MOVIES : A look inside Hollywood and the movies. : IT’S US! : Sure, We Can Take a (Very Small) Joke

A videotape suspiciously similar to the Los Angeles Times Calendar promotional spots that run before feature films in L.A. area movie theaters has been making the rounds in Hollywood.

Titled “The Agent,” the spot features an interview with “Fred Ovitz, vice president/radio development at CAA.” Ovitz casually explains that “in many ways I feel I am the most important part of the movie-making process. . . .

“I don’t make movies. I make phone calls to people who make movies,” he continues.

A couple of story editors from the defunct CBS comedy series “Doctor, Doctor” produced the three-minute sendup.

David Blum and partner Jonathan Feldman spent $4,300 out of their own pockets to produce the video, shooting it several weeks ago on 35-millimeter film with the assistance of “friends who owed favors.” Blum says the video was produced as a “chance to create something unencumbered by producers.” They hope to use it to help sell ideas on longer satires.

But Blum also notes that when they tried to distribute it to local movie theaters, they were flatly turned down. Blum said “they didn’t want to take the risk” of alienating The Times.

“The Agent” satirizes The Times’ current promotional trailer titled “The Composer.” As an agent, Fred Ovitz confides to the camera: “I tell my clients I’m not only their agent. I am also their friend. And luckily, they buy that.” Ovitz is played by Beau Gravitte, who was one of the co-stars on “Doctor, Doctor.”

Back in 1983, Blum was one of the creators of Off The Wall Street Journal, a spoof on the financial newspaper, which was something of a publishing phenomenon.

In the Ovitz video, Fred has trouble getting his brother Michael to take his call, and is put on hold for the entire day. Finally, as the sun sets outside his office window, the picture goes to black and the stark, white words appear: “Not The Los Angeles Times.”

Blum says that when they made the video they were unaware super-agent Mike Ovitz has a brother, TV producer Mark Ovitz. He says he hasn’t heard any reaction from CAA.