I just recently did a deep dive research on the firm with the aid of some incredible investigative journalists. I'm using the reference here jokingly - because - well that's kinda what we do here when we wild out.

But here's the reference:

CAA presents itself as a “Nexus of talent, content, brands, technology, sports, and live events” creating “limitless opportunities for the storytellers, trendsetters, icons, and thought leaders who shape popular culture”. What does that mean? CAA represents thousands of clients across the entire mass media spectrum. From A-List movie stars and news anchors, to sports heroes and big tech CEOs. By putting so many influential and socially exhalted figures under one umbrella, it provides a pathway for ideas to inorganically seep into the cultural lexicon, ideas that can be instantly promoted by your favorite politician and your favorite NBA player simultaneously without the typical observer knowing they got that idea from the same person. It is the largest such agency of its kind in the world.

It's a brilliant business model that essentially does an exceptional job of molding public opinion via pop culture and pop media - whereby CAA clients get tremendous assists from powerhouse clients who are on board with pushing a certain candidate/message with a particular slant that serves the interest of CAA clients.

Wouldn’t it be easier to get an interview on CNN to promote your book when you and Chris Cuomo share an agent? Maybe get your up and coming football star on Jimmy Fallon? How about to promote a candidate on The View? Or simply a push talking point on all of the above?

So in the context of our discussions - CAA represents the interests of certain candidates in the 2020 primary. Its main client in 2016 was Clinton and of course they pushed anti-Bernie spins (from the 'bernie bro' narrative to him being a fake civil rights activist to smearing his so-called 'light record on gun control' etc...)

CAA employees were the 8th largest donor to Harris’ “Fearless for the People” leadership PAC, to the tune of $16,500 that year. CAA as a whole donated almost $479,000 to candidates and PACs in 2018, with Cory Booker, Kamala Harris, Beto O’Rourke, and Elizabeth Warren all getting donations of $11,000 or higher. CAA represents all of Joe Biden’s interests. So, the next time you see a debate where you think Anderson Cooper is going easy on him, just remember they have the same agent, and he likely not only had a role in arranging and scheduling the debate, but also likely prepped both of them on a PR level beforehand.

It's the kind of back-room dealing and narrative scheming that got Donna Brazile (also a CAA client) in trouble with CNN.

An agent’s job is simple, really: find the most profitable outcome for your clients interests. If those interests get roasted on national television, you have to fight back, quickly, and with a vengeance.

One phone call, one email, one Twitter DM — that’s all it would take for the most trusted brand handler and talent agent in the world to get his message on every cable news show. If that message is “candidate x is bad”, and it reaches 10’s of millions of people every single day, you will win the information war. People will believe it because it’s coming from multiple “reputable” sources. If ABC, CNN, and MSNBC are all reporting the same thing, it’s probably true, right?

There are many times where you've seen the likes of Jake Tapper, Chris Cuomo, Bill Maher, Whoopi Goldberg, Charlemagne the God, Stephen Colbert, Poppy Harlow all use the same talking points, albiet in different ways. Well, all of the aforementioned are CAA clients (with hundreds more).

So CAA has developed into a massively influential firm - particularly within Democratic party politics - and if you cross one of their clients, they have an incredible means to exact revenge via a massive multimedia onslaught.

Source: CAA, UTA, Michael Kives, Darnell Strom, Rob Jaeger




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