Career
Geffen began his entertainment career in the mailroom at the William Morris Agency (WMA), where he quickly became an agent. In order to obtain the WMA job, he had to prove he was a college graduate. As he later reported in an interview, he claimed that he graduated from UCLA. Because he worked in the mailroom, Geffen was able to intercept a letter, from the college he had claimed to have attended, which denied he had been there. He modified the letter to show that he had attended and graduated, and submitted it to WMA. His colleagues in the mailroom included Elliot Roberts, who later became Geffen's partner in a management company. Geffen left William Morris to become a personal manager and was immediately successful with Laura Nyro and Crosby, Stills and Nash. In the process of looking for a record deal for young Jackson Browne, Ahmet Ertegün suggested that Geffen start his own record label.
Read more about this topic: David Geffen
Famous quotes containing the word career:
“He was at a starting point which makes many a man’s career a fine subject for betting, if there were any gentlemen given to that amusement who could appreciate the complicated probabilities of an arduous purpose, with all the possible thwartings and furtherings of circumstance, all the niceties of inward balance, by which a man swings and makes his point or else is carried headlong.”
—George Eliot [Mary Ann (or Marian)
“From a hasty glance through the various tests I figure it out that I would be classified in Group B, indicating “Low Average Ability,” reserved usually for those just learning to speak the English Language and preparing for a career of holding a spike while another man hits it.”
—Robert Benchley (1889–1945)
“I’ve been in the twilight of my career longer than most people have had their career.”
—Martina Navratilova (b. 1956)