Of Paramount Importance

I just finished reading, Unscripted, a new book by New York Times reporters James B. Stewart and Rachel Abrams about the recent scandal and battle for control of the Paramount/CBS/Viacom empire centered on the Sumner Redstone family, but which spills over to the corporate boardroom, Les Moonves and the #MeToo movement.  Non-fiction books about big business and Wall Street machinations are, for reasons I can’t quite explain, among my favorite reading.  I’ve read two books by Pulitzer Prizer-winner James B. Stewart (DisneyWar about the Eisner/Katzenberg years, and Den of Thieves on the insider trading scandal in the 1980s involving Ivan Boesky, Michael Milliken and others), and Rachel Abrams was on the New York Times team that won the Pulitzer Prize for its #MeToo reporting.  So, I was anxiously awaiting this one ever since I read about its pending publication months earlier.
 
And it was worth the wait, really wonderful.  A fascinating story, seriously impressive meticulous research, and as readable as a good novel. 

(It was also just optioned to be adapted for a limited series, which should give you some idea of how wide-ranging and involving the story is.  And it’s a natural for that, as HBO's Succession showed.  This, on the other hand, is real life and actually happened, stunning as at times it seems.)

​This is where the disclaimer comes in. I wasn’t anxious to read it for the corporate subject matter or being a fan of James B. Stewart.  (Though I would have read the book for either of those reasons.)  My being anxious to read it was Rachel Abrams, whose work I’ve admired, but far more to the point – I’ve been friends with her father Ian Abrams for decades, and we were even business partners in a “bulletin board service” (a precursor of chat rooms) for professional writers, called the PAGE BBS.  (Among our other partners was the inveterate Chris Dunn.)
 
So, in full disclosure, Ian and I were movie publicists together, and both survived to get into screenwriting.  In fact, among his credits, Ian wrote the movie, Undercover Blues that starred Dennis Quaid and Kathleen Turner, and co-created the CBS series Early Edition that starred Kyle Chandler and Fisher Stevens as his sort of sidekick buddy, and was on the air for four seasons.
 
So, I knew Rachel from when she was around 10 years old, although not well, a very nice, smart, quiet kid – and then the family moved to Philadelphia because Ian hated Hollywood and decided to teach at Drexel University, where he created their screenwriting program.
 
Rachel eventually grew up, as such things happen, and got into journalism, where she later worked for the Hollywood Reporter, and took on the #MeToo beat, doggedly covering Harvey Weinstein and more.  Her topnotch work caught the eye of the New York Times, which wisely hired her.  And she’s become a powerhouse, fearless journalist.
 
It’s no small thing that she partnered with the long-respected James B. Stewart.  In fact, it is seriously impressive.  After all, as he notes himself in the afterward, he had never worked with a co-author before in his long career.  In fact, they hardly even knew on another at the Times, but were working on a similar story and overlapped.  As he writes in the acknowledgements, “She was a dream collaborator:  incredibly hard-working, resourceful, ethical, considerate and brimming with enthusiasm for every discovery.  Working with her was both inspiring and fun.”  Not shabby.  And her words for Stewart were as glowing and moving, among them – his “reputation is belied by his grace and humility.  Working with him has made me a better journalist, and I am very grateful to have had him as a partner.”
 
So, yes, I’m biased.  But that doesn’t mean I’m wrong.  In fact, I’m right.  It was a New York Times bestseller, has 4.1 stars on Amazon, and among its reviews are –
 
“Jaw-dropping...an epic tale of toxic wealth and greed populated by connivers and manipulators.” — The New York Times Book Review, Editors’ Choice
 
“A deeply reported account... The story, whose contours would be familiar to fans of the HBO series Succession, stands as a real-life warning to other family dynasties led by powerful founders….a masterful job.” -- Financial Times

“The book is a page-turner — an over-the-top tale of money, power, sex, and relentless scheming to wrest billions away from an old man who in his final years seems to have lost the capacity for just about anything except sex.” -- Fortune

“A must-read... A bombshell new book from two Pulitzer winners reveals some truly shocking storylines within the real-life Succession drama that is the Paramount media empire... Abrams, a New York Times investigative reporter, and Stewart, a Times business columnist have written a jaw-dropping yarn.” -- Daily Beast

There’s more, but we’ll leave it at that.  I just wanted to make it clear that my praise wasn’t purely subjective.
 
The book really is terrific.  And if one is a fan of Succession, this is the real thing.  (In fact, I suspect that as much as the series is inspired by the Murdochs and Trumps, the Redstone story has to have played a part in there, too.)  Billionaire Sumner Redstone is a Shakesperean character, triumphant, towering, profoundly flawed, and ultimately a tragic figure.  Then add in the turbulent family drama, boardroom maneuverings, sexual lavishness, lawsuits flying all over the place with tens of millions of dollars regularly thrown around like pocket change, and twists and turns every step of the way, notably a daughter thrown into the middle of it all against her best inclination.
 
All that, and a quote from Nell Minow.  (Hey, I said I was biased.  But again, I’m not wrong – her warning is incredibly prescient.)
 
It’s really well-written on top of everything, wonderfully readable for all the detail.  If you’re interested, you can find it here. 
 
And as a bonus, here are James B. Stewart and Rachel Abrams being interviewed on the Today show.