‘Orphanage’ Helmer J.A. Bayona To CAA

COMMENTS (12)

• Great and amazing movie, shouldn’t be remaked (like 99% of them), Belen Rueda’s performance is outstanding.

  Comment by Ziyad — Monday October 25, 2010 @ 9:48am PDT  Reply to this post

• He is easily one othe best three filmmakers in Spain along with Alejandro Amenabar and Pedro Almodovar. He studied at ESCAC school film, and so did many good (underrated) directors. Most recently Guillermo del Toro-produced film Julia’s Eyes was directed by a former student. Seems like this school is top noth in regards to learning the art and craft of filmmaking.

  Looking forward to watch ‘The Impossible’.

  Comment by Spanish talent — Monday October 25, 2010 @ 10:12am PDT  Reply to this post

• Nikke,

  Is it just me or is it now like CAA 25 and WME 2. Its like watching the Lakers play the Clippers. Sorry Ari, we know you love your Lakers.

  When are we going to face the facts that CAA is entering 2011, which will be there 25th annivesary of being the number 1 agency in the biz. There was a time when ICM was so close, but they Imploded. WMA never recoverd when Stan Kamen died. Endeavor tried to take them on, while a valiant effort, it never quite got there.

  Now WME, while huge, it doesnt seem to be getting it done either. How many more years do you need WME to get this done. WME will tout how it is number one in TV. Ok great. UTA was number one in comedy and CAA took it apart Agent by Agent. How long before CAA, takes a look at the engine that drives your TV deparment. Forget Rosen he is on the board, so he stays forever. But how about those non board powerhouses. Greenberg, Haas, Wellins, Josephson, Weitz, Solo,Korman, or the comedy guy that has all the Animation clients(Greg something) etc…. They only need to pick off 2 or 3 at the most and the hemoraghing will start. Make sure you Bonus them well this year.

  Ari, cant you face that you have done everything you could have done and it hasnt worked. We heard about the retreat where you had Patrick tell everyone about how WME is going into all these Monetizing new areas, that mostly nobody there understood. No matter how many companies you start openly or secretly. Or Monetizing situations that you tell your agents about. The entire biz is watching, can you or your agents sign the A lists Stars and Directors, and Writers in Features or not. THE CORE BUSINESS is all that matters if you want to be number one. And Features is the CORE of the CORE.

  Maybe its time for you to seek other pastures. You did great, and you are a genius of this biz. Maybe do a Ron Meyer and take over a studio, you must have had offers. It just looks like the team will never get there. You have more money to make, dont let the team slow you down.

  Good Luck WME, and congrats CAA as 25 years at number one. Even the Yankees or Lakers, or UCLA basketball never did that.

  Amazing!

  Comment by TIme to Say Uncle — Monday October 25, 2010 @ 10:39am PDT  Reply to this post

  • Jesus, you got all of that from a no-name spanish director?

    Comment by elvis lives — Monday October 25, 2010 @ 11:16am PDT  Reply to this post

  • Actually, the core is television…not film. Film gets all the headlines, but it’s the television department that makes the most money for the agencies. Ovitz was a television agent before he became the Ovitz we knew…same thing with Ari. Are you an insider?

    Comment by The Ritz — Monday October 25, 2010 @ 2:24pm PDT  Reply to this post

    • TV may make the most money for the agencies, but it’s always been a prestige game, and having TONS of movie stars and eminent directors is the definition of prestige. Don’t pretend it works logically. People are attracted to big agencies for the same reason they’re attracted to Hollywood in general — luster. And CAA has more of it. And I’m sure there are plenty of heavy-hitting TV writers and directors who have designs to write/direct a feature and want to know their agency ca make that happen. Not as many feature people secretly aspire to do TV. Feature power is just more universally attractive.

      Comment by Anonymous — Monday October 25, 2010 @ 3:30pm PDT  Reply to this post

      • I agree with your points, but I don’t think you refuted anything I said. Television brings in the money. The core revenues driving an agency will always be from television. I didn’t mention anything about prestige, but you’re not wrong. CAA is tops in film (maybe not MP lit though…) but Endeavor, err…WME is tops in television.

        Either way though, whether you’re at CAA or WME, it’s still tough as balls to get a film made these days. Lots of unemployed peeps.

        Comment by The Ritz — Monday October 25, 2010 @ 7:51pm PDT  Reply to this post

        • I wasn’t arguing that features bring in more money. But the feature side IS the most important index for determining an agency’s status and tallying the score between the two companies, and that’s the point he was trying to make. Correcting him about the core business is beside the point.

          And I’m not even sure that’s true in the case of CAA. Look at all of their feature clients. Dominant is an understatement. Measure it however you want…movie stars, directors, writers…to have that many A-listers with multimillion dollar paydays happening that frequently…it might be the only agency where the feature side actually IS the core business fiscally.

          Comment by Anonymous — Monday October 25, 2010 @ 9:46pm PDT  

  • Not that I really care, but I’ve been given the same spiel by WME Agents about how they’re number 1 in TV, but is it even true?

    I kind of think of CAA as top period.

    Comment by Anonymous — Monday October 25, 2010 @ 2:35pm PDT  Reply to this post

• The last time a filmmaker left Robert Newman was… Carlo Carlei… how did that work out again?

  Comment by A Tree in The Forest — Monday October 25, 2010 @ 10:58am PDT  Reply to this post

• The thing about CAA is that they are QUICK and their agents work PRO-ACTIVELY.

  I brought 3 projects to Rick Rosen over the past five years. He passed on all 3. No worries.

  Earlier this year I got an ‘in’ at CAA…they snapped up all 3 projects and got them homes…this took two weeks!

  Comment by arthur — Monday October 25, 2010 @ 12:06pm PDT  Reply to this post

  • Yes – they do “get it” over there at CAA. Helping clients = making money.

    Comment by writer — Monday October 25, 2010 @ 12:41pm PDT  Reply to this post