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September 8, 2008
 
Member News
Profile: HRTS President Kevin Beggs
Bernie Brillstein Remembered
Important HRTS Member Survey Coming
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From the Executive Director
Welcome New HRTS Members!
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Bernie Brillstein Remembered


This summer, the HRTS lost one of its great, longstanding members with the passing of industry icon Bernie Brillstein.  His "larger than life" personality was a fixture at table 1 at HRTS luncheons and he will be missed.  In June 2007, Bernie was kind enough to sit with writer Chris Davison for the following interview for Society Views.  In his honor,  we are re-running the interview as well as a sidebar from Kelly Goode, HRTS Board member and co-chair for the February 2000 HRTS "Ageism" panelist Bernie.

 


The Heart of HRTS
A Member Profile by Chris Davison, davison@intellcap.com
Bernie Brillstein is a Hollywood legend, with a career spanning over 50 years. Starting out in the William Morris mailroom in 1955, Bernie went on to create the Brillstein Company in 1969, later joining forces with Brad Grey to form Brillstein-Grey Entertainment in 1991. From “Saturday Night Live” to the “Muppet Show” to a star on the Walk of Fame, Bernie has been there and done that, all the while raising five children with his wife Carrie. I recently had a chance to sit down with Bernie to discuss Hollywood, blind dates and the chair business.

Q: What made you want to work in the entertainment industry?
-The Cossacks drove the Jews out of Russia so my forebearers were probably entertainers back then. My uncle was a comedian in the Ziegfeld Follies and my father produced events for his synagogue and other venues. My uncle showed me the East Side of New York and my father showed me the Copacabana and 52nd Street. Every place we went there were pretty women and good food and so I said ‘How bad can this business be?’

Q: How do you identify someone with the potential to become a superstar?
-I don’t think you can ever know if they’ll be a superstar. The first thing for me is a feeling in my stomach when someone walks through the door, it’s like a blind date where I feel something, a connection. Jim Henson came into my office in 1959 and he looked like a hippie. He opened a box and took out a two-headed cow and I laughed hysterically so maybe my sense of humor helped me identify a genius. Lorne Michaels was a writer on “Laugh-In” when I spoke to him in the halls of NBC. I thought what he said was smart, but I didn’t know how smart. Everyone I’m in business with, I have an affinity for them as human beings. It really is like being on a date, if you want to call again then there’s something there, it’s all intuitive.You know they’ll work but you never know if they’ll be superstars since that’s a whole other level of right timing, fortune and the stars. If I knew who would be a superstar I’d be the old fat guy on a hill, I’d charge people five thousand dollars for a visit and it’d last five minutes.

Q: What are your thoughts on the possibility of a strike?
-I’ve been in this business since 1955 and the business has shrunk so much, there are so many less jobs that I don’t think anyone’s going to strike, I just don’t feel it. Reality television is popular today because it’s at least part variety show, it’s dancing and singing. However, if all you put on television is reality with nothing else, if there are no hour dramas then people are going to start really doing something else. There’s less jobs today so why strike? In a strike the people who get hurt the most are those who really need the jobs.

Q: How about virtual worlds such as online video games?
-They’re good for the chair business. The world outside is so scary for these young people that online is a safe place. In the world I was brought up in America was never an aggressor but now we’re aggressors so the kids are playing very aggressive games. You can’t say the word ‘fuck’ on television even once and yet you can sell these games, it’s insane. The whole world has become introverted and staying in, but I like touching people and seeing people much better. If you never meet someone how do you know what that person’s really like?

Q: What is the most valuable aspect of your HRTS membership? what could be improved or extended?
-
I love seeing these people live. At the luncheons, how many people in the audience get to see these people? Some of them are really funny, some of them are really boring and you don’t know how they got there, but you can tell who on the dais knows what they’re talking about and who is full of shit. I think it’s good for young people in this business to walk into these luncheons, see who are supposed to be the untouchables and know that they’re not so untouchable. You see them and if you’re paying attention you say ‘Now I know what it takes,’ and then you change. There definitely should be some sort of plan for how the young people can meet the people whom they respect in this business. In our office, we invite speakers once a month to our meetings so people can ask them questions. We’ve had Katzenberg, Eisner, Moonves, they all come to answer questions. The amazing thing to me is that most of the big people in this business are more than willing to give back and talk to people. That’s part of the game, you’ve got to give back.

 
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HRTS Since 1947 the HRTS has been the entertainment industry’s premiere information and networking forum. HRTS events are the only place where leading executives from across the industry gather under one roof, multiple times a year to discuss issues relevant to the ongoing success of our business. HRTS Members and our industry partners represent the best and the brightest in town. Is your company ready to join the ranks of HRTS? There are many ways for individuals and companies to get more involved. To find out how, call (818) 789-1182 or email info@hrts.org

 


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