The Penguin Podcast is back! Listen Now
Unscripted

Unscripted

The Epic Battle for a Hollywood Media Empire

Summary

'Explosive' Esquire
'Epic' Financial Times
'Riveting' Vanity Fair

Sumner Redstone was the CEO of Hollywood's most influential company: the powerhouse behind Indiana Jones and Star Wars, film studios and TV production companies, a fleet of private jets and tailor-made jewellery lines. He was notorious for his fearsome temper, his all-consuming ambition and his pledge to live forever. Until, one day, he lost control.

Unscripted is the story of an empire embroiled in scandal, a will in tatters, and a family on the edge of self-destruction. It sounds too outrageous to be true - except it is.

Longlisted for the Financial Times Business Book of the Year Award

'A racy tale of big money, bigger egos and #MeToo disgrace.' The Times

'Addicted to Succession? Well, here's the real thing.' Hollywood Reporter

Reviews

  • A racy tale of big money, bigger egos and #MeToo disgrace . . . Like a real-life blueprint for the TV show Succession
    The Times

About the authors

James B. Stewart

James B. Stewart is a columnist for the New York Times a professor at Columbia Journalism School. He is the author of books including Deep State, Tangled Webs, Heart of a Soldier, Blind Eye, Blood Sport and Den of Thieves. In 1988, he won a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting on the stock market crash and insider trading.
Learn More

Rachel Abrams

Rachel Abrams was a media reporter for the New York Times and is now a senior producer and reporter for the television series The New York Times Presents. In 2018, she was part of a team that won the Pulitzer Prize for public service for reporting that exposed sexual harassment and misconduct.
Learn More

Sign up to the Penguin Newsletter

For the latest books, recommendations, author interviews and more