Michael Ovitz - FishbowlLA

Anita Busch vs. Michael Ovitz Business Still Lingering

Richard Horgan — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 14:30:26 +0000

In the spring of 2008, former CAA kingpin Michael Ovitz answered an odd-sounding question in an LA courtroom. It was during the trial of now incarcerated former PI Anthony Pellicano and went like this with defense attorney Chad Hummel, who was representing an LAPD sergeant:

Hummel: Did you ever hire Mr. Pellicano to put a fish on Anita Busch’s car?
Ovitz: Absolutely not.

Five years later, despite that denial, Busch and Ovitz are still legally entangled in a civil lawsuit. Per a THR Esq. update by Eriq Gardner, Ovitz is asking for “sanctions against Busch, summary judgment in the lawsuit on the basis that her claims are time-barred and the right to learn through discovery what else Busch was working on at the time in question.”

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Screenwriter Recalls the Day He Joked About CAA

Richard Horgan — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 10:50:00 +0000

When Michael Ovitz departed CAA in the mid-1990s, screenwriter-novelist Doug Richardson found himself unexpectedly caught up in a blaze of media coverage.

In a blog post titled “Spiking the Football,” he recalls that because he happened to leave the agency for William Morris right before Ovitz’s exit, he was lumped together somewhat hilariously with David E. Kelley in LA Times and New York Times coverage. Separately, when Richardson’s new agents packaged his first nove Dark Horse for mid-six figures, he did an interview with Variety’s Mike Fleming. Which got him into a lot of trouble:

“So,” said Fleming. “John Travolta as star. Brian Grazer and Ron Howard as producers. How’s that feel?”

“Great,” I answered, then added something I thought was funny. “Who knew I’d have to leave CAA to get packaged.”

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Report: Michael Ovitz Maneuvering Triggers IMG Board Battle

Richard Horgan — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 14:15:01 +0000

It’s rare these days to see the name Michael Ovitz headlining an entertainment news “Exclusive,” especially one that has nothing to do with a valuable painting or expansive piece of property. But there he is today, in a firecracker piece on TheWrap co-authored by Sharon Waxman and Brent Lang.

According to the article, IMG Worldwide board member Ovitz has been aiming to take over the company while chairman and CEO Ted Forstmann (pictured) battled brain cancer. The firm represents Tiger Woods, Roger Federer and many other sports world A-listers. An IMG board conference call reportedly scheduled for today was set to address the idea of “ousting” Ovitz:

According to another insider, board members Jerry Perenchio and Irving Azoff–respectively the ex-CEO of Telemundo and executive chairman of LiveNation –are leading the charge to get Ovitz booted…

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Phish Re-Emerges, Eight Years After Giacchetto Sting

Dan Cox — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 06:58:26 +0000

Phish, the alternative Vermont-bred rock band that was at the center of the Dana Giacchetto money manager scandal in 2000, is getting back together for a reunion concert in Vermont.

The band was smack in the middle of a round-robin scam, according to the New York Observer and scads of other Hollywood-watching magazines, conducted by Giacchetto whereby the money manager would borrow hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not millions, from unwitting clients to pay back the Hollywood elite like Mike Ovitz, Ben Stiller, Lauren Holley, Rick Yorn, Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire that Giacchetto enlisted as targets of the scam as well.

In March 1999, Giacchetto allegedly took $556,521 from Rick Yorn, Michael Ovitz‘s young partner at Artists Management Group, to pay What’s Love Got To Do With It director Brian Gibson $476,000. Then, on March 19, 1999, Mr. Giacchetto allegedly took $500,000 from Alanis Morisette’s manager Scott Welch to pay Phish manager John Paluska $258,978.00; in August, he took $450,000 from Mr. Ovitz to pay his company’s payroll, then cut a check to hotelier Andre Balazs for $11,000.

Then, in September 1999, Mr. Giacchetto went on a bit of a tear. He allegedly siphoned $250,000 from Ben Stiller, $250,000 from then- Talk editor David Kuhn, $150,000 from actor Tobey Maguire, and $100,000 from Lauren Holley to send Mr. Yorn $737,000, Mr. Ovitz $150,000, Razorfish Web site design firm co-founder Craig Kanarick $21,000, and artist George Condo $75,000.

There was even a little left over the following month to mail E Street Band guitarist and Sopranos star Stevie Van Zandt $100,000. Then in November, he allegedly took $100,000 from art dealer Marianne Boesky and sent it right off to bony actor Tim Roth. One hundred thousand dollars from artist David Salle’s account allegedly went toward paying Alanis Morissette $3,600; a half million dollars of Phish’s retirement fund repaid Ben Stiller the quarter million he was missing. In January 2000, the $250,000 of a gentleman named Gordon P. Baird, Jr. allegedly helped pay producer Stacy Sher $251,033.

Phish disbanded in 2004.

Not sure whether Phish ever saw any money again. Maybe that’s why they’re re-uniting.

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More Audio Tape Wednesday: HuffPo Has Ovitz Audio

Greg — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 11:21:56 +0000

HuffPo’s Allison Hope Weiner got her hands on some audio of Michael Ovitz calling Anthony Pellicano. We don’t know what this proves beyond than what is already out there. But it’s always nice to come across a little time capsule of powerful people acting poorly.

Earlier:

The Zell Tapes Released

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LAT In 90 Seconds

Greg — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 10:29:22 +0000

Digging Up The Dirt: Charles Ornstein discovers the identity of the UCLA Medical Center employee who is said to have snooped the private medical records of 60 celebs, including Paris Hilton and Maria Shriver. Lawanda J. Jackson, a low-ranking administrative specialist who resigned in July, told Ornstein she didn’t sell the info: “It was just me being nosy.”

Mike Ovitz To Take The Stand, Avoid Awkward Encounter: Michael Ovitz is set to take the stand in the Anthony Pellicano case. Ovitz is said to have hired the private eye to snoop on former LAT reporter Anita Busch and former NYT reporter Bernard Weinraub. Favorite paragraph:

After Ovitz leaves the stand, depending on how quickly he gets to the elevators, he could bump into his alleged adversaries, Busch and Weinraub, who are expected to testify as well. However, the FBI agents who escort witnesses in and out of the federal courtroom are pretty good at timing. Like a psychotherapist who allows patients to enter one door and exit another to prevent unwanted encounters, an agent sometimes waits for one witness to disappear into the elevator before signaling to another agent down the hall to bring on the next witness.

Rabbi Rushfield’s Opening Line: Rabbi Richard Rushfield begins his account of Idol Gives Back with the line: “It is said that every generation gets the telethons they deserve.” Richard, we’re falling in love.

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