YouSaid · the spoken record

David Maisel

lines on the record: 156
first: 2023-06-07
most recent: 2023-06-07
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“No, it's interesting, Tim, because I ended up being, you know, I was employee number 400 out of 400. I quickly, because of this secret project and the fact that if he came pretty obvious, he was also considering leaving CAA to run Universal to whoever bought it, which was cataclysmic at the time. So I had this secret and we flew to Japan and all that kind of stuff together. So I became to his right-hand side and stayed there pretty much through 1999, 2000.”
2023-06-07 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #676: David Maisel of Marvel Studios Fame — Never-Before-Heard Tales of Hollywood Dealmaking, The Art of Aiming Big, Lessons from Power Broker Michael Ovitz, Combining Business Smarts with Street Smarts, The Making (and Importance) of Iron Man, Selling to Disney for $4 Billion, and Much More · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Amazing as your first job in Hollywood to have this huge secret you couldn't share with anybody in town. I would have an office way in the back so none of the other agents would know what I was doing. I was getting these secret emails between Universal and the Japanese at the time that Lou Wasserman, another mythical figure was not even privy to. So it was a blast. But I think he enjoyed having his token Harvard MBA by his side that he could offer up to his clients. And he did. You know, I was there for whatever that moniker might deem to be useful for, for whether it's Tom Cruise or Warren Beatty or a company like Metsusha.”
2023-06-07 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #676: David Maisel of Marvel Studios Fame — Never-Before-Heard Tales of Hollywood Dealmaking, The Art of Aiming Big, Lessons from Power Broker Michael Ovitz, Combining Business Smarts with Street Smarts, The Making (and Importance) of Iron Man, Selling to Disney for $4 Billion, and Much More · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I had the. I sort of joke. I mean, I was very into creative things and I turned that part of my brain off after graduating from Duke because I needed to make some money. And I figured my rational brain was more predictable. And so I went to HBS and I had the Harvard Business School moniker and I had a couple years at Boston Consulting Group. But I think once I learned Michael and once I started working with him, that was the first job, which was to secretly help him on that assignment, which was”
2023-06-07 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #676: David Maisel of Marvel Studios Fame — Never-Before-Heard Tales of Hollywood Dealmaking, The Art of Aiming Big, Lessons from Power Broker Michael Ovitz, Combining Business Smarts with Street Smarts, The Making (and Importance) of Iron Man, Selling to Disney for $4 Billion, and Much More · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I think I pieced it together after a while. I was fortunate to have a stellar resume, but so do a lot of people that I'm sure were approaching Michael at the time. And it was in retrospect, I think I can say this now, Michael had been hired by Matsusta, the Japanese company, to secretly analyze and potentially sell their holding of universal studios, which they had bought years earlier. I was in the right place at the right time as a great agent would do he sold that assignment, but he didn't necessarily have people that could do the work for him. And all of a sudden, he got this Harvard MBA resume of some guy saying he'd be willing to work and take whatever. And, you know, in many ways, I think it was just a really fortunate timing that it came across his desk then.”
2023-06-07 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #676: David Maisel of Marvel Studios Fame — Never-Before-Heard Tales of Hollywood Dealmaking, The Art of Aiming Big, Lessons from Power Broker Michael Ovitz, Combining Business Smarts with Street Smarts, The Making (and Importance) of Iron Man, Selling to Disney for $4 Billion, and Much More · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“To print it out. And I was granted a five minute interview and flow not to LA. And so that was the first meeting. I remember he put me up at the Beverly Hills Hilton and he made me stay two days waiting for the meeting”
2023-06-07 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #676: David Maisel of Marvel Studios Fame — Never-Before-Heard Tales of Hollywood Dealmaking, The Art of Aiming Big, Lessons from Power Broker Michael Ovitz, Combining Business Smarts with Street Smarts, The Making (and Importance) of Iron Man, Selling to Disney for $4 Billion, and Much More · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“In the mid-1990s, Michael Ovitz was the most powerful person in Hollywood slash entertainment by far. He had created creative artist agency, which was already that time the biggest talent agency in Hollywood. And he had created this leverage by controlling so many stars and by being this very mysterious figure that he just became almost like the Wizard of Oz, like some mythical creature. I remember I was debating a career switch. I was working in consulting for entertainment companies with Boston Consulting Group at the time and decided that my love of Hollywood and movies, I had to move out to Hollywood and really try it and not have regrets. And he was on the cover of Business Week. And I just cold called him. I sent him a letter, old-fashioned paper resume, you know, went to King.”
2023-06-07 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #676: David Maisel of Marvel Studios Fame — Never-Before-Heard Tales of Hollywood Dealmaking, The Art of Aiming Big, Lessons from Power Broker Michael Ovitz, Combining Business Smarts with Street Smarts, The Making (and Importance) of Iron Man, Selling to Disney for $4 Billion, and Much More · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT