Product Description

Many Europeans have dreamed of a film studio able to challenge Hollywood on its own ground. Only one post-war company has come close - PolyGram Filmed Entertainment. This title is an account of the life and death of PolyGram Films seen through the eyes of its British President, Michael Kuhn. He describes the beginnings of the company, in London and LA, in the heyday of the 80s and its subsequent meteoric growth throughout the next decade. Combining critical acclaim and popular success with such films as "Wild at Heart", "Four Weddings and a Funeral", "Fargo" and "Notting Hill", PolyGram Films garnered ten Oscars from 1991 until 1998, when its potential was unexpectedly and unaccountably destroyed. This is not only a story of deals won and lost in a ruthless world peopled by titans, sharks, peacocks and all the usual suspects, but a real business adventure that changed the structure of the global film industry.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #467254 in Books
• Published on: 2002-07-12
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 258 pages

Sir Alan Parker, Film Director
"Kuhn's candid...account of PolyGram Films' success and demise...a must read for anyone interested in the business of film."

James Murray, Managing Director, Austral-Media PTY Ltd, Sydney
"...it is matter-of-fact understated, honest and avoids schlock-horror and self pity...Congratulations."

About the Author
Michael Kuhn was General Counsel, PolyGram Worldwide, before establishing PolyGram filmed Entertainment in 1991. Over the next eight years he built up the only worldwide European-based film studio, with operations in 14 countries, with revenues of $1 billion. He is a Board member of Robert Redford's Sundance Institute in the USA. In 1999 he received the BAFTA Michael Balcon award for outstanding services to British Cinema.

Customer Reviews

Fascinating
I found this a fascinating peek into the world of movie making but also a disturbing confirmation of the sometimes flippant decisions taken at the top of gigantic corporations. Very clearly and concisely written with some interesting vigenettes of key players in the film world.