Even a broken clock is right twice (er, once so far) a day. The history of studio slates is littered with one hit wonders who were rightfully displaced in the name of restoring consistency. The former film chief of Paramount, Adam Goodman, comes to mind. He lasted 6 years under Brad Grey and could only claim box office hit WORLD WAR Z as the one feather in his cap. Other franchises like MISSION IMPOSSIBLE and STAR TREK existed before his tenure.
Another example: lightning did not strike twice for former Fox studio success, Jim Gianopulos. He is credited for launching the A QUIET PLACE franchise, but the rest of the franchises were already existing and his other selections did not land. They crashed.
Once De Luca and Abdy are relieved of their duties, where does Zlaslav turn next? It has to be someone who is agency-friendly, talent friendly, filmmaker friendly, and strategically three steps ahead of everyone else (including Zlaslav). It also needs to be someone with a sense of the bigger picture and strategy of more than just films.
We want to go so far outside the box that the readers will pelt us with vegetables. Wait for it…Bryan Lourd of CAA. Yes, that Bryan Lourd. Why? The better question is: Why not? He’s done everything an agent and founder of an agency can do. He’s built a billion dollar company from the ground up. He’s put any artist who is worth a shit in a position to succeed (and every client has). He knows a lot of things about a lot of things. He has cashed in several times and made hundreds of millions of dollars on the sale and re-sale of the agency (not to mention he’s making a small fortune with stock and stock options from Barry Diller’s company IAC. He stands at the top of the mountain in search of the next mountain to climb. Toss in the fact that, in spite of his ability to deceptively steal people’s lunch money, he has the begrudging respect of his peers.
And before you poo poo the idea. Just remember there is precedent for a CAA agent at the top of his game going the studio route. Ron Meyer became the President and COO of Universal Studios. He left after fulfilling his dreams at CAA for an incredibly successful and long lasting run at Universal for 18 years until his personal life got in the way. There was also Michael Ovitz to Disney, but that it was his personality that got in the way.
Zlaslav should make Bryan Lourd an offer he cannot refuse and pray that Bryan takes the bait. A ton of cash. Sole greenlight power. Sole power over a budget and various divisions. It’s exactly what Zlaslav needs…even at the risk of getting his lunch money stolen.