Leadership Profile: Peter Guber

Part I: Personal Background:

Career Paths (a brief overview of a still-evolving career):

Peter Guber is the former head of Columbia Pictures, Sony Pictures, and Mandalay Entertainment as well as a self-proclaimed entertainment guru. His career has spanned over three decades and he has been a part of or driving force behind the changes those years have seen in the film industry. He was recruited by Columbia Pictures straight out of college in 1968, where he was pursuing an MBA degree after receiving his jurist doctorate. Even though he had never thought of himself as a movie studio ‘guy’ he took a position in the creative arts department, mostly to avoid the Vietnam War and his mounting school-related debt. He worked at Columbia for seven years, the last three as studio head. After leaving Columbia in 1976 Peter founded a record company, Casablanca Record and Filmworks with Neil Bogart. Casablanca was in the business of producing film soundtracks such as Flashdance. He also began producing television specials. He began to independently produce films in 1977 with The Deep, which garnered Columbia one of the top ten grosses of all time. “In 1979, Guber formed Polygram Filmed Entertainment where he was Chairman of the Board and Co-owner. He sold Polygram in 1983 and formed and served as Co-owner of the Guber-Peters Entertainment Company (GPEC), which established a major presence in motion pictures, television and music” (Sunday). He has written three books, is a full professor at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television and has been a member of the faculty for over 30 years. He also co-hosts a weekly series on AMC with Peter Bart called Sunday Morning Shootout. “The films directly produced and executive produced by Guber, …, have earned more than $3 billion in worldwide revenue and more than fifty Academy Awards nominations, including 4 for best picture” (About the authors). The studios he has headed all saw a significant rise in profits during his ‘reign’.

Work Philosophy:

Coming from a law and business background into Columbia pictures during a time of upheaval and reorganization gave Guber exposure to a number of work/management styles, but his philosophy is always to approach movie making logically without sacrificing artist integrity or the bottom line. This is not to say that compromises and sacrifices are not made.

Leadership Style:

Peter Guber’s leadership style was shaped by his initial experiences in Hollywood. His style is more business driven and less ‘emotion’ driven, as many studio heads that moved up the ranks to their positions from an artistic background. His business attitude towards film-making was at the fore-front of the changes to come in the world of Hollywood. A film studio is more like a conglomeration of separate businesses working together to create a product. A good leader can create a product through the various entities. A great leader can mold the conglomerate into one huge machine turning out product.

Influences:

In Hollywood you learn from other people’s failure; and failure is analogous to death. Peter learned how to make the system work for him and was able to parlay his successes into a prolific career.

People & Events:

Jerry Tokofsky: his 1st supervisor whose “initial advice was wise: Keep the tongue still and ears wide open” (Shoot Out 26). Tokofsy’s fall from grace showed him that even the most promising career is fragile. As introductions to an industry go, this was a sobering look at the realities of Hollywood.

Leo Jaffe: Columbia Studios executive at the time of Guber’s hire. Jaffe taught him “If you’re going to listen and act on rumor in this business, you will fail” (Shoot Out 24). This advice was invaluable in the pre-technology era of the 1960’s when Hollywood was deluged with rumor and ruled by gossip.

David Begelman: president of Columbia after Jaffe. Through his own scandalous and possibly illegal downfall, he showed Guber how to be a corporate survivor. Begelman was one of many studio executives how thought they were above the law and learned the hard way they were not. In light of this and other scandals, Guber learned that all press is not good and no press is better than bad.

Part II:

What would it be like to work for Mr. Guber?

I believe that working for Mr. Guber would be both challenging and rewarding. He seems to be the type of man who appreciates and expects hard work. At the same time he does not seem tolerate having his decisions openly questioned. Presented with data from an information professional, I do not think it would not be ignored. As a jurist doctorate, I believe that Mr. Guber understands the value of information and the role of the CLIC professional.

Would he value a CLIC?

The services provided by a CLIC are invaluable to any company, especially one seeking to keep new projects under wraps. I believe Mr. Guber would see the value of an in-house library/information center as a time saving measure, as well as a way to maintain studio/project security and confidentiality.

What kind of services would be offered in sync with his style and values?

The CLIC would need to provide a wide range on information, including business related texts as well as research materials for film makers and industry related journals/papers. I suspect that a law library styled CLIC would be most familiar to him, and probably most appreciated. In line with this assumption, a CLIC would need access to up-to-date information on trends in audience tastes, technological innovations, new script/talent avenues, shooting locations, and past projects. The studio CLIC should also have stock footage and a legal reference section, with a special law librarian.

Works Cited

Celeb details Peter Guber. Hollywood.com. (nd). Retrieved June 20, 2006, from http://www.hollywood.com/celebs/detail/id/195319

Interview Peter Guber. (nd). PBS Frontline: The monster that ate Hollywood. Retrieved June 20, 2006, from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/hollywood/interviews/guber.html

Bart, P. & Guber, P. (2002). Shoot Out surviving fame and (mis)fortune in Hollywood. New York, G. P. Putnam’s Sons.

Sunday Morning Shootout. (2006). Retrieved June 28, 2006, from http://www.amctv.com/article/0,,1948-1--0-111-EST,00.html

All movie guide. New York Times. (July 11, 2006) Retrieved July 13, 2006, from http://movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movies/filmography.html?p_id=92791