Caa

The signature brown boots, bobby socks and pistols of Lara Croft have inspired fans to write thousands of letters, build Web sites in her honor, write books about her, tattoo her image on their bodies and even propose marriage to her. She's the star of five video games, a comic book series and an eponymous Hollywood film. In all, products bearing her name have generated close to $1.2 billion in revenue over the last six years. Croft, of course, isn't real--she's just a character in a video game.

In an unusually sharp and public display of displeasure with one of Hollywood's most powerful talent agencies, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on Friday took Creative Artists Agency to task for a full-page advertisement saying that 32 of its clients had received Academy Award nominations when half of those listed weren't nominated this year.

The 45 high schools that comprise the Catholic Athletic Assn. voted overwhelmingly last week to have a committee develop a new transfer policy for membership consideration before the school year is completed. Principals from a number of CAA schools have voiced support for having students who transfer without changing residences be ineligible for varsity sports for one season.

Since its opening in 1989, the sleek marble and glass building designed by architect I.M. Pei as Creative Artists Agency's headquarters in Beverly Hills has housed a contemporary art collection. "Bauhaus Stairway," a 26-foot-tall painting by the late Pop master Roy Lichtenstein, dominates the atrium lobby, as always, and a familiar bronze figure by New York sculptor Joel Shapiro still balances on one foot, off to one side of the airy space.

Sandy Climan, a senior executive at Creative Artists Agency, said Thursday that he is leaving the talent firm. Sources said Climan has been approached by Michael Ovitz to join his new management venture, Artists Management Group, but that Climan is considering other options as well. In a statement released Thursday night, Climan said he expected to make an announcement soon.

So there is a new war on in Hollywood, with the managers of Creative Artists Agency refusing to share any of their clients with former founder Michael Ovitz, who has acted hostilely by poaching Robin Williams ["Creative Artists Counterpunches in Ovitz Fight," The Biz, Jan. 26]. One agent was quoted as saying, "It's good business practice not to let your enemy sit at your table." Ovitz will continue to do lunch in this town and at CAA's table, perhaps taking his cue from a great film with its Godfatherly advice: "Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer."

In a move sure to fuel the war between Hollywood talent agents and managers, Michael Menchel resigned from Creative Artists Agency to join former boss Michael Ovitz in his new management company, sources said Wednesday. And Menchel is taking some key clients with him, top among them actor Robin Williams. Williams, who stars in Universal's current box-office hit "Patch Adams," is one of Hollywood's highest-paid movie stars, making $20 million a picture.

There's something going around at Creative Artists Agency, and the bug can be traced to the Wilshire Boulevard penthouse suite of a Beverly Hills dermatologist. Here, beyond the bric-a-brac of his more-is-more waiting room decor, Dr. Harold Lancer fills a steady stream of requests for a form of the bacteria that causes botulism. The beauty of Botox, as agents have discovered in the few years since it landed on planet Hollywood, is its calming effect on facial winces and grimaces.

If you think being a top Hollywood agent is always glamorous, think again. Yes, the salaries and perks can be enormous. And getting thanked by a client at the Academy Awards, in front of some 1 billion TV viewers, must be very gratifying. But those benefits go hand in hand with a daily grind and unrelenting stress that few are willing to discuss publicly. "It's like swimming in the ocean. You go through one set of waves, and you can rest for 30 seconds until the next set of waves comes up and you have to negotiate those.

Historically, it's been common for agents to cross to the corporate executive side of the entertainment business. Nearly two years ago, Creative Artists Agency's founding partners Michael Ovitz and Ron Meyer shocked Hollywood when they made their jump. One of their right-hand men, Sandy Climan, followed suit when Meyer offered him a top executive post at MCA (now known as Universal Studios Inc.).