Company Town : Intel, CAA to Jointly Create Multimedia Lab

In what is surely the first partnership between a microprocessor manufacturer and a Hollywood talent agency, Intel Corp. and Creative Artists Agency said Thursday that they will jointly establish a state-of-the-art multimedia lab for CAA’s clients.

Intel will supply the lab with high-performance personal computers and in some cases will make technology available to the lab before it goes to market.

The move is one of a series of efforts by the Silicon Valley chip maker to interest traditional media industries--and their respective stars--in producing material for the PC. The amount of investment in the lab was not disclosed.

“What we get out of it is we’re trying to grow the market for personal computers,” said Avram Miller, Intel’s vice president and the firm’s Hollywood liaison.

CAA hopes the lab will serve its traditional clients as well as a new breed of talent, such as World Wide Web page designers and video game developers.

“We’ll benefit because we will grow the entertainment market overall,” said Hassan Miah, who heads CAA’s new-media group.