The War for Late Night_ When Leno Went Early and Television Went Crazy - Bill Carter [187]
Ron Meyer had been the top executive at Universal Pictures since 1995, long before GE and NBC emerged on the scene. Along with the now eclipsed Michael Ovitz, Meyer had earlier founded Creative Artists Agency. So he knew talent and he knew NBC; he had connective tissue to both sides of this dispute. Even more than that, Meyer commanded wide respect throughout Hollywood, not just for his experience and acumen, but also because of his sterling reputation as an all-around mensch.
Emanuel put in a discreet call to Meyer that Tuesday night. “Ronnie,” Emanuel said, “if you don’t get involved in this fucking thing, this thing is a fucking disaster.”
Meyer told Emanuel that it was not really his place to do something like this. He worked for GE and NBC. If they asked him to become involved, he might be able to do it, but he couldn’t just volunteer. And besides, he had nothing to do with television.
Even that degree of willingness was enough for Ari, who put in another call, this one to Zucker. “You should let Ronnie take the lead here,” Ari urged him. Zucker liked the idea.
Zucker had Gaspin set up a breakfast with Meyer for the next morning. In addition to all the other advantages Meyer enjoyed as an intermediary, he had an excellent relationship with Conan, having thrown a party in his honor at his Malibu house, and an even better one with Jeff Ross, whom he had befriended when Jeff had arrived in LA, bringing him in as his houseguest.
Ross had quietly conferred with Meyer throughout the upheaval of the previous week, so it was not surprising that Meyer checked in with Ross about this invitation to intercede. Ross also was intrigued by the idea, thinking at that point that it had come from the NBC side—he was unaware of Ari’s initial call—and decided it was the one smart move the network had made during the whole process. But when Meyer asked Ross for some advice before he began to try to mediate the dispute, Jeff pulled back. “I can’t talk to you about it,” he told Meyer. “My guys will kill me.”
At breakfast with Gaspin, Meyer let him know that he had at least made contact with Ross. His main point to Gaspin was that a deal could be made, but NBC’s number was not realistic, just as Team Conan’s number was not realistic. Meyer believed there was always a way to negotiate without each side being stupid and trying to sue the other.
After breakfast Meyer reached out to Rosen, who was still incommunicado in Palm Springs. Rick, leading his retreat sessions, finally broke to check his BlackBerry, which had been going nuts. He had a mass of messages, but several had come from the office marked urgent. When Rosen called in, his assistant told him Ron Meyer had called repeatedly and was on the line again.
Meyer began by telling Rick that he found the treatment of Conan egregious, but added, “Having said that, one guy I don’t think is a bad guy here is Gaspin. I just had breakfast with him this morning, and he asked me to reach out to you to see if you and I can be the reasonable heads and maybe find an amicable solution.”
“Ronnie, I appreciate your help,” Rosen said, but he pointed out he couldn’t do anything without consulting with Polone or Glaser.
“I know, I know,” Meyer said. “Believe me, I got a lot of people to talk to, but maybe we can find some common ground.”
Meyer had his work cut out for him. In his first efforts to find that common ground, Meyer discovered two sides with heels cemented into position, each feeling entirely righteous about it. In each case their arguments sounded valid, Meyer concluded. Whether this was their own version of the Rashomon effect—named after the classic Kurosawa film in which four characters produce entirely different but plausible accounts of the