| In one of the toughest and most unforgiving
industries Lynda Obst has emerged as one of Hollywood’s most successful
producers and one of its most powerful women. In this
witty and engaging presentation she takes the audience through the ups
and downs of success in Hollywood – providing practical guides to success
in business and to balance in life.
How to Get a Job
In her smart, entertaining and best-selling book, Hello He Lied: And Other Truths from the Hollywood Trenches, she offers up such down to earth advice as "Never go to a meeting without a strategy" "Ride the horse in the direction it's going." "Thou shalt not cry at work," "Thou shalt not appear tough," "Thou shalt return all thy phone calls," and more. She takes us inside high-pressure meetings with David Geffen, onto the set of Sleepless in Seattle, and into the heated negotiations for The Hot Zone and reveals what she's learned in more than twenty years in the business: how to swim with the sharks -- and not get eaten." What are people saying about Lynda’s presentations? "Lynda's business dicta can apply to almost any career..." "An entertaining, extremely pragmatic look at how to succeed in any competitive field." |
 Lynda Obst began her film and journalism career as the editor/author of The Rolling Stone History of the Sixties, a compendium of the era’s people, politics, and popular culture. As an editor at the New York Times Magazine, she covered such diverse topics as science and publishing, before being recruited in 1979 by Peter Guber, then chairman of Casablance/Polygram, where she developed Flashdance and Clue, as well as the adaptation of Carl Sagan’s novel Contact. In 1982, Lynda joined the David Geffen Company where she worked on the development and production of a number of films. In 1985, she became partners with Debra Hill and formed Hill/Obst Productions at Paramount Pictures. Among their films were Chris Columbus’ directorial debut Adventures in Babysitting, as well as Heartbreak Hotel, which he wrote and directed. In 1989, Lynda started her own production company and moved to Columbia Pictures where she produced The Fisher King (with Debra Hill), Nora Ephron’s directorial debut, This Is My Life, and executive produced Ephron’s second film, Sleepless in Seattle. As part of an extensive multi-picture deal, Obst produced several films for Fox, including The Siege, starring Denzel Washington and Bruce Willis, One Fine Day, starring Michelle Pfeiffer and George Clooney, and Hope Floats, starring Sandra Bullock and Harry Connick Jr. In addition to her projects at Fox, Obst executive produced Warner Brothers 1997 summer blockbuster Contact, starring Jodie Foster and Matthew McConaughey and directed by Robert Zemeckis. Her first foray into television, "The Sixties," for NBC handily won February Sweeps Week this year. Obst’s best-selling non-fiction book, Hello, He Lied: And Other Truths from the Hollywood Trenches, was published in hardback in 1996 and in paperback in 1997, both of which were #1 on the LA Times Best Seller’s List. She recently began a three year multi-picture exclusive deal with Paramount Pictures and Lakeshore Entertainment where she is in development on a new slate of projects. |
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