The Mailroom: Hollywood History from the Bottom Up

The Mailroom: Hollywood History from the Bottom Up is a 2003 book by David Rensin that recounts what it is like to work in the mailroom in Hollywood’s most prestigious talent agencies. Rensin interviewed over 200 mailroom graduates from agencies like William Morris Agency and Creative Artists Agency. Mailroom employees often aspire to become agents, themselves.

The Mailroom: Hollywood History From the Bottom Up
AuthorDavid Rensin
LanguageEnglish
SubjectEntertainment, Hollywood, interviews, tell-all
PublisherBallantine Books (U.S.)
Publication date
4 February 2003 (U.S.)
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint (Hardback & Paperback) also AudioBook
Pages464 pp (US hardback edition)
ISBN0-345-44234-2 (US hardback edition)
OCLC51565606
791.43/09794/93 21
LC ClassPN1993.5.U65 R45 2003
Preceded byWhere Did I Go Right?: You're No One in Hollywood Unless Someone Wants You Dead 

Rensin was already a successful ghostwriter for celebrities, including Tim Allen and Chris Rock. Ballantine Books bought The Mailroom for six figures in 2000 and the original title was reportedly The Mailroom: Big Dreams and Raw Ambition in Hollywood's Power Boot Camp.[1]

At the time of publication, graduates of Harvard Business School were known to turn down high-paying corporate jobs to instead work for less than $400 a week at major agencies.[2] During an interview with USA Today, Rensin was asked how competitive it was to obtain jobs in mailrooms, to which he replied, "They say it's tougher to get into the mailroom at a place like William Morris than to get into the Harvard Law School, Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, or Stanford Business School. A New York Times story placed the ratio at 30-1, and EW said 10-1, so it's somewhere in there."[2]

List of notable interviewees

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Reception

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Kirkus Reviews praised the book for containing "edgy, frenetic, and entertaining reports from the room that launched a thousand deals."[3]

Publishers Weekly wrote "Rensin...captures the ambition, manipulative plotting and hustler mentality of a few Hollywood mailroom employees in this series of raunchy, realistic interviews."[4]

David Freeman of the Los Angeles Times "[grew] weary of prideful tales of half-baked banditry" and noted that "Agents live by a code: Never say no to the talent. Consequently, they tend to be very demanding of their own servants."[5]

In 2003, Variety reported that HBO and Brad Grey planned to make a documentary based on The Mailroom. Grey also considered creating a scripted series.[6]

References

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  1. ^ Matthew Flamm (14 April 2000). "Between the Lines". Entertainment Weekly. Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on 2011-06-06. Retrieved 15 January 2024.
  2. ^ a b "The Mailroom: Hollywood History from the Bottom Up: David Rensin". usatoday.com. USA Today. 21 January 2005. Archived from the original on 2008-09-26. Retrieved 15 January 2024.
  3. ^ "The Mailroom". kirkusreviews.com. Kirkus Media. 15 December 2002. Archived from the original on 2023-04-08. Retrieved 15 January 2024. Edgy, frenetic, and entertaining reports from the room that launched a thousand deals.
  4. ^ "THE MAILROOM: Hollywood History from the Bottom Up". publishersweekly.com. Publishers Weekly. 16 December 2002. Archived from the original on 2024-01-15. Retrieved 15 January 2024.
  5. ^ David Freeman (27 July 2003). "Scramble of the underlings; The Mailroom: Hollywood History From the Bottom Up, David Rensin, Ballantine Books: 440 pp., $24.95". pqasb.pqarchiver.com/. Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 2011-06-04. Retrieved 15 January 2024.
  6. ^ Michael Fleming (19 February 2003). "'Mailroom' docu at HBO". variety.com. Variety. Archived from the original on 2024-01-16. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
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