Michael Ovitz, co-founder of the Creative Artists Agency, arrives at the Sun Valley Resort in Idaho for the annual Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference in July.
Drew Angerer/Getty Images
The co-founder of Creative Artists Agency helped shift Hollywood's balance of power.
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You may not know the name Michael Ovitz, but you almost certainly know his work. For years, he was one of the most powerful people in Hollywood, the deal-making talent agent behind “Jurassic Park,” “Ghostbusters,” “Tootsie,” “Rain Man” and “Schindler’s List,” to name a few. Creative Artists Agency, the talent agency he co-founded and ran for two decades, represents Hollywood A-listers like Meryl Streep, George Clooney and Tom Hanks. Ovitz tells us how the practice of “packaging” talent together helped shift Hollywood’s balance of power from studios to artists and their agents. He also reflects on how the industry has changed and Hollywood’s #MeToo reckoning.
