7 Oct 2026 06:59
Gerry Rich: "No Plan B"
Gerry Rich started planning his escape to Hollywood from a basement desk in the Midwest at age ten, and he went on to run marketing at Miramax, MGM, Paramount and Amazon MGM Studios. Now he's written it all down in Chasing Hollywood: A Marketing Chief's Lessons on Breaking Through, and he joins Corey to talk about the letters, the screamers, the twist nobody gave away, and why culture beats contracts.
In this episode:
- Letters, not asks. As a college student, Gerry wrote to the studio marketing chiefs he admired and asked only for their time and insight. Decades later, one of them framed his letter and gave it back to him.
- The movie everybody's talking about. Miramax had no money for paid media, so The Crying Game broke out on earned media alone.
- Volume vs. knowledge. With the town's famous screamers, the only defense was to be on top of everything: show you care, bring the facts, have a game plan.
- Alchemy. Rebuilding a bankrupt MGM with GoldenEye, Get Shorty and Leaving Las Vegas taught him that no two marketing plans should look alike, and that the right team is worth protecting.
A few lines that landed:
"If you get the right group of people together and do magic together, the worst thing you could do is come in and haphazardly shake them all up like dice." (Gerry Rich)
"You don't try to respond to volume with volume." (Gerry Rich)
"Nobody is gonna figure it out for you." (Gerry Rich)
"As much as you're seeking out bigger opportunities, better opportunities, also seek out your people." (Gerry Rich)
Chasing Hollywood is out October 13 from HarperCollins Leadership, in hardcover, ebook and audiobook.
Brought to you by the Golden Trailer Awards and Atlas Talent Agency.
