Laurie Graff, author of the novel The Shiksa Syndrome, held a reading and book signing at a Manhattan Barnes & Noble recently. Her assistant, an NYU student, was in tow. A spy tells STA:
A B&N employee offered to put those “autographed copy” stickers on a couple copies of the book while Laurie was signing. But Laurie made a big show about how it *had* to be her assistant putting the stickers on the book. “She needs to learn the value of hard work,” Laurie said about her sad, scared looking assistant.
Wow, I had no idea putting stickers on books was considered hard work! I guess this means that getting up, putting on clothes, and turning on my computer every morning counts as manual labor. I wish that were true, because I’d be in better shape.
Robert Rave’s “novel” Spin isn’t even on sale until tomorrow, but there are already talks of turning it into a feature film. The book, which Rave swears isn’t based on experiences working for his former boss Lizzie Grubman, seems to be on its way to becoming The Devil Wears Prada, 2.0. Unlike Prada, though, the book has a male protagonist, Taylor. He’s a perfect assistant lit cliche – young, wide-eyed, Midwestern, and with aspirations to make it big in New York City. Who could play the role? Some sources claim that High School Musical star Zac Efron is up for the part. This could be a smart move for the teen idol – after all, Prada helped its assistant portrayer Anne Hathaway become a star. It could also help him shed his squeaky clean image – Spin contains plenty of sex, drugs, and blackmail.
The thing I really care about, though, is who will play nightmare PR boss “Jennie.” Jennie is described in the book as being overtanned, coked-up, entitled, and abusive. Perhaps Maya Rudolph as Donatella Versace? Heather Locklear in Amanda Woodward mode? Or maybe this could be the perfect comeback role for Tara Reid…
Robert Rave’s book Spin, a not-so-thinly-veiled account of his tenure working as the assistant to PR doyenne and media target Lizzie Grubman, has a book trailer out. It depicts a scene from the book (where the male assistant has to hide in the ladies’ room trying to get dirt on celebrities) and brings up some very important issues. Enjoy:
First there was The Devil Wears Prada, based on the nighmarish machinations of Anna Wintour. Then there was Because She Can, inspired by the evilness of publisher Judith Regan. “Former assistant gets revenge via roman a clef” is now a genre in its own right. The latest addition? Spin, a book about an assistant (male, this time) who toils for a shrill, demanding diva of a publicist to the stars. The author, Robert Rave, used to work for Lizzie Grubman, so you can do the math.
Gawker has some juicy excerpts from the book, which include drug use, belittling coworkers, and casual racism. This is going to be fun. I’ll be first in line to get an autographed copy. The best revenge really is living well.
As a writer myself, I am a sucker for a good “writer works for long time in obscurity and finally hits the big time” story a la J.K. Rowling. The newest addition to this class is Charlaine Harris, who wrote the “Sookie Stackhouse” series of books that were turned into HBO’s red-hot vampire series True Blood (which stars the lovely Anna Paquin as Sookie). In time for the second season premiere, the New York Times has a profile of Harris. In the obligatory “how she’s changed now that she’s famous!” section of the profile, the Times lists some of Harris’ new status symbols, which include a personal assistant (Harris’ longtime best friend).
While I get the Times’ point, which is that becoming famous and successful and busy often means that a person needs to hire an assistant to make sure all the work gets done, I don’t like the implication that an assistant is just another fancy object like a car or a hot tub. Statements like these lead to faceless assistant entourages (where they don’t have jobs other than standing around and making the celebrity feel/look important) or assistants working for people who don’t bother to remember their names and discard them as quickly as a day-old newspaper. It’s the same problem when glossy magazines write “trend” pieces about celebrity babies, treating the kids like accessories or pets with cute outfits rather than people.
So can we please stop listing an assistant as an outward sign of wealth and status? It’d go a long way toward helping change the way assistants are viewed in our culture – we’re people, not props.
I have heard a lot of euphemisms for “assistant,” but I have to say that “fixer” is one of the better ones. French first lady Carla Bruni (who is also a model, singer/songwriter, fashion icon, and overall badass) is now the subject of a tell-all book written by her former “fixer,” which is apparently French for assistant/chauffeur. Franck Demules’ book is not a typical expose, though. He seems to idolize Bruni and describes her as a veritable saint in the drug and alcohol soaked scene that she ran in. People who make cameos in the book include everyone from Mick Jagger to Karl Lagerfeld. There’s also an awesome mention of STA’s favorite evil boss, Naomi Campbell:
Serving Bruni has its tough moments, he says. One was taking Naomi Campbell shopping. On a visit to Au Bon Marché, the Left Bank department store, the former supermodel was so fierce that no-one dared talk to her, he writes.
As for Bruni, Demules credits her for the help and support to overcome a crippling cocaine addiction. I think it’s pretty safe to say she’s a great boss, right?
Chanel designer Karl Lagerfeld may be one of the most admired fashion designers in the world, but it sounds like he isn’t terribly nice to the little people. Arnaud Maillard, who worked as Lagerfeld’s assistant, has a new book coming out – Merci Karl! is a dishy expose that, so far, is only available in France and Germany. [US publishers, this is a potential gold mine!] BlackBook spoke with Maillard about the tome:
He dumps people at the drop of a dime,” [Maillard] adds (though this doesn’t come as much of a surprise for those who have seen Lagerfeld Confidential, where Lagerfeld himself readily admits to his fickle nature with regard to friends and associates). While Lagerfeld “can be very generous … he can also be merciless. I’ve seen him simply stop talking to people, stop acknowledging their existence,” Maillard continues. Of Lagerfeld’s collaboration with H&M, which Maillard says his assistants worked on non-stop for three months, the Kaiser spent “two half-days … on the drafts. Then he got millions from the Swedes.” As for his assistants: nada.
Patrick Lencioni, a consultant and business writer, is the author of several bestselling career advice books. I have to admit, though, that I find the overwhelming majority of business books boring as dirt. Sometimes I come across one I like and want to feature on the site, but so often they’re written in this weird stilted business-speak and are full of MBA lingo. Plus, as a young woman, the least cool thing I could possibly be seen reading on the subway is a career advice book or self-help book – that’s why Megan Hustad wrote How to Be Useful about the stigma of ’success literature.’ That said, Lencioni found a great way to keep the ideas and concepts of his business books relevant and interesting – he teamed up with illustrator Kensuke Okabayashi to turn one of his tomes – The Five Dysfunctions of a Team – into a manga.
The result? Pretty darn awesome. Instead of relying on graphs, charts, lists, or just endless pages of dense prose, the manga uses not only illustration but a narrative to explain its concepts. The executives in the story are characters – they have facial expressions, outfits that give hints to their personalities, and relatable emotions. Even though they’re throwing around buzzwords and having arguments about strategy, I found the book interesting because of its use of actual people, as opposed to boring “types” or generic descriptions. In fact, quite a few of the characters reminded me of people I’ve worked with in the past.
If you want to read a career advice book and not get totally made fun of on the morning commute, I can’t recommend The Five Dysfunctions of a Team highly enough.
Rebecca Loos worked briefly as David Beckham’s assistant, allegedly had an affair with him, and has been milking the publicity ever since. She gave tons of interviews and got in touch with her inner Alli Sims when she released a single called “Your Boyfriend” that she claimed wasn’t about the Beckhams. Now, the surprise isn’t that she’s writing a tell-all book, it’s that it took her so long to do it. After all, she was David’s PA almost six years ago. Since then, she’s become a British reality show fixture, appearing on such esteemed programs as Celebrity Love Island and Extreme Celebrity Detox, and poses topless for lad magazines.
The act of baking something delicious in order to make up for a major screw-up at work.
Ex: “I totally bombed my performance review, but then I pulled an Amelia Bedelia and brought in some pumpkin-ginger cookies and now I’m getting a raise!”
If you read any of the Amelia Bedelia books as a kid – like I did – then you’ll totally appreciate this one. Have you ever noticed how many of the “quirky” heroines for little girls had red hair? Amelia, Anne Shirley, Pippi Longstocking, Anastasia Krupnik, and Mallory from The Babysitters Club. Maybe I care too much about this.
[This buzzphrase was shamelessly stolen from the wonderful hortense over at Jezebel.]
Robert Rave’s “novel” Spin
First there was The Devil Wears Prada, based on the nighmarish machinations of 
Chanel designer Karl Lagerfeld may be one of the most admired fashion designers in the world, but it sounds like he isn’t terribly nice to the little people. Arnaud Maillard, who worked as Lagerfeld’s assistant, has a new book coming out – Merci Karl! is a dishy expose that, so far, is only available in France and Germany. [US publishers, this is a potential gold mine!] 
Patrick Lencioni, a consultant and business writer, is the author of several bestselling career advice books. I have to admit, though, that I find the overwhelming majority of business books boring as dirt. Sometimes I come across one I like and want to feature on the site, but so often they’re written in this weird stilted business-speak and are full of MBA lingo. Plus, as a young woman, the least cool thing I could possibly be seen reading on the subway is a career advice book or self-help book – that’s why Megan Hustad wrote How to Be Useful about the stigma of ’success literature.’ That said, Lencioni found a great way to keep the ideas and concepts of his business books relevant and interesting – he teamed up with illustrator Kensuke Okabayashi to turn one of his tomes – The Five Dysfunctions of a Team – into a manga.
Rebecca Loos worked briefly as David Beckham’s assistant, allegedly had an affair with him, and has been milking the publicity ever since. She gave tons of interviews and got in touch with her inner Alli Sims when she
Pull an Amelia Bedelia:
