Hit and Run

"Hit and Run" tells the improbable and often hilarious story of how two film packagers well known for spending other people's money and ripping off credit for other people's work went on a deliberate campaign to reinvent themselves as studio executives. With the exception of "Batman," Jon Peters and Peter Guber were barely involved with the most successful films they 'produced.' Steven Spielberg wouldn't allow them on the set of "The Color Purple," and they were on the set of "Rain Man" only once, briefly. With the help of one of Michael Milken's top lieutenants, they succeeded. It was the most audacious sales job of their careers: This unlikely team got Sony to give them the richest deal in Hollywood history. Veteran reporters Nancy Griffin and Kim Masters chronicle the rise of Jon Peters, a semiliterate former hairdresser, seventh-grade dropout, and juvenile delinquent, and his soulless soul mate, Peter Guber--including all the sex, drugs, and fistfights along the way. They describe the incredible carelessness with which Sony walked into a breach-of-contract suit by Warner Bros., its decision to stay the course even after that suit was filed, and the ultimate triumph of legendary Time Warner chairman Steve Ross, who exacted a settlement worth as much as $800 million from Sony. Griffin and Masters explain the history of Sony, the forces that drove it to seek salvation in Hollywood, and some of the cultural traits that left the Japanese uninoculated against the Hollywood hustle. --Publisher.