WME Signs Robin Williams: CAA Furious

EXCLUSIVE: There's nothing that infuriates Hollywood agencies a lot more than once they feel they haven’t had warning that the client is going to leave. And that's why CAA’s Bryan Lourd et al requested a “save” meeting for today with Robin Williams. (And CAA is expert at keeping clients with one of these “save” conferences, I ought to add.) However, people within the Academy Award-winning actor’s camping let me know he did provide them with sufficient warning and for that reason switched lower CAA’s request. Therefore it’s now official: WME’s Adam Venit and Marc Geiger have signed Williams in most areas. And Lourd is livid. This isn't the very first time that Williams leaves CAA under uncomfortable conditions. He was the very first CAA client to depart the company and join Michael Ovitz’s ill-fated management company. That sparked a war between Ovitz and also the partners from the agency he co-founded like Lourd. After Ovitz’s AMG unsuccessful, CAA recognized Williams into the fold. Williams, who besides his Supporting Actor Oscar permanently Will Hunting also offers 2 Emmys and 5 Grammys, will next be heard in Happy Ft 2 and observed in The Large Wedding opposite Robert P Niro and Diane Keaton. Last spring, Williams received great reviews for his Broadway debut in Bengal Tiger In The Baghdad Zoo. However for a company like WME, Williams ongoing career like a stand-up comedian is exactly what’s really lucrative: His newest tour, Robin Williams: Weapons of Self-Destruction, was among 2010′s most effective, grossing $40 million, in addition to becoming the topic of an Cinemax special and comedy album nominated for any Grammy.