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4. ARI EMANUEL
AGE 46
JOB TITLE Partner, Endeavor Agency
SMART BECAUSE In just
over a decade, he's built
Endeavor from the ground
up, taken on the industry's
big four talent agencies,
and made his the
second-most powerful in
town. A maverick thinker,
Emanuel seems congenitally incapable of following the
crowd. Instead of losing sleep over who signs Halle Berry
(ICM ended up nabbing her last year), Emanuel and partner
Patrick Whitesell have shifted Endeavor's focus to
helping filmmakers expand their businesses and gain autonomy
from the studio system. While everyone's trying
to break into China (and, so far, failing), Emanuel's thinking
about AT&T's plan to deliver original content to consumers
and how his clients can profit. Emanuel was the
inspiration for Entourage's brash Ari Gold: When Disney
refused to release his client Michael Moore's Fahrenheit
9/11, he came out swinging at then CEO Michael Eisner.
But behind that street-fighter facade is the sharpest
strategist in the business.
MONEY NEVER SLEEPS He
starts calling studio heads at 4 a.m. to lobby for his clients.
