Rushfield: Ariology, Saudis and Maxonomics
Some strike-free snark about this town
Welcome to my periodic weekly collection of quick takes and flashpoints from the news around town. Today: Ari, Saudi Arabia, Jesus, Succession, HBO, and for one brief moment — not the strike.
Ariology
The fun part about working in Hollywood is how the show goes on offstage as well as on, how offstage everyone plays their roles of "visionary director" or "tyrannical producer" or "hapless mid-level executive" as fully as any actor has ever committed to a part.
Which, day to day, means that the words that come out of people's mouths bear only coincidental resemblance to their actual thoughts — which, being Hollywood, are mostly centered on envy and revenge.
So it's especially jarring when someone in this town — a titan of the industry no less — opens their mouth and out pours... their actual thoughts! It's such a rare and startling moment that it makes one question the very nature of reality here.
But if anyone were going to roar away the curtain, who better than Ari, who is after all, the actual model for the bombastic laptop-throwing hyper-kinetic agent avatar?
If you didn't catch it, Mr. Emanuel took the occasion of a chat about the future of the media with Freakonmics Radio to ventilate his feelings about rival agency CAA, the leadership and the culture therein, and to make some curious remarks about his company’s business with the Saudis. To wit:
Can’t afford The Ankler right now? If you’re an assistant, student, or getting your foot in the door, and want help navigating the craziness of this business but don’t have the money to spare, drop me a line at richard@theankler.com and we’ll work it out. No mogul or mogul-to-be left behind here at The Ankler.
