Ask Ari: Endeavor Superagent Gives Back To Future Mailroom Clerks
We generally find that splashing Endeavor superagent Ari Emanuel's cherubic face across our humble homepage more than once a day is overkill, but circumstances demand that he make a second appearance on this lovely afternoon. In an e-mail we received with the subject line "Ari Emanuel Gives Back," we learned that the Man Upon Whom Jeremy Piven's Emmy-Winning Entourage Character Is At Least Partly Based graciously agreed to take some time off from handwriting thoughtful "It's not you, it's our commitment to representing those who make us more money than you" notes to recently fired clients to appear in front of a summer session class at UCLA, where the students begged their well-connected instructor for an audience with Hollywood's most recognizable ten-percenter. The press release follows:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Ari Emanuel, Endeavor Agency partner and uberagent, will Guest Speak at UCLA's Summer Global Discovery, Thursday, August 9.
Arthur Axelman, former William Morris Agency senior vp, teaching Entertainment Business and Law to a class of exceptional international pre college students, offers up a first day four page survey his class must complete for Prof. Axelman to discover their cultural literacy.
Among their favorite authors, books, musicians and TV shows, Axelman asks them to identify several hundred people - artists, politicians, scientists and entertainment industry figures. Most of his 27 students couldn't identify playwright David Mamet, Universal Pictures Chief Ron Meyer, scientist Jonas Salk, comedian Jerry Lewis, former Presidents Truman and Johnson or artist Jackson Pollock. But one name that everyone knew - talent agent Ari Emanuel. For the past two summers the majority of students expressed an interest in writing and directing. Now they all want to be agents. So could Axelman please invite Ari Emanuel to speak, they asked.
Ari said "yes" and he's seeing them first thing Thursday morning, on the Westwood campus.
If, as we suspect, Emanuel's among high profile among "exceptional international pre-college students" is indeed due to Entourage's overseas popularity*, he'll probably find himself fielding more questions about his fictional counterpart than he does about his own experiences. We hope he doesn't become too dejected when all the kids want to know is, "What's Vinnie Chase really like?" or "Why are you so mean to Lloyd? Don't you see how much he loves you?," rudely ignoring all of his entertaining stories about how great it is to work with fun guys like Patrick Whitesell.
[*We will, however, allow that his worldwide reptuation as the Jonas Salk of talent agents may have played a role in his universal recognition by the youngsters.]
