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Founders Notes: Who Is Michael Ovitz

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Who Is Michael Ovitz? Michael Ovitz I considered Rupert Murdoch the top executive in modern mediacagey, prescient, with an unmatched appetite for risk. WE HAD A FILE ROOM THE LENGTH OF A BASKETBALL court. It was lined with steel cabinets, the hard drives of the era, all packed with seventy years' worth of manila folders. I viewed those files as an encyclopedia of entertainment, albeit a helter-skelter one, so I helped the woman who ran the file room, Mary, with her mimeographing. And I brought her little gifts-a box of candy, a scarf. One day I said, "You know, I'd love to read some of the files." She told me to make myself at home. Within a week she was letting me stay on after she left. Then she gave me a key. While other trainees waited to be told what to do and read and learn, I entered Mary's domain each morning at 7:00 and every evening after work. For ten weeks I made my way from A to Z, through the client files and the network and studio deals. I jotted questions for Sam Sacks, the head of television legal affairs, who was charmed by my interest and lent me a tape of a talk he'd given at USC on contract law in entertainment. I played it at home and came back with more quest

Who Is Michael Ovitz? Michael Ovitz I considered Rupert Murdoch the top executive in modern mediacagey, prescient, with an unmatched appetite for risk. WE HAD A FILE ROOM THE LENGTH OF A BASKETBALL court. It was lined with steel cabinets, the hard drives of the era, all packed with seventy years' worth of manila folders. I viewed those files as an encyclopedia of entertainment, albeit a helter-skelter one, so I helped the woman who ran the file room, Mary, with her mimeographing. And I brought her little gifts-a box of candy, a scarf. One day I said, "You know, I'd love to read some of the…

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