3min chapter

#676: David Maisel of Marvel Studios Fame — Never-Before-Heard Tales of Hollywood Dealmaking, The Art of Aiming Big, Lessons from Power Broker Michael Ovitz, Combining Business Smarts with Street Smarts, The Making (and Importance) of Iron Man, Selling to Disney for $4 Billion, and Much More

The Tim Ferriss Show

notes

CHAPTER

How to Secure a Distribution Deal

Avi Rod: In 2003, 2004, 2005, Marvel wasn't the marvel it is today. It was a very different world. We wanted great terms, but nobody really believed in these properties. And so we showed them that they were the last money. They put up the last 150 million. So the film only had to do a percentage of X-Men for them to at least get their money back.

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David Maisel (@maiseldavid) is the founder of Mythos Studios and the former founding chairman of Marvel Studios. In 2003, David pitched Marvel on his idea of Marvel financing and producing its own movies in a connected cinematic universe. He went on to executive produce Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger, and The Angry Birds Movie. In 2009, David arranged the sale of Marvel to Disney for $4 billion.

David is currently the Founder of Mythos Studios, an IP entertainment studio. The Ekos Genesis Art Collection, all 1/1 original hand-crafted digital art, is the first offering in the forthcoming Ekos Universe.

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[09:25] Michael Ovitz.

[17:00] How David became Michael's right-hand man.

[25:12] Creative interests.

[26:14] When David fell in love with comic books.

[28:34] Early Hollywood lessons — learned and taught.

[35:43] Resources for people aspiring to work in the entertainment industry.

[39:20] How Marvel enters the picture.

[48:11] A detour to Broadway theater.

[54:51] Making the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).

[1:28:26] Why start the MCU with Iron Man?

[1:31:56] Decisions between development and deployment.

[1:36:18] Biggest challenges.