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While evil agenting monolith CAA has recently undertaken dramatic displays of appreciation for their high-earners (new motto: "Killing our clients very, very slowly with kindness since 2007"), their rivals at Endeavor are withdrawing their love from the names at the bottom of their roster. DHD's Nikki Finke reports that Ari Emanuel's ongoing crash client-diet should leave his agency 25% slimmer by the time their purge is complete:

"It's a strategic repositioning of the firm," a source said to me. "CAA wants to have as many clients on Earth as possible, and we don't. That's the difference."

I hear Endeavor's writer clients feel especially vulnerable. "Basically, any writer not working at the moment, and even ones with small jobs," a source told me. "It's all part of some move to represent only 'the best of the best'." Others say it's to get lean and mean in preparation for a possible guilds' strike.

This "best of the best" justification seems consistent with the agency's public abandonment of Paris Hilton, who certainly wasn't adding prestige to their ever-more-exclusive brand. But jilted clients who find that their Endeavor reps are no longer returning their calls should be careful not to succumb to the temptation to leap into CAA's suspiciously welcoming embrace, for the body-collecting chop-shop is probably just looking for cheap, fresh meat to grind up and serve to their better-earning talent during the lean times of a prolonged strike.