Hollywood legend Barry Diller opens up via ‘Who Knew?’
The Business
KCRW
4.6 • 676 Ratings
🗓️ 11 July 2025
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Kim Masters talks to Barry Diller about his memoir, Who Knew? The legendary studio exec reflects on his quick rise at ABC and how helped transform the third-ranked broadcast network into a force to be reckoned with. He also remembers a much happier time at Paramount, where he presided over a studio staffed with future industry stars. He also opens up about why none of his friends in the business are having much fun these days.
Plus, summer movie season is heating up, with F1, Jurassic World: Rebirth, and a highly anticipated Superman reboot staking their claims at the box office. But is there room left for Disney’s big bet with Fantastic Four: First Steps? Kim Masters and Matt Belloni break down the wins and worries shaping Hollywood’s high-stakes summer.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | From KCRW, I'm Kim Masters, and this is the business. |
| 0:05.8 | Legendary studio exec, Barry Diller, rose from the William Morris Mailroom to run Paramount and Fox before making a fortune online. |
| 0:14.0 | He says a highly combustible guy like him probably wouldn't make it in the Hollywood of today. |
| 0:18.7 | There are some, you know, really smart to say the least, and very accomplished people running |
| 0:23.2 | these businesses and doing these things. But these kind of outsized personality, this flamboyance |
| 0:29.2 | that the business not only tolerated, but kind of thrived in. That's past. That's just |
| 0:34.8 | yesterday. In the first of a two-part conversation, Barry Diller reflects on his quick rise at ABC, |
| 0:41.4 | helping transform the third-ranked broadcast network into a force to be reckoned with. |
| 0:46.0 | He also remembers a much happier time at Paramount, |
| 0:48.7 | where he presided over a studio staffed with future industry stars, |
| 0:52.6 | including Michael Eisner, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and Don |
| 0:55.7 | Steele. And as if we needed to be reminded, he talks about why none of his friends in the business |
| 1:01.0 | are having much fun these days. But first we banter. Stick around. It's the business from KCRW. |
| 1:08.8 | I am joined by my partner in banter, Matt Bellany. |
| 1:11.7 | Hello, Matt. |
| 1:12.7 | Hi there. |
| 1:13.7 | So we now have a couple of big movies that have kicked off the summer in a pretty big way. |
| 1:17.9 | We have F1, which has gotten to about 300-something million worldwide in a couple of weeks. |
| 1:25.2 | And we have Jurassic World Rebirth, which managed to get to $334 million in one |
| 1:30.6 | weekend. And the big contender that people are watching because of its importance to the, I would |
| 1:37.5 | say, troubled Warner Brothers discovery is, of course, Superman, which you have seen, and I have not. |
| 1:43.6 | It's at about 85% on Rotten Tomatoes. |
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