by David Rensin
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Product Description
It’s like a plot from a Hollywood potboiler: start out in the mailroom, end up a mogul. But for many, it happens to be true. Some of the biggest names in entertainment—including David Geffen, Barry Diller, and Michael Ovitz— started their dazzling careers in the lowly mailroom. Based on more than two hundred interviews, David Rensin unfolds the never-before-told history of an American institution—in the voices of the people who lived it. Through nearly seven decades of glamour and humiliation, lousy pay and incredible perks, killer egos and a kill-or-be-killed ethos, you’ll go where the trainees go, learn what they must do to get ahead, and hear the best insider stories from the Hollywood everyone knows about but no one really knows. A vibrant tapestry of dreams, desire, and exploitation, The Mailroom is not only an engrossing read but a crash course, taught by the experts, on how to succeed in Hollywood.
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Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 This is why books need editors, 2008-07-04
The book is a collection of anecdotes, a collection that is far larger than it needs to be. The author seems desperate to show us how comprehensive he can be, putting in everything he possibly could instead of culling out the mundane.
For every anecdote that is interesting, insightful, entertaining, etc...--in other words, worthwhile--there are half a dozen that all read like this:
"How did I get into the business? I don't know, let me see. I wasn't doing anything with my life, but my aunt knew a guy at [insert agency here]. I interviewed. They said there was no way they could offer me a job. A week later they offered me a job. I took it."
Now if the interviewee is a Hollywood big shot, o.k., but if not....
Basically it's a nice rough draft for the book it could have been had someone applied a stronger editorial hand and produced a much tighter, "punchier" work.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
Read this book before heading to Hollywood, 2006-04-30
I'm a former talent agency trainee. I worked at one of the majors. This book tells it like it is, and I wish this book was published before my talent agency stint. If you have ever seen the show "Survivor", you can get an idea of what it's like to climb the agency, or Hollywood ladder. There are very few spots, and there many people clambering for those spots. And those people who want it the most will do whatever it takes. It's very cutthroat. An agency with 100 agents, has 100 assistants, all of whom want to be agents. Maybe 10 of them will make it. Family members of Hollywood VIP's most probably WILL get promoted to agents (but after that it's still sink or swim..you'll read the story of Peter Guber's daughter in this book...she sunk). Same goes for Harvard grads...deep Harvard connections in Hollywood. Many trainees quit. The attrition rate is huge. It's a crazy business, and nearly impossible to have a balanced life as a trainee (or agent, or for anyone else in Hollywood). It's no walk in the park for new agents either. They start with a tiny salary (although more than a trainee)and must perform or they're out.
Before going to Hollywood, be real with yourself and determine if you're cut out for it. This book gives you a good glimpse into those who make it. Unless you are highly extroverted, and an extremely high energy person, than don't choose this career. If you are a person who needs downtime to collect their thoughts, than don't choose this career. If you are a person who needs their 8 hours of sleep a night, than don't choose this career (you may never sleep again!). If you aren't a highly social person, than don't choose this career (i.e. does your phone ring off the hook in your personal life?). Are you politically savvy, or do you put your foot in your mouth? Can you handle egomanic clients? (and agents). Can you handle being screamed at on a regular basis? Can you handle the pressure of doing more work in one day than most people accomplish in two weeks, including juggling several hundred phone calls? I'm convinced that those agents that make it to the top, are people who'd make a fortune in any business. They're natural salesmen, born with charisma; have endless energy, and can win people over with a glance.
Also, determine if your morals/values are congruent with Hollywood. You might have to do some nasty things to people on your way up the ladder to success. In Hollywood, nastiness is embraced, not frowned upon. In Hollywood, real world morals and values are turned upside down. Believe it or not, many people in Hollywood are so egomanical that they consider people who don't work in Hollywood to be, "losers", or "the little people" (unless you're an internet billionaire or the equivilent). They believe they are the chosen ones. Even if you made a couple mil a year manufacturing cardboard boxes, they'd turn their nose up at you. It's a very snobby club.
Does all this bring people happiness? For some I guess. It seemed to me that many agents were very unhappy and perpetually stressed out.
Although my experience was interesting, had I realistically assessed my personality, which I would have, had I read this book, I would never have set foot in Los Angeles. Other than that, this book is a very entertaining read on the ins and outs of a ruthless business.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Hollywood History from the Bottom Up, 2005-01-07
You don't get what you deserve in life, you get what you negotiate.
This is the first quote in the book and I cannot tell you how many times I have used this in the past month. This book looks at the entertainment industry from the earliest days of William Morris (1930') through the collapse of the studio system, to the "young turks" of CAA until today. The author speaks to a varied group of people who went through the system. Many survived and stayed in entertainment business and some moved on to other things. What I most enjoyed about this book was that it didn't just cover the famous (Geffen, Diller, Ovitz) who rose out of the mailroom, but it also covered those who helped create the system that these people who control what we watch today came out of. For the number of people interviewed and covered, this book was excellently edited for flow and did not double up too much on stories. Very readable and informative. After reading this I pulled out my copy of "Swimming with Sharks" and watched it again with the new feeling of an insider.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
 Wild Amazing Real Stories of working for the Agents, 2004-08-02
I listened to the book on tape of The Mailrooom. Different mailroom employees from different Hollywood & New York Agencies give their stories of what it was like to work in the Mailroom and learn to be an Agent. The book starts with some of the older Agents who began way back when Agencies were first formed. Interesting stories about the stars of the 1950s all the way up to present times.
I really liked the stories of the pranks some of the mailroom employees would play on eachother. And some of the horror stories when they made mistakes on the job are really amazing.
The Mailroom is an interesting and amusing book about the inner workings of the Entertainment Business. The stories of how the mailroom employees make it to the top to become Agents are a real lesson in how the industry works.
4 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
I'd rate this one 15 stars if I could!, 2003-11-10
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!
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