Academy Award-winning producer Brian Grazer worked on films like “Apollo 13” and “Splash” but he’s also behind hit TV shows like “24” and most recently, “Empire.”
Grazer says much of his success comes from an expert ability to ask the right questions, and he’s put together a book with some of his best conversations. Called “A Curious Mind: The Secret to a Bigger Life,” Grazer’s new book isn’t so much of a how-to guide as it is a how-to-ask-the-right-questions guide.
When he was young, Grazer’s grandmother praised him for his curiosity and knack for asking good questions. “And I realized I should apply that to every part of my life,” he says. “It made me more than a nobody, it made me someone who was knowledgeable about a lot of different subjects.”
Grazer went on a quest to find experts he could learn from.
“Every two weeks, almost as a religion, or like a religion, I would go meet somebody who was an expert in any of those areas just to ask questions and dig inside what could be the truth of what they’re doing,” he says.
Early on, he was able to make his way into the office of legendary studio executive Lew Wasserman.
“He went into his office and got a pad of paper and a 2H pencil, and said put the pencil to the paper and it has more value than it did as separate parts,” says Grazer.
Grazer took Wasserman’s advice and not long thereafter, he wrote “Splash.”
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