David Geffen's far-reaching influence - as agent, manager, record industry mogul, Hollywood and Broadway producer, and philanthropist - has helped shape American popular culture for the past four decades. Notoriously press and camera-shy, Geffen reveals himself for the first time in the new two-hour documentary American Masters Inventing David Geffen, premiering nationally Tuesday, November 20, 2012 at 8 p.m. (ET) on PBS (check local listings). Two-time Emmy®-winning filmmaker, American Masters creator and executive producer Susan Lacy paints an unflinching portrait of Geffen, who narrates his unorthodox rise from working class Brooklyn Boy to billionaire entertainment power broker in extensive interviews.
American Masters explores the highs and the lows in Geffen's professional and personal life through more than 50 new interviews with his friends, colleagues and clients, as well as other media luminaries. Irving Azoff,
Jackson Browne, Cher,
David Crosby,
Clive Davis,
Barry Diller,
Maureen Dowd,
Rahm Emanuel,
Nora Ephron,
Tom Hanks,
Don Henley,
Arianna Huffington,
Jimmy Iovine,
Elton John,
Jeffrey Katzenberg,
Calvin Klein,
Steve Martin,
Lorne Michaels,
Mike Nichols,
Yoko Ono,
Frank Rich,
Steven Spielberg, Jann Wenner,
Neil Young, and many others illustrate Geffen's riveting story.
"It has been my great privilege to enter David's extraordinary world," says Lacy, writer, director and producer of American Masters Inventing
David Geffen. "It's a world that touches every corner of the important, exciting artists and cultural explosions of my generation. Having David as a gracious and candid guide through this terrain was a wonderful personal experience and an absolute gift to any filmmaker."
"I've always thought that each person invented himself…that we are each a figment of our own imagination. And some people have a greater ability to imagine than others," said
David Geffen.
Starting out in the
William Morris Agency mailroom in 1964, Geffen channeled his ambition by devoting himself to his work and perfecting the art of the deal. He launched the early successes of
Joni Mitchell, Crosby, Stills and Nash,
Jackson Browne, the Eagles,
Tom Cruise in Risky Business (1983), and Guns N' Roses through his companies Geffen/Roberts Management, Asylum Records,
Geffen Records, and Geffen Pictures. In 1994 he co-founded DreamWorks SKG with Spielberg and Katzenberg, the first new Hollywood studio in more than 50 years, which went on to release Oscar®-winning Best Pictures American Beauty (1999), Gladiator (2000) and A Beautiful Mind (2001), as well as animated features, including the Shrek franchise. Geffen also produced the Broadway musicals Cats (1982) and Dreamgirls (1981), and helped realize the Golden Globe-winning 2006 film adaptation. Witty and self-aware, Geffen admits, "I have no talent except for being able to enjoy and recognize it in others."
A multi-millionaire by 1972 and a billionaire by 1995, Geffen became one of the earliest - and consistently one of the largest - contributors to the fight against HIV/AIDS. Through his philanthropic efforts and media heavyweight status, Geffen became an important political voice, first as an early supporter of
Bill Clinton and later for
Barack Obama, helping harness early support in the creative community during his 2008 presidential campaign.
Notorious for his fierce loyalty, bluntness and chutzpah, Geffen has not avoided conflict or controversy. American Masters Inventing
David Geffen addresses his rifts with
Laura Nyro, the Eagles, and the Clintons, his lawsuit against
Neil Young, his unsuccessful stint at Warner Bros. Pictures, his whirlwind romance with Cher, and his struggles with cancer, homosexuality, and the AIDS-related deaths of his friends, including
Michael Bennett. In 2010 Geffen was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and in 2011 he received the GRAMMY Salute To Industry Icons® President's Merit Award.
Since its 1986 premiere, American Masters has earned 24 Emmy Awards – including 8 for Outstanding Non-Fiction Series since 1999 and 5 for Outstanding Non-Fiction Special – the 2012 Producers Guild Award, 12 Peabodys, an Oscar, and 3 Grammys. Now in its 26th season on PBS, the series is a production of THIRTEEN for WNET, the parent company of THIRTEEN and WLIW21, New York's public television stations, and operator of NJTV. For 50 years, THIRTEEN has been making the most of the rich resources and passionate people of New York and the world, reaching millions of people with on-air and online programming that celebrates arts and culture, offers insightful commentary on the news of the day, explores the worlds of science and nature, and invites students of all ages to have fun while learning.
American Masters Inventing
David Geffen is a production of THIRTEEN's American Masters for WNET. Susan Lacy is writer, director, producer, American Masters series creator and executive producer. Jessica Levin is producer.
Photo Credit: Joel Bernstein
