Hit and Run: How Jon Peters and Peter Guber took Sony for a ride in Hollywood

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 werre 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.

Nancy Griffin Nancy Griffin is the Deputy Editor of Premiere and lives in New York and Los Angeles.

Photo: Douglas Kirkland