The Dealmakers

Imagine a world with no internet, no cell phones, no flat screen TVs, no Wi-Fi, no Blu Rays. A world with only three television networks. Welcome to the 1980s and the world of The Dealmakers.

Matthew Garber quits his job at a St. Louis TV station and arrives in 1980 Beverly Hills after accepting a job offer from a fast-talking talent agent named Gilbert Bobcaygeon. No one at the prestigious International Artists Agency knows anything about the offer but they know too well about loose cannon Bobcaygeon. Taking pity on the affable but naive Garber, Bobby Rankoff, the head of the agency, puts him to work in the mail room.

Making his daily rounds, Garber encounters a retinue of ruthless artists' representatives: Ara Whalen, the Dragon Lady of IAA; James Steerforth, a charming but duplicitous Englishman with a mysterious background; Dwight Foley, a psychotic ex-Green Beret; and Joy Dworkin, "the baby barracuda", who uses sex and drugs unhesitatingly to gain power at IAA.

Garber gets into the swing of things at the agency and begins a meteoric rise while discovering what an incestuous and secret place IAA is. Throw in a few murders and aborted takeovers and THE DEALMAKERS becomes a classic page-turner.