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Michael Ovitz: The Business of Relationships

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Feb 3, 2026

Guest

Michael Ovitz

Michael Ovitz, co-founder of Creative Artists Agency and longtime entertainment and tech advisor, reflects on building relationships and organizational rules that powered CAA. He talks about being voraciously well read, hiring passionate people, packing ideas into outcomes, staying grounded amid power, and how momentum and trust shape careers.

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Transcript

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Episode notes

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ADVICE

Truth First, Teamwork Always

Don’t lie; if you don’t know an answer, say you’ll find out and get back to them.
Prioritize teamwork by staffing clients with multiple agents so information never bottlenecks.

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ADVICE

Sell What You Truly Believe

Insist people only recommend material they truly believe in to avoid weak pitches.
Require passionate, concise 20-second explanations for ideas or businesses.

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ANECDOTE

Packaging The Natural

Amy Grossman sold a script that Michael packaged with Barry Levinson and Robert Redford to make The Natural.
Ovitz combined clients simultaneously to build the package and secure financing.

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

Voracious Appetite for Learning

00:58 • 2min

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Honesty: Don't Make Up Answers

02:43 • 2min

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Teamwork Over Single-Agent Ego

04:27 • 2min

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The Loneliness and Craft of Artists

06:09 • 2min

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Where Hollywood Goes Wrong

08:19 • 2min

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CAA's Cultural Rules and Passion

10:20 • 1min

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Packaging The Natural: Putting a Movie Together

Managing and Collecting Relationships

Hiring: What Michael Looks For

20:47 • 1min

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Depth, Breadth, and Being Multi-Disciplinary

21:47 • 5min

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Staying Grounded Amid Power

26:58 • 4min

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Investing & Founders' Traits

30:43 • 3min

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First Meeting with Marc Andreessen

33:36 • 3min

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Confrontation as a Tool

36:45 • 4min

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Winning, Monopolies, and Getting Things Done

40:52 • 1min

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Giving People Their Dignity Back

42:21 • 1min

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Failure as a Badge of Honor

43:36 • 6min

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What Drives Michael Today

49:46 • 3min

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Younger Founders Want Failure Lessons

52:56 • 20sec

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Example: Learning From Mistakes

53:16 • 1min

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Staying Current by Learning Every Day

54:31 • 4min

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Woke Culture and Creative Risk

58:01 • 2min

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Personalized Content and AI Bias

01:00:20 • 1min

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Overwhelmed by Information Flow

01:01:34 • 1min

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Daily Reading Routine

01:02:35 • 5min

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Mediocrity vs. Passion

01:07:20 • 4min

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Leadership, Momentum, and Bloomberg

01:11:40 • 3min

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Business Education & Practical Learning

01:14:22 • 2min

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Building Momentum: The Art and Discipline

01:16:01 • 2min

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Packaging as a Sine Qua Non

01:18:20 • 4min

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Solving Intellectual Property Theft

01:22:11 • 3min

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What I'd Tell My Younger Self

01:24:46 • 2min

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The Centrality of Trust

01:26:40 • 3min

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Recovering from Betrayal

• Mentioned in 70 episodes

Jurassic Park

Michael Crichton

In 'Jurassic Park', Michael Crichton tells the story of John Hammond, the owner of InGen, who creates a theme park on the fictional island of Isla Nublar featuring dinosaurs cloned from DNA found in amber. The park's safety is questioned by a group of experts, including paleontologist Dr. Alan Grant, paleobotanist Dr. Ellie Sattler, and mathematician Dr. Ian Malcolm. When a power outage caused by a greedy computer technician disables the park's security systems, the dinosaurs escape, leading to a desperate struggle for survival. The novel delves into themes of genetic engineering, chaos theory, and the ethical implications of scientific advancements.

Michael Ovitz co-founded CAA and helped reshape Hollywood, then took the same playbook into tech investing and advising founders.

In this conversation, he breaks down the operating rules that kept CAA from losing clients, and the personal disciplines that kept him grounded when the stakes got massive.

You’ll learn how to build momentum, tell the truth without hesitation, read for context instead of noise, hire people who raise the standard, and package ideas into outcomes.

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Approximate Timestamps:

(00:00) Introduction

(00:58) Appetite For Learning

(03:41) Always Tell The Truth

(05:50) The Loneliest Professions

(08:17) Where Does Hollywood Go Wrong?

(10:16) Importance of Being Well Read

(16:42) Don’t Fight Your Job

(18:28) Managing Relationships

(19:15) Ad Break

(20:46) Hiring Top Performers

(22:35) Creating Depth in Knowledge

(26:47) Staying Grounded

(30:27) What Do You Look For in People?

(33:28) A Meeting with Marc Andreessen

(36:44) Being Fearless

(42:12) Allow People to Keep Their Dignity

(43:42) You Fail, So What?

(47:48) Advice From Michael Crichton

(49:46) What Drives You Today?

(52:49) What This Generation Really Wants to Learn

(57:51) The Woke Culture Influence

(01:01:30) How Do You Keep Up With the Flow of Information?

(01:11:30) What Makes A Good Leader?

(01:14:13) Business Education Curriculum

(01:16:28) How Do You Gain Momentum?

(01:18:16) How Important is Packaging?

(01:24:43) What Would You Tell Your Younger Self?

(01:26:30) How Important is Trust?

(01:29:15) What is Success For You?

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