In this candid saga, Steel tells what it took to become the first female head of a major movie studio (Columbia Pictures). As a young woman in the '70s, she was oblivious to prevailing feminism because "I have the kind of personality that discourages discrimination." Her big start was at Penthouse magazine where she "could make my mark creating overtly sexist advertising and selling hand-knit 'Cock Socks.' " With her then-husband, Steel went into business marketing such dazzlers as "designer toilet paper" printed with a Gucci-like logo, and amaryllis bulbs, bought for 30? and resold as "Penis Plants" for $6.98. After her divorce, Steel became vice-president of merchandising at Paramount before eventually becoming president of production, where she would make not only Star Trek III but Fatal Attraction , Flashdance and other films. Having survived Hollywood backstabbing, it would seem she now has it all: she is the head of her own studio, is rich, and a wife and mother besides. In hindsight, she presents herself through a prism of psychological buzzwords ("low self-esteem," "dysfunctional family") that sometimes seem at odds with the record, but her tough wit pulls it off entertainingly.
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