Who Is Michael Ovitz? (2018) is Hollywood super-agent Michael Ovitz’s no-holds-barred autobiography, spilling the gritty, behind-the-scenes truths of power plays, fame, and influence at the top of the entertainment industry.

Exec Summary

• Learn to read people and character
• If you want great friends, you must be a great friend yourself
• Don’t expect gratitude in life
• Keep business and friendship divided

Video Review

FULL SUMMARY

About the Author:
Michael Steven Ovitz co-founded Creative Artists Agency in 1975, which went on to become the most successful talent agency in Hollywood.
Ovitz later served as president of The Walt Disney Company for only 16 months in what he considered to be a trap.

Display Power, To Never Use It

Couldn’t agree more:

I taught our agents to reach for the club every day, but to never—or almost never—pick it up. Power is only power until you exert it. It’s all perception.

However, the author made the mistake of:

1. Using that power in the negative, value-taking, or even threat
2. Embodying that negative power

So he became the Grinch to many of his customers (and friends).

But don’t be the bearer of threats -use power in the positive, or let someone else threaten-

Later the author says or implies his mistake was to embody that club.
Right after that line, he says:

I was that club.
The most persuasive point our agents could make to a stubborn exec was “I don’t have the authority to close the deal at that number, so you’ll have to talk to Michael.” (…) he knew I’d ask for even more (…)
(…)
And once I left CAA, when it became safe for everyone to vent, I became the most hated.

The author let his partner be the “good guy”:

Ron Meyer, my partner and closest friend, was standing ten feet away. Ron was the soul of CAA, to hear everyone tell it, and I was the ass-soul.

Become Who You Need To Become To Achieve The Goal

Says the author:

My clients played characters on-screen; I played them offscreen.
Ninety-nine out of a hundred people, their act is who they are. But anomalies like me manufacture their characters from bits and pieces of those they’re with. I was a chameleon, becoming whomever I needed to be to make everyone comfortable and close the deal.

And he adds:

My basic character was buttoned-up, omniscient, wise, loyal, indomitable.
But I could be a sports car aficionado with Paul Newman just as easily as I could discuss fiscal policy with Felix Rohatyn, the banker, or dive into the specifications of the Walkman with Akio Morita, the head of Sony. So to those I worked with I was a control freak. A shape-shifting machine. A Terminator.

But the private Ovitz was more like this:

Yet the private me, the one only my closest friends saw, was ultrasensitive to every slight and constantly concerned about threats from every direction.

“Ultra sensitive to slights” tells you a lot about someone’s character and his relationship with power.

Be Like The People You Want To Be Close To

Paul ordered four dozen littleneck clams and began scarfing them down. He loved eating clams, talking about clams, exploring every nook and cranny of the vast and fascinating culture of clams.

I happen to hate clams. But if Paul Newman loved clams, then I loved clams. In full chameleon mode, I mimed tossing some back and then slurping up the liquor, the liquid residue in the shell—when in fact I was dumping the whole mess beneath the table.

An hour later, after a good chat, we shook hands and parted. I raced to the nearest deli and got myself a nice, safe tuna salad sandwich.

Strive For Total Control, But Never Need Total Control

Says the author:

I felt you could never be too paranoid, because our competitors were out to get us and our clients were weak and easily wooed.
Though my ruling desire was for complete control, I often felt at their mercy. I had little knowledge of what went on in their homes, production offices, and dressing rooms, but I hated the rumors I occasionally heard.

I believe a better attitude is to strive for that same level of control and power in the sense of you do the best you can.
But then to be OK with whatever happens, strong on the knowledge you’ve done your best, and that was your main job.

This attitude is stronger and more resilient because it mixes the best of both worlds: maximum effectiveness, with better mental health and a superior quality of life.

Give Back, Express Your Gratitude: It Means A Lot To People

Ovitz deep down wanted human recognition and emotional validation.

But he never got it.
And, I suspect, it’s also why he took it so personally when who he thoughts were his friends, turned out not to be friends.

He says:

Part of the reason I let the rumors slide is that I had a powerful need to take care of my clients; I thought of them as a very large, very fractious family.
(…)
So, for the most part, I gave, and people took. (…) It’s a thankless business, but you can’t say that. You’re getting paid, and that’s your thank-you.

It’s debatable that you gave and others took when you became a powerful multimillionaire.
But it’s understandable if you look at it from the point of view of a man who wanted human recognition.

And later, how grateful he is for a grateful man::

He cleared his throat. “I have something I wanted to tell you,” he said. “Um . . . I was in a bad place, and you’re helping me get to a good place. You’re really saving my life.” He went on in that sweet, generous vein for three or four minutes, a long time for such a reserved guy.
I was stunned. After saying good-bye, I sat alone for a while. In my twenty-five years as an agent, through thousands of transactions, I had never heard so much heartfelt sincerity and gratitude. This—this—was what I had always secretly hoped the business would be like.

If that worked with a more Machiavellian guy, imagine how well it works with most people.
That’s why you want to learn how to bond and connect with people.

See here:

• How develop deep human connections

Never fire your future competition. Keep them close instead

The author and a few friends started as employees in the showbusiness.

They wanted to start their own business, and that was going be in competition with their original employer.
Once that surfaced, it got them in trouble with their employer.

However, their employer made a mistake.
He could have “pardoned” them and let them stay. Or he could have fired them, and accelerated the start of its fiercest competitor.
That’s exactly what he did, and paid the price:

We were officially fired that day, but Sam wanted to see me
(…)
he’d given me my first break and treated me with respect. Had he told me that he was hurt and that he wanted me to stay, there’s a very good chance I’d have backed down and asked Ron to do the same. I felt no obligation to Bill and Mike and Rowland. If Sam had played it smart, he might have broken up the whole thing before it started.
Instead, he fixed me with an arrogant stare and said, “You’ve really screwed yourself this time.

Share Your Extra Shares With Your Bro, Or You’ll Lose Him

Ovitz negotiated more shares for himself:

I said that if I didn’t get more than the 16.67 percent that each of the six partners owned, I’d have to consider other options.
I knew Ron wouldn’t want to jeopardize what we’d built. He often acted as my agent with the others (…) so I was confident he’d deliver on my ask. And, indeed (…) they took the obvious point that I had clearly become the firm’s leader.
Professionally, mission accomplished. Emotionally, though, I had just hit the self-destruct button

Ovitz then says how he should have handled it:

I never suggested to Ron that his stake also be increased—I wasn’t emotionally aware enough to realize that he’d feel slighted if I moved up and he didn’t.
(…)
What I should have done for Ron was give him some of my own allocation of shares, and then figure out how to handle Bill. To really be his blood brother, I should have behaved as his agent.

MORE WISDOM

Assess people with a first quick glance

As I shook Dave’s hand, I did a rapid scan. I always scanned people head to toe. Was their hair dyed, did they wear a wig, did the elements of their outfits match? Were they clean-shaven? (This was before the scruffy look pervaded the business.) Someone with hair curling out of his ears or dirty fingernails wasn’t someone I wanted to cultivate. If a guy walked in with a huge gold chain and gold watch, he’d better be a hip-hop artist. Otherwise, he was announcing his insecurity.

But don’t make it too easy to read you.
Says the author commenting on David Letterman:

One reason I became so determined to help Dave was that he reminded me of myself. Of course, he was more trusting than I was, easier to read, and much, much funnier.

Secure your clients by telling them in advance of the poaching attempts

Walking him to his car, I said, “There will be times when you’ll want to jump ship.
Lots of people have a grudge against me and will do anything to work with you. They’ll say we’re destroying you—they’ll try to put a wedge between us. If you think they could get to you, don’t take this step.”
I always tried to instill the negative in advance, inoculating my clients against the worst things our competitors and buyers would say about us. It was like vaccinating them against the flu.

Analyze your losses to win at life, develop relationships and make friends:

As a ninth-grader at Portola Junior High, I got clobbered in an election for class historian.
Losing this extremely insignificant contest depressed me for months. I could have accepted my shortcomings as a politician and folded my tent. Instead, vowing never to feel so humiliated again, I analyzed the loss and realized that I had no constituency. I needed to expand my relationships beyond the nerds who haunted the library and the ne’er-do-wells who snuck into RKO.

Again, it tells you a lot about someone’s character that such a small thing struck such a deep chord with him.

Predatory men have always existed in the showbusiness

I was repulsed when I learned the methods of one of our agents: he’d sign aspiring actresses just to screw them, then toss the contracts.

Pick a persona that fits you, that you can easily embody

Believe it or not, in those days I was affable and considerate, with never a bad word about anyone. But you need to pick a persona you can inhabit without strain, and I knew I’d do better as the opposite of Ron—as the all-business tough guy who’d protect you. I could see that that’s what the biggest stars and directors wanted. So my persona became the “I’ll make your dreams come true” guy, mixed with the “I’ll fix your problems” guy. Ron was the good cop and I was the bad. 

Make your closing process personable

Ovitz describes his “signing machinery”:

Let’s say you were a promising screenwriter and I met you at a dinner at Morton’s. I’d call you the next day for a quick chat—not about wanting to represent you, but about the virtues of your work (which three of our literary agents would have briefed me on).
I’d casually toss in the names of a few well-known actors and directors who’d be a perfect fit with your sensibility.
Ninety-nine percent of the time, you’d want to talk some more, and I’d suggest lunch or a drink.
There we’d talk further about your work and your hopes and dreams. The killer move, as you got up from the table or were handing your parking ticket to the valet, was to say, “Why don’t you come in and meet our crew?”
A few days later, when you drove in, one of our parking concierges (who’d been given a photo of you) would open your car door, greet you with a big smile, and say, “Mr./Ms. X, great to see you. Really hope you join the family!” or “Hope you have a great meeting!” (They switched up the patter to keep from going stale.)
An assistant would escort you to the conference room, where five to ten poised, well-dressed agents would be waiting. They’d already have had a premeeting to script the ideas we’d be presenting
….

In a culture of truth… Let of go social power dynamics and dominance

A funny quote:

John brought two of his senior engineers to the meeting, and they began picking the code and the technology apart, asking nasty and insinuating questions. 
Accustomed to protecting my directors when studio execs got rough, I finally stood and told my guys, “They can’t talk to you like this! We’re going.” The engineers stared at me and said, “What are you talking about? It’s totally fine.”
I sat back down; eBay ended up buying the tech. And as we walked out, John Donahoe put his arm around me and said, “You’ve just learned something very important about the Valley. There are no manners here, just brain challenges. It’s about getting to the truth of the idea any way you can.”

Practical Techniques

Some interesting life-hacks and techniques isolated from the book:

Stay as long as the big boss in the office

I planted myself at a cubicle where he could not help but notice me, spreading out my files so he’d see them. A week later, around nine p.m., came the call I’d been waiting for.
“Can you do me a favor?” Sam said. It was just a clerical task, but we were the only two people in the building, and he sure wasn’t going to do it.
My play was totally calculated and manipulative. I’m sure Sam knew exactly what I was doing. He also knew that calculation and manipulation are prerequisites for the job. So three months after starting at William Morris, I became Sam Weisbord’s guy.

Turn the conversation on them

I sat up straight, I was sympathetic, and I focused intensely on you, always turning the conversation away from myself. As I discovered by seeing my persona reflected in the eager eyes of my clients, that focus drew them in. And the contrast between the relaxed demeanor and the humming engine underneath, which people felt subconsciously, was comforting if you were on my side of the table, and curiously alarming if you were across from me. It suggested untapped power.

And later in the book:

I came to the campus to interview Martin Scorsese about creativity, and afterward, at a table with the school’s trustees, I did what I always do—asked questions of everyone, getting them talking about themselves so they’d give me a clue or two that would enable me to pretend I knew of them, even if I hadn’t the faintest idea who they were. Kim, who was at my table, watched these exchanges carefully. Afterward, she told me, “That was a great lesson—how you made everyone feel comfortable and important, while you were learning everything you needed.”

Control your employees with love

Absolute genius, marrying caring, with business success and nudging people to be at their best:

I viewed our people as my children, and for the first ten years I’d call every employee who didn’t show up at work to make sure they were okay and to see if they needed anything, from chicken soup to a good divorce lawyer.
I did it out of concern, but I also wanted them to know I was keeping a watchful eye. Our idea was to make everyone feel that our building was a comfort zone—and to balance that with a little anxiety should they step outside the building.

Chase the prospect in action, but deny the chase verbally

A lot of agents preyed on people’s anxiety and desperation, pitching themselves as a golden ticket: “You can’t make it without me!” To me, that went against the grain of human nature.
If a potential client was reluctant, I’d say, “You should take all the time you need. No pressure.” And by “no pressure,” I meant, “No pressure until the next time I’m in touch, which may be in an hour.” I tried to avoid coming across as a nudge, while making myself ubiquitous and inexorable. The smarter clients could see what I was doing, see how it worked, but it worked nonetheless because everyone wants to be wanted

Look omniscient with claims that nobody can verify

Another move I developed, almost unconsciously, was ground shifting.

If someone on the other side of the table very confidently asserted a number that was confidential or that was plausibly in dispute—the budget of a rival studio’s competing film, for instance—I would instantly say “It’s higher” or “It’s lower,” depending on which served our interests.

That assertion would throw the other guy off balance, and suggest that I knew everything (…) At the very least, it would give me a gauge of how solid their information was, and how confident they were. If they fired right back with “No, you’re absolutely wrong,” I’d just say, “That’s not what I’m hearing from the highest levels,” or something equally ominous, then change the topic.

Hide your ownership, say you’re borrowing it

… So people won’t bug you to use it.

One of Ron’s complaints was that I didn’t let him use it enough, and he was right.
But the last thing I wanted was for CAA to become Warner Bros., which ran a wasteful fleet of five planes, and I knew that if anyone but Ron and me realized we had a plane, they’d all want to hop on it.
So when I booked it for any of our other agents to fly to a set for an emergency, I always said that it was Sydney’s plane, and that he was just letting us borrow it. The Young Turks were furious, later, when they found out about it. But I always felt it was none of their business.

You can also use this technique if you’re worried someone may sue you.

Lessons Learned

The main lessons learned for a high-quality life:

Don’t teach others to be fake & expect “True Friendship”

Look at this sentence.

I could sense the reason for Ovitz’s failed friendships in just these short lines:

I always told our agents, “Make your clients think they’re your friends—but remember that they’re not.” Yet it would be my clients who’d stay loyal, for the most part, and my friends who’d betray me.

How do you expect your friends to be loyal, if your communication is 100% cynical?
And, as we shall see, if also your behavior is Machiavellian and, at best, “strictly business first”.

Read characters for who they are, not for what you wish

The author seemed to be great at reading people… As long as they weren’t close to him.

Then he’d let his preference, his ideals of brotherhood, and his personal liking get in the way of good judgment.

Let’s see some examples:

Ron the best friend

Look at what Ovitz says about his (supposedly) best friend:

Ron wanted Bill’s shares, and he wanted him gone.
(…)
Bill never had an inkling of Ron’s animus. I was amazed at how well Ron hid his true feelings from someone he saw every day.

Obviously, Ron is a guy who keeps his true feeling not just guarded, but inscrutable.
Why would you think he’d never do the same with you, the guy with the most power over him, and the guy who more than anyone else impacts his financial income?

Another huge sign is that Ron had a gambling problem, but never shared it despite the close friendship -or what the author thought was a close friendship-:

One morning in 1987, Ron came into my office, shut the door, and said, “I’ve got a problem.”
(…)
“I lost a lot of money in a poker game, and I can’t pay up.”
I was shocked, but I said, “Okay, we’ll take care of it.” I figured it was a hundred thousand dollars or so. “How much?”
“Over five million.”
As I strove to underreact, Ron told me he’d been going to Vegas several times a week
(…)
I was unable to process this.

If a close friend kept that away from me, I wouldn’t consider him close anymore.

And that wasn’t even the only time it happened.
It happened once again after, with an even bigger sum:

For the next year and a half, Ron and I worked harder and more closely than ever. Then one morning, he closed my door, took a seat, and looked at me with a funereal expression. “You’re not going to believe this,” he said, “but . . .” Another poker game, an even bigger loss: $6.5 million.
I felt like he’d smashed me with a baseball bat. Who was this man?

Jay Maloney the star employee

Later, talking about Jay Maloney who’d later also betray him, he says:

When he told me he’d graduated from USC, I gave him $10,000 to buy some suits so he could work for us as an agent. It turned out he hadn’t quite graduated from USC, but minor details like that didn’t trouble him.

To me, this is a failure to properly assess a character who’d just proven to you to be a consummate liar.
Plus, he pocketed your money with that lie.
Huge red flag.

Little later he says about Maloney:

 He was constantly using my name with clients, saying I’d said things that I hadn’t, pushing, overreaching. Almost every day I heard something about him that annoyed me, momentarily, before I let it go, because I, too, was nothing if not an overreacher, and because manipulating people was a big part of the job. If he was agenting me, then it meant he could become a great agent. I held him to a lower standard than anyone else—and I dearly wish I hadn’t.

I feel Ovitz liked Maloney because it reminded him of himself.
And Maloney became very close to him and even his family, spending much time at Ovitz’s place.

That liking, closeness, and mentor/mentee relationship blinded Ovitz to the truth.

Watch the small signs: they signal bigger issues

Talking about his closest business partner and friend Ron Meyer:

Ron used to introduce himself as my keeper, my agent—half in jest, but with a buried, wounded sense that he was born to be a number two.

Jokes are often signals of deeper motives.
And in hindsight at least, Ovitz notices that Ron resented being his number two.

If you can see that and interpret that, you can then do something about it.
Including something to improve your relationship into a more genuine and win-win one.

Treat your friends… Like friends if you want them as friends

After the first poker loss, the author says:

I don’t know where he got the rest of the money, but he eventually paid our loan back. I put my concerns to rest, happy to sweep it all under the rug. And I never did tell him, “Hey, I’m worried about you. What’s going on, and what can I do to help?”

He correctly identifies the issue here.
It seems like his friend hand a gambling addiction. A good friend must address it and ask about it.
It seems like Ovitz didn’t even care if he could survive financially -he says he doesn’t even know how he get the rest of the money-.

Don’t put a leash on your friend and don’t expect resentment

Remember that Ovitz got more shares, but gave none extra to Ron.

After Ron’s gambling issues, they put him on a tight allowance:

Bob said, “All we can do is try to control his spending—cancel his credit cards, put him on an allowance.”
We budgeted Ron enough to sustain his standard of living and not penalize his children, but no more. (…)
But he did not strain visibly against our leash. He said, “You guys are right, I screwed up, I’m going to fix this.”

It’s good he said that, he’s being a professional.
But “professional” doesn’t make for “good friends”.

If you’re in a similar situation, you can at least expect that the person you put on a leash doesn’t see you as a great ally and “friend”.

The author also seems to almost appreciate the hiding of the feelings, instead of expecting better:

I wish he’d fought with me about it so we could have gotten to the bottom of it. Instead Ron did what he did best. He handled me.

Maybe you can say he handled you.
But one could also say that it’s fake cowardice to never speak up.

Don’t fight your former friends. It only gets worse

Orvitz, Ron and the other later fall out.

No fallout starts well, but you can certainly make it worse.
The author, probably reeling from the pain of rejection, made it worse.

I even feel the book glosses over this part, and it may have been worse than it shows.
For example, the author ends up buying the house Ron wanted to buy, which feels a terrible spiteful move.

But there is a happy ending.
Many years later, they meet for a public chat.
They both admit to their mistakes, Ron owns up that he should have spoken up about his resentment -yes he should have-.
And the author says:

What we were both finally realizing, onstage, was that we’d each unwittingly sacrificed our relationship in order to save CAA—whereas if we’d just focused on making sure we were both happy, CAA would have done even better.

Keep a few good, close friends (outside of work)

… Especially if you’re calculative, strategic, and Machiavellian.

I believe the author made the mistake of:

1. Mixing friendships with cut-throat business
2. Expecting friendships while not being a great friend himself
3. Picking the wrong people as close friends

And then he came emotionally undone once he realized he had no good friend.
I believe that especially more Machiavellian people need good friends they can be genuine with. It helps you maintain your humanity and your “goodness”.

More info in the video review 📽️

QUOTES

On keeping business and friendship apart:

I’d always thought it was vital to mix business and friendship. I was learning, painfully, that it was better to keep those realms far apart. Business always gets personal.

On insincere flattery:

I’m glad you’re involved,” he said heartily, which was probably untrue.
There’s nothing sincere in entertainment: every call has at least one agenda, and usually two or three. Insincere flattery was actually more flattering than sincere flattery, because it was a tacit acknowledgment that I had power and had to be propitiated. But understanding that dynamic did make it hard to trust anyone.

Insecurity and ambition are a powerful cocktail:

I always felt one step inferior to the people around me, and one step superior. I wasn’t as creative or cultured as they were, but I was a lot smarter and more hardworking than most of them. Insecurity and ambition make a powerful cocktail

On always looking like you work harder than you do:

We worked insanely hard, but we fostered the illusion of working impossibly hard. I believed momentum was everything—once a company relaxed, it was done for.

On business manipulation and pretending you’re all the same:

The lack of hierarchy was a myth, of course, a management tool. Nothing happened that Ron and Bill and I didn’t want to have happen. We were democratic dictators.

On being the mysterious puppeteer instead of the famous frontman:

Mystique is ten times better than publicity; it’s much better to be thought of as the great and powerful Oz than to be revealed as merely another schemer behind a curtain.

CONS

I only have on thing:

• The intervention leaves us wishing for more details

the author talks about an “intervention” was sort of cornered into at a dinner. His reaction is very telling and he says that “I spent my life solving other people’s problems and steering the conversation away from myself. But that night I was trapped.”

However, that intervention seemed to be very useful.
BUT.. He doesn’t share the content. I wish he did.

REVIEW

Who Is Michael Ovitz? is a fascinating read on a professionally uber-successful Machiavellian man.

The book is a page-turner, and what I appreciate most is the opportunity to learn about the limitations of over-Machiavellianism.

I got this book from David Senra’s podcast “Founders”.
David didn’t like the book, and quoted this passage to justify his :

After being a chameleon all day at work, it took me an hour or so to figure out who the fuck I was when I got home. 

But that’s exactly why I wanted to get that book.
And exactly why I liked it.

I have a very different take.
Why rejecting that one unique guy who speaks honestly, instead of writing a fake PR autobiography?

Senra is awesome, but sometimes I feel he may be too naive in believing that the biographies and autobiographies he shares are reliable accounts of characters and events.

Ovitz instead gifted us with the real deal of what goes beyond the upper echelons of the entertainment business -and business success in general-.

Check:

• Best books to read,
• best dark triad books

Or get this book on Amazon.

Michael Ovitz Book Summary: 10 Tactis to Dominate Hollywood

Who Is Michael Ovitz? (2018) is Hollywood super-agent Michael Ovitz's no-holds-barred autobiography, spilling the gritty, behind-the-scenes truths of power plays, fame, and influence at the top of the entertainment industry.

URL: https://thepowermoves.com/who-is-michael-ovitz-book-summary-review/

Author: Lucio Buffalmano

Editor's Rating:
4.9