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In front of the entire huge Fox Group, CAA is really nothing, but it is beneficial and harmless to be able to win the support of such a large force, and there are far more successful people than losers in the projects served by CAA, and it is not a bad thing to cooperate with them, but to get a strong boost outside the company.

For CAA, a director of the production department of the six major film companies that is more inclined to work with them can continue to maintain their dominant position in the industry in the face of fierce competition from many competitors, and even further expand this advantage.

Bill Rothes and Carla Firth are not surprised by Murphy, especially the attitude of CAA, who has long lost the strength of Michael Ovitz when he was in office in the face of the six major Hollywood companies that have been conglomerate.

You must know that it is not only other brokerage companies that compete with CAA, but also some people who have transferred out of the entertainment brokerage industry.

When Murphy and Carla Firth left Bill Rossis' office and went down to the lobby of the Death Star Mansion, such a person suddenly appeared.

"Hello, Director Stanton."

A middle-aged man stopped in front of Murphy and Carla Firth and introduced himself, "I'm Maher Delacresse from the Artist Management Group, bringing greetings from Mr. Michael Owitz. ”

Murphy was somewhat surprised to hear this thunderous name, but he still nodded calmly and said, "Hello." ”

The man, Maher Delaqueres, looked at Carla Firth and said, "Can we talk about it alone?" ”

Before Murphy could speak, Carla Firth was the first to say to him, "Let's have dinner another day, I'll go first." ”

Murphy nodded, "I'll call you another day." ”

Watching Kara Firth walk out of the Death Star Mansion, Murphy withdrew his gaze and turned to look at the person opposite.

"Can you please come here?" Maher Delacresse led the way, Murphy followed, and the two went up to the café on the second floor together, and found a quiet booth near the window, and after asking for coffee, they both looked at each other.

Few people who work hard in Hollywood in this era don't know the name of Michael Owitz, who can be described as a Hollywood legend in the eighties and nineties, and the CAA he founded single-handedly is the absolute hegemon of the entertainment brokerage industry, and he is even more for the company's business, whether he can pout his ass and dance at the dinner table to please the company's super customers, or he can go straight to the office of the CEO of the six major companies.

The mid-nineties were the dividing point in Michael Owitz's life and career, in order to become a real Hollywood superman, he gave up the CAA he founded and sought the position of CEO of Walt Disney, but this time he did not succeed, and the CEO of Walt Disney and Michael Eisner became his Waterloo.

However, Michael Ovitz, who left Walt Disney, also saw his abilities and strengths thoroughly, founded an artist management group company, and returned to the entertainment agency industry.

Murphy speculated that the purpose of their coming to him was very simple, nothing more than digging into the corners of CAA.

Sure enough, Maher Delacresse directly and clearly stated his intentions, "Director Stanton, Mr. Ovitz admires your ability very much and is optimistic about your potential, and I asked me to come here this time to invite you to join the artist management group." ”

"I am proud to have been appreciated by Mr. Ovitz and very honored." After Murphy's polite words, he politely declined, "I have had a very good time working with CAA, and I have no plans to leave CAA at this time. ”

"You don't need to leave CAA." Maher Delacresse glanced at Murphy in doubt, immediately understood, and quickly said, "There is no conflict between you joining the artist management group and being in CAA. ”

"Uh......" Murphy couldn't figure out when the Talent Brokerage Act allowed two brokerage companies to be signed at the same time?

Maher Delacresse saw that Murphy had misunderstood, and quickly explained, "The artist management group has long since given up the brokerage business and is now a manager management company. ”

"I see."

With that, Murphy figured out that after several years in Hollywood, he certainly knew that agents and managers were completely different.

Unlike the entertainment brokerage industry on the other side of the Pacific, in Hollywood, strictly speaking, the agent and the manager share the entire work of the industry practitioners.

According to California law and the regulations of industry unions, brokers and managers can be said to have a clear division of rights - brokers can get jobs for clients, and their job is to get jobs for clients as much as possible; Managers are responsible for designing, planning, and shaping their clients' career paths, and their job is to provide career advice to their clients and provide advice and advice on the career options offered to them by brokers.

In other words, a broker offers employment opportunities to his clients, while managers advise clients on which opportunities they should accept.

"Director Stanton, we're not asking you to quit the CAA." Mahher Delacresse said in a timely manner, "I just want to represent your manager business and plan a better career for you." ”

Murphy doesn't know much about the manager industry, so he certainly won't say yes or say no right away.

"I need to think about it." He said.

In his own judgment, it seems that there is no need for another manager while CAA has four broker services, right?

Moreover, if a manager is added, his income will probably be 5 to 10 percent less.

Michael Ovitz is indeed famous, but Michael Ovitz today is far from the Michael Ovitz of the original CAA, and he is not so attractive to him.

It's an honor to be spotted and specifically sought by Michael Ovitz, and it can even be a bragging rights, but it's essentially a business, and in every way, he should choose a more successful collaborator now.

Leaving the café, Murphy thought for a moment and dialed the number of Robert Downey Jr., a veteran of Hollywood and an acting family, who must have a deeper understanding of managers.

Indeed, Robert Downey Jr. knows more about many things in the industry than he does, who has only been in the industry for a few years.

He also gave Murphy's advice - if he was still in CAA, he didn't need a manager, and if he wanted to accept a manager, it wouldn't be long before the manager and the agency would have a conflict, and he had to choose between the two.

Because now Hollywood managers are doing a lot of work within the scope of agents under the banner of managing companies, and the two were not complementary as early as ten years ago, but became competitive.

Later, Robert Downey Jr. simply came out to have dinner with Murphy and explained to him the current situation between the two.

In Hollywood, no person or company engaged in or employed in the production and distribution of films, or who has any interest in any production or distribution company, may be directly or indirectly engaged in the business of brokering or enjoying the interest of a broker, whether a person or a corporation.

California's Talent Brokerage Act is an industry law that specifically regulates the entertainment brokerage industry, emphasizing that only agents can obtain jobs for relevant practitioners and protecting them from their agents in the course of business practices through a series of provisions, such as prohibiting brokers from providing false or misleading information about their job opportunities to clients; It is forbidden to send customers to work in unsafe places; prohibit brokerage companies from employing "prostitutes, gamblers, alcoholics"; prohibit illegal job opportunities for ethnic minorities; It is forbidden to share commissions with the client's employer.

The legislative spirit of the law is to protect the interests of clients by maintaining and reinforcing the distinction between brokers and managers, stipulating that "no one shall engage in the work of a broker without obtaining a licence from the Commissioner of Labour." ”

The law clearly states that the agent of the relevant practitioner must obtain a broker's license before he can take the job.

In other words, if the manager is doing the agent's work, it is illegal, and the artist can report it to the labor commissioner and seek compensation, and the labor commissioner will revoke all contracts signed by the manager and the artist after verification, and confiscate the illegal gains in the past year.

Moreover, Hollywood's major labor unions also stipulate that entertainment agents must have a photo shoot and be licensed by them.

Under the dual regulation of state law and industry regulations, the entertainment brokerage business has become a privileged and strictly protected profession, but under the "privilege" there are strict restrictions.

For example, when Murphy signed a contract with CAA, the contract signed for the first time was valid for one year, and the renewal period was up to three years;

For example, the broker's commission is capped at no more than 10 percent;

For example, agents are prohibited from producing or enjoying the work of their clients, and agents are not allowed to directly or indirectly enjoy the interests of the production or distribution company of any film;

And vice versa, no person or company engaged in or employed in the production and distribution of films, or who has any interest in any production or distribution company, shall be directly or indirectly engaged in the business of brokering or enjoying the interest of brokerage, whether a person or a company.

These strict restrictions are all in order to avoid "conflict of interest", that is, if the broker obtains a job offer for his client that he is actually the employer, the broker is entrusted by the client, and of course seeks to maximize the income of his client while seeking the job opportunity, and the remuneration of the commission is also set to make the interests of the two consistent, but if the agent is a producer, the producer's goal is of course to control costs and maximize future profits, which is contrary to the agent's original goal. That is, it will bring loss of benefits to customers.

"But you know, where there is interest, there is strife," Robert Downey Jr. put down his knife and fork, looked at Murphy opposite, and said, "The rules are dead, the people are alive, and the manager is using these wordless tacit understandings to erode the business of the brokerage company on a large scale." (To be continued.) )