Rising

Artisan Entertainment
Formerly Live Entertainment, this deep-pocketed indie is leaving a mark with eclectic fare like Pi, The Cruise, and, yes, Ringmaster with Jerry Springer.

Michael Bay
After Armageddon, everyone wants to make a movie deal with this devil. Bay, 34, is developing a TV show (Quantico) and commercials for Nike's new logo launch, called, appropriately, Alpha.

Cameron Diaz
Riding the silly success of There's Something About Mary, Diaz, 26, was offered a rumored $10 million to costar with Meryl Streep in Success. Not bad for an ex-model.

Endeavor
An agency with a gift for spotting emerging talent (Kevin Smith, King of the Hill's Greg Daniels). With established clients like David E. Kelley, Lisa Kudrow, and Edward Norton, Endeavor — mostly escapees from ICM and CAA — is no longer a refuge, but a real destination.

Jane Friedman
This 52-year-old publishing veteran has revitalized the troubled HarperCollins: Profits are up 200 percent, thanks to bestsellers like Rebecca Wells' Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood. Just published the first collection of poems by Sylvia Plath's daughter, Frieda Hughes.

Dana Giacchetto
A former rock musician, Giacchetto, 36, invests the not-so-small fortunes of Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Alanis Morissette, Jewel, Smashing Pumpkins, Claire Danes, and Leonardo DiCaprio. His clients are also pals, and parties at his SoHo loft are New York's most star-studded.

Zach Horowitz
As president of the Universal Music Group, Horowitz, 45, has a key role in deciding which labels live or die after the Universal-PolyGram merger. Not a good time to be on his bad side.

Geraldine Laybourne
A protean visionary and former Disney/ABC and Nickelodeon exec, Laybourne, 51, is now chairman and CEO of Oxygen Media, a multimedia venture that plans to create online sites and TV shows for women and children.

Alanis Morissette
Morissette, 24, drops her second album, Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie, next month, begins her first arena tour in '99, and — get this — appears as God in Kevin Smith's upcoming Dogma. Talk about answered prayers.

Mutual Film Company
Principals Gary Levinsohn, 38, and Mark Gordon, 41, have bankrolled some high-profile films (Primary Colors) and served as producers on Saving Private Ryan. Next up: cofinancing Sam Raimi's A Simple Plan.

John McClain
Even money says this A&M senior VP is the only man who may be able to turn Michael Jackson's career around: McClain, 44, is working on a Jackson 5 reunion album.

Lachlan Murdoch
Just 27, this tattooed scion is the heir apparent to the empire of the third most powerful person in entertainment, his pop, Rupert. Currently toiling at News Corp.'s Australian operations.

David Rosenthal
Villard editor and publisher who launched the ''explorography'' craze with Into Thin Air, Rosenthal, 44, moved to Simon & Schuster last fall; his new catalog includes Peter Lefcourt's The Woody, inspired by (what else?) Viagra.