Roll the Calls
A Memoir
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Roll the Calls
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Narrated by:
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By:
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Ari Emanuel
Ari Emanuel has long been one of the most influential people in the world, but he’s also something of a mystery. Part of the reason is Emanuel’s job description. As Hollywood’s best-known super-agent—the inspiration for Ari Gold in the classic TV drama Entourage—he’s paid to speak for his A-list clients, not himself.
Now, for the first time, the agent, the mogul, the ferocious power broker, speaks for himself, about himself, and about the game of life—often at the top of his lungs.
In Roll the Calls, his take-no-prisoners memoir, Emanuel tells the incredible stories behind the signings and firings, the triumphant mergers and nasty breakups, the hard-won victories and crushing mistakes.
With great comic zest, and in precise cinematic detail, he traces the arc of a classic rags-to-riches career, from suffering through severe dyslexia, to clerking in the mailroom of CAA, to striking out on his own with three fellow agents, launching a new talent agency that would go on to represent some of the most glittering names in show business, including Larry David, Quentin Tarantino, Denzel Washington, Billie Eilish, Martin Scorsese, and Oprah Winfrey. Along the way Emanuel was also raising four kids, fighting and reconciling with friends and colleagues, coping with a failing marriage, and struggling to find love again.
Shattering the mold of stodgy CEO memoirs, Roll the Calls is told in a punchy, telegraphic style, with disarming humility and ribald candor. It’s a fable about success and failure, about creativity and persistence, and a master class in how to ignore the haters, how to overcome withering self-doubt, and, at moments of profound crisis and despair, how to be a fearless advocate for your most vulnerable client: yourself.
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Critic reviews
“’I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it any more!’ I wonder if Ari was Paddy Chafefsky’s agent. Here in Technicolor is another of Hollywood’s greatest characters.” —Rick Rubin, author of The Creative Act
“A bracing memoir about rage and childhood trauma and how to make them work for you rather than against you. It’s about being bullied and being the bully and how fine the line is between those two roles. It’s also a rare peek at how Hollywood really works, the grasping ambition, the double-dealing, the savage fight to stay competitive, never mind employed. A blazing fast read with lessons nested among the incredible stories, it’s above all extremely funny. I opened it as I boarded a plane in New York and by the time I landed overseas I felt that I’d completed a true journey.” —Walter Isaacson, author of Elon Musk
“As someone who also started my career in the mailroom and agitated my way up the ladder, I appreciate the rage – his explanation as a “ragent” – that fueled this unique American character. But behind this moxie, chutzpah and persistent aggression is a riveting story of a man who wants to make something that lasts and a deeply felt account of the struggle it takes to do so. Obviously, he names names and can be a pain in the ass too – on brand! – but it turns out Ari Emanuel has a big soft heart, even if it is clad in titanium.” —Kara Swisher, author of Burn Book
“Of course I knew Ari had an amazing story. Angry boy from Chicago overcomes severe dyslexia, rises from mailroom to C-suite, transforms himself into one of the legendary dealmakers and visionaries in Hollywood history – I expected Ari’s memoir to be a page-turner. But I didn’t expect such tenderness, such sweetness, so much heart. I wasn’t ready for all the wisdom about mental health and self-confidence and resilience and the search for one’s true happiness. I simply wasn’t prepared for Shoe Dog meets Goodfellas with a dash of The Little Prince. What a pleasant, refreshing, and wonderful surprise this book is.” —Ariana Huffington, founder of The Huffington Post
“A bracing memoir about rage and childhood trauma and how to make them work for you rather than against you. It’s about being bullied and being the bully and how fine the line is between those two roles. It’s also a rare peek at how Hollywood really works, the grasping ambition, the double-dealing, the savage fight to stay competitive, never mind employed. A blazing fast read with lessons nested among the incredible stories, it’s above all extremely funny. I opened it as I boarded a plane in New York and by the time I landed overseas I felt that I’d completed a true journey.” —Walter Isaacson, author of Elon Musk
“As someone who also started my career in the mailroom and agitated my way up the ladder, I appreciate the rage – his explanation as a “ragent” – that fueled this unique American character. But behind this moxie, chutzpah and persistent aggression is a riveting story of a man who wants to make something that lasts and a deeply felt account of the struggle it takes to do so. Obviously, he names names and can be a pain in the ass too – on brand! – but it turns out Ari Emanuel has a big soft heart, even if it is clad in titanium.” —Kara Swisher, author of Burn Book
“Of course I knew Ari had an amazing story. Angry boy from Chicago overcomes severe dyslexia, rises from mailroom to C-suite, transforms himself into one of the legendary dealmakers and visionaries in Hollywood history – I expected Ari’s memoir to be a page-turner. But I didn’t expect such tenderness, such sweetness, so much heart. I wasn’t ready for all the wisdom about mental health and self-confidence and resilience and the search for one’s true happiness. I simply wasn’t prepared for Shoe Dog meets Goodfellas with a dash of The Little Prince. What a pleasant, refreshing, and wonderful surprise this book is.” —Ariana Huffington, founder of The Huffington Post
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