Creative Artists Agency
Creative Artists Agency LLC (CAA) is an American talent and sports agency based in Los Angeles, California. With more than 3,000 employees in 25 countries worldwide in June 2022,[1] CAA is regarded as an influential company in the talent agency business, and manages numerous clients.[2][3]
Company type
1975 in Beverly Hills, California, U.S.
- Michael Ovitz, Michael S. Rosenfeld
- Ronald Meyer
- Rowland Perkins
- William Haber
- Bryan Lourd (Co-chairman & CEO)
- Kevin Huvane (Co-chairman)
- Richard Lovett (Co-chairman)
- James Burtson (president)
Groupe Artémis (2023–present)
In September 2023, French billionaire François-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.
Industry information[edit]
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-maker Hasbro and DreamWorks and Paramount Pictures, along with numerous CAA writers and directors, to make the movie franchise Transformers.[15][56] Sometimes deal-making entails creating new technology firms.[23] CAA even manages deals with the estates of long-dead clients such as reggae musician Bob Marley, who died in 1981.[57] CAA helped one former politician create an online career institute.[58] 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 in investment 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 as Julia Roberts, they can assemble marketing programs for less glamorous clients,[6] such as Nationwide Insurance.[59]
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 the Golden Globes.[60] In 2013, CAA threw a party at the Sundance 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."[61]
Buildings[edit]
In the late 1980s, CAA commissioned architect I. M. Pei to design a new headquarters building at the corner of Santa Monica and Wilshire Boulevards in Beverly Hills. The 75,000-square-foot (7,000 m2) building consists of two curved wings set around a central atrium with a skylight that rises into a conical glass tower.[62] 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 by Roy Lichtenstein. The design used feng shui principles.[63]
In 2007, CAA relocated to a new building in Century City, a district of Los Angeles.[63] The new headquarters are sometimes referred to as "The Death Star" by entertainment professionals.[6] CAA has offices in Los Angeles, New York, Nashville, London, Beijing, Atlanta, Miami, Chicago, Memphis, Stockholm, Munich and Switzerland.
In January 2022, CAA announced it would move its headquarters across the street from its existing office in 2026.[64]
Competition[edit]
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 form William Morris Endeavor (WME). As of 2015, CAA and WME are the largest agencies in the business.[25][27] In 2014, WME bought IMG Worldwide, a fashion and sports agency, for $2.4 billion.[6] In 2014, WME had 4500 employees while CAA had 1500 employees.[6] WME had a larger share of sports-related clients.[6] The rivalry can get cantankerous: in one instance, the William Morris Endeavor agency placed dozens of ads around the city using Creative Artists Agency's red-and-white color signature with the headline being CAAN'T, a "playful nod to the CAA acronym."[6][65] The agencies compete by "regularly poaching agents and clients from one another."[6]
Controversies[edit]
In December 2017, there were reports that the agency was actively involved in coverups relating to abuse and harassment by disgraced Miramax executive Harvey Weinstein.[66] Variety, citing a report in The 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.[66][67] Actress Uma Thurman accused the agency of being connected to Weinstein's predatory behavior.[68] In 2005, Courtney Love advised young actresses in an interview, "If Harvey Weinstein invites you to a private party in the Four Seasons, don't go."[69] Love later said that she was "banned" by CAA for speaking out about Weinstein.[70] In 2023, Julia Ormond filed a lawsuit against CAA, accusing them of negligence after numerous women were sexually assaulted by Weinstein. [71]