests of all the young partners? If he joins forces with you and starts to fight against those who are different, aren't you afraid that you will become like the five founders of CAA who were squeezed out early?

"It seems I have taught you well, Richard."

Ovitz continued to sow discord with his words. It's never a bad thing to leave yourself a way out. Besides, those important celebrity clients can just be invited by you when you open a management company in the future. You are so afraid of me that you want to add this clause, it's nothing more than fear of this.

"Of course not, Jay Moloney just doesn't want to see you and deliberately didn't come." Richard smiled. Jay Moloney was a very emotional person. After the last conflict with Ovitz, he felt that he was afraid of the other party. It was embarrassing to escape from the battlefield. This time he didn't want to come and confront Ovitz face to face.

Fortunately, when Jay Moloney took leave, Richard was in a meeting with his partners and the phone was on speakerphone, so everyone could hear it clearly.

Richard's words also saved Jay Moloney's face. Otherwise, if he said he was afraid to face Ovitz, he would not be able to face anyone in the company. For a while, everyone thought that Richard was a good candidate for their leader.

"Are you here to talk to me about this on behalf of all the partners of CAA?" Ovitz's plan failed, so he came up with another one. Although Richard was a good person, Ovitz knew exactly what the agent was thinking.

Given his great contribution to building CAA, if he had been appointed CEO a few years ago, the useless Ron Mayer would have been very jealous. If Richard Levitt had become the successor CEO, how would these young Turks view him now?
"Hey..." Richard was a little speechless. Ovitz's way of controlling people was just like this. At this point in time, the old model of a strong person leading the overall situation and others working under his wings had come to an end.

Even if Ovitz had not reduced his time investment in CAA business in recent years because he wanted to change jobs, their market share would have declined.

Low-budget movies in Hollywood are almost extinct, and a large number of medium-sized studios have closed down, leaving only the Big Seven with global financing capabilities to support the production of some large productions. The film production of Hollywood as a whole has been declining for four or five consecutive years.

There is a large lack of small and medium-budget films, and new actors and directors are unable to get work, and the business of the agency is also declining. In the early 1980s, Richard, Niceta and others could pick up Tom Cruise and Ronald Lee on the streets of New York, but now it is difficult to do so.

However, CAA's most direct competitor, William Morris Entertainment, accurately captured an industry opportunity. When the screenwriters' strike in the late 1980s and early 1990s caused a shortage of TV scripts, they slightly adjusted their business focus to the reality shows that were forced out.

Various real-life human shows and documentary-like programs, such as CBS's ER documentary show, Fox's reality police show, and MTV's real-world show, bring in advertising revenue that is no less than that of celebrity TV dramas.

Moreover, since most of the actors are amateurs, they are at a disadvantage in terms of income demands and negotiations with agents, so much so that a large part of William Morris' performance growth comes from their taking the lead and occupying most of the contracted actors for reality shows.

The emergence of various independently produced films and pan-Atlantic films led by Europe has also gradually made the original business model in which Ovitz alone handles the big studios and the agents below share the star pay commissions in the package plan become dull.

Most agents understand the current market situation, which has reached a stage of leaderlessness. Everyone is under the roof of CAA, and only by helping each other can they increase their income, rather than competing with each other to sabotage Ovitz's "favor."

Therefore, in order to adapt to this new competitive situation on the one hand, and to avoid the friction caused by jealousy on the other hand, Richard, Niceta, Kevin Huwen and others proposed a plan to take turns to serve as rotating CEO.

Because of the frequent cooperation between stars and directors, agents at CAA are divided into different factions, such as the original Jewish directors group, Ronald, Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks, and the more detached group such as Spielberg.

Everyone took turns to be CEO on the premise of helping each other. Although this was a little less efficient, it took into account the balance of interests of all parties and immediately won the support of everyone. And most importantly, it prevented people like Richard from becoming the next Ovitz by taking advantage of the CEO position.

After all, it was only after Ovitz got Sean Connery and Sidney Pollack that his fortune grew and he went from being an equal partner with 20% to the de facto boss of CAA.

"We actually..." Richard was about to explain that our system has become different after you, Ovitz, left.

"Richard, Michael..." At this time, Niceta interrupted what he wanted to say. There was no need to talk too much about irrelevant things with a boss who had already left. The less he knew about the new CAA, the better it would be for the new CAA.

"It's not that complicated. This is a contract that any agent has to sign after resigning from CAA. You just take over the shares, just like Ron Meyer, who has already signed his share."

Niceta was more experienced and saw that Ovitz just didn't want to lose face in front of the young man, and also wanted to get some information and plant some thorns. He didn't know the answer, and if he guessed, it would only increase Ovitz's anxiety.

Sure enough, after hearing that Ron Mayer had signed a similar agreement, Ovitz couldn't help himself. He and Mayer joined Universal and Disney one after another, and both needed to sign a share sale agreement with CAA so that the new company could hold a press conference for them to officially announce the joining of the two second-in-commands.

Now that Mayer has signed, he can hold a press conference right away. If he wants to overwhelm him in terms of momentum, he has to hold a press conference as well. This way, the two former partners of CAA have a comparison.

The position at Universal was only vice president, while the position at Disney was president and COO. Mayer also had to report to Bronfman Jr., while he himself reported directly to the board of directors.

As long as the press conferences they hold are close enough, such as today and tomorrow, then the news media will "normally" compare them in the news.

If it had been delayed for a few more days, Mayer would have monopolized the news in Hollywood and Wall Street for several days. At that time, all kinds of analysis and in-depth discussions would be added to Ron Mayer alone, giving him several days of exclusive news coverage.

This is unbearable for someone like Ovitz who started out as an agent. He is very familiar with such infighting when stars are exposed to participate in big movie projects.

"Now, sign the contract, Michael...from now on we will have to call you Mr. President of Disney." Niceta smiled and unscrewed the cap of her pen, then handed it to Ovitz, her persuasive look like the old woman who tricked the princess into eating the poisoned apple in Disney's classic animation Snow White.

"Who cares..." Ovitz still couldn't resist the urge to steal the spotlight, so he took the pen and signed the contract. This contract had been reviewed by lawyers from both sides, and the specific areas that might cause disputes were the non-compete clauses that Ovitz focused on bargaining today.

These small places are indeed not as important as becoming the president and COO of Disney one day earlier. After all, after moving to a bigger stage, the CAA agent business is just a memory of the past and some convenience.

……

"Ha, Michael, you're here. Here, this is the press release about you joining Disney. Take a look..."

Ovitz had already signed with Disney and was preparing to appear at a press conference. Just as Eisner was returning from vacation, Ovitz went to his newly purchased $4000 million mansion in Bel Air.

Eisner's gift to him was this press release, which would be published in the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Wall Street Journal immediately after Universal announced Mayer's employment.

Ovitz read it once and felt very satisfied. Eisner still respected him very much and would only send the manuscript to major media after he had read it and nodded his approval.

"Come on, let's go to the restaurant and open a bottle of champagne to celebrate your joining." Eisner was very enthusiastic and took Ovitz to the restaurant of his mansion. This was the former residence of the president of MGM. After Eisner bought it, he began a large-scale renovation. This restaurant can be said to be a combination of tradition and modernity, and it is very luxurious.

As soon as they arrived at the restaurant, Eisner went to get champagne, leaving Ovitz alone at the table. While waiting bored, Ovitz noticed that two more people had walked into the restaurant: Disney's Chief Financial Officer Stephen Bollenbach and General Counsel Sandy Litvak.

"Hello, my name is Stephen Bollenbach, and I'm here to tell you that I don't report to you." Stephen Bollenbach went straight to the point.

Ovitz's outstretched hand quickly retracted as if it had touched hot food. What does it mean that you don't report to me? He looked back over the shoulders of the two bastards, but Eisner's figure had not yet emerged.

"What does this mean? Just because I'm here, you won't keep your promise?" Ovitz was furious. My goodness, I just signed a non-compete agreement, and now I can't go back. Isn't this a dilemma?