Powerhouse

The Untold Story of Hollywood's Creative Artists Agency

By: James Andrew Miller

Narrated by: James Andrew Miller, Kirby Heyborne, Ann Richardson

An astonishing—and astonishingly entertaining—behind-the-curtain history of Hollywood’s transformation over the past five decades as seen through the agency at the heart of it all, from the #1 bestselling co-author of Live from New York and Those Guys Have All the Fun.

In 1975, five young employees of a sclerotic William Morris agency left to start their own, strikingly innovative talent agency. In the years to come, Creative Artists Agency would vault from its origins in a tiny office on the last block of Beverly Hills to become the largest, most imperial, groundbreaking, and star-studded agency Hollywood has ever seen—a company whose tentacles now spread throughout the world of movies, music, television, technology, advertising, sports, and investment banking far more than previously imagined.

Powerhouse is the fascinating, no-holds-barred saga of that hot-blooded ascent. Drawing on unprecedented and exclusive access to the men and women who built and battled CAA, as well as financial information never before made public, acclaimed author James Andrew Miller spins a tale of boundless ambition, ruthless egomania, ceaseless empire building, drugs, sex, greed, and personal betrayal. Powerhouse is also a story of prophetic brilliance, magnificent artistry, singular genius, entrepreneurial courage, strategic daring, foxhole brotherhood, and how one firm utterly transformed the entertainment business. Here are the real Star Wars—complete with a Death Star—told through the voices of those who were actually there. Packed with scores of stars from movies, television, music, and sports, as well as a tremendously compelling cast of agents, studio executives, network chiefs, league commissioners, hedge fund managers, tech CEOs, and media tycoons, Powerhouse is itself a Hollywood blockbuster of the most spectacular sort.

Solid Story, Questionable Voice Work

Here's the good: excellent insight into the business of Hollywood, TV and broadcast sports. You won't come away with a ton of hard business skills from this book other than be nice to people and value relationships over everything, but I found great value in the telling of CAA's early years led by their founders. In short, the origins of the CAA story is about the American Dream, friendship (or lack thereof) and hustle. I appreciated the multiple voice actors as well. The interviews are consistently candid in the first 3/4 of the book. Here's the bad: the last 3rd of the book could be chopped off. It's essentially a long form advertisement for their advisory services and sports arm. The voice acting is robotic and needs more variety. I love JAM but he is not a terribly gifted voice over actor. Oddly enough I would have appreciated more editorial commentary or 3rd party data to properly verify aspects of this story.

Epic. The history of CAA

An epic telling of the CAA story not told by Michael Ovitz. It zooms right along as it entertains, informs and educates. A big negative is one of the narrators needs to really work on his enunciation.

Good info..bad structure

Some cool stories and behind the scenes info on Hollywood agencies and the players. Slow structure with tons of short quotes from pieces of interviews and very repetitive.

This. Was. AMAZING.

What a remarkable book. I couldn't stop listening--in the car, while eating, in the shower. A fascinating look at the rise of CAA. Of power, business, the entrepreneurial spirit, and human psychology. Where you're interested in entertainment, film, TV, acting, or business this is a must read/listen.

Some of the audiobook was off from the hard copy

Some of the audiobook was off from the hard copy but it didn’t take away too much from my experience.