Episode Description
Before Brian Grazer became one of Hollywood's most powerful producers — 43 Academy Award nominations, 320 Emmy nominations, more than $15 billion at the box office — he was a dyslexic kid in the San Fernando Valley getting straight F's, thought of as the boy who couldn't read. Then his grandmother, Sonja Schwartz, told him he was a genius with a gift for gab, and that not knowing an answer didn't make him dumb. It just made him more interested.
In this unguarded conversation, the producer behind A Beautiful Mind, Apollo 13, Splash, 8 Mile, Friday Night Lights, 24, and Empire sits down with David Begnaud to talk about the woman who believed in him first. He describes turning an empty office at Warner Brothers into his own enterprise, cold-calling the twenty biggest filmmakers in the business with a single promise — he'd never ask them for anything — and getting stopped at the door by Lew Wasserman, who handed him a pencil and a legal pad and told him to come back with something of value. He started writing Splash that year.
He also talks about the father who shook off his hand as a child and the father he chose to become instead; about his son Riley, whose Instagram bio reads I am nice and I am caring, and how watching kids hide Riley's lunch became A Beautiful Mind; about standing up too early at the Oscars, and the astronaut who reached across two rows to tell him he'd never made it to the moon either.
Get more stories that remind you the world is still good. Sign up for our free newsletter: https://www.thedogoodcrew.com
Chapters ☀️
00:00:00 Intro: The Grandmother Who Said You're a Genius 00:02:01 Straight F's and Deep Shame: The Dyslexic Kid Who Couldn't Read 00:06:28 The Loveless Father: When Dad Shook Off His Touch 00:10:22 Curiosity Conversations: 40 Years of Meeting the Masters 00:18:18 The Warner Brothers Con: Building an Empire from a Law Clerk Job 00:21:42 Grandma Takes Him to the Bosses: Meeting Power at Hollywood Park 00:26:59 The Liar Story: When a Mentor Called Out the Truth Problem 00:37:41 Incorrect: The Coach Who Cut Him and Crushed His Soul 00:54:37 The Teacher Who Hit Him with a Board 00:47:33 The Oscar Moment: Loser, and Jim Lovell's Grip 00:50:39 Deep Throat and Don Rickles: What Grandma Taught Him About Vegas 01:04:50 Riley's Bio: I Am Nice and I Am Caring 01:10:13 What He'd Say to Grandma Sonia: How Much I Love Her
ABOUT THIS PODCAST:
The Person Who Believed In Me is hosted by David Begnaud, founder and CEO of Do Good Crew and often called "America's storyteller." In each episode, David sits down with world-class guests to ask one simple question: Who believed in you before the world did? Big names. Honest stories. Relatable takeaways. Different paths — same question.
David is also a CBS News contributor and host of the weekly segment Beg Knows America, which airs every Monday morning.
Host: David Begnaud
Guest: Brian Grazer
Executive Producer: David Begnaud, Olivier Delfosse, Justin...
In this unguarded conversation, the producer behind A Beautiful Mind, Apollo 13, Splash, 8 Mile, Friday Night Lights, 24, and Empire sits down with David Begnaud to talk about the woman who believed in him first. He describes turning an empty office at Warner Brothers into his own enterprise, cold-calling the twenty biggest filmmakers in the business with a single promise — he'd never ask them for anything — and getting stopped at the door by Lew Wasserman, who handed him a pencil and a legal pad and told him to come back with something of value. He started writing Splash that year.
He also talks about the father who shook off his hand as a child and the father he chose to become instead; about his son Riley, whose Instagram bio reads I am nice and I am caring, and how watching kids hide Riley's lunch became A Beautiful Mind; about standing up too early at the Oscars, and the astronaut who reached across two rows to tell him he'd never made it to the moon either.
Get more stories that remind you the world is still good. Sign up for our free newsletter: https://www.thedogoodcrew.com
Chapters ☀️
00:00:00 Intro: The Grandmother Who Said You're a Genius 00:02:01 Straight F's and Deep Shame: The Dyslexic Kid Who Couldn't Read 00:06:28 The Loveless Father: When Dad Shook Off His Touch 00:10:22 Curiosity Conversations: 40 Years of Meeting the Masters 00:18:18 The Warner Brothers Con: Building an Empire from a Law Clerk Job 00:21:42 Grandma Takes Him to the Bosses: Meeting Power at Hollywood Park 00:26:59 The Liar Story: When a Mentor Called Out the Truth Problem 00:37:41 Incorrect: The Coach Who Cut Him and Crushed His Soul 00:54:37 The Teacher Who Hit Him with a Board 00:47:33 The Oscar Moment: Loser, and Jim Lovell's Grip 00:50:39 Deep Throat and Don Rickles: What Grandma Taught Him About Vegas 01:04:50 Riley's Bio: I Am Nice and I Am Caring 01:10:13 What He'd Say to Grandma Sonia: How Much I Love Her
ABOUT THIS PODCAST:
The Person Who Believed In Me is hosted by David Begnaud, founder and CEO of Do Good Crew and often called "America's storyteller." In each episode, David sits down with world-class guests to ask one simple question: Who believed in you before the world did? Big names. Honest stories. Relatable takeaways. Different paths — same question.
David is also a CBS News contributor and host of the weekly segment Beg Knows America, which airs every Monday morning.
Host: David Begnaud
Guest: Brian Grazer
Executive Producer: David Begnaud, Olivier Delfosse, Justin...