The Mailroom: Hollywood History from the Bottom Up - Paperback

by David Rensin (Author)

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.

Front Jacket

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.

Author Biography

David Rensin is the coauthor of show business legend Bernie Brillstein's widely lauded memoir, Where Did I Go Right, as well as Olympian Louis Zamperini's World War II survival saga, Devil At My Heels and composer/performer Yanni's memoir, Yanni: In Words. Rensin also co-wrote Tim Allen's #1 bestseller Don't Stand Too Close To a Naked Man and Allen's follow-up bestseller, I'm Not Really Here. He has co-written bestsellers with Chris Rock, Jeff Foxworthy, and Garry Shandling, and co-authored a groundbreaking humorous sociology of men named Bob, called The Bob Book. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and son.