The Hollywood Rule of Self-Promotion

Joel Gotler, the Beverly Hills agent I discussed earlier, belongs to the sizeable minority of top executives who believe that self-promotion is almost always good for a career. And in Hollywood, he may be right. But even Mr. Gotler and Hollywood have one limit on the extent to which you can successfully self-promote: never become bigger than the client.

When I interviewed Adam Clymer, Washington correspondent for the New York Times, he said effectively the same thing: the reporter should never be bigger than the story. In media-centered fields like music, movies, and journalism, you can get away with more overtly self-promotional activity (jeez, look at Geraldo), but you cross the line when your self-promotion "diminishes the product," "becomes the story," or "overshadows the client." Good advice from the pro-promotion side of the court.