Stars Come Out for CAA’s New High-Tech Lab

A roomful of fancy computers isn’t normally sufficient to get the stars to come out in Hollywood. But a veritable mob that included Jennifer Aniston, Woody Harrelson, Sydney Pollack and Barry Diller was on hand last week for the opening of a novel new technology laboratory at Creative Artists Agency.

Developed in collaboration with computer chip giant Intel Corp., the lab is designed to help CAA’s clients--actors, directors, authors and musicians--understand and appreciate the technologies that are reshaping the entertainment business.

If nothing else, the lab will serve as a new microcosm for the often ill-starred attempts to merge Hollywood and Silicon Valley. Intel Chief Executive Andy Grove looked almost at ease Thursday night among the sushi-eating talent agents in CAA’s I.M. Pei-designed lobby.

But Grove apparently hasn’t yet learned the Hollywood art of name-dropping. Asked if he’d met any stars yet, he would say only, “Yes, but I don’t want to take the focus off of what we’re doing here.” (Hmm, we thought that was the focus.)

The cozy, living room-like lab--which cost the two partners an estimated $10 million--features PCs tricked out with the latest in audio, video and computer networking technology. There’s a gas-plasma monitor that’s among the largest flat-panel display screens ever developed, a state-of-the-art digital sound system, digital videodisc players, super-fast Internet connections and lots of video gear.

For Intel, the lab is part of its effort to persuade the entertainment world to use PCs based on Intel chips--rather than Apple Macintosh computers, say, or Sony video game machines, or newfangled network computers. For CAA, it’s a way to provide a new service to its clients.

And for the clients, who will be welcome to while away the hours at “creative play” in this “interactive sandbox,” to use the CAA buzzwords, it will provide a chance to see how their talents might be utilized in the new media. Or, as Danny DeVito says in the house video, “best of all, [how to make] more money!”