Amazon.com Review
"My wink is binding," Bernie Brillstein writes in the middle part of his memoir of a career in showbiz. At this point the movie-star manager has already admitted that he wanted power and prestige as soon as he started in the William Morris agency mailroom. And that he chased after a Don Corleone-ish kind of respect afterward. But even when he became a clout-carrying manager and near-mogul he kept his people-first credo. You suspect he loves it too for the way it echoes the Borscht Belt, since that's the kind of verbal energy he draws on throughout this anecdote-crammed autobiography. He calls himself "show," but in four decades he had to be "business" too, tough enough to tell clients, as he says he did, when to start their career over from scratch. The book begins with a graphically honest memory of his visit to the proctologist with his family when he was 24--something he guffaws off, but it's probably not far from the sort of reality check he regularly gave clients like Jim Henson, Norm Crosby, Lorne Michaels, John Belushi, and Brad Pitt. He cops to a gambling addiction, a love of "high class call girls," and to the way he stole from Laugh-Into invent Hee Haw. But he also brokered Lorne Michael's big break with SNL, produced Dangerous Liaisons, and eventually got News Radio and The Sopranos on the air. He candidly assesses professional pains too, including Michael Ovitz's pathology, Garry Shandling's riddling neuroses, and the loss of Belushi and Henson. "I care," he writes finally, "because that's who I am." It's easy to smile at that, but by the end of the book it's also easy to believe he means it. --Lyall Bush
From Publishers Weekly
In a 45-year career as an agent, producer, studio head and personal manager, Brillstein may have swum with the Hollywood sharks, but he doesn't consider himself one. While Brillstein understandably brims with pride when recounting how he built his impressive stable of clientsAincluding Muppets creator Jim Henson and Saturday Night Live's John Belushi, Gilda Radner, Dan Aykroyd and Lorne MichaelsAhe is often self-deprecating in this engaging memoir. With a bemused tone similar to Robert Evans's in The Kid Stays in the Picture, Brillstein 'fesses up to various sins: getting into the business to meet women, booking business for a dead client early in his career at the William Morris Agency, and being the New York Jew responsible for launching the ultimate in TV cornpone: Hee-Haw. But there are glimpses of pathos, too: in his admissions of ambivalence about having sold his share of Brillstein-Grey Entertainment to partner Brad Grey; in his memories of a famous comedian uncle who torpedoed his own career, of a mother who seldom got out of bed and Brillstein's own succession of wives; and in his account of the tragic early deaths of Henson and Belushi. Perhaps most interesting to Hollywood insiders and media junkies will be Brillstein's assessment of the TV biz (he suggests doing away with pilots and having the guts to commit to shows) and his rivalry with CAA co-founder Mike Ovitz, a former friend. "When a bully is left on his own, he gets stupid," writes Brillstein, proving that even if he's not exactly a shark, he still has bite. (Nov.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Like The Last Mogul (LJ 12/98) and The Gross (LJ 4/1/99), this is an absorbing inside look at the film and TV industry. A New York native fascinated with show business since childhood, Brillstein has worked as an agent, a personal manager, a producer, and a studio CEO and has worked with Jim Henson, Gilda Radner, Hee Haw, and Saturday Night Live. He writes a moving account of personally accompanying John Belushi's body from L.A. to Martha's Vineyard for burial. The book's subtitle obviously refers to battles with Mike Ovitz, former head of Creative Artists Agency, as well as to Brillstein's concern about the lack of ethical behavior in Hollywood. He laments the rise of disturbing trends thereAinexperienced writers, the power of accountants, and clients making their own deals. But as he muses on retirement, Brillstein sometimes waxes optimistic. And with good reason: his production company has a new hit these days, the critically acclaimed The Sopranos. Recommended for larger public libraries and libraries with film and performing arts collections.AKim R. Holston, American Inst. for Charity Property Casualty Underwriters, Malvern, PA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review
...his addictively candid and funny memoir is filled with big loves and big hates. -- The New York Times Book Review, Rick Marin
Brillstein, one of the most respected and creative managers in the biz, shares his secrets of how to survive and prosper in Hollywood, in this stunning new memoir. He also doesn't hesitate to attack the wicked and powerful, laying them about as if he were Samson with the jawbone of an ass. Anyone who likes the inside skinny on the entertainment world, who are fascinated by what makes its participants tick, will love "Where Did I Go Right." (It's) truly fascinating and written with intelligence and style. He doesn't pull any punches -- not even to spare himself. I know this guy and have loved him for years and find him brave and candid. -- Liz Smith
Over the past few years a disconcerting abstruseness has crept into the Hollywood memoir ... Happily, Bernie Brillstein has taken steps to stem this tide in his new ultra-retro memoir, Where Did I Go Right? Brillstein is the legendary manager/producer/studio head whose clients have ranged from Jim Henson to John Belushi to Lorne Michaels ... and whose efforts have helped bring the public such diverse pleasures as "The Blues Brothers," "Dangerous Liaisons," "The Larry Sanders Show" and "The Sopranos." "Where Did I Go Right" is written in an alternately surly, whiny, haughty, self-deprecating style best described as Middle Sammy (Glick) ... It's this tone of voice that makes it such a charming throwback. -- Talk Magazine
From the Inside Flap
"What can I say? Hollywood's Big Daddy has written the mother of all show business bios ... It's sharp, blunt, witty, withering, insightful, and out-of-sight. An hilarious account of an extraordinary life, passionately lived. It's more than a great read, it's must-read." -- Robert Evans Beginning in the William Morris mail room in 1955, Bernie Brillstein wanted only three things: "To walk into a restaurant and have people know who I am ... to be the guy who gets the phone calls and doesn't have to make them ... to represent the one performer people must have." Throughout his long career at the top of the entertainment industry--as a TV and movie producer, agent, and brilliant personal manager--Brillstein accomplished it all.
"Where Did I Go Right?" is Brillstein's street-smart, funny, and thoroughly human story of a life in show business. With his trademark wit and candor, he speaks out for the first time about his feud with Mike Ovitz, and about how it felt to pass the torch of his company leadership to his partner Brad Grey and "no longer be the king." He describes his close relationship with John Belushi and what it was like being alone with Belushi's body as it lay "stretched out across two cramped seats in a tiny jet, wrapped up in a body bag," on the way to his funeral. He shares stories about Jim Henson and Gilda Radner, about Lorne Michaels and the early days of Saturday Night Live. He takes us behind the scenes of such hits as "The Blues Brothers," "Ghostbusters," and "The Muppet Show."
Brillstein also reveals his secrets about how to survive and prosper in Hollywood, the real meaning of "the art of the deal," the difference between "hot" and "good," and why instinct is crucial to the future of the entertainment industry.
"Becoming successful is the most fun of all. I'm not talking about being successful or staying successful. I mean the getting there, the instant you arrive and, for the first time, you think, 'Where did I go right?'"
About the Author
"Bernie Brillstein is the founding partner of Brillstein-Grey Entertainment. He is married, has five children, and lives in Beverly Hills. David Rensin has coauthored several bestsellers, including Tim Allen's Don't Stand Too Close to a Naked Man and I'm Not Really Here, Jeff Foxworthy's No Shirt, No Shoes, No Problem, Chris Rock's Rock This!, and Garry Shandling's Confessions of a Late Night Talk Show Host. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and son."
