Hidden Talent

"This is an extremely valuable contribution to the history of Hollywood and draws on the moment when a form of disorganized, post-Fordist capitalism came to characterize the industry, thanks to agents and stars breaking away from studio power. A landmark volume."--Toby Miller, author of Global Hollywood 2

"The demeaned and derided figure of the Hollywood agent gets his rightful screen credit in Thomas Kemper's Hidden Talent, an absorbing history of the hustlers, middlemen, and deal-makers who greased the wheels of the star-making machinery in Hollywood's Golden Age. In Kemper's fascinating account, the agent comes off less as Budd Schulberg's Sammy Glick than F. Scott Fitzgerald's Monroe Stahr: a cagey player who apprehended 'the whole equation' of filmmaking--nurturing nobodies into superstars, nursing projects to completion, and, for better and worse, setting the pattern for the way Hollywood does business today. And all for just ten percent off the top."--Thomas Doherty, author of Hollywood's Censor: Joseph I. Breen and the Production Code Administration

"Tom Kemper's Hidden Talent makes a valuable contribution to the history of the motion picture industry. At a time when studios were closely held entities, the representative class emerged on the scene with great energy, skill, and bravado. Kemper's well-considered discussion of Myron Selznick and Charles Feldman wisely foretells the rise of the modern full service agency. This is a mandatory text for any serious student or practitioner in the film industry."--Jeff Berg, Chairman, International Creative Management

Tom Kemper is Visiting Lecturer at the University of Southern California, and a teacher at the Crossroads School of Arts and Sciences in Los Angeles.