What the Other Stars Say

Last week’s decision by talent agent Michael S. Ovitz to leave as head of the powerful Creative Artists Agency to go to work for Walt Disney Co. Chairman Michael D. Eisner as president of the entertainment company took plenty of people in Hollywood by surprise.

Not so Taaffe O’Connell, who for some time has been looking at signs: the astrological ones.

She’s the publisher of “Taaffe O’Connell’s Power Agent,” a booklet that handicaps Hollywood talent agencies such as CAA, as well as the town’s individual agents, by using signs of the zodiac.

O’Connell, an actress who once appeared in the TV series “Dallas,” through her Brentwood-based Canoco Publishing updates her evaluations every 90 days. She says she aims it both at young people seeking an agent for the first time and established stars considering a change.

Ovitz’s decision to split, she says, is perfectly explainable.

“Ovitz is a Sagittarius, which is the chance-taking sign of the zodiac,” O’Connell said. “This is not surprising. My sister is a Sagittarius, and she just left her job. They are going through life changes right now.”

O’Connell describes her publication as “kind of tongue-in-cheek astrology” but says she nonetheless believes in it.

What about rival agencies looking to exploit Ovitz’s departure?

O’Connell says that International Creative Management is loaded with Geminis and Libras, indicating it is “very tactical.”

The venerable 100-year-old William Morris Agency “has a lot of Taurus energy,” she says, indicating stability. And the younger, aggressive United Talent Agency, which includes agents with a hodgepodge of signs, “has the drive and the stability. They are ones to be reckoned with,” O’Connell says.

One possible glitch: According to O’Connell’s book, a Sagittarius such as Ovitz is most compatible with a Leo, Aries, Aquarius, Libra and a fellow Sagittarius.

That leaves out Eisner, who is a Pisces.

Hoping It Sells at Warp Speed

As if there weren’t enough self-help management books out there, now comes a new one: “Make It So--Leadership Lessons from Star Trek: The Next Generation.”

The book by Wess Roberts, writer of the best-selling “Leadership Secrets of Attila the Hun,” and New Orleans TV executive Bill Ross portrays the show’s Capt. Jean-Luc Picard as the Lee Iacocca of Stardate 4881. The book also is generous with self-important proclamations.

“As I began working on this book, little did I realize just how rich ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’ is in illustrating timeless leadership qualities that are as indispensable for those who lead today as they will be for those who lead tomorrow,” Roberts says in the introduction.

Chance to Bond on Vacation

Fantasy vacations have been growing in popularity. Now comes one pitched at the wealthy vacationer who has always wanted to be a spy or private investigator.

According to an ad for International Espionage Tours, subjects taught include “debugging techniques,” “Ninja stealth” and “infiltration by air, land and sea.”