politricks and other distractions

Bad, Bad Hollywood

Every once in awhile, I think I was stupid to leave Hollywood. After all, I was on a certain job path (see "Swimming with Sharks"). Maybe if I'd been able to put up with all the B.S., I'd be rich by now and be able to afford the early retirement I'd be forced into due to my having lived past the age of 40.

Then I read articles like this one from today's NY Times.

" F.B.I. Links Big Film Names to a Detective

By DAVID M. HALBFINGER and ALLISON HOPE WEINER

LOS ANGELES, April 13 — The chairman of Paramount Pictures and a onetime Hollywood superagent had far more direct dealings than they have acknowledged publicly with the celebrity detective at the center of a rapidly expanding wiretapping scandal, according to government evidence.

Brad Grey, Paramount's chairman, told the F.B.I. that he spoke with Anthony Pellicano about two lawsuits in which Mr. Pellicano, a private detective, was working on Mr. Grey's behalf, and that he learned information about his legal opponents directly from Mr. Pellicano. A former employee of Mr. Pellicano, who was charged in February with wiretapping and conspiracy, separately told the F.B.I. that Mr. Grey had met with the detective at least five times.

Publicly, Mr. Grey has said that he was only "casually acquainted" with Mr. Pellicano, and that his lawyers were responsible for hiring and overseeing the detective.

Michael S. Ovitz, a former talent agent and Hollywood powerhouse who served as the head of the Creative Artists Agency and was once president of the Walt Disney Company, acknowledged to the F.B.I. that he paid Mr. Pellicano in April or May of 2002 to obtain information on 15 to 20 people who were saying negative things about him. They included former business associates and Bernard Weinraub, then a reporter for The New York Times who was reporting on the demise of a company Mr. Ovitz started after he left Disney, and Anita Busch, a freelance reporter who wrote with Mr. Weinraub..."

It goes on to implicate Bert Fields, one of Tinseltown's most powerful lawyers - and coincidentally, my former boss's lawyer when he was suing the TV show he was fired from. I never heard about anything like what the article alleges, but just from being around these guys, you know they're capable of anything (see "The Player").

I had a friend who couldn't stand working for the team on Seinfeld (Exec Producer, Brad Grey) and left in the first season. We always thought, in hindsight, she made a huge mistake, but stories like this remind me just how hard it can be to hang out in that crowd. Especially if you're not one of the boys.

So, on this Good Friday, I will stifle my urge for schandefreude (sp?) and instead light a candle for their salvation.

posted by dcnative @ 10:10 AM