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Powerhouse

The Untold Story of Hollywood's Creative Artists Agency

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Powerhouse

By: James Andrew Miller
Narrated by: James Andrew Miller, Kirby Heyborne, Ann Richardson
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About this listen

An astonishing—and astonishingly entertaining—behind-the-curtain history of Hollywood’s transformation over the past five decades as seen through the agency at the heart of it all, from the #1 bestselling co-author of Live from New York and Those Guys Have All the Fun.

In 1975, five young employees of a sclerotic William Morris agency left to start their own, strikingly innovative talent agency. In the years to come, Creative Artists Agency would vault from its origins in a tiny office on the last block of Beverly Hills to become the largest, most imperial, groundbreaking, and star-studded agency Hollywood has ever seen—a company whose tentacles now spread throughout the world of movies, music, television, technology, advertising, sports, and investment banking far more than previously imagined.

Powerhouse is the fascinating, no-holds-barred saga of that hot-blooded ascent. Drawing on unprecedented and exclusive access to the men and women who built and battled CAA, as well as financial information never before made public, acclaimed author James Andrew Miller spins a tale of boundless ambition, ruthless egomania, ceaseless empire building, drugs, sex, greed, and personal betrayal. Powerhouse is also a story of prophetic brilliance, magnificent artistry, singular genius, entrepreneurial courage, strategic daring, foxhole brotherhood, and how one firm utterly transformed the entertainment business. Here are the real Star Wars—complete with a Death Star—told through the voices of those who were actually there. Packed with scores of stars from movies, television, music, and sports, as well as a tremendously compelling cast of agents, studio executives, network chiefs, league commissioners, hedge fund managers, tech CEOs, and media tycoons, Powerhouse is itself a Hollywood blockbuster of the most spectacular sort.

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This is a story that left me feeling cold. About self serving people I couldn't care less about. Interesting in parts, ultimately I wish I'd never started it.

Cold people

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This book gives a rare glimpse into the inner workings of the leading entertainment agencies.

Brilliant book which offers rare insights

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Don’t be put off by the introduction where the author reads this, The book and his performance improve much over the rest of the book. I do think maybe somebody else should have done the introduction for him. This is like a Talking Heads monologue with different voices representing the individuals behind the words which include famous agents producers and film stars to name a few. It is very and sets out a period when CAA was the king of agents. I did find it interesting but there’s just something missing that could’ve made it better. The narrators are pretty good-the author being the weakest. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys Hollywood stories. I think it needed to capture more of the impact on the studios of CAA. I would, however, recommend.

Interesting insight into a Hollywood time period

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25 hours (and one minute) of this... No thank you. Maybe if you're obsessed with the minutest of minutiae ("I went out to buy a coffee and had some milk in my coffee and thought about what I'd heard..." etc etc) but I wasn't.
There's a great story here... but it needed a great story teller to tell it. Sadly, one wasn't to be found.

What a slog!

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