"They can kill you but they can't eat you is the raw and personal story of one woman's American dream - of her dazzling, difficult, inspiring fight to the very top of the male ladder of success. A college dropout from a family in turmoil - a woman with no money, no connections, nothing but guts and ambition - Dawn Steel rose through the ranks to become president of Columbia Pictures in 1987, the first woman to run a major motion picture studio." "This is a story of Hollywood glamour...of hit movies, starstudded parties, and celebrity friends...but it is also a story of tears shed behind a closed office door. It's about being labeled "tough, ballsy, aggressive, unfeminine," often by people who'd never met her; about deciding whether she should have a family; about learning how to be tough, not hard. Most of all, it's about what it means to achieve success, power, and happiness as a woman." "After dropping out of college, Dawn Steel moved to New York City with little more than a willingness to improvise and be creative in order to succeed. She landed a job as a receptionist at a small company, went to work for Penthouse, got into a little trouble as an entrepreneur marketing Gucci toilet paper, and eventually soared to phenomenal success, moving from the president of production at Paramount Pictures to the presidency of Columbia Pictures in 1987. The hit movies she worked on include Flashdance, Awakenings, Top Gun, The Untouchables, The Accused, Flatliners, Ghostbusters II, Fatal Attraction, and the restored Lawrence of Arabia." "In this riveting insider's view of Hollywood power, politics, and stars, Dawn Steel recounts her time at Paramount as one of the "Killer Dillers," the legendary few marked by brilliance, youth and ambition, who went on to run Hollywood. She absorbed strategies and knowhow from the powerful: Michael Eisner, Barry Diller, Mike Ovitz, Ray Stark, Herbert Allen, Victor Kaufman, and Jeffrey Katzenberg. Her network of friends and business relationships reads like a Who's Who in Hollywood: Streisand, Stallone, Cruise, Cher, Madonna, Costner, Foster, and Scorsese, to name a few. Steel achieved incredible success and learned life's most valuable lessons, but not without sacrifice. She discovered that "they can kill you but they can't eat you" after she lost her job while giving birth to her daughter." "From the multibillion-dollar corporate takeovers that ripped through Hollywood in the '80s to her dramatic departure from Columbia Pictures, Steel knows all the moves and all the players, and shares the priceless experience of making it in one of the most ruthless businesses in the world." "For every woman (or man) who knows there's a great person in there dying to escape, but lacks the confidence or tools to truly express oneself...for every woman trying to get out of the typing pool...for every woman who wants to be valued for cherishing her role as a mother...for corporate vice-presidents who are as sick as Dawn Steel was of wanting to be one of the boys...for every woman who, just as she conquers the next step, wonders "so what do I do now?," Dawn Steel offers hard-won insights to help accelerate the trip, eliminate some of the angst and pain, and create a spirit of optimism and hope." "Full of heart, wit, and street-smart wisdom, Dawn Steel's unforgettable journey to the top and beyond delivers superb Hollywood entertainment, a poignant story of self-discovery, and startlingly candid lessons for our time."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved