limited liability company founded beverly hills california us 1975 headquarters century city los angeles california us key people richard lovett president kevin huvane managing partner steve lafferty managing partner head of television rob light managing partner and head of music bryan lourd managing partner michael rubel managing partner members 3 400 clients 2016 299 staff 2016 website caa.com new caa building in century city california creative artists agency or caa is an american talent and sports agency based in los angeles california . it is regarded as a dominant and influential company in the talent agency business . 1 2 it manages prestigious a list clients . in march 2016 caa had 1 800 employees . 3 to expand caa borrowed capital from private equity firm tpg capital . tpg owns 35 % of caa according to one estimate in 2014 . 4 contents 1 history 2 agents 3 the talent agency business 4 buildings 5 competition 6 in popular culture 7 clients 8 references 9 further reading 10 external links history edit creative artists agency was formed by a handful of agents at the william morris agency in 1975 . 4 at a dinner mike rosenfeld michael ovitz ron meyer william haber and rowland perkins decided to create their own agency . according to one report the agents were fired by william morris before they could obtain financing . 5 their firm was incorporated in delaware and had a 35 000 line of credit and a 21 000 bank loan and rented a small century city office . within a week they sold a game show called rhyme and reason the rich little show and the jackson 5ive . an early plan was to form a medium sized full service agency share proceeds equally and do without nameplates on doors or formal titles or individual client lists with guidelines like be a team player and return phone calls promptly . the firm grew . representing numerous a list actors and having about 90 million in annual bookings in the late 1980s ovitz led the agency to expand into the film business . 5 by the mid 1990s caa had 550 employees about 1 400 of hollywood s top talent and 150 million in revenue . 6 in the 1990s caa was owned mostly by several key agents including michael ovitz bill haber and ron meyer . 1 haber was credited for the revival of top tv producer aaron spelling . 1 ovitz excelled at packaging talent for movies and tv projects and negotiating large deals between japanese conglomerates such as sony and matsushita with hollywood studios such as columbia tristar and mca . 7 ovitz expanded the agency into advertising and telecommunications . 7 in 1992 the coca cola company placed caa in charge of much of its marketing campaign to work alongside advertising agency mccann erickson . 8 in 1995 caa was described as the industry s most powerful agency . 1 in the middle 1990s however there were major changes in management . in 1995 ron meyer was appointed as the head of mca 1 and ovitz left for disney . the departure of ovitz and meyer brought an exodus of some of caa s top marquee names . talent agent jay moloney was originally part of the transition but due to his drug addiction he was fired and later committed suicide . 9 in 1996 several caa agents defected to rival agency william morris endeavor taking with them prominent directors and actors . 10 the partners founded the caa foundation in 1996 to create positive social change by encouraging volunteerism partnerships and donations . in 2012 it worked with insight labs for education reform and contributed to its school is not school reform effort . 11 the agency continued to grow in the 21st century . in 2003 it opened a new york city office to manage theatre clients . 12 13 from 2005 to 2015 caa developed greater fiscal discipline with more emphasis on profits possibly as the result of the influence of private equity firms . 14 during these years caa doubled in size from 750 to 1 500 employees . 4 in 2010 new technological developments such as the digital distribution of movies put strains on the industry . 15 there was pressure to diversify into television publishing concerts and find other ways to grow . 15 in that year private equity firm tpg capital invested substantial sums in caa ; it invested 165 million with an additional 200 million in debt financing . 15 agents edit agents are the core of the business the behind the scenes players putting together deals while the public focus is on the moviemakers and actors and tv and film shows that they bring together . for some agents caa is a training ground to learn the business and they leave after a few years sometimes to form their own talent agencies . 16 caa has employed top sports agents such as tom condon . 17 talent agents as an unwritten rule prefer not to tout their own accomplishments so as not to divert the spotlight from their clients . 18 caa president richard lovett is regarded as shunning media attention and keeping a low profile . 3 lovett took the job position at caa in 1995 and he was described as a skillful agent with a trademark ever ready smile adept at schmoozing and hobnobbing with colleagues and studio heads . 19 lovett was described in the wall street journal as being elegantly aggressive . 3 the departure of comedy star will ferrell led to major legal battling . top agencies frequently raid each other s staff and when key people defect to rivals it makes news headlines and often leads to legal battles over breach of contract claims . 20 when agents defect the rivalry can degenerate quickly into vicious battles played out in courtrooms and in the media . when several key caa clients will ferrell and chris pratt defected to rival united talent agency uta in 2015 and were later followed by ten agents it erupted into a full frontal legal battle between the warring agencies . 21 in the lawsuit caa accused uta of conducting a lawless midnight raid as part of a illegal and unethical conspiracy with agents deliberately delaying meetings with clients to divert business to uta . 21 in a bitter lawsuit and countersuit between caa and uta in 2015 which began after a slew of caa s agents departed for uta there were accusations of fraud malicious untruths lying and a range of charges including a breach of duty of loyalty as well as conspiracy to breach fiduciary duty . 22 rivalry is not limited to rank and file agents but can take the form of public barbs by company ceos . 23 grudges can last for years ; for example movie producer jay weston sued caa in 1979 about the rights to a film and years later it was revealed that weston was totally ostracized by the agency . in effect caa would do the minimally required legal tasks of passing along required offers but otherwise staying uninvolved . 24 caa has represented a list actors such as leonardo dicaprio . top agents have had a reputation in the public s mind of living in a world of fast cars rooftop bars and foul mouthed phone throwing power brokers according to an account in the los angeles times . 14 caa superagent jay moloney led a colorful yet self destructive life . moloney interned at caa while studying at usc became the right hand man of michael ovitz worked with clients such as leonardo dicaprio and made millions dated actresses such as jennifer grey and gina gershon and battled personal demons and became a slave to cocaine ; moloney committed suicide at age 35 . 25 in 2004 the hbo production entitled entourage was made about a fictional hollywood agent named ari gold . 26 according to one report the fictional ari gold character may have been based on a hybrid between an even keeled creative artists agency agent named jeff jacobs and an abrasive go for the jugular william morris endeavor agent named ari emmanuel . 26 the report suggested that images like these may contribute to the public perception of agents as foul mouthed and aggressive bullies . 26 perhaps because of its dominance in the industry caa agents have a reputation for being coldhearted hollywood power brokers according to one report in the wall street journal . 4 the talent agency business edit the primary focus of the business is the deal putting together content and talent in new ways to make new entertainment properties . in that sense agencies serve as a broker for information and opportunities . 27 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 . 4 most contracts made between writers and actors and directors with a talent agency last from one to three years . 10 contracts are an important part of the business . caa chiefs including michael ovitz ron meyer and bill haber built the agency by packaging actors and directors with literary clients 10 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 . 28 29 sometimes deal making entails creating new technology firms . 3 caa even manages deals with the estates of long dead clients such as reggae musician bob marley who died around 1986 . 30 caa helped one former politician create an online career institute . 31 caa sold sponsorship rights for a baseball stadium in san francisco . 4 while talent agencies can grow by making acquisitions caa has generally grown organically by bringing in new clients . 4 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 4 such as nationwide insurance . 32 like any business talent agencies have to deal with contingencies such as recessions and strikes . for example caa s agents scrambled to deal with a strike by the screen actors guild in 2008 . 18 when hollywood agents change firms and take stars and talent with them it can have major financial repercussions for the departing agency 10 and can lead to much confusion as lawyers pour over the fine print of numerous contracts . a caa catered party after the 2013 sundance film festival was a bit lewd causing a public relations backlash . to market themselves talent agencies often cater exclusive parties following awards ceremonies such as the golden globes . 33 caa has sometimes stepped beyond the bounds of propriety to harm its own public image . for example in 2013 the agency threw a party at the sundance film festival which caused embarrassment and a public relations backlash . 34 but the bash thrown by hollywood s powerful creative artists agency on sunday night took festival revelry in an unexpectedly bawdy direction as sundance 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 . report in the los angeles times 2013 34 caa established caa marketing in 1998 to work with brands and clients for promotion purposes . 35 36