'Inventing David Geffen': American Masters Documentary Preview Trailer Clips

Now this came as quite a surprise.

American Masters: Inventing David Geffen, premiers nationally on Tuesday, November 20, 2012 on PBS. PBS' PR says "it’s an unflinching portrait of Geffen, who narrates his unorthodox rise from working class Brooklyn boy to billionaire entertainment power broker in extensive interviews."

And look who's being interviewed -- Neil Young. Elliot Roberts. Gary Burden. And many others, including Steven Spielberg, Barry Diller, Tom Hanks, Arianna Huffington, Rahm Emanuel and the late Nora Ehpron.

Afterall, David Geffen in the 1980's filed a $3 million lawsuit against Neil Young for violating his contract by recording ‘unrepresentative’ albums. In other words, Neil Young wasn’t making Neil Young music."The truth is I fought with him because I wanted him to do better work,'' Mr. Geffen explained afterward. ''I was taking too much of a fatherly role in his life.'' Only David Geffen could describe a lawsuit against one of his trophy clients as an excess of paternalism.

Described by friends, peers and adversaries as “passionate,” “neurotic” and “giftedly non-diplomatic", Geffen has been a highly polarizing figure in the Entertainment industry.

From Documentary Press Tour:

Geffen, who is on tape suggesting "ego" isn't a "pejorative" term in his mind, insists he never saw himself as the smartest person in the room at any point during his career, revealing that he did poorly in school -- “I thought I was dumb,” he said -- and was fired from a number of early jobs coming out of high school. In fact, he said the only reason he had the confidence to go after a gig as a William Morris agent is because he believed it rewarded a different skill set, and one that he had: the ability to “bullshit on the phone.”

(Other Geffen facts: He’s never carried a cell phone, has never texted anyone and doesn’t own an ATM card.)

More on How Neil Young Became the First Artist to Get Sued for Not Being Himself.

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