The Agent Dance: CAA Bleeps Hollywood
Yesterday afternoon's chatter about manager Aleen "I'm leaving and I'm taking Orlando and Natalie with me, and probably Freddie Prinze Jr. because he cried and begged not to be abandoned" Keshishian's defection from The Firm to Brillstein Grey is substantiated in the trades this morning, but Page Six says that CAA, crazed with bloodlust after poaching away two of UTA's agents, was also in the mix:
RIVAL firms in Los Angeles are angry at Creative Artists Agency for "inflating" salaries for agents and managers. Yesterday, it was announced that United Talent Agency's power partners Jason Heyman and Martin Lesak were leaving for CAA, along with their clients Will Ferrell and Dave Chappelle — and sources say CAA is offering "insane" cash for agents who rep the stars they want. CAA operatives also approached The Firm's Aleen Kishishian [sic], who manages Natalie Portman and Orlando Bloom. "They offered her $2.5 million a year and a partnership," said an insider. Kishishian [sic] then demanded "huge money" from The Firm, which turned her down, and she ended up going to Brillstein Grey. "She wanted to be a manager, not an agent — but the point is, as CAA once drove up actors' prices, now they are driving up agents' prices and [bleeping] the business." A CAA rep denied offering Kishishian [sic] $2.5 million.
Should anyone be surprised? It's right there on the agency's letterhead: "CAA: Fucking the business since 1975."