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

This is a OPEN AI summary of the Tim Ferriss Podcast #676- visit www.TinyTim.blog for more AI summaries, or www.Tim.blog for the official Tim Ferriss Podcasts.

In the mid-1990s, David Maisel cold-called and sent a letter to Michael Ovitz, the most powerful person in Hollywood/entertainment at the time. He was granted a five-minute interview and flown out to L.A., where he ended up staying for two days waiting for the meeting.

David Maisel was working in the entertainment industry when he got the opportunity to work with Michael Ovitz, one of the most powerful agents in Hollywood. He attributes his success to a combination of factors, including his resume and the timing of his meeting with Ovitz.

Michael Ovitz was a powerful Hollywood agent who was known for his tenacity, focus, and work ethic. He was also able to amass a great deal of leverage, which helped him get what he wanted.

David Maisel was hired by Michael Ovitz to work at CAA, and he attributes his success in Hollywood to this break. He speculates that he was given the five-minute interview because he was a business school graduate and a consultant.

David Maisel was interviewed by Tim Ferriss. He discussed his career journey and how he eventually ended up working for Michael Eisner at The Walt Disney Company. He shared that Eisner saw his tenacity and commitment during their brief meeting and offered him the job.

In 2006, David Maisel was approached by Michael Bay to work on the Transformers movie. Maisel accepted the offer and moved to New York City. However, he was only at McKinsey for one week before he got a call from Sandy Climan, who was working for Michael, asking if it was too late for him to join the team. Maisel gave notice and joined the team. He attributes his success to timing and luck.

David Maisel was working at McKinsey when his sister passed away. This made him realize the fragility of life and he decided to quit his job and pursue something more creative. He eventually ended up back at McKinsey because he ran out of money, but he used this experience to realize that he should live to minimize regrets.

David Maisel is a businessman who was once headstrong and worked at McKinsey. When he was offered a job by Michael, he took a gamble and moved to Manhattan. There, he turned off his creative interests in order to focus on his rational and analytical side. He did this because he felt that being a creative producer in show business was more exciting.

David Maisel has been interested in comic books since he was a child. He sees them as real art, and is excited about the new Flash movie. He worked with Kevin Huvane at CAA, and they did some deals with Natalie Portman. Comics were always an interest for him, and he even considered trying to buyout Marvel at one point.

David Maisel learned from Michael Ovitz that it is important to always be in the service business and to remember who the customers are. He also learned the importance of keeping up with technology and how it is changing the entertainment industry. Lastly, he learned that each person has to find their own personal style and approach.

In order to be successful in Hollywood, one must be very good at business fundamentals, managing the creative process, and understanding the town's politics.

Michael Ovitz was a powerful Hollywood agent who took David Maisel under his wing. Maisel learned a lot from Ovitz, including how to take advantage of the inefficient market and how to deal with creative people. Ovitz also introduced Maisel to many influential people, including Warren Beatty.

In this conversation, Tim Ferriss and David Maisel discuss the importance of understanding the motivation of the people you're dealing with in Hollywood. Maisel recommends reading biographies of successful people in the industry, as well as staying up-to-date on current events.

In this excerpt, Tim Ferriss and David Maisel discuss how Michael Ovitz's decision to not take a job with Universal led to him eventually becoming the chairman of Marvel. They talk about how Ovitz saw an opportunity in the inefficient market of Hollywood and used his knowledge of business fundamentals to capitalize on it.

David Maisel worked at CAA with Michael Ovitz before Ovitz left to become president of Disney. Maisel was then asked by Ovitz to join him at Disney, which he did. Maisel worked in corporate development, which was responsible for major decisions under Michael Eisner.

In 96 or 97, David Maisel recommended to Michael Eisner that Disney buy Marvel, but he was quickly shot down because there were no theme park rights available east of the Mississippi River. 14 years later, when Maisel actually sold Marvel to Disney, he used the same arguments he did back then.

In 2000, David Maisel pitched the idea of buying Marvel to Disney for $4 billion. He was unceremoniously ejected from the meeting, but the idea eventually came back to him a few years later. Michael got fired, and Bob Iger ended up being the decision-maker who bought Marvel for $4 billion.

In 2003, David Maisel sat down and figured out what would become Marvel Studios. He left his job at Endeavor, where he was working as an agent, and started Marvel Studios with a few months left on his contract. Marvel Studios has been successful, winning the Tony Award for best musical in 2008.

In this clip, Tim Ferriss interviews David Maisel about his side path into Broadway and theater. Maisel discusses how personal passion has informed the success of his work on the Tony Award-winning musical, "Fosse."

Bob Fosse was a very complicated man who was known for his sensuality and creativity. His life was full of tragedy, substance abuse, and womanizing. Despite this, he was one of the best choreographers in America and won an Academy Award for his work on Cabaret. David Maisel believed that telling Fosse's story through his own dances could be a really cool Broadway project. And they did win the Tony for best musical. What made this possible was Maisel's decision to use creative business methods and his understanding that the story itself was very inexpensive to produce.

David Maisel is a producer who is focused on the creative aspects of a project, including the vision, conception, and execution. He has produced shows such as "Fosse" and "Marvel", and is currently working on a new project.

David Maisel is a producer who has worked on both successful and unsuccessful projects. He reflects on his experience with the Fosse musical, which was a success, and the Spider-Man musical, which was a failure. He says that he has learned from both experiences and that he enjoys the challenge of producing.

David Maisel was an investor in Marvel stock when the company went bankrupt in 1999. He watched as the first X-Men movie came out and Spider-Man became successful, and the stock rose to a $200 million valuation. Maisel decided to leave his job at Endeavor and William Morris to pursue a career with Marvel.

David Maisel is a studio chairman, which means he greenlights movies and has a lot of creative and business power. He didn't like how the studio system was set up, so he decided to create his own studio.

Marvel was valued at $200 million off the toys of Spider-Man, Hulk, and X-Men. The company was focused on making movies, but the model was not sustainable. Maisel's goal was to grow enterprise value.

In this case, a hundred million dollars on something, you hope people show up. Yeah, research can help you a little bit, but very little. Its pretty random. Stars at the time could maybe open the movie. But its a horrible, not a horrible, but a pretty bad business. But the sequel business was amazing because statistically, you could predict the revenues plus or minus something, and you could manage your profit margin, not whether you made profits. So the big idea I had, which was now is called the Universe, was what if after the first movie, every movie after that was a sequel or a quasi-sequel, which required all the characters, or a lot of the characters, to show up in multiple movies? That led me, again, to Marvel because I knew about the vast universe of characters, and that this would be a perfect way, in my mind, to make every movie after the first one a sequel or a quasi-sequel. So it came up over 24, 48 hours that weekend, the whole thing.

In 2003, David Maisel pitched Marvel Studios head Ike Perlmutter on the idea of licensing Marvel films to post-bankruptcy. Trump was also at Mar-a-Lago at the time and introduced Maisel to his upcoming TV show, The Apprentice.

In 2003, David Maisel was approached by Michael Jackson to produce a Broadway show based on Jackson's music videos. The two reached a 50/50 deal agreement, with Jackson performing Thriller randomly once every couple months. However, the deal fell through and Maisel eventually went on to produce Marvel films instead.

In 2004, David Maisel was made president of Marvel Studios with the mandate to make more money for the company without taking any significant risks. He was met with resistance from the board of directors, who were mostly ex-bankruptcy guys, but he was able to convince them to invest in some big projects that eventually paid off.

In 2004, Marvel CEO David Maisel convinced the company's board to give him six months to raise financing for a slate of Marvel movies. He was successful in raising half a billion dollars, which allowed Marvel to produce its own films and control the timing of when they were released. This turned out to be a very successful strategy, as the Marvel Cinematic Universe has now become one of the most successful film franchises of all time.

In 2004, David Maisel pitched the idea of using Marvel characters as collateral for a loan to various entities, with Merrill Lynch eventually agreeing to the terms. The loan had a very low interest rate and was structured as pure debt, with the only collateral being the film rights to 10 Marvel characters. If the first four movies failed to make a profit, the bank would have the option to make films with the remaining six characters, but Maisel would still receive the same licensing fee.

In 2004, Marvel was in danger of losing the rights to their characters, so they came up with a plan to finance their own movies. This was a revolutionary idea at the time, and it paid off in a big way with the success of the MCU.

In 2005, David Maisel convinced Merrill Lynch to finance Marvel Studios' film project "The Avengers" on the condition that Marvel retain 100% of the profits. This was a huge accomplishment, and it all started with Maisel's vision and tenacity.

In 2003, David Maisel became the CEO of Marvel Studios. He oversaw the development of successful films like X-Men and Spider-Man. In 2010, he passed the baton to Kevin Feige. Maisel discusses how he was able to raise $525 million for the studio by using the success of the X-Men and Spider-Man films as leverage. He also explains how everyone involved in the deal had an incentive to make it happen.

David Maisel was the general counsel of Marvel Studios, and he helped get the company through a tough time. Merrill Lynch was able to resell the debt that Marvel had to other investors.

In 2003, 2004, and 2005, Marvel was not the huge company it is today. This made it difficult for them to find a distribution partner for their movies. They eventually found one in Paramount, but it was not an easy process.

In the early 2000s, Marvel Studios was trying to get a film adaptation of Iron Man off the ground. However, nobody wanted to finance the project. Eventually, they were able to convince Paramount to finance the film, which went on to be a huge success.

Jeffrey Katzenberg coached David Maisel on what terms to ask for in a distribution deal with Paramount. As a result, Maisel was able to get a deal with no non-cash charges and a 10 percent distribution fee.

In order to secure financing for the development of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, producer Kevin Feige had to convince bankers and distributors that Iron Man would be a success. This was done by highlighting the potential success of other Marvel properties, such as Spider-Man and X-Men.

Marvel Studios was founded in 2006 by Avi Arad, Kevin Feige, and Ike Perlmutter. The studio's first film was Iron Man (2008), which was followed by The Incredible Hulk (2008). Thor (2011) was the studio's third film.

In 2004, David Maisel was promoted to vice chairman of Marvel Studios, and in 2006 he was promoted to chairman. In that period of time, he was able to focus on making the Iron Man movie. He hired Jon Favreau as the director and Robert Downey as the actor.

The article discusses the making of the film "Iron Man," with a focus on the contributions of director Jon Favreau and actor Robert Downey Jr. It highlights how Favreau was able to work with a limited budget to create a successful film, and how Downey's casting was a risky but ultimately successful decision.

In 2006, Marvel Studios released Iron Man, which was a huge success. The studio faced many challenges in getting the film made, but ultimately it was a smooth process thanks to the hard work of everyone involved.

In 2004, while he was working at Marvel, David Maisel had the idea to create a low-budget Iron Man animated film as a proof-of-concept. This would change Marvel's strategy, and it was a success. Paramount then gave Maisel the go-ahead to make a live-action Iron Man movie. Marketing was a tough challenge, but they eventually released the movie on May 2nd, which turned out to be a great date.

In order to raise money for theatrical films, David Maisel made a deal with Lionsgate to produce $3 million direct-to-DVD animated movies. This allowed him to show the board that they could actually produce something, and they were able to make their money back plus split the profits. This proved to be a successful strategy, and they went on to produce several more movies.

David Maisel was the one who had the original vision for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and he argues that this makes him more creative than most people give him credit for. He also talks about how he promoted Kevin Feige within Marvel Studios, and how proud he is of this decision.

Ike and Kevin discuss the latter's role in the production company. Ike is impressed with Kevin's work and believes he has the potential to be a great president. However, he notes that part of being a good manager is knowing when to step in and exert one's own creativity. In this case, he felt that the script for "Iron Man" was getting too complex and needed to be simplified.

Iron Man 3 was almost a very different movie - the original script had a different villain, and a different ending. But studio chairman David Maisel recommended a change to director Jon Favreau and the team, which they embraced. The result was a better story, and a saved budget.

In an interview with Tim Ferriss, David Maisel discusses his decision to remain quiet with PR following the sale of Marvel to Disney. He explains that he didn't want to get too focused on his own ego, and that he thought truth would always prevail. However, he has found that his story has been rewritten out of history in some cases, which is something he finds weird and frustrating.

This article is about Joanna Robinson writing a book on the history of Marvel Studios. She talks about how she realized the importance of being part of the narrative and sharing her story. She also talks about how Marvel brings joy to people's lives.

In 2006, David Maisel was working on the film Iron Man. Despite Paramount's projections that the film would only make $40-50 million on its opening weekend, Maisel believed in the film and continued to work on it. His hard work paid off, and Iron Man went on to make over $100 million on its opening weekend.

David Maisel recounts the night that Iron Man came out and how it changed everything for him and Marvel. He describes how, before that night, he and his colleagues were just focused on making the movie and didn't think much about the business side of things. But after Iron Man became a huge success, they realized that they had to start thinking about the future of Marvel.

In 2008, Iron Man was released and became a huge success. This led to a dinner at Mr. Chows in Beverly Hills with Jon Favreau, Robert Downey, Kevin, and myself to celebrate. At the dinner, I said I would greenlight Iron Man 2 if everyone around the table committed to making it so we could release it in 2010. This was a very quick turnaround for a movie with no script. A lot of what we did in this movie was like film school.

In 2009, David Maisel proposed to Bob Iger that they create a 50-50 partnership between Marvel and Disney for animated movies. Iger declined, but the two continued to meet and discuss business opportunities. In May of that year, Maisel called Iger again and proposed that Disney buy Marvel stock, which was undervalued at the time. Iger agreed, and the two companies merged.

In June 2009, Iger and I had a meeting where we discussed the possibility of selling Marvel to Disney. At the time, Marvel was close to signing deals with another studio for distribution and with Discovery and Hasbro for a kids TV network. Iger suggested that we sell to Disney instead, which we eventually did.

In 2009, Marvel Studios was acquired by Disney in a deal worth $4 billion. Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige pitched the idea to Disney CEO Bob Iger, who was initially hesitant but ultimately agreed to the deal. The acquisition proved to be a great trade for shareholders, as Disney's stock price rose from $51 to $200 per share.

After the success of Iron Man, David Maisel negotiated with Robert Downey Jr. to have him star in The Avengers, which would be a quasi-sequel to Iron Man. Maisel then called Ike Perlmutter, the CEO of Marvel, to tell him that he had a buyer for the company. Perlmutter was open-minded to the idea and told Maisel to fly to New York to see him. Maisel did so and made his case, and Perlmutter agreed to the sale.

David Maisel was able to convince Ike Perlmutter to sell Marvel to Disney, in part due to the help of Ron Burkle. Burkle is a savvy businessman and investor, who was able to help Maisel get the deal done.

In the early days of Marvel, David Maisel met Ron Perelman when Perelman was interested in buying Endeavor. The deal fell through, but the two men became friends. When Marvel's Iron Man was released, Maisel was at Perelman's house for a party. Later, when Disney acquired Marvel, Maisel introduced Bob Iger to Kevin Feige, who he thought would be a great leader for Marvel within Disney.

In 2004, Bob Iger, then-CEO of Disney, acquired Marvel Studios for $4 billion. Marvel Studios was a startup within the parent company of Marvel, and Iger saw the potential for it to be valued at 3-4 billion dollars. The acquisition went through smoothly and Iger has since been excited about the possibilities for Marvel Studios.

In this conversation, Tim Ferriss and David Maisel discuss books, universe building, and movies. Maisel recommends Stranger In A Strange Land by Robert Heinlein and Ferriss agrees that it is a classic. They also discuss the live action movie that Maisel would most like to make, which is based on the book. Finally, they talk about properties, characters, and stories that they hope someone else will pursue.

David Maisel believes that it will be difficult to launch a new universe that can compete with Marvel, due to the success of Marvel Studios and the increased competition in the market. He believes that something special is needed to stand out in the current landscape.

The speaker discusses the difficulty of creating a new universe that can compete with Marvel. He suggests that the key is to create something with great meaning that people can discover and enjoy together.

In this conversation, Tim Ferriss and David Maisel discuss the appeal of new universes. They talk about how new universes can be created by combining legacy elements with new elements, as in the TV show Stranger Things. They also discuss how the balance of new and old can make an experience more exciting.

In 2003, David Maisel was approached by Marvel Studios to become their president. He accepted, and the studio was sold to Disney in 2010. During that time, he pursued something he was passionate about and believed in, which had a ripple effect on pop culture. Additionally, he has had a positive impact on people's lives, including his own health.

This podcast is about how a chance event led to the creation of a successful business. The lesson is that even if you are just with your family or friends, the effect of your actions can create something great.

https://tim.blog/2023/06/07/david-maisel-marvel/