The Thomas Guide Is a map that painstakingly details how to navigate Los Angeles by car. It’s a spiral-bound relic that almost none of your junior executives remember. Your assistant thinks it’s a ranking of pale British heartthrobs.
Your intern will stare at you, unblinkingly and for minutes, if you even ask. But Ari Emanuel has used it as a kind of blueprint to build an empire. The familiar byways of Century City, the lofty heights of the Bird Streets, the humble beginnings south of Olympic Boulevard — he’s traveled all of them.
The guide is also one of the ways the super agent anchors “Roll the Calls,” a memoir of the Endeavor CEO’s rage-fueled rise to the top of show business that hits shelves this week. As the book rolls out, coupled with upcoming live events including in Los Angeles, Variety scored 18 (anger-free!) minutes with Emanuel to discuss his tome and outlook on the business today. Here he dissects the art of the phone call, the stolen commission that still keeps him up at night and the unholy rise of the text message.
Well, it’s been a hell of a ride. I know [this memoir] was shocking to people, because most of my life I’ve just been a voice for clients. This book is really for two [groups] of people.
First, the parents that come to me with anxiety having to raise kids with ADHD and dyslexia — and how to find a way to deal with that. Looking back at it, my mom and dad let me go through it and struggle while still making sure I had all the tools. It was incredible because it taught me to be a free thinker.
That’s helped me in business and helped me with the people in my life. The other [group] — I wrote this book as my own version of the Thomas Guide, to surviving [the industry]. To succeed, you have to realize how hard it is.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
