Peter Bart: The state of deals in Hollywood is a whole new game again

A brilliant negotiator, Lew Wasserman was the ex-cop who ran MCA Universal’s massive media empire from his tower of black. He favored black suits and austere offices, and seemed to convey stress as he walked through his kingdom.

Wasserman always seemed to be in a bargaining position, closing not only deals for new projects but also industry-wide union and guild deals and antitrust deals for acquisitions such as Decca Records. He even helped negotiate divorce settlements for the stars he once represented, such as Clark Gable and Myrna Loy.

Wasserman would probably have enjoyed that Hollywood moment, because it seems like everything in Hollywood is on the line and everyone wants a bigger piece of the pie. Writers and directors feel underpaid, their bottom lines are cut and they’re willing to strike for more. Players feel marginalized by the majors’ revised deal structures. CEOs are shocked by over-optimistic revenue projections and Wall Street’s deception about the content costs of the streaming revolution.

The reason why Wasserman should feel comfortable in the midst of all this is that fifty years ago he survived and thrived through a relatively similar period of disruption. Everything in Hollywood changed when a whole new breed of entrepreneur invaded the industry and introduced new ground rules for doing business.

Hollywood no longer belonged to the Jack Warners or the Louis B. Mayers. The owners of the studios were suddenly newspaper figures like Rupert Murdoch; or Ted Turner, The Mouth of the South, from the radio; or even Steve Ross, a former undertaker who owned a limousine company before taking over Warner Bros. and Time Inc.

Faced with new mandates and new personalities, virtually every artist in Hollywood seems to have decided to go into business for themselves. Writers like Joe Eszterhas or Shane Black no longer waited for script assignments; Instead, they wrote their scripts for their own companies and put them up for auction, fetching up to $4-5 million per transaction.

Directors like Steven Spielberg or Francis Coppola sought funding for their own companies and claimed ownership of the “content” they were now creating.

In fact, the entire talent negotiation process took on a completely different perspective as players chose to conduct their own negotiations rather than waiting for their representatives to serve or not serve them.

Oddly enough, as a young Hollywood tabloid reporter at the time, I witnessed this transformation from a unique perspective. That’s because the media is sometimes placed in the middle of negotiations.

It began with a chance meeting with a young publicist excited because he had just signed baseball’s two most important pitchers: Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

“Why do pitchers need a press agent?” I asked him. “They get enough attention every time they win a game.”

“But they want to be movie stars, not pitchers,” said the publicist. “The Dodgers refuse to make a good deal with them and won’t even meet their agents, so they want to escape and be actors.”

“I can’t believe it,” I said. “They are stars.”

“But this is baseball and the ball clubs are old-fashioned with their talent. I’m meeting the ballplayers for lunch, so if you don’t believe me, why don’t you come with me?

Within minutes I found myself in the Bruin Derby listening to the complaints of two very intelligent and articulate athletes who rebelled against the strict negotiating style of their team leaders. They clearly hoped my paper would New York Times, would advance their cause – albeit unintentionally. They wanted million dollar contracts for three years; The team offered half of it.

The result: The two are now rehearsing for roles in a feature film with the title warning shot and also produced an ABC television series. “I like the idea of ​​creating something, not just throwing a ball,” said Koufax, who was clearly smart and ambitious.

With their help I have one time History of their negotiations, detailing their “Questions”. I realized I got used to it to some extent, but it was a good story and her argument was valid.

Word got around and her employers panicked. The offers for the two pitchers have improved radically.

Within two weeks I got a call from another great talent. Sean Connery was furious. He directed two James Bond films, watched their returns soar and also studied the lucrative deals for a range of James Bond merchandise.

He now wanted to have a drink with me to discuss some “news” about his career plans.

Connery, a smart man, spoke openly about our strange relationship. He will give me an “interview” in which he says that he is not prepared to make any more Bond pictures using the existing formula. Instead, he considered a Broadway play.

Bond producer Albert “Cubby” Broccoli should be time article and understand his predicament. He couldn’t afford to lose his star like that time pointed out that this is an opportunity. Further negotiations were necessary.

Again, my personal role was at stake and Connery understood my concerns. I was used as a bargaining chip. Just like that time. But it was a damn good story. And it was true: Connery considered walking.

Connery got his raise. He and I even had a drink to celebrate.

And I’ve made my decision: in the face of this new era of self-negotiation, I’m going to stay on the sidelines from now on. When a celebrity or baseball player approached me with a proposal like this, I reminded them to call their agent. If a new deal was made, I would write the play as an innocent bystander.

Finally, a sense of order was restored to Hollywood. The new owners began to return to more conservative ways of doing business. The authors and directors also did not fare well with their newly funded companies, and were angered by the companies’ demands for fundraising and financial disclosure.

Instead of writing about Hollywood’s secret business practices, I went to work as a studio executive.

But I never managed to make a deal with Connery or Koufax and Drysdale.

But I had good seats at their games.