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, The Making (and Importance) of Iron Man, Selling to Disne

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“It’s having the vision and then going there and making it happen with whatever dials I need to turn— creatively or business or political or financing—to get it done.”
— David Maisel



David Maisel ( @maiseldavid ) is the Founder of Mythos Studios and the former Founding Chairman of Marvel Studios. In 2003, David pitched Marvel on his idea of Marvel financing and producing its own movies in a connected cinematic universe. He went on to executive produce Iron Man , The Incredible Hulk , Iron Man 2 , Thor , Captain America: The First Avenger , and The Angry Birds Movie . In 2009, David arranged the sale of Marvel to Disney for $4 billion.



David is currently the Founder of Mythos Studios, an IP entertainment studio. The Ekos Genesis Art Collection , all 1/1 original hand-crafted digital art, is the first offering in the forthcoming Ekos Universe.



Please enjoy!



Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , Overcast , Podcast Addict , Pocket Casts , Castbox , Google Podcasts , Stitcher , Amazon Music ,  or on your favorite podcast platform . You can watch the interview on YouTube here .



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#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, The Making (and Importance) of Iron Man, Selling to Disney for $4 Billion, and Much More













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What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments .







SELECTED LINKS FROM THE EPISODE




Connect with David Maisel :




Twitter | Instagram




Connect with Mythos Studios/Ekos :




Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube




Movies, Characters, Comics, TV | Marvel



Creative Artists Agency (CAA)



Strategic Management Consulting | Boston Consulting Group



Who Is Michael Ovitz? Portfolio’s Adrian Zackheim Sheds Light | Penguin Random House



The Talent Behind the Hollywood Deal | The Washington Post



Software Is Eating the World | Andreessen Horowitz



Theater Studies | Duke Arts



Global Management Consulting | McKinsey & Company



Star Wars



A New Film Studio from the Moguls Behind Justin Bieber and Marvel | The New York Times



The Flash Final Trailer | DC



Thor | Prime Video



AOL | Wikipedia



From a Comic Fan to Marvel Movie Maker | Financial Times



Who Is Michael Ovitz? by Michael Ovitz | Amazon



The Operator: David Geffen Builds, Buys, and Sells the New Hollywood by Thomas R. King | Amazon



The Hollywood Reporter



Variety



Seagram-Vivendi Deal | The Canadian Encyclopedia



Disney to Acquire Marvel Entertainment | The Walt Disney Company



1999 Tony Winner: Fosse (Musical) | Playbill



William Morris Endeavor (WME)



Personality: The Lloyd Price Musical



All That Jazz (The Criterion Collection) | Amazon



Cabaret | Prime Video



Stage Types: Proscenium Arch | Theatre Design



Fosse/Verdon: Inside Ann Reinking and Gwen Verdon’s Unlikely Friendship | Vanity Fair



How a Spider-Man Musical Became a Theatrical Disaster | BBC Culture



Marvel Cinematic Universe | Fandom



Wayne’s World | Prime Video



MonsterVerse | Wikipedia



X-Men | Prime Video



Spider-Man | Prime Video



The Filmmaking Process for Beginners | NYFA



What Exactly Is the Role of a Movie Studio in a Movie and Why Do Multiple Companies Often Collaborate to a Make a Movie? | Quora



The 10 Largest Film Studios in the United States | Zippia



The Apprentice | IMDb



Michael Jackson: Thriller (Official 4K Video) | YouTube



How Do Asset Bubbles Cause Recessions? | Investopedia



Marvel Entertainment Is Down…But Not Out | CNN Money



Wealth Management and Financial Services | Merrill Lynch



Angry Birds



How ‘Avengers’ Was Assembled, Before Marvel Was Mighty | The New York Times



Avengers: Endgame | Prime Video



AAA | Investopedia



Iron Man | Prime Video



The Avengers (UK) | Prime Video



The Black Panther Party: Challenging Police and Promoting Social Change | National Museum of African American History and Culture



Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings | Prime Video



Asgard | Marvel Cinematic Universe Wiki



Hulk (2003) | Prime Video



The Incredible Hulk (2008) | Prime Video



Hulk Hands | Amazon



“Genius, Billionaire, Playboy, Philanthropist” Clip | The Avengers (2012)



The Mandalorian | Disney+



Swingers | Prime Video



Elf | Prime Video



Zathura | Prime Video



The Dark Knight | Prime Video



Google’s New L.A. Office Has Left Cool Coworking Spaces Speechless | Inc42



Why The Spruce Goose Only Flew Once | Simple Flying



Lionsgate Sets ‘Invincible Iron Man’ | The Hollywood Reporter



Marvel Animated Features | Wikipedia



Hit Filmmaker Jon Favreau’s Techniques and Routines | The Tim Ferriss Show #71



Master of the Universe | Vanity Fair



MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios by Joanna Robinson, Dave Gonzales, and Gavin Edwards | Amazon



Marvel Wants to Flex Its Own Heroic Muscles as a Moviemaker | The New York Times



“Iron Man” Shows Strength at the Box Office | CNBC



“Iron Man” Tops $100 Million in Opening Weekend | The New York Times



World Famous Dining Experience | Mr. Chow



The Hub Network | Discovery Press Web



Iron Man 2 | Prime Video



Bob Iger on How He Convinced Steve Jobs to Sell Pixar to Disney | CNBC



Apple Cofounder Steve Jobs Had Major Role in Disney Buying Marvel | Business Insider



Ralphs



Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein | Amazon



DC Universe | Wikipedia



James Gunn Unveils DC Slate with Batman, Superman, and More | The Hollywood Reporter



Avatar | Prime Video



The Random Show with Kevin Rose — The $1M Bitcoin Bet, Japanophilia, Rare IPAs, Preventing Hangovers, AI Companions, Fringe Discords, Affordable Luxuries, High-Fidelity Audio, and Much More | The Tim Ferriss Show #670



Top 10 Clay Tobacco Pipe Finds from the River Thames | Nicola White Mudlark



Nirvana



Stranger Things | Netflix



The Butterfly Effect: Everything You Need to Know About This Powerful Mental Model | Farnam Street Blog




SHOW NOTES




[09:25] Michael Ovitz.



[17:00] How David became Michael’s right-hand man.



[25:12] Creative interests.



[26:14] When David fell in love with comic books.



[28:34] Early Hollywood lessons — learned and taught.



[35:43] Resources for people aspiring to work in the entertainment industry.



[39:20] How Marvel enters the picture.



[48:11] A detour to Broadway theater.



[54:51] Making the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).



[1:28:26] Why start the MCU with Iron Man ?



[1:31:56] Decisions between development and deployment.



[1:36:18] Biggest challenges.



[1:39:45] Animated feature films.



[1:41:14] Not just another pretty suit.



[1:47:20] Five stars for Favreau.



[1:48:48] Why hasn’t David done more PR until recently?



[1:53:24] The surprise success of Iron Man .



[1:59:45] Wheeling and dealing with Bob Iger.



[2:08:50] Ron Burkle.



[2:10:35] Finalizing the big sale to Disney.



[2:14:36] Recommended reading.



[2:15:17] Building new mythologies and legacies in a post-MCU landscape.



[2:21:12] Parting thoughts.




MORE DAVID MAISEL QUOTES FROM THE INTERVIEW



“Part of managing creativity is knowing when to exert yours and when to get the best out from others” — David Maisel



“It’s having the vision and then going there and making it happen with whatever dials I need to turn—creatively or business or political or financing—to get it done.” — David Maisel



PEOPLE MENTIONED




Michael Ovitz



The Wizard of Oz



Lew Wasserman



Tom Cruise



Warren Beatty



Larry Gagosian



Marc Andreessen



Ben Horowitz



David Stern



Sandy Climan



Kevin Huvane



Iron Man/Tony Stark



The Flash



Bryan Lourd



Richard Lovett



Natalie Portman



Bill Gates



Magic Johnson



David Geffen



Bill Gurley



Edgar Bronfman Jr.



Ronald Meyer



Michael Eisner



Thomas O. Staggs



Kevin A. Mayer



Bob Iger



Steve Burke



Bob Fosse



Joe Ravitch



John C. Malone



Ari Emanuel



Patrick Whitesell



Lloyd Price



Jessica Lange



Anne Reinking



Gwen Verdon



Nicole Fosse



Robert F. X. Sillerman



Steve Bannon



Bono



The Edge



Carl Icahn



Isaac Perlmutter



Spider-Man/Peter Parker



Hulk/Bruce Banner



Avi Arad



Joshua B. Grode



King Kong



Donald Trump



Michael Jackson



Hugh Hefner



Sid Ganis



Steven Spielberg



Captain America



Thor



Kevin Feige



Stan Lee



John Turitzin



Rob Moore



Brad Grey



The Avengers



Black PantherT’Challa



Doctor Strange



Cloak and Dagger



Shang-Chi



Power Pack



Ang Lee



Jeremy Latcham



Louis D’Esposito



Victoria Alonso



Jon Favreau



Robert Downey Jr.



Pepper Potts



Howard Hughes



Gwyneth Paltrow



Jeffrey Katzenberg



Michael Burns



Jon Feltheimer



Jeff Bridges



Iron Monger/Obadiah Stane



The Mandarin



Joanna Robinson



Ron Burkle



Leonardo DiCaprio



David Zaslav



Brian Goldner



Steve Jobs



Robert A. Heinlein



James Cameron



Kevin Rose

The post 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, The Making (and Importance) of Iron Man, Selling to Disney for $4 Billion, and Much More (#676) appeared first on The Blog of Author Tim Ferriss .