- Hardcover: 464 pages
- Publisher: Ballantine Books; 1 edition (Feb 4 2003)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0345442342
- ISBN-13: 978-0345442345
- Product Dimensions: 23.9 x 16.7 x 3.6 cm
- Shipping Weight: 730 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #501,997 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Rensin (coauthor, Don't Stand Too Close to a Naked Man) captures the ambition, manipulative plotting and hustler mentality of a few Hollywood mailroom employees in this series of raunchy, realistic interviews with some top agents who started out in the mailroom. As with any entry-level gig, "the hours are long, the pay... abysmal." Star mailroom grads from the William Morris Agency, Creative Artists Agency, ICM and others voice conflicting views, making Rensin's book an uncompromisingly truthful tell-all of what it takes to make it in the movie biz. William Morris's Norman Brokaw recalls, "I made it a point to develop relationships early on," while Bernie Brillstein's a bit more blunt: "I kissed ass." Most of the agents admit opening up private correspondence and packages, insisting, "everybody did it." Rensin also exposes affairs with secretaries to learn company secrets, fights over use of phones that led to wrestling matches, and homophobia. Sam Haskell, William Morris's worldwide head of television, offers a different take: "Your primary power is your character and your integrity." Rensin furnishes fresh anecdotes about an embarrassed novice who didn't recognize Judy Garland, or another who believed in Marilyn Monroe despite a casting specialist calling her "just another blonde." Clashing views of Mike Ovitz, from "a superb leader" to someone who preferred "style over content" and to whom "appearances were everything," help explain Ovitz's meteoric rise and massive collapse. Most notably, Rensin shows that the road from mailroom to mogul is a rough one. The stories are amusing, intriguing and sometimes horrifying, but Rensin, to his credit, never dilutes sordid details.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Rensin's upward-mobility saga suggests that aspiring Hollywood conquistadors should start in the mailroom of a talent agency instead of hanging around soda fountains in tight sweaters, waiting to be discovered, or essaying other such fabled, fame-and-fortune-seeking ploys. Focusing on the cesspools of power behind the stars--the William Morris Agency, Creative Artists Agency, and lesser stokers of the dream machine--Rensin outlines the path to real power in filmdom by relaying the personal stories and reminiscences of the back-channel operatives who wield it. He reveals no shortages of backbiting, antisocial behavior, and power politics in the mailroom, though the place lacks the glamour usually gleaned to gild such showbiz exposes. Do readers dig the dirt on the David Geffens and Barry Dillers of the world as much as that on the Winona Ryders and Mickey Rourkes? Well, if they're money minded, they ought to. The goods Rensin's got on the likes of Michael Ovitz makes his ilk as exciting as the stars an Ovitz lucratively manipulates. Mike Tribby
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
LOU WEISS: My recollection of all this is unfortunately perfect. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt
LOU WEISS: My recollection of all this is unfortunately perfect. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
I'd rate this one 15 stars if I could!,
By
This review is from: The Mailroom: Hollywood History from the Bottom Up (Hardcover)
If you have an interest in the entertainment industry, this is an absorbing must-read, absolutely fascinating from cover to cover, the kind you don't want to put down. Can't recommend it highly enough!
1.0 out of 5 stars
SO?????????,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Mailroom: Hollywood History from the Bottom Up (Hardcover)
A Studs Terkel-like verbal history of the role of the talent agency in Hollywood; with a particular focus on the Mailroom where the movers and shakers get their start. The book is a never ending compilation of interviews with the men who made it after paying their dues in the servitude of the Mail Room. For those in the industry it is probably fascinating lore. For me, it was one big bore.
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Mailroom: Hollywood History from the Bottom Up,
By "modelsnet" (n.y., n.y. United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Mailroom: Hollywood History from the Bottom Up (Hardcover)
Anyone that wants to be in the agent or management business should read this book. David Rensin provides a compulation of agents starting from the ground up (in the mailroom).This book truly inspired me to work harder, never give up and provides great ideas for anyone trying to run a successful agency. The downside is that there is alot of nepotism here.
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