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Barry Diller Speaks at HBS
Jamyn Edis (NG), Contributing Writer
Issue date: 5/10/04 Section: News
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As the man behind such blockbusters as Saturday Night Fever, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and Beverly Hills Cop, Diller has been around Hollywood and the media circuit long enough to know exactly what should be seen. And during his keynote speech for the 4th Annual Entertainment & Media Conference, Diller took no prisoners, firing salvoes in his no-nonsense style at the FCC, Richard Branson and even his former boss at Fox, Rupert Murdoch, whom he described as having "ratty politics".
Diller's LA story is the stuff of legend. He started out in the mail-room at the talent agency William Morris and it's whispered that he often steamed open important letters to get the jump on deals being brokered across town. His early tenacity propelled him through Tinseltown's ranks, to ABC, President of Paramount Pictures, CEO of Fox and finally at Vivendi Universal. He sums up the last experience with "most French hate Americans...it wasn't even a thrill ride, it was a rough process. I had nothing to learn from it other than 'don't do that'".
During his time in Hollywood, Barry Diller has developed quite the reputation for himself - as master deal-maker, in work as in play (including snagging himself fashion designer and arch-socialite Diane von Furstenberg along the way). There is a story - about which Diller was coy during his keynote speech - about how he threw a brick at an employee during an angry exchange...a brick that lodged itself in the wall behind the hapless schmoe. Said schmoe is now apparently quite the Hollywood bigwig, who hangs the framed brick on his office wall as a badge of honor.
On the subject of personalities, Diller was not shy about expressing his free and frank opinion on others - ripping into Donald Trump's hair and vain gloriousness and following that up swiftly by talking about UK entrepreneur Richard Branson (who is currently shooting an Apprentice-style show), whom he branded "a show-boater".
Diller had kinder words for News Corp's Rupert Murdoch, who had presided over Diller during his time at Fox studios. He described him as "more substantial [than Branson]", and as someone who "has got a wonderful group of assets, without equal, [and] of all these people, he is the truest entrepreneur". He said about Murdoch, "entrepreneurship is the only tuning fork he listens to...he will say with glee he's betting the company". However, Diller ended the portrait of his former boss with his assessment, "I don't like the dark vein of some of his conservative edges...I don't like Fox News".