COMPANY TOWN : Exec Leaves CAA for Top MCA Post : Entertainment: Sandy Climan had been expected to follow Ovitz to Disney. Instead, he’ll devise strategy for Seagram firm.

Creative Artists Agency senior executive Sandy Climan was hired Thursday as an executive vice president of MCA Inc., the first high-level departure from the agency since former Chairman Michael S. Ovitz announced in August that he is leaving to join Walt Disney Co.

Climan’s exit had been expected in the wake of the Ovitz departure, but the destination was a surprise to Hollywood executives. As a longtime Ovitz protege, Climan was initially considered a good bet to eventually join Disney, where Ovitz becomes president under Chairman Michael D. Eisner on Oct. 1.

Instead, Climan will become an important strategist for another of his longtime colleagues, former CAA President Ron Meyer, who left the agency business in August to become MCA’s president and chief operating officer under Seagram Co. Chief Executive Edgar Bronfman Jr. Seagram, the liquor and beverage giant, bought 80% of MCA from Japan’s Matsushita Electric Industrial in June for $5.7 billion.

Climan, 39, said that he wants to help realize “all the creative and business potential that exists in growing MCA into the premier global entertainment company.” Sources close to Climan said that he had a number of job feelers from companies after the CAA shake-up and believed that MCA offered the best possibility to help revamp and build a company. In addition, sources suggested that there is more room for Climan at MCA than at Disney, which has a team of senior strategists in place.

Climan’s move raises further questions about the future of CAA’s corporate consulting business, which Ovitz, assisted by Climan, had built as a way to ensure future growth and to expand beyond the basic business of representing talent.

CAA’s new management has made it clear that representing talent remains its core business. Sources say CAA executives were in meetings Thursday discussing the future of its consulting business, adding that the company plans to continue to pursue corporate clients. This week, the company signed a consulting deal with software maker Providence Systems.

CAA’s Co-Chairs Lee Gabler, Rick Nicita and Jacke Rapke credited Climan with “an enormous contribution to the successful growth of this company.”

In an interview, Ovitz said he and Climan “worked together for 10 years arm in arm. He’s exceedingly gifted and will do extraordinarily well at MCA.”

Overseeing CAA’s corporate finance business, Climan was Ovitz’s right-hand man in a number of deals. He played an important role in advising Matsushita about its MCA purchase and sale, the acquisition of Columbia Pictures by Sony and the forming of the Tele-TV video network by regional phone companies Bell Atlantic, Nynex and Pacific Telesis.

He also advised Credit Lyonnais on its ownership of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, helped broker a joint venture between Brillstein-Grey and Capital Cities/ABC and also helped build close ties between CAA and Microsoft. Climan also worked on deals involving such stars and directors as Kevin Costner, Robert DeNiro, Sydney Pollack and Robert Redford.

Meyer said that Climan will play a key role in setting MCA strategy. Sources at the company said Climan’s initial task probably will be to identify and evaluate potential acquisition targets. Flush with cash, Seagram has been looking at a number of potential business opportunities. The company has been rumored to be looking at such possible deals as a rival bid to Westinghouse Electric’s proposed acquisition of CBS Inc., an offer for music giant EMI and also at a possible bid for the ailing Los Angeles Kings hockey team.

Climan joins two other MCA newcomers--Hollywood lawyer Howard Weitzman, the company’s executive vice president of corporate operations, and Bruce Hack, a Seagram corporate strategist recently named executive vice president of finance--as part of a new executive team under Meyer. Vice Chairman Tom Pollock, MCA’s former movie chief who reports directly to Bronfman, remains one of MCA’s top strategists.

MCA is continuing to revamp its executive ranks. The company is expected to name a new television head within the next month. The hottest question continues to be whether Warner Bros. Co-Chief Executive Terry Semel will join MCA. Semel has an escape clause in his contract after the first of the year, but has suggested in the past that he isn’t leaving Warner.