Ghosn hires agent Michael Ovitz for TV, film deals
LOS ANGELES/PARIS: Hollywood producers eager to dramatise the life of Carlos Ghosn, the former Nissan Motor Co. chairman who staged a cinematic escape from Japan in December, are likely to get a simple response: call my agent.
Not just any agent. Ghosn is working with Michael Ovitz, the founder of Creative Artists Agency (CAA) and former president of Walt Disney Co., to explore film and TV projects. A spokeswoman for Ghosn said Ovitz would assist with projects and evaluating proposals he has received, cautioning that any discussions are still preliminary.
A deal with a studio could be a significant financial boon to Ghosn, who forfeited $14 million in bail money when he fled Japan at the end of December, a caper that one security expert estimated could have cost him another $15 million.
Ghosn’s story—which involves allegations of a high-level corporate coup and government collusion, followed by a dramatic extraction masterminded by a former Green Beret—has the makings of a compelling film or mini-series at a time when companies from Netflix Inc. to Amazon.com Inc. are hungry for fresh content.
Few people in Hollywood are more familiar with such negotiations than Ovitz, who has been one of the entertainment industry’s most prominent dealmakers since the 1980s.
At CAA he pioneered the practice of “packaging” film projects, putting together stars, screenwriters, and directors and shopping them to studios as a team.
Ovitz didn’t immediately respond to messages seeking comment outside of regular US business hours.
It’s probably safe to say that Ovitz, who over the years worked with A-listers including Steven Spielberg and Meryl Streep, has never had a client with Ghosn’s background.