Hunting with Barracudas: My Life in Hollywood with the Legendary Iris Burton [Hardcover]

Chris Snyder (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2009

Hollywood’s famous child star agent Iris Burton launched the careers of the world’s current movie stars and celebrities including Drew Barrymore, Tori Spelling, River and Joaquin Phoenix, Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen, Johnny Depp, and Kirstin Dunst. But what was Iris Burton like to work for? Here now, her former employee Chris Snyder writes the true story of Hollywood’s most feared insider for the first time. Expect revelations, gossip, and the true seamy underside of Hollywood throughout the decades.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Iris Burton for years ran one of L.A.'s most aggressive talent agencies and maintained the town's biggest roster of child stars, helping to launch the careers of Drew Barrymore, Henry Thomas, the Olsens, River and Joaquin Phoenix, Tori Spelling, Kirsten Dunst, Fred Savage, Corey Feldman, Hilary Duff and more. In this vivid memoir, Snyder, Burton's executive assistant, tells his own story as he probes the lifestyles of actors, agents and producers, depicting a high-octane Hollywood with a desperate dark side that viewers of HBO's Entourage will find intriguing. Beginning with Burton's funeral in 2008, he intercuts flashbacks, recalling the day he was hired and began working for the woman who had been the first agent to negotiate million-dollar deals for her underage clients. In the 1950s, Burton was on screen as a Paramount contract player, but life as a single mom led her to work as a saleswoman and a Playboy Club waitress, followed by a talent agency job. Developing clients and her reputation, she opened her own agency one year later. In spite of her tantrums and tirades, Burton had much empathy for her clients, and the heart of this book is a moving recreation of Burton and Snyder's final days with River Phoenix. Snyder has succeeded in capturing the humor and spirit of the woman who called herself the legendary Iris Burton. (May 1)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From School Library Journal

Iris Burton, who died in 2008, built a successful talent agency on making children a "viable commodity" in Hollywood and is credited with being the first agent to negotiate million-dollar deals for minors. Snyder, who was her executive assistant for years, chronicles this selfish and occasionally funny woman as her agency and power declined. Burton clung to one of the last small publicity agencies in a ruthless atmosphere of larger agency recruitment and rivalries, within an industry that preys on people. Through a focus on two of Burton's more famous clients, River and Joaquin Phoenix, we see how the client's interest and value are measured in monetary terms, and relationships are portrayed only occasionally as guided by human concern and support. Snyder intersperses his stories of the difficulty of breaking away from the agency and his attempts to relieve stress and actively accept his sexuality. Suitable for public libraries with a population of Hollywood gossip aficionados.—Lani Smith, Ohlone Coll. Lib., Fremont, CA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing (May 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1602396620
• ISBN-13: 978-1602396623
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #885,265 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Beyond "Entourage," Hollywood is a tough town for an agent, July 7, 2009

By 

Bob Lind "camelwest" (Phoenix, AZ United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Hunting with Barracudas: My Life in Hollywood with the Legendary Iris Burton (Hardcover)

Like many gay boys who grew up in a small town, Chris Snyder dreamed of being part of the excitement, glitz and fame of Hollywood. As he went through school, he came to the realization that his ideal role would likely be behind the scenes, as an agent, helping to find talent and guide them to their success. After an internship at Warner Brothers, he accepted a job as the assistant to the legendary independent agent, Iris Burton, a Hollywood icon who had guided the career of countless child stars for decades.

Iris warned Chris that she was not easy to work for, an understatement that he would often live to regret for the next thirteen years in the 24/7 personal servitude-like employ of that sarcastic, self-possessed but often brilliant star maker. Chris did get a chance to see Hollywood from a vantage point that nobody else could offer, and to work with up and coming stars such as Joaquin Phoenix, Josh Harnett, Kirsten Dunst, the Olsen twins, and many others, and dealt with a myriad of Hollywood studios, publicists, managers and competing agents. The highlight of his career, and a primary focus of the book, was being witness to one major star's self-destruction: the gradual downfall and drug-related death of River Phoenix, a major event for both Iris and Chris, which signaled a definite shift in the operation of her agency. By this time, Iris was an industry fossil while most agents were half her age, and large, aggressive agencies had already eaten up or destroyed independent agencies like hers. They lost clients, Iris became more and more difficult to work for, and Chris - who had already resigned several times but had been lured back by the needy and persuasive Iris - knew he had to get out of there, for no other reason than what the stress was doing to his health. Chris had no life outside of the agency, other than occasional one-nighters with selfish guys he met at a bar or a bathhouse. Working with Iris had also let him see how the larger agencies worked, stealing clients from each other, making it clear to him that he needed to make some changes in his choice of career.

If you enjoy HBO's "Entourage," you'll absolutely love seeing this look at stars relationships with Hollywood agents, currently and in the not so distant past. This memoir is well written, with genuine heart and soul evident in every detail about his love/hate relationship with Iris, and how it forced him to reassess what he wanted in his own life. I give it four dressing-room-door stars out of five.

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating, August 11, 2010

By 

sittojoe - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Hunting with Barracudas: My Life in Hollywood with the Legendary Iris Burton (Hardcover)

I thoughly enjoyed the book. It gave me an insight to Hollywood that I didn't have. The author has certainly lead a fascinating life. How many people have escaped and earthquake in Los Angeles after his client overdoses and ends up running a bed and breakfast in Greece. The book is an amazing journey.

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating Read!, May 8, 2010

By 

Carlee - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hunting with Barracudas: My Life in Hollywood with the Legendary Iris Burton (Hardcover)

This was a fascinating read. Obvious the author knows his subject and the parties involved. Besides tons of information provided by a Hollywood insider, the humorous excerpts and incidents create an intimate sense of being a part of what happened. It seems to lend an insight not only to what happened to River Phoenix, but perhaps what happens in the industry still today to young actors and actresses caught up in the fast-paced, fickle, malestrom of that business. It makes one wonder why then, as now, people continue to see nothing, hear nothing, say nothing and know way too much. Once I started reading, I couldn't put it down.