'Mailroom' docu at HBO (original) (raw)

HBO and Brad Grey have made a deal to give documentary treatment to the David Rensin book “The Mailroom: Hollywood History From the Bottom Up.”

Grey will produce the film with HBO exec veep of original programming Sheila Nevins. Grey plans to push the envelope with Rensin’s collection of Hollywood talent agency mailroom war stories. He also has plans for a scripted weekly series, in the vein of “The Larry Sanders Show,” the sitcom Grey exec produced for HBO.

In Resin’s book, just published by Ballantine, industryites describe how their mailroom experiences instilled the basics of showbiz, along with a high threshold for abuse. Grey wants to tell an “Upstairs, Downstairs” story, and he will enlist on-camera appearances from the likes of David Geffen, Bryan Lourd and Barry Diller, who were among the 150 mail-sorters-turned-dealmakers who took part in the book.

“I am either friends with or know almost everyone in that book and wanted to find the best way to truly illustrate what they went through, in a way that would show the perseverance, human behavior, all the elements of character that you find in good stories,” Grey said. “What better way than to get the real people to tell their own stories?”

In addition to exec producing “The Sopranos,” Grey reps former Gotham Mayor Rudy Giuliani and put him together with HBO on the docu “In Memoriam,” which told the story of 9/11 through the eyes of the mayor and his crisis team. That experience with Nevins, more than anything, led Grey to align with HBO on “Mailroom.”

Showbiz haven

The pay web has long been a haven for showbiz fare, from “Larry Sanders” and “Project Greenlight” to a recent deal to turn producer Art Linson’s memoir “What Just Happened?” into a series that Robert De Niro will exec produce and cameo in.

It is the second recent high profile movie biz docu deal for HBO, which is partnering with Universal and “A Beautiful Mind” producer Brian Grazer to make a movie on the cultural phenomenon surrounding the release of porn film “Deep Throat.” That docu will first get a theatrical release, like Focus Features gave the Robert Evans docu “The Kid Stays in the Picture.” That is an option for “The Mailroom,” which HBO is fully financing.

Plenty of material

From the agent assistant who famously was dispatched to deliver a stool sample for his boss to the verbal and psychological torment dealt out daily by agents if their coffee or breakfast orders aren’t perfect, colorful anecdotes for the docu are in no short supply from Rensin. He got the book idea while co-writing a memoir with Grey’s former partner, Bernie Brillstein, who cut his teeth in the William Morris agency mailroom.

Grey never went through mailroom hazing. He began in concert promotion, then moved into talent management and production.

“I started in Buffalo, working as a runner for Harvey Weinstein when he was promoting concerts,” Grey said. “Come to think of it, maybe there’s a movie there.

“But let’s do this one first.”