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| Company type | Limited liability company |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1975; 50 years ago (1975) inBeverly Hills, California, U.S. |
| Founder | Michael Ovitz  |
| Headquarters | Century City,Los Angeles, California ,U.S. |
Key people | Bryan Lourd (Co-Chairman &CEO) Kevin Huvane (Co-Chairman) Richard Lovett (Co-Chairman) James Burtson (President) |
| Website | caa |
Creative Artists Agency, LLC (CAA) is an Americantalent andsports agency based inLos Angeles, California. With 1,800 employees in March 2016,[1] it is regarded as an influential company in the talent agency business and manages numerous clients.[2][3]
In September 2023, FrenchbillionaireFrançois-Henri Pinault completed the acquisition of a majority stake in CAA, in an agreement valued at 7 billion dollars.[4][5] The purchase was made through his investment company,Groupe Artémis.
Creative Artists Agency (CAA) was formed by five agents at theWilliam Morris Agency in 1975.[6] At a dinner,Michael Ovitz,Michael S. Rosenfeld,Ronald Meyer,Rowland Perkins, and William Haber decided to create their own agency. The agents were fired by William Morris before they could obtain financing.[7][8]
CAA wasincorporated in Delaware and had a $35,000 line of credit and a $21,000 bank loan and rented a small Century City office. Within a week, they sold agame show calledRhyme and Reason, theRich Little Show, andThe Jackson 5ive. An early plan was to form a medium-sized full-service agency, share proceeds equally, and do without nameplates on doors or formal titles or individual client lists, with guidelines like "be a team player" and "return phone calls promptly."
CAA used its writer clients to attract actors to the agency. Ovitz and CAA were the first topackage films like TV shows. Representing numerous A-list actors and having about $90 million in annual bookings in the late 1970s, Ovitz led the agency to expand into the film business.[7][8] By the mid-1990s, CAA had 550 employees, about 1,400 of Hollywood's top talent, and $150 million in revenue.[9] In the 1990s, CAA was owned mostly by several key agents, including Ovitz, Meyer, and Haber.[2]
Ovitz was good at "packaging talent for movies and TV projects" and negotiating large deals between Japanese conglomerates, such as Sony and Matsushita, with Hollywood studios, such as Columbia/TriStar and MCA.[10] Ovitz expanded the agency into advertising and telecommunications.[10] In 1992, theCoca-Cola Company placed CAA in charge of much of its marketing campaign, to work alongside advertising agencyMcCann Erickson.[11] In 1995, CAA was described as the industry's most powerful agency.[2]
In 1995, Ron Meyer was appointed as the head ofMCA,[2] and Ovitz left forDisney. After Ovitz and Meyer left, talent agentJay Moloney took over the company but struggled with a drug addiction and left the agency soon afterward.[12][13][14] After Ovitz, the agency was taken over by Richard Lovett, who was made the president, along with Kevin Huvane, Rob Light,Bryan Lourd,Rick Nicita, and David O'Connor as managing partners.[15]
In 1996, several CAA agents defected to rival agencyEndeavor, taking with them prominent directors and actors.[16] The partners founded theCAA Foundation in 1996 to create positive social change by encouragingvolunteerism, partnerships, and donations. In 2012, it worked withInsight Labs for education reform, and contributed to itsSchool Is Not School reform effort.[17]
CAA established CAA Marketing in 1998 to work with brands and clients for promotion purposes.[18][19] CAA Marketing developedChipotle'sBack to the Start video[20] and created a marketing campaign for the Coca-Cola Company.[6]
In 2003, it opened a New York City office to manage theater clients.[21][22] CAA began expanding into sports in 2006.[1][15] From 2005 to 2015, CAA developed greater fiscal discipline, with more emphasis on profits, possibly as the result of the influence of private equity firms.[23] During these years, CAA doubled in size, from 750 to 1,500 employees.[6] In 2010, new technological developments such as the digital distribution of movies put strains on the industry.[24] There was pressure to diversify into television, publishing, concerts, and find other ways to grow.[24] In that year, private equity firmTPG Capital invested $165 million with an additional $200 million in debt financing.[24]
CAA began an expansion into sports in 2006, under the leadership of CEO Richard Lovett.[1][15] A report inUSA Today suggested that CAA's development of its sports-related clientele was significant in 2007.[25] A report inNexus magazine in 2015 suggested that CAA was well-positioned to develop the E-Sports market.[26] CAA puts together deals for sports stars such as writing their clients into fitness apps.[27]
CAA's agents scrambled to deal with a strike by theScreen Actors Guild in 2008.[28] In 2010, TPG Capital gained a 35% interest in the agency and pledged $500 million for investments.[29] The transaction enabled acquisitions in areas such as sports and overseas operations.[30]
It later sold a controlling stake to TPG Capital in October 2014.[31] In 2015, TPG Capital was reported to own 53% of CAA.[26] CAA is co-owner with an investment bank.[1]
CAA has diversified into different businesses such as sports marketers and leagues and digital commerce.[6] In 2014, CAA has been undergoing a transformation from relying solely on booking talent, into engineering multimedia deals worldwide.[6] To this end, CAA established CAA Ventures, a venture capital fund that has supported products such as theWhisper app.[32]
TheWGA, which in 2019 held a dispute between the top four Hollywood talent agencies (William Morris Endeavor, Creative Artists Agency,United Talent Agency andICM Partners),[33] on September 30, 2020, asked CAA to sell a majority stake in their Content company wiip for reaching a deal,[34] with CAA accepting their divestment on December 16, 2020[35] and selling the majority of it to a South Korean studio,JTBC.[36]
In June 2022, nine months after it was announced that CAA would acquireICM Partners,[37] a deal valued at $750 million was reached between the agencies.[38] - following the acquisition, about 425 ICM staffers and agents were slated to join CAA.[39] In September 2023, French billionaireFrançois-Henri Pinault agreed to buy a majority stake.[40]
On January 20, 2025, former PresidentJoe Biden moved back toWilmington, Delaware, after his term ended.[41] He later signed with talent agency CAA to represent him in public engagements. CAA previously represented him from 2017 to 2020.[42][43]
In February 2025, former Vice President Kamala Harris signed with CAA for representation on speaking engagements and publishing.[44]
CAA has employed top sports agents such asTom Condon,Jeff Berry, andTory Dandy.[47][48]
CAA president Richard Lovett is known for shunning media attention and keeping a low profile.[1] Lovett took the job position at CAA in 1995, and he was described as a "skillful agent" with a "trademark ever-ready smile" adept at schmoozing and hobnobbing with colleagues and studio heads.[49] Lovett was described inThe Wall Street Journal as being "elegantly aggressive."[1]
Top agencies frequently raid each other's staff, and when key people defect to rivals, it makes news headlines and often leads to legal battles over breach-of-contract claims.[50] When agents defect, the rivalry can quickly devolve into vicious battles played out in courtrooms and in the media. When key CAA clientsWill Ferrell andChris Pratt defected to rivalUnited Talent Agency (UTA) in 2015, and were later followed by ten agents, it erupted into a full-frontal legal battle between the warring agencies.[51] In the lawsuit, CAA accused UTA of conducting a "lawless, midnight raid" as part of an "illegal and unethical conspiracy" with agents deliberately delaying meetings with clients to divert business to UTA.[51] In a bitter lawsuit and countersuit between CAA and UTA in 2015, which began after a slew of CAA's agents departed for UTA, there were accusations of fraud, malicious untruths, lying, and a range of charges including a "breach of duty of loyalty" as well as "conspiracy to breach fiduciary duty."[52]
Rivalry is not limited to rank-and-file agents, but can take the form of public barbs by company CEOs.[53] Grudges can last for years; for example, movie producerJay Weston sued CAA in 1979 about the rights to a film, and years later, it was revealed that Weston was "totally ostracized" by the agency. In effect, CAA would do the minimally required legal tasks of passing along required offers but otherwise staying uninvolved.[54]
Some agents have had a reputation in the public's mind of living in a world of "fast cars, rooftop bars and foul-mouthed, phone-throwing power brokers," according to an account in theLos Angeles Times.[23]
CAA agent Jay Moloney led a colorful yet self-destructive life. Moloney interned at CAA while studying atUSC, became the right-hand man of Michael Ovitz, worked with clients such asLeonardo DiCaprio and made millions, dated actresses such asJennifer Grey andGina Gershon, and "battled personal demons" and became a "slave to cocaine"; Moloney committed suicide at age 35.[55]
In 2004, the HBO production entitledEntourage was made about a fictional Hollywood agent named Ari Gold.[56] According to one report, the fictional Ari Gold character may have been based on a hybrid between an "even-keeled" Creative Artists Agency agent named Jeff Jacobs and an "abrasive 'go-for-the-jugular'" William Morris Endeavor agent namedAri Emanuel.[56] The report suggested that images like these may contribute to the public perception of agents as foul-mouthed and aggressive bullies.[56]
Perhaps because of its dominance in the industry, CAA agents have a reputation for being "coldhearted Hollywood power brokers," according to one report inThe Wall Street Journal.[6]
The agency has been accused of blacklisting people who did or said things that the agency did not want publicized; for example,Courtney Love said that she was "eternally banned" beginning 2005 by CAA after making a negative comment about Miramax producerHarvey Weinstein.[45] Uma Thurman left CAA on November 22, 2017, the day before making an Instagram post addressing accusations against Harvey Weinstein.[57]
With many clients, agents charge a percentage fee based on monies that their clients make; one estimate was that CAA charges 10% of what its movie and television clients are paid.[6]
CAA chiefs including Michael Ovitz, Ron Meyer and Bill Haber built the agency by packaging actors and directors with literary clients,[16] but the scope of deal-making has widened in recent decades. For example, CAA crafted a deal between toy-makerHasbro,DreamWorks andParamount Pictures, along with numerous CAA writers and directors, to make the movie franchiseTransformers.[15][58] Sometimes deal-making entails creating new technology firms.[1] CAA even manages deals with the estates of long-dead clients such as reggae musicianBob Marley, who died in 1981.[59] CAA helped one former politician create an online career institute.[60] CAA sold sponsorship rights for a baseball stadium in San Francisco.[6]
While talent agencies can grow by making acquisitions, CAA has generally grown organically by bringing in new clients.[6] The company divided its agents into two camps: traditional agents who manage the career tracks of 1,000 stars, and specialists ininvestment banking, consulting, advertising and digital media. The agency can use its more glamorous clients in film and TV to craft deals with steadier income streams; for example, using clients such asJulia Roberts, they can assemble marketing programs for less glamorous clients,[6] such asNationwide Insurance.[61]
When Hollywood agents change firms, and take stars and talent with them, it can have major financial repercussions for the departing agency,[16] and can lead to much confusion as lawyers pour over the fine print of numerous contracts.
To market themselves, talent agencies often cater exclusive parties following awards ceremonies such as theGolden Globes.[62] In 2013, CAA threw a party at theSundance Film Festival which caused embarrassment and a public relations backlash, where "guests mingled with lingerie-clad women pretending to snort prop cocaine, erotic dancers outfitted with sex toys and an Alice in Wonderland look-alike performing a simulated sex act on a man in a rabbit costume."[63]
In the late 1980s, CAA commissioned architectI. M. Pei to design a new headquarters building at the corner ofSanta Monica andWilshire Boulevards inBeverly Hills. The 75,000-square-foot (7,000 m2) building consists of two curved wings set around a centralatrium with askylight that rises into a conical glass tower.[64] The 57-foot (17 m) high atrium was designed as an art-filled formal reception hall with a 100-seat screening room and gourmet kitchen and displays a 27-foot (8.2 m) by 18-foot (5.5 m)mural byRoy Lichtenstein. The design usedfeng shui principles.[65]
In 2007, CAA relocated to a new building inCentury City, a district ofLos Angeles.[65] The new headquarters are sometimes referred to as "TheDeath Star" by entertainment professionals.[6] CAA has offices inLos Angeles,New York,Nashville,London,Beijing,Atlanta,Miami,Chicago,Memphis,Stockholm,Munich andSwitzerland.
In January 2022, CAA announced it would move its headquarters across the street from its existing office in 2026.[66]
CAA was formed in 1975 from defections from the William Morris Agency, and there continue to be about four or five major talent agencies.
In 2009, William Morris Agency and Endeavor merged to formEndeavor Holdings. As of 2015, CAA and Endeavour are the largest agencies in the business.[24][26] In 2014, Endeavour bought IMG Worldwide, a fashion and sports agency, for $2.4 billion.[6] In 2014, Endeavour had 4500 employees while CAA had 1500 employees.[6] Endeavour had a larger share of sports-related clients.[6] The rivalry can get cantankerous: in one instance, Endeavour placed dozens of ads around the city using CAA's red-and-white colour signature with the headline being CAAN'T, a "playful nod to the CAA acronym."[6][67] The agencies compete by "regularly poaching agents and clients from one another."[6]
In December 2017, there were reports that the agency was actively involved in coverups relating to abuse and harassment by disgraced Miramax executiveHarvey Weinstein.[68]Variety, citing a report inThe New York Times, reported that at least eight agents knew about the ongoing harassment yet continued to do business with Weinstein, and even sent actresses to meet with him in situations where they might have been vulnerable to his predations.[68][69] ActressUma Thurman accused the agency of being connected to Weinstein's predatory behavior.[70] In 2005,Courtney Love advised young actresses in an interview, "If Harvey Weinstein invites you to a private party in theFour Seasons, don't go."[71] Love later said that she was "banned" by CAA for speaking out about Weinstein.[72]
In October 2023, Maha Dakhil resigned from the agency's internal board after making comments on social media critical of Israel during theGaza war. The post read, "You're currently learning who supportsgenocide," and she added her own caption: "That's the line for me."[73] This was in reference to the CAA making a statement in support of Israel in an Instagram post.[74]
...Few people in Hollywood have been as powerful for as long as Richard Lovett, and few of them have kept so low a profile. ....
...Hollywood is still reeling from the surprise appointment of Ron Meyer, the president of Creative Artists Agency, as head of MCA, after his partner Michael Ovitz turned down the job....
Within the entertainment industry, the glass-and-steel headquarters of Creative Artists Agency LLC is called the "Death Star," a reference to its occupants' reputation as coldhearted Hollywood power brokers.
...Mid-1980s to present ... Michael Ovitz ... perfecting the art of packaging talent for movies and TV projects ... negotiating mega-deals ... into the uncharted waters of advertising and telecommunications.
... Coca-Cola Co. has turned over sizable responsibility for its 1993 marketing campaign to Hollywood's Creative Artists Agency ... CAA may ultimately wield more creative clout over that marketing plan than McCann....
... Creative Artists Agency, Hollywood's pre-eminent talent representative, ... "Transformers" ... brought a lesson in the cold-hearted ways of corporate entertainment ... a scant month before the picture's release ... Hasbro decided to jettison Creative Artists and jump to the rival William Morris, ...
... Hollywood agents ... financial ramifications for the company left behind because agents often walk out the door with many of their highly paid clients....
...Hollywood's talent agencies have long had a reputation ... fast cars, rooftop bars and foul-mouthed, phone-throwing power brokers who will stop at nothing — and spare no expense — to advance their clients' interests.....
... The new environment leaves Hollywood's four top agencies facing a marketplace unlike any other in history, causing some—like ICM—to diversify its businesses by expanding its representation services further into television, publishing, and the concert arena.
... talent agencies are critical to the future of sports and digital entertainment ... broker for information and opportunities....
...Creative Artists Agency ... fitness app....
...Talent agents love the glory as much as anyone but generally prefer to keep the spotlight on their clients. ...
... Tom Condon ... arguably the NFL's most powerful agent, evidenced by his A-list of clients...
... When Richard Lovett took over the top job at Creative Artists Agency in 1995, ... skillful agent....
...Creative Artists Agency suffered a major blow this week with the defection of at least 10 agents ... start of a long-term legal battle... sue on breach-of-contract claims ....
...United Talent Agency ... stealing movie star clients like Will Ferrell and Chris Pratt from the powerful Creative Artists Agency... full-scale fight... filed suit ... for recruiting 10 of its agents in what it called a "lawless, midnight raid." ... accuses United Talent and two defectors of organizing an "illegal and unethical conspiracy"....
...United Talent Agency is seeking a dramatic rewrite ... with UTA declaring CAA's accusations of fraud and malice untruths ...
...Ari Emanuel, co-CEO of William Morris Endeavor, said his rival CAA is "still stuck in the '90s" ...
...a CAA grudge ... can last for years. ... Jay Weston ... made the mistake of suing the agency in 1979 over a film rights dispute ... totally ostracized ...
Vol. 52 No. 22 ... Jay Moloney ... crowned the boy wonder of Hollywood agents ... dated actresses Jennifer Grey and Gina Gershon ... slave to cocaine...
...the real attention-getter, at least in the power precincts of Hollywood, may be the caustic portrayal of the young star's agent, Ari Gold...
...Bob Marley died ... has attracted new deals with Creative Artists Agency and giant music merchandising company Bravado. ...
...Steve Poizner ... online university at UCLA, in partnership with Hollywood talent agency Creative Artists agency....
...A-list actress Julia Roberts does not appear in the insurer's new ads, but she serves as the voice-over for the campaign, called "Join the Nation."...
...The pair were spotted ... at the Creative Artists Agency's Golden Globes afterparty...
... Sundance Film Festival ... bash thrown by Hollywood's powerful Creative Artists Agency on Sunday night took festival revelry in an unexpectedly bawdy direction....
... the subject of a derisive advertising blitz by rival William Morris Endeavor ... Dozens of ads ... featured the word 'CAAN'T' in Creative Artists Agency's signature red-and-white color scheme ...
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