Who Is Michael Ovitz?

A Memoir

By: Michael Ovitz

Narrated by: Dennis Boutsikaris

Length: 11 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's summary

Random House presents the audiobook edition of Who Is Michael Ovitz? by Michael Ovits, read by Dennis Boutsikaris.

If you're going to listen to one audiobook about Hollywood, this is the one.

As co-founder of Creative Artists Agency (CAA), Michael Ovitz earned a reputation for ruthless negotiation, brilliant strategy and fierce loyalty to his clients. He reinvented the role of the agent and helped shape the careers of hundreds of A-list stars and directors, including Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Meryl Streep, Sean Connery, Steven Seagal, Bill Murray, Robin Williams and David Letterman.

But this personal history is much more than celebrity friendships and bare-knuckled deal-making. It's an underdog's story: how did a kid with no connections work his way into the William Morris mailroom, and become the most powerful person in Hollywood? How did a superagent also become a power in producing, advertising, mergers & acquisitions and modern art? And what were the personal consequences of all those deals?

After decades of near-silence in the face of intense controversy, Michael Ovitz is finally telling his whole story in this blistering, unforgettable memoir.

©2018 Michael Ovitz (P)2018 Random House Audiobooks

The fascinating metamorphosis of Michael Ovitz

This is such excellent creative genius. A story of a continuous re-make, learning, fighting, creating. A never say die attitude, and a well narrated story. A deep dive into the world of agenting.

Interesting to the last minute

One expects it when you start reading the book so it shouldn’t come as a surprise but does...the shear volume of name-dropping can overwhelm but it is a very interesting read from a phenomenally charismatic man. I’d recommend reading it as there are more than a few lessons to be learnt.

excellent

I loved this book. Beautifully narrated with a spectacular story about going from nothing to top of the entertainment industry and then some...

Startup story with too many characters

It's a good story of how CAA built its big empire, but the book could have been edited so much better. For someone who claims have been instrumental in packaging huge blockbuster films because they know what works, this book is surprisingly poorly written.

First problem you'll encounter is that the tremendous amount of name dropping. It's just impossible to keep up. There are probably 100+ people named through the book! Second, the author just seemed to want to brag about the Hollywood stories and wrote the story of CAA is just secondary. Don't get me wrong, the stories are great, especially those who relate to the starts of the 80s, 90s and early 2000s. The book could have been so much more though. Also, what do the chapters names have to do with the actual words written in the chapter??

Narration is good, stories are somewhat good but it's difficult to make head or sense of stories since you can't keep up with the characters.