Hit and Run: How Jon Peters and Peter Guber Took Sony for a Ride in Hollywood

by Nancy Griffin, John Slattery (Narrator)

Hit and Run tells the improbable and often hilarious story of how two Hollywood film packagers went on a campaign to reinvent themselves as studio executives -- at Sony's expense. Veteran reporters Nancy Griffin and Kim Masters chronicle the rise of Jon Peters, a former hairdresser, seventh-grade dropout, and juvenile delinquent, and his soulless soul mate, Peter Guber -- and all the sex, drugs, and fistfights along the way. It is the story of the ultimate Hollywood con job and the standard by which every subsequent business blunder has been measured. Hit and Run delivers rock-solid business reporting liberally laced with inside gossip and outrageous scandal -- plus a new afterword bringing us up to date on the latest fallout from the Guber-Peters legacy.

Genres: Nonfiction, Film, Media Tie In, History, Business, Audiobook, Biography

Audiobook

First published January 1, 1996

Reviews

[Andrew Rodgers · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd been aware of this book for a long while but hadn't taken the time to sit down and check it out. Now that I have, I'm glad to have done so, but am left a little lukewarm by the whole tale. Interestingly, what attracted me to it in the first place - the story of excess and how two men effectively plundered Sony through mis-management and outrageous behavior - became less interesting the further I got into it.

The thing is, it's the easiest thing in the world to criticize leadership. There are always going to be detractors who can explain why something didn't work out or how it should have been done differently. And while the episodes portrayed here certainly offer a lot of evidence that both Guber and Peters were grossly lacking in management skills, apparently made many bone-headed moves, seemed to put their own interests above the bottom line and cost a lot of people a lot of money, the end product seemed very lacking. (By comparison, I consider David McLintick's "Indecent Exposure," which the authors cite as a particularly valuable resource, as one of the better-written behind-the-curtain views of the film industry.)

Ultimately, this was a quick and enjoyable read. But I couldn't shake the feeling that there was a lot missing here that could have filled in the gaps, or at least provided a little more balanced look at things. But the incredulous reporting of bad behavior is entertaining... It just shouldn't be mistaken for a final, objective and authoritative word on the subject.

[Jack Herbert Christal Gattanella · Rating 4 out of 5]

"They would fight every day, break up every day... that's been their style - screaming continuously." (one Guber-Peters employee) "They are incredibly different, almost antithetical. One is like a machine, the other is like an animal. One is mind and the other is heart. And that's why they're so good together." (Stan Brooks)

"The Japanese, when they give a guy a horse and a suit of armor, they expect you to go out and die for them... they expect you to go out and fight to the death. And Guber was just renegotiating his contract. For Guber, the point was to make as much money as he could. There was no sense of dying for the Japanese, there was no sense of shame." (a filmmaker on Peter Guber)

"Get the funk up!" (Prince - "Batdance")

At times this is a lot of fun to read, though not consistently. This was actually going to be a 3 star book until a key point, and I'll get to that, but first let me lay out that this book is fascinating and it can end up being a page-turner, but it's for a particular audience. There are a LOT, I mean to emphasize that in capital letters, a MEGA-TON LOT, of numbers in this book, a lot of wheeling and dealing, and that may be expected by some. This isn't only the story of producers Jon Peters and Peter Guber and their uncanny ascendancy to the chairmen of the board of Columbia-Tri-Star-Sony et al, it's the story of that particular studio, and to say that it's only about these guys is like saying that 'Final Cut' is all about Heaven's Gate. It's hook and a big part of the meat, but there's other toppings and sauces to the burger that makes up Griffin and Masters' research.

The book starts off strongly as it does go into the backstories/histories of these sort of, maybe, okay not exactly unique individuals: they're the products of the American system to varying degrees, with Peters being a street kid who got abused by his father and was left to fend for himself, and had the unlikely talent and career to become a barber and hairdresser, ultimately leading him to Hollywood and Barbara Streisand (he may end up being the most butch/hetero hairdresser you'll ever encounter in non-fiction, which maybe makes him, uh, gayer? okay, not really, moving on). Guber, on the other hand, is the product of the upper-middle class: well-educated, only caring about money deep down, and already becoming a yuppie, if that's possible, during the 70's when (partially) overseeing productions like The Last Detail at, oddly enough, Columbia. What we don't exactly see is a burning desire and passion to become filmmakers - this is, I think, a key distinction from, for example, Down & Dirty Pictures and its portrait of the Weinsteins, also a quasi Good-Cop-Bad-Cop team of moguls.

Their rise as well as a GIANT cast of people to look through - people who worked at Columbia at the top like David Begelman and Frank Price and Dawn Steel and many others; the sleazy rats working in tangential things like the record industry, which Guber-Peters also get their feet wet in, at Casablanca records; some film directors like George Miller and Steven Spielberg and Tim Burton (the former they drive bloody nuts, the middle won't talk to them, and the latter ends up crying and yet is clearly the genius of Batman, with Peters contributing sort of to that film's blockbuster power, seemingly his one real time outside of 'A Star is Born); oh, and exes like Barbara Streisand and then... well, one other notorious woman, which I'll get to momentarily.

So there's a lot of good stuff at the start that engrosses you if you're interested in knowing more about the movie business, or a particular portion of it (and certain arms and tentacles like Steve Ross at Warners)... but there is a section which is about the lead up to the sale of Columbia to Sony, with a whole host of other characters including Walter Yetnikoff, that is sort of interesting but not as much as what came before. I think it was on my end feeling impatient with the pacing of this middle section, with a whole heap of back-history (some of it compelling, some not) about how Sony came to be in Japan and that whole group of characters (some will play a role to come when G&P take control, others not). It did start to get back up to speed once the main players get into the picture and the backstabbing and double crossing that goes on between Gubers, Peters and their "boss" at Warners, Ross. You do get, I must stress once more, a LOT of numbers and figures and minutae. Some of that worked for me as far as learning something new about how points and percentages and the simple give-and-take of businessmen huddled in rooms doing such a dance. Some of it didn't.

But then it comes around to the main portion - which is about, oh more than halfway in, so that's another mark against it - and it gets good and interesting again. Reading about the many films, some successful and more, it seems, that aren't or outright bomb (Hudson Hawk, oy vey), is the stuff that I was really digging into as a movie geek, and learning about the ins and outs of these productions, and the tempers flaring or sometimes (often) cooling depending on if it was Peters or Guber at the helm, it all makes for a wonderful portrait of excess. These guys thought they could use this extravagant, mind-blowing the deal (the kind that must've made Lucas and his Star Wars 77 contract go 'Wow. That's a deal. Wish I thought of that'), and then lavish filmmakers and talent to entice them to the studio(s), and then.... not do anything with them. It's an All-American story that made me more interested as it went, and Griffin and Masters are at least competent and often are skillfull journalists as much as non-fiction writers (this has the grist of true journalism). But it was still hovering at like 3 1/2 stars due to that mid-section.

.... and then came chapter 28, 'How they Built the Bomb' and to an extent chapter 29 'Heidi-Ho'; the former is about the production of just one film, LAST ACTION HERO, while the latter is about the scandal (which I only was vaguely aware of sad to say) about Heidi Fleiss, the "Hollywood Madam." The Fleiss chapter is good, in large part because it ends up bringing together a lot of these *MEN* (and it's important for these women writers, though they don't push it explicitly, that they are men and they are women wrting about it - again they're such good reporters you could forget that and not notice it). But chapter 28 on LAH is a marvel of cinematic making-of storytelling, almost on par with the best parts of 'Final Cut'. It's a five and a half star chapter in this book, as these authors really dig into what Mark Canton, who comes off as the kind of man who needed and craved attention all he could (all those pictures of him with stars on the wall, oy vey), and how, yes, Arnold Schwarzenegger kind of comes out as the actual hero of the story, as the guy trying to keep things upbeat and not the 'unqualified disaster' level that the production ends up spiraling at.

Could that movie have been saved and been a hit? Certainly going up against Jurassic Park was a death knell, the book argues convincingly, though all the hubris that goes into making the success it seems ends up going into the flops (except for Hudson Hawk, seriously, screw Bruce Willis and his antiunion ass, but I digress). These couple of chapters, and indeed the book as a whole as it ramps up and goes into its 'dark' period from like late 1992 into the rest of the years detailed, is astonishing work and kept me so entertained I finished practically the rest of the book in one sitting - 200 pages in all(!)

So it's not overall the best of the movie books I've come across, but it's a damn fine piece of work that manages to condense really closer to fifteen years of history - lets say from around 1980 to the mid 90's, though the 60s and 70s get their time too for detailing how Guber and Peters became who they were personality wise - and also details just how Hollywood worked then. It's also great to think about and compare to how it is today, how despite the extravagant budgets and over the top things done for these films that did get made (whether successful or not), there was more room for the middle budget films, the middle-level risks, and that fascinated me just as much to read about how those movies did (or didn't, as sometimes happens) get made. And as these two personalities it makes for a helluva reading, an in-depth take on what can be gained and perverted by what American greed and excess allows... and, not to mention, how the Japanese respond or take it all in.


PS: there's a section about Peter Guber and OWL CREEK, and a small incident that caused someone to write an op-ed for the paper complaining about him - "We demand that our county authorities insist that Peter Guber's illegal chalets be dismantled log by log and that he be taught that ours is not the sort of community of sycophants and whores with which he is so accustomed to dealing." (p 351) - ... the writer of this op-ed isn't named. C'mon, ladies, it's Hunter S Thompson, right? He was in Owl Creek, he'd call Guber a 'whore' to his face and mean it. Anyway, I take glee in picturing it's him.

[Victor Rodriguez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aunque a veces se pierde en disertaciones económicas -totalmente necesarias para entender el contexto pero quizá algo técnicas- esta biografía de los dos jerifaltes de Sony es los suficientemente demencial. Derroches de dinero astronómicos totalmente consecuentes con la era yuppie, muchos egos sobredimensionados, la clásica moral de doble cara de Hollywood y cagadas en taquilla tan notables como "El gran halcón" y "El último gran héroe". Muy recomendable si os gusta leer sobre la industria y sus tejemanejes.

[Laurie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is only a book you should read if you have a deep interest in the movie industry. The book, written in the 90s, is about two guys who somehow become movie executives and get Sony to buy their company and then run the company into the ground by making terrible movie choices. There were A LOT of names to keep track of in this book, and not just people names, company names, too! It seemed like companies just kept merging and buying each other. It was hard to keep track of what was going on. And then the two guys who are at the center of this true story are real pieces of work. One of them used to be Barbra Streisand's hairdresser and boyfriend. They are greedy men who only want to make lots of money so they can live lavish lifestyles. In fact, it seems like all the power players in this story are greedy a-holes. And the book doesn't paint the movie stars in a much better light: Barbra Streisand, Jack Nicholson (we already knew he was a jerk, but still), Bruce Willis. It almost makes you never want to work in the movie business EVER.

Still, I liked reading about movies that I've seen or at least recognized. I had no idea that all these people had a hand at making movies such as Batman, Hook, A League of Their Own, and Jumanji. And the ending was kind of interesting because Jon Peters (one of the a-holes at the center of the story) was trying to make a Superman movie where Superman and Batman team up. I wonder if the new Ben Affleck Batman/Superman movie has anything to do with Jon Peters.

[Russ Bertetta · Rating 2 out of 5]

Somewhat interesting but repetitive and sometimes ponderous tale of Hollywood in the 70s and 80s. Griffen and Masters did a great job of research but trying to keep the cast of characters, companies and job titles together can be a challenge. Not something you're going to read in a few days.

[Ellen]

As recommended by Kevin Smith (yes, that one) on the "How Did This Get Made?" podcast.

[Christopher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just the kind of deep dive I was looking for. Excellent reporting on the profligate and wasteful spending and creative cratering that almost killed Sony Pictures. If a movie from this studio was good in the 90s, it was despite the efforts of those who produced and funded it.

[Bob Box · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read in 1996. How Peter Guber and Jon Peters took Sony Pictures for a ride in Hollywood. Fascinating examination of how these two characters brought Sony to the brink of disaster. Lots of inside movie info and gossip. A delicious read. One of my favorites that year.

[Mahlon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hit-and-Run chronicles Jon Peters and Peter Gruber's roller coaster ride as head of Sony pictures. The material may seem a little dated now but It's still one of the better books on the movie industry that I've read.

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Note: Hit and Run was written by Nancy Griffin and KIM Masters, not 'Ken' Masters.

The infamous tenure of Peter Guber and Jon Peters at Sony Pictures is the stuff of Hollywood legend (if not nightmare), and I'd read many stories over the years in different sources. The 2014 Sony Pictures hack led me back to this book, thanks to the journalism of Kim Masters. This is a fascinating look at a very interesting time; the era of the blockbuster pre-Internet, and almost pre-CGI effects.

The book chronicles the life and careers primarily of Peter Guber and Jon Peters, an absolute study in contrasts, who practically looted Sony's coffers when they got put in charge of Sony Pictures after their blockbuster successes with movies like Batman (1989) and Rain Man (1988). They seemed like golden boys, but what is very apparent after reading Hit and Run is that while they were very commercially minded, they were also extremely lucky - up until a point.

Hit and Run covers the early careers of Guber-Peters, including their time as producers, but the real meat is in the purchase of Columbia Pictures by Sony and their subsequent excesses. This was the time of the high concept blockbuster, when Schwarzenegger was the biggest star in the world and scripts were sold for millions on the basis of a single logline. With some excellent insight into the traditionally secretive Sony, Griffin and Masters detail the deal itself, the staggering 'compensation' Guber-Peters accrued, and some of the mind-boggling management decisions they made.

For me the highlight of Hit and Run was the insight into the making of The Last Action Hero, the mega-bomb which arguably wrecked Schwarzenegger's career and put a serious dent in Sony's reputation and profits. Reading about the various corporate players spending excessive amounts in increasingly absurd publicity attempts (putting the movie's title on the side of a NASA rocket?) then all running for cover when the movie was a disaster is a sobering reminder that, as William Goldman famously said, in Hollywood nobody knows anything.

Don't pick up this book looking for a treatise on management or an insider's view into what Guber-Peters did right, or even really what they did wrong. It's a chronicle of disaster, of corporate raiding on the biggest scale, and an excellent inside look at what can happen when ego is allowed to run rampant and business sense is trumped by Hollywood glitz.

[Connor Fitzgerald · Rating 2 out of 5]

just finished reading Hit and Run written by Nancy Griffin and Kim Masters. The books chronicles the careers of two Hollywood producers, Jon Peters and Peter Guber, as they made “the most public screwing in the history of the business”. Long story short, they fostered a deal with Sony to buy out Columbia pictures and to make them the top executives. Sony spent 6 billion on the deal and would lose 3 billion in a few short years. Peters and Guber made millions. The book is about the overindulgence of the entertainment world and was honestly pretty upsetting to read. Kind of reminded me of something like Wolf of Wall street that doesn’t necessarily have any redeemable characters, just people who are slightly less shitty than their peers. I also thought that some of the business deals and politics the book discussed were too dry/specific to keep me engaged. I think if the book were streamlined slightly it would flow a lot better. At 450 pages it isn’t a quick read. I did enjoy the sections about how specific films got made. The section dealing with how the company put all of its hope into the film “Last Action Hero” was particularly humorous in hindsight. Overall, it was an okay, although slightly boring, read if you have patience to get through some of the more dry sections.

[Samsokrith Chhaly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading Hit and Run is like reading a Chinese strategy book. Power struggle, strategic alliance, negotiation tactics, journey/rise to power... are what you can enjoy when reading this book. Moreover, these real-life experiences are unfold at the backdrop of the movie industry, one of the most tricky business industry, not to mention that it is Hollywood that is the setting of this book. The only let down is that the story is written from many "external" sources but lacks of information from the titular "main actors": Jon Peters, Peter Guber and SONY. However, we can learn from all the facts/stories and this could be a melodrama suitable for anyone who has interest in learning about business field.

[Katy · Rating 3 out of 5]

In-depth coverage of the purchase of venerable Hollywood institution Columbia Pictures by Sony in the late 1980s. It was the first (but not the last) time a Japanese corporation would try to break into the world of movies, and it was spectacularly unsuccessful. The American "greed is good" mentality that fueled the '80s (leading also to the insider trading scandal) clashed mightily with the more team-oriented approach the Japanese typically took...leading to accumulation of vast wealth on the part of the two inexperienced American executives hired to run the company, and the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars for Sony.

[John Devlin · Rating 2 out of 5]

More tales from Hollywood's trenches that attempt to point out the fact that the movie makers, like the Emperor, have no clothes when understanding what's good.

[Tomas Vyskocil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Málokterá producentská dvojka se do historie Hollywoodu zapsala tak jako Peter Guber a Jon Peters. Přitom jejich původy a povahové vlastnosti nemohly být rozdílnější. Guber byl klasický příslušník střední třídy, rodinný muž, který ihned po studiu na prestižní škole začal krok po krok stoupat v hierarchii studii Columbia. Peters byl pouliční rváč, který se od útlého mládí potloukal jak mohl, pak se rozhodl stát kadeřníkem a v Los Angeles se vypracoval na naprostou špičku.

Ale možná právě díky své rozdílnosti potřebovali jeden druhého. Dohromady se dali na začátku osmdesátých let, kdy Guber už měl za sebou vyhazov z Columbie a pár filmů jako nezávislý producent (Půlnoční expres), zatímco Peterse se z kadeřníka vypracoval až na producenta filmů jako Zrodila se hvězda a randil s Barbrou Streisand. Svojí producentskou dráhu spojili ve vlastní společnosti, financované částečně mediální firmou Polygram.

Během osmdesátých let zaznamenali střídavé úspěchy. Jejich jména najdete u filmů jako Purpurová barva, RainMan nebo Čarodějky z Eastwicku, ale také pod propadáky jako Youngblood nebo Missing Link. Co je odlišovalo od ostatních producentů byl jejich extravagantní styl plný agresivního vyjednávání, šílených kreativních rozhodnutí, drsných konfrontací a nehorázného utrácení. Spielberg jim například zakázal chodit na plac Purpurové barvy, ale většina tvůrců přiznává opačný problém - jako producenti byli často neviditelní a jen shrábli odměnu a kredit.

Mimořádné sebepropagační schopnosti jim posléze vynesly lukrativní post ředitelů ve studiu Columbia, které koupilo na počátku 90. let japonské impérium Sony (zprostředkované superagentem Mikem Ovitzem, viz jeho kniha). Noví majitelé je nejdříve museli vykoupit za těžké peníze ze smlouvy se studiem Warner (pro která dvojice produkovala megahit Batman) a pak jen s japonským klidem sledovali jako utrácí za drahé renovace, nákladné filmové propadáky a lukrativní padáky pro bývalé zaměstnance.

Peters vydržel v Sony jen rok, Guber až do roku 1995. Vaz mu definitivě zlomila série finančních propadáků zakončená Posledním akčním hrdinou a také nelichotivý skandál s drogami a prostitukami spojených s nechvalně známou kuplířkou Heidi Fleiss, která poskytovala různé služby hlavounům studia. Sony za 5 let jejich vlády odepsalo včetně nákupu a dalších investic více než 6 miliard dolarů.

Kniha je zpočátku hodně zaměřená na popis odlišných vlastností obou producentů a jejich rozdílných počátků. Než dojde ke zlatému hřebu, tedy nástupu pod Sony, je trochu nudná a zdlouhavá, zahlcena mnoha jmény a nepodstatnými spory. Teprve s příchodem do Columbie to začne mít spád. 70%.

Kniha končí v roce 1995 (takže legendární historka Kevina Smithe o Supermanovi v podání Jona Petersa tam není), na další historii Sony doporučuji The BIg Picture.

[Nick · Rating 3 out of 5]

In a utopian society, budding sociopaths like Jon Peters and Peter Guber would be identified at an early age, removed from their families, and subjected to intense psychotherapy until such time that they learned how to behave appropriately. Because we live in this world, jerks like this are feted and rewarded with massive wealth and esteem despite never actually producing anything.

This was decent enough account of 30+ years of corporate stupidity that occasionally gets a bit too deep into the weeds regarding some of the details of corporate structuring or financing in ways that don't really help inform the main thrust of the book. It also felt like it went on a bit too long toward the end, but that might just be because I found both of the men incredibly unpleasant and I just wanted to be done with them.

[Steven · Rating 3 out of 5]

Took me 9 months to finish, mostly because the middle gets bogged down in painstaking details of various corporate mergers and acquisitions that I had a hard time caring about or keeping straight. The beginning and end were closer to what I was hoping for: behind-the-scenes accounts of how legendary unhinged self-mythologizer Jon Peters and, to a lesser extent, cohort Peter Guber presided over an absurd series of battles over various Hollywood productions. Those stories get full and worthy treatment; the business insider accounts in between didn’t hold my attention as much. Wherever your personal preferences lie, you will come away with more information about how much went into Sony’s successes and failures during the 1980s and early ‘90s.

[Shua W · Rating 1 out of 5]

Meh. The writing was good and the organization of the narrative was well crafted. It was well researched and everything I just found the subject matter pretty boring.

So two dudes who were good marketers and one of them who got in because of who he knows were able to do a pretty good job and then marketed themselves into a really good job. Then they just weren't able to keep up the string of hits that they had been known for. And they ended up losing the job but still made butt loads of cash. So its like eh whatever good for you but nothing really that crazy in the world of business where marketing and network is everything. This just has the side of showbiz to keep it engaging but I just didn't find it interesting. Glad i did an audiobook and finished it in a day.

[Greg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Came to it late, worth the time.

On a Hollywood run as of late, and this one had positive reviews. Those reviews were right. The book is a good read and worth your time. You need to go into the book with your eyes wide open. Mr Gruber and Mr. Peter’s level of greed and utter lack of management skills are, at a minimum, off putting. The book makes it abundantly clear that the marketing men ran Hollywood in the late 80’s and 90’s. It also made it clear that Sony took their eye off the ball in the late 80’s, losing their dominance in electronics while they expanded into “software”. The book is a gossipy cautionary tale for managers and business owners.

[Stuart Bannerman · Rating 5 out of 5]

If anyone told you this story youd think they were making it up, but it happened.
If ever you want to know just how nuts the filmworld can be then please, please read this book
Its one of the most mindblowingly wonderful tales of business and how to not run one that you will ever read. I wish they would make this into a documentary (a film would have people saying this would never have happened- but it did happen)

[Ed · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe I’m a little Hollywooded out but this hit a really snag for me around the middle. The fun, brisk attention to detail got bogged down in the dull history of Sony. From there my interest was in an out depending on what disaster the book was covering. The Last Action Hero chapter was a real whopper that breathed life into the later part of this. On balance, any look at a studio’s inner workings is with a look but this fell from great to just good enough.

[Corey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Spends a short amount of time talking about John and Peter in early life. Quickly gets into their time at various studios before ending up at Sony. Interesting stories throughout of what was happening in the industry at the time. Also a small amount of Sony history coming to the US.

Interesting read about Hollywood, but nothing really to compare it to.

[brian andrews · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed the writing but not the story.
You could see the car crash of the story from the start, but that is not the fault of the writer.
As it is a true story, I got fed up of their constant story of pillage and destruction,
the excess of the 80's, Hollywood and macho males.

[Josh Sellers · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Story of failing upwards to 80+ Million Dollars and bleeding Columbia/Sony Pictures dry.

[Rosie Downey · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a huge fan of Kim Masters I purposely sought out this book and it didn’t disappoint.

[Matthew Fitch · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eh, it’s not that the book was bad but more of the subject. Found myself a few times fighting off sleep while reading.....

[Chris French · Rating 4 out of 5]

Trashy, sensational, very one sided and oh so enjoyable.
This is an interesting look into a piece of Hollywood history.

[Yuri Krupenin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Впервые нестерпимо захотелось сжечь большую часть действующих лиц нонфикшн-книги и танцевать всю ночь вокруг костра, и я читал Ширера.

[Matthew Mixon]

Loved. Great. Gimme all these.

[Marianne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting look behind the scenes of a Hollywood studio. Some unbelievable stuff and decent writing.