"It's a strategic repositioning of the firm," a source said to me. "CAA wants to have as many clients on Earth as possible, and we don't. That's the difference."

I hear Endeavor's writer clients feel especially vulnerable. "Basically, any writer not working at the moment, and even ones with small jobs," a source told me. "It's all part of some move to represent only 'the best of the best'." Others say it's to get lean and mean in preparation for a possible guilds' strike.

This "best of the best" justification seems consistent with the agency's public abandonment of Paris Hilton, who certainly wasn't adding prestige to their ever-more-exclusive brand. But jilted clients who find that their Endeavor reps are no longer returning their calls should be careful not to succumb to the temptation to leap into CAA's suspiciously welcoming embrace, for the body-collecting chop-shop is probably just looking for cheap, fresh meat to grind up and serve to their better-earning talent during the lean times of a prolonged strike.

• Endeavor Cutting 25% Of Clients [DHD]

ED Limato, 71, may have a hard time finding a new job after being unceremoniously demoted at ICM. The ill-tempered agent had talks with CAA, which covets his clients Richard Gere, Denzel Washington and Mel Gibson - but CAA doesn't want to pay Limato's $5 million salary or hire all his staff, including two script readers, sources say.

The Endeavor agency won't employ Limato either, because after Gibson's infamous anti-Semitic drunken-driving rant last year, Endeavor head Ari Emanuel called for a Hollywood boycott of the star. "Even if Ari and Ed iron out their differences, Mel won't go to Endeavor, and he is Ed's biggest client," one insider said. Maybe United Talent is interested, but it probably won't want to pay the $1 million cost (as ICM did) for Limato's geriatric pre-Oscar party. "No one came anymore, and it always turned out to be just a personal party for him and his friends," our insider said.

Surely someone will be willing to take a chance on love with Limato, especially if it means bringing life-partner Mel Gibson into the relationship as well. Either footing the bill for a seniors-only pre-Oscar party or absorbing an elderly guest list for one's formerly competing affair seems like a small price to pay for the possibility that Gibson still has a highly lucrative Lethal Weapon or Passion of the Christ sequel in him.

• FALLEN AGENT ADRIFT IN L.A. [Page Six]

• Beverly Hills talent agency drops Paris Hilton as a client [USA Today]