In this unauthorized biography of the movie production company DreamWorks, former VARIETY writer Nicole LaPorte recounts the story of Jeffrey Katzenberg's career after he leaves Disney in 1994 and founds DreamWorks with two of the most powerful figures in the entertainment business—music mogul David Geffen and director Steven Spielberg. Narrator Stephen Hoye makes listeners feel like they’re part of the creative calamities of movie-making as LaPorte’s fly-on-the-wall reporting reveals the clashes between Spielberg’s and Katzenberg’s employees—their disasters and debacles, as well as their Oscar-winning triumphs. LaPorte goes beyond the hype to deliver a fairly evenhanded picture of DreamWorks and its founders. Hoye uses just enough vocal variation to portray the fireworks that characterized the company’s negotiations with Paramount and Disney.
Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2010
Duration: 18 hrs
Publisher: Tantor Media
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
The readers can't compensate for the unbearably pompous prose style of this extended parable about corporate politics and strategy.
Pub Date: N/A
Duration: 3 hrs
Publisher: Random House Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
An engaging experience.
This audiobook deals with everything from the historic investments that led to world-dominating companies, such as the Chinese technology company Tencent, to predicting the products and services of the future. An audiobook of such complexity requires a narrator who can handle the task, and David Thorpe manages it admirably. Thorpe uses his masterly voice, which sits somewhere between that of a BBC World Service presenter and an easy, relaxed Home Counties accent, to guide listeners through a sea of numbers, acronyms, and terms such as YP, RPS, and market cap. Rather than simply reading, Thorpe presents the work with excitement and enthusiasm, and this enjoyment transfers to the listener.
An engaging experience.Pub Date: Feb. 20, 2026
Duration: 13 hrs
DD ISBN: 9781668103425
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
Review Posted Online: March 17, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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