Read Sleepless in Hollywood: Tales From the New Abnormal in the Movie Business Online
Authors: Lynda Obst
Tags: #Non-Fiction
Sleepless in Hollywood: Tales From the New Abnormal in the Movie Business (36 page)
(9) Gail Berman, formerly President of Entertainment for Fox Broadcasting Company, was recruited to be President of Paramount Pictures while Donald De Line was in London. She was selected by Brad Grey because of her great American taste (
24
,
Malcolm in the Middle
,
House
,
American Idol
), but she ultimately found the pace of the picture business too slow, and they ultimately found her wanting.
(10) Patric Verrone, the fiery, idealistic coleader of the WGA, held his troops in an organized array throughout the painful strike, which was no small feat. He kept the press on his side, kept the soccer moms honking the studios in support and kept the pressure on for four long months as the tough-minded studios played hardball. They vilified him all they could, but he held firm to his principles as many factions battled it out privately while venting on the Internet.
(11) Chris Keyser, cocreator of
Party of Five
, was elected as a more moderate candidate in the post-strike 2011 WGA election. He is devising new strategies to get to the promised land of digital revenues.
(12) Rick Rosen, my brother, head of television and founding partner of WME, with his friend and client Howard Gordon, writer/producer of
Homeland
, as it won the Emmy, September 23, 2012. The show he found in Israel and repackaged has now won the Golden Globe for best dramatic series twice, as well as the Emmy for its first season.
(13) Conan O’Brien always makes Rick laugh. That’s one reason he’s a favorite among his clients. Here the two are with Jeff Ross, who runs Conan’s company.
(14) The
Hot In Cleveland
gang on the night they were taping an episode with Mary Tyler Moore, who doesn’t remember she was my boss for one terrible year. The beautiful blonde next to Mary is the showrunner, Suzanne Martin, who is responsible for the jokes and the show’s longevity. That’s Valerie Bertinelli, on Mary’s left, Jane Leeves to her left, Betty White, of course, to Suzanne’s right, Wendy Malick to Betty’s left, with my partner, executive producer Todd Milliner, and assorted TV Land executives.
(15) Jonathan Nolan, successful tentpole and indie screenwriter of the Batman franchise and cowriter of
Memento
and
The Prestige
, decided to write for television. A year later, here he is on the set of his new top-rated CBS hit,
Person of Interest
. He could have done anything he wanted in features, but he chose TV. He wanted to play more.
(16) Michael Lynton, walking arm in arm with his partner, Amy Pascal. The two are known for their intelligence and good taste. For every
Moneyball
,
Social Network
, or
Zero Dark Thirty
, there is a
Spider-Man
,
Transylvania,
or
Ghostbusters
. They are tight on the budgets of the movies they love and can react quickly to changing demographics and trends.
(17) With Nora Ephron at an event I made her go to in New York City where I was getting an award for chicks in flix (she was really tired of these). Later she told me she was very happy she came, which was a great relief. And now I have a treasure trove of pictures from what I didn’t know was the last year we’d have together.
There are so many people who helped me figure out, write and finish this book, and each helped so much that I feel awards are due.
Best Achievement in Keeping Me Going goes to my über-editor, Alice Mayhew. Through lunch after inspiring lunch at Michael’s, she egged me on as she helped me sort out what was happening on the left coast. We made each other laugh as I found the plot. She was my champion, my best company and finally my friend. Without her there would be no book. I wrote
to
her—as she said to me, “I am your audience, not Hollywood. Make
me
understand all this.”
Best Male Actor Supporting a Female goes to my terrific agent, Sloan Harris. Sloan puts the “literary” in literary agent, through his reading, editing, careful encouragement and brilliant management of the entire process. As a person who married, birthed and is a sister to agents, I know a great one when I find one.
The Best Supporting New York Cast goes to the first-rate editors who surrounded Alice and became indispensable to me: Karyn Marcus and Jonathan Cox.
Back in Los Angeles are the recipients of the Best Local Editors award: Andrea Cagan, whose input on first read and inspiration kept me going, as it did on
Hello, He Lied;
and Rachel Abarbanell, who is the president of my production company and was charged with keeping it going while I hid out and wrote; she turned into an editor—and a gifted one—herself toward the end of the final draft.
To Kiwi Smith, strategic partner in girl power, pledge sister and early reader with constant, wonderful suggestions and support, my
continual thanks, and the title committee—a shout-out to my fine, foxy Silver Lake crew.
And my final award is the Sine Qua Non award. The “Without Which, Nothing” award goes to my interviewees. The generosity of the people to whom I spoke at length and who helped me figure out the puzzle cannot be overestimated. Thank you to Peter Chernin, Sherry Lansing, Jim Gianopulos, John Goldwyn, Michael Lynton, Sue Kroll, Gail Berman, Patrick Moran, Kevin Goetz, Jonah Nolan, and especially my brother, Rick Rosen. Not only is he a smart, superb and classy agent with great creative instincts, he is the best, most generous brother imaginable.