My career started with a haircut. Like most who come to Hollywood, I was a young artist with a day job taking classes, trying to land an agent, and running around town auditioning and peddling scripts. I had a ponytail in those days, which my parents hated, and warned me to cut before showing up at my sister’s graduation. The barber got me talking in his chair, and asked me if I had written anything for a young actor and a veteran actress. As chance would have it, I had written a script for a film that fit the bill and he asked me to fetch it after my haircut. His grandmother was legendary Irish film star Maureen O’Hara and they were looking for a project to act in together.

Wow! From a haircut I met my first real movie star and through our long association, learned much about the entertainment industry and life. I worked with many of Ms. O’Hara’s colleagues who were also film and television icons, both in front of and behind the camera, and was mentored. Many were from old Hollywood, the Golden Age of Cinema, when the studio and star systems existed. I discovered that even with the passing of time, many of its old conventions remain in practice today. There is a way that this town works and fully mastering it requires understanding its history.

Along the way, I met another remarkable mentor in Jay Bernstein. They called him Starmaker and he was one of the truly great talent managers and press agents to ever come through Hollywood. Jay represented a dream roster of A-list talent from the Rat Pack and Tony Bennett to Jim Carrey and Drew Barrymore, and made Farrah Fawcettt an international sex symbol. From him I learned the fine art of talent representation and I have used his lessons with every client I have helped.