July
29Is There Life after CAA?
Amid all the speculation about who did what to whom, here are some of the positive things that could come out of Rick Nicita’s unexpected departure from CAA.
--Morgan Creek, a self-funded company that has been dead in the water for over a year, could start making some good movies.
--Some talented filmmakers, who have been distressed by the cutbacks among the specialty film suppliers, may find a fresh buyer willing to take risks.
Nicita, who is very much a private person, has been contemplating a change of scene for some time. Now 62, the repetitious pressures of the agency business have been getting to him. Friends say he did not want to exchange those pressures for the traumas of corporate life.
Nicita will now be partnered with the combustible Jim Robinson in a company that can fund its own movies (perhaps as many as four a year) without dependence on foreign pre-sales. Universal distributes its pictures on a first-look basis.
Did CAA push Nicita out? No responsible player buys that. On the other hand, agenting is a young man’s business and CAA has lots of hungry young men eager to step up.
Despite CAA’s vaunted “team” system of representation, Nicita’s departure leaves a power vacuum and a feeding frenzy will doubtless commence. The Tom Cruise situation is especially intriguing. Two of the three senior CAA agents representing Cruise have departed -- Tori Metzger and now Nicita. This leaves Kevin Huvane as the last mainstay and Huvane is a man with myriad other responsibilities.
All this occurs at a taut time in Cruise’s career -- the release of “Valkyrie” is still months away. Cruise’s producing partner, of course, is Nicita’s wife, Paula Wagner who, as president of United Artists, may now find herself competing for projects with her husband.
Nicita is a very thoughtful, cautious man whose idiosyncrasies are vastly dissimilar from those of the brash agents depicted on “Entourage.” He may fit comfortably into the independent film world -- provided, of course, that he can work amicably with Robinson. The extroverted Baltimorean scored handsomely with early movies like “Ace Ventura” and “Young Guns,” but has had a rough go recently with “The Good Shepherd” and “Georgia Rule.”
Nicita might turn Robinson’s fortunes around, if he lets him.
(Photo of Rick and Paula by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
--Morgan Creek, a self-funded company that has been dead in the water for over a year, could start making some good movies.--Some talented filmmakers, who have been distressed by the cutbacks among the specialty film suppliers, may find a fresh buyer willing to take risks.
Nicita, who is very much a private person, has been contemplating a change of scene for some time. Now 62, the repetitious pressures of the agency business have been getting to him. Friends say he did not want to exchange those pressures for the traumas of corporate life.
Nicita will now be partnered with the combustible Jim Robinson in a company that can fund its own movies (perhaps as many as four a year) without dependence on foreign pre-sales. Universal distributes its pictures on a first-look basis.
Did CAA push Nicita out? No responsible player buys that. On the other hand, agenting is a young man’s business and CAA has lots of hungry young men eager to step up.
Despite CAA’s vaunted “team” system of representation, Nicita’s departure leaves a power vacuum and a feeding frenzy will doubtless commence. The Tom Cruise situation is especially intriguing. Two of the three senior CAA agents representing Cruise have departed -- Tori Metzger and now Nicita. This leaves Kevin Huvane as the last mainstay and Huvane is a man with myriad other responsibilities.
All this occurs at a taut time in Cruise’s career -- the release of “Valkyrie” is still months away. Cruise’s producing partner, of course, is Nicita’s wife, Paula Wagner who, as president of United Artists, may now find herself competing for projects with her husband.Nicita is a very thoughtful, cautious man whose idiosyncrasies are vastly dissimilar from those of the brash agents depicted on “Entourage.” He may fit comfortably into the independent film world -- provided, of course, that he can work amicably with Robinson. The extroverted Baltimorean scored handsomely with early movies like “Ace Ventura” and “Young Guns,” but has had a rough go recently with “The Good Shepherd” and “Georgia Rule.”
Nicita might turn Robinson’s fortunes around, if he lets him.
(Photo of Rick and Paula by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
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I can''t imagine why Morgan Creek would start making good movies now, after a decade and a half of substandard fare.
Posted by: myself | 7/30/2008 1:37:57 PM