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THURSDAY PM UPDATE: Look what my reporting turned up. Your (un)trustworthy trade Variety claimed yesterday that CAA signed director James Cameron. But everybody close to Cameron, including his guys at Lightstorm, were shocked to read this. Because what they understood was that CAA’s Richard Lovett is assembling a team not to sell Cameron but to sell Cameron’s Fusion Camera System technology developed for his forthcoming Avatar.
Now, let’s say CAA sends a script to Jim, and he decides to make it. Sure, CAA can commission him on that. But Hollywood knows that Cameron pretty much develops his projects himself, especially these days. And his present and next film will make use of the Fusion Camera System technology for computer-generated animation. According to news reports, it’s a more advanced version of the “performance capture” technique used by director Robert Zemeckis in The Polar Express. So for Avatar, Cameron created photo-realistic computer-generated characters through motion capture animation technology using his new virtual camera system.
Now Cameron and CAA think that complex photo-realistic CGI is worth something on the open market. (Remember how Cameron co-founded Digital Domain? Remember how he developed new technology for The Abyss that changed the way underwater filming looked from then on?). So Lovett convinced the director to let CAA represent him for the technology. The agency’s mission is to go raise money for it. ”But, at the end of the day, it’s not about repping him as a filmmaker, it’s about finding money for his technology,” one of my sources explains.
What’s interesting is this new arrangement is not much different than way back when CAA repped Cameron’s Digital Domain for deals and/or a sale. See below:
WEDNESDAY PM: Good get for the agency. (Good get for Variety). He was last repped 15 years ago by ICM’s Jeff Berg. At one point, Cameron dipped his toe in CAA waters when he gave them his visual effects company Digital Domain to rep for deals and/or a sale. But he never came over as a client. I hope he got CAA’s “special deal”.
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“Special Deal?”
Reacharound?
So according to Variety, Cameron hasn’t been represented by an agency since 1994 (when True Lies was release).
I wonder why he is signing so close to Avatar’s release? I thought Cameron’s plan (as he has stated in interviews) was to only direct movies he writes himself. He changed the nature of Lightstorm 5 or so years ago from that of standard production co. (developing scripts, etc for various directors) to a company solely devoted to Cameron’s own directing efforts.
So why the change? The guy can get pretty much whatever he wants in Hollywood these days after Titanic’s success (and every movie he’s ever made has been very good to classic).
“…very good to classic.” (?)
“The Abyss” was a template for waterboarding.
‘special deal’. you don’t mean the reduced 5% commission CAA took in the first years in business. the deals that put them in the game?
I just saw They Abyss (theatrical cut) at the Aero in Santa Monica projected in 70 mm. It looked spectacular. It’s not a perfect film, but it’s tense as hell and has some breathtaking moments.
Cameron was there too and gave a 45 minute Q&A. He’s totally brilliant. Can’t wait for Avatar.
But why does a guy like Cameron need an agent? He already has his legal team…
“The Abyss” was his best movie. Period
SubMariner is a template for sterilization.
The sad thing is that Ari Emanuel was close to him and had repped him in TV for several years… He still couldn’t close the deal and bring him over for features even with the allure of a newly formed company like WME.
I wish it weren’t so, but let’s face it: CAA is still the only game in town. Merging a mediocre agency (Endeavor) with a horrible agency (WMA) does not get you something that competes with CAA.
Let’s be real. CAA is terribly nervous about their new competitors. WME is practically an All-Star team of agents. Everyone knows that CAA has been fishing for announcements about anything in the wake of the formation of their only rivals. I hear that they have been “helping” Cameron for years. This is another bogus grab at publicity. They are like an only child begging for attention when its parents give birth to a newborn.
Anyone who thinks CAA is nervous about anything has clearly never worked there and doesn’t understand the mentality that one has as an employee (or an ex-employee).
Being an employee of CAA is like being a student at Harvard: you fear no one and are concerned about nothing because you go to Harvard and are therefore the king of the world.
Sure, there are Princeton’s. Sure, there are NYU’s. Sure, there are Yale’s. But ultimately there’s just nothing like saying “I go to Harvard.” And everyone else knows it.
Ron, since the vascectomy that’s true. You must not like Asians Ron. And you must be one of these people that believe that great special effects are the sum total of cinematic values. “The Abyss:” Dumb; boring; virtually unwatchable. A truly terrible picture. Helped him with “Titanic” I guess but I would never look at it again. One of those creepy alienated Freudian Eighties AIDS parables. Was it a double feature with “The Hitcher” at the Aero? There goes my meeting with “Jim” Cameron! Cameron’s fantastic and a world class signing – I wish we’d see him more of him regularly – but this one was a bust. For sprocket geeks only equivocating on the personal “Ain’t It Cool News” they keep on heavy rotation in their asses. Do you know the type Ron? Do you Ron? Off to the adoption agency!
Chiming in on The Abyss: Had never seen it before…just watched it recently…..its horrible. Don’t know how it was regarded when it came out, but it certainly doesnt hold up. CRAP.
anonymous @ 9:54 am
This WME deal is heinous.
However, there is a saying that the hardest thing about Harvard is getting in.
People, professionals, companies need to be judged on actual earned merit, not by artificial symbols that suggest automatic excellence.
Just wondering what Hans Schiff is going to do at CAA since there is no such thing as an unscripted “unscripted” show.
NEWSFLASH
That’s how CAA represents most of its 8 figure clients. If CAA finds it, the client pays commission. It’s elementary.
anonymous @ 9:54 am
OK, this is getting old… someone has to say it.
While the mentality you describe is true, it only rings true for a small percentage of the employees at CAA–the douchebags who rely heavily on a name rather than merit and dont have much to show for it. Youre bringing the High School mentality upward to College and now worse, applying it to the professional/real world. Embarrassing.
As a recent CAA employee myself, I knew of this mentality, but knew that this could only get you so far. Just as stating Harvard on your resume does the same. It cracks the door open a little, but you have to crush that interview and perform exceedingly well on the job to succeed and earn the respect of your peers within the company/industry.
You’re suggesting that respect and awe automatically be thrown in your direction–ok and then what? What have you or the others who share this mentality done to show for the respect and awe you so immediately demand? You are an individual, not the company.
Its this mentality you describe that take away from what CAA has built. Why not know you are on top and shut up about it. If its clear, it does not need to be expressed.
Wake up. CAA wasn’t always on top. Remember? If in 5 years, any of the rival agencies takes the top spot, will you jump ship? Will you fail to mention that you work at CAA? Or no longer be so proud that you once worked there? Harvard will always be HARVARD. Never moving anywhere far from the upper echelons in comparison to the many Universities out there. CAA however, does not have this luxury.
Oh, and youre probably thinking im some sour ex-employee. No. I enjoyed 99% of every minute working there, but I’ve moved on to the next phase of my career. You will have to face the same reality someday my friend. Lastly, Harvard Grads have to work pretty hard to graduate (as in most Universities), therefore earned that pride. You however, are CAA’s b-tch and by your myopic mentality, definitely earned it.
I knew something was fishy about this. It just didn’t make sense for Cameron to need an agent for his directing work. Great job Nikki on sniffy out the truth!
It’s about CAA using his technology to worm in and rep him as a filmmaker.
@anony 9:54, I’ve never worked at CAA but I do know something about Ivy League schools and likening Harvard to an agency … is a little, um, nutty. What I’ve observed of Harvard grads is that a) they’re very good at networking alum so, b) success breeds success because, well, you get to ride on someone else’s (and a school’s) work/brand, and c) though it’s difficult to get into Harvard, from what I’ve seen, the school itself (undergrad) is not that challenging compared to others, & this is generally speaking, true of the Ivys in general. Are you referring to Harvard LAW, perhaps? What you describe is less a similarity of work cultures than the instillment of confidence. I would argue, people who are built up institutionally whether vis CAA or Harvard are not, in fact, quite as deserving as those who do so without such situational branding. And, btw, Harvard – in Boston – has an awful reputation as being a slum lord, charging above market rents and providing dreadful living conditions while paying virtually no taxes to the community it own (literally – Harvard is the major real estate player in metropolitan Boston). Being a Harvard man these days is not what it was cracked up to be. When hiring, if I have a choice between someone who attended Harvard as a legacy and someone who worked their way through a good state school, I will give preference to the latter. Harvard hires bring so much entitlement er, “confidence” baggage with them, they’re not worth the bother. Sorry to burst your bubble, Elle Woods, but that’s more the reality I’ve encountered than the one you’ve described.
You probably won’t print this but … what a bunch of lieing scumbags they are and the shills at Variety are only too happy to oblige them. They’re doing what they can to show that their arrogant face isn’t bruised, but those clowns are sucking wind at the big new white elephant in Century City as well as many of the other divisions outside that happy, joyous locale. Very well done, as always, reporting on this, Nikki. Bart may be gone but his spirit lives on. Variety is a disgrace. What a shame.
isn’t someone a little salty, she didn’t get the lead on this. repping the 3d company is old news, months old, caa reps jim as a director, why don’t you ask jim cameron.