I’ve been reading a little book by showbiz manager Bernie Brillstein, a larger-than-life figure in a lot of ways, called “The Little Stuff Matters Most.” I enjoyed his first book, “Where Did I Go Right?: You’re No One in Hollywood Unless Somebody Wants You Dead,” which was a memoir with quite a few good juicy stories about his life and the stars he dealt with.
This book is a collection of his advice to people in any kind of business, but especially show business—kind of a “Sayings of Chairman Bernie.” (By the way, both books were written with David Rensin.) I’ll share a few of his best bits with you over the next few days, starting with one about waiting for success.
“Good work leads to success,” he writes. “That’s easy to understand after the fact. What’s tough is being willing to trust it can happen before your success. While you’re still on the path. With so many shortcuts and the temptation of easy money, it’s tough to be steady and patient and believe in your own instincts.”
He gives the example of Muppets creator Jim Henson: “Jim Henson was offered fortunes to design puppets for advertisers. The advertisers wanted to own the characters, but he said no—his rule was ‘I own everything I do’—and this was when he desperately needed money. But in the end he won because he was right, and made big money from keeping ownership.”
“So how do you stand the waiting? Fortunately, ‘making it’ is not always synonymous with money. Nor should it be. There’s also personal satisfaction. There’s believing that you’re doing something for the right reasons, because you’ll be able to do better work. There’s emotional success. You were first with an idea or product. You knew you knew. It’s a good feeling. It will tide you over until the rest comes.”
