Book Club Night Kit
Roll The Calls
Ari Emanuel
Cozy night
A Hollywood super-agent pulls back the curtain on how deals, relationships, and sheer persistence built an entertainment empire. It is a chatty, anecdote-rich memoir that practically begs to be read aloud in a living room.
Take The Call, Bring A Blanket
Come for pastrami sliders, baked ziti, and warm cider while we talk about Ari Emanuel's Hollywood. No analysis required, just your favorite moment and a comfortable chair.
Reading level: Easy
Best for: A club that loves a fast, gossipy memoir and a long conversation on the couch afterward
Discussion
Warm-up
- 1.Before you opened the book, what did you picture when you heard the words 'Hollywood agent'? Did reading it make that picture warmer or colder?
- 2.Was there a page where you caught yourself grinning or saying 'oh no' out loud? Read us the setup, no spoilers needed, just the feeling.
Digging in
- 1.The book runs on phone calls and quick connections. What is a call or message in your own life that changed something for you, and how did it feel in the moment?
- 2.Emanuel's version of ambition is loud and relentless. Did reading about that energy leave you charged up or quietly tired? Be honest, there is no wrong answer here.
- 3.Family shows up again and again as the thing underneath the hustle. Which family moment in the book landed softest for you, and did it remind you of your own people?
- 4.The entertainment business here is built on relationships that are part friendship, part transaction. Have you ever felt that blur in your own work, and was it comfortable or strange?
Going deep
- 1.By the later chapters, what did you find yourself wishing for him, not in business terms but in human ones? What would have felt like enough?
- 2.Thinking about the whole book as a life story rather than a career story, what did it quietly teach you about what you want the pace of your own days to be?
On the table & to sip
To eat
Deli-style pastrami sliders with pickles
A warm, hand-held nod to the old-school agency lunch and New York deli roots, served off a sheet pan so nobody has to fuss
Creamy baked ziti with garlic bread
The classic power-lunch Italian red sauce dinner, made homey and scoopable for a crowd on a couch
Warm chocolate chip cookies with flaky salt
Hollywood runs on indulgence, and a cookie pulled out of the oven mid-discussion is the coziest version of a sweet deal
To sip
Hot spiced apple cider with an orange peel (no alcohol)
A no-fuss non-alcoholic mug drink that keeps hands warm and conversation slow
Vanilla bourbon milk punch
A soft, creamy take on the dealmaker's whiskey, gentle enough to sip through a long evening
Negroni sbagliato with prosecco
The Italian aperitivo the industry adopted, bubbly and low-effort to batch in a pitcher
Run of show
7:00
Doors, mugs, and blankets
Cider on the stove, slippers encouraged. Let people drift in for twenty minutes with no agenda.
7:20
Sliders and ziti on the coffee table
Serve buffet style so everyone eats while talking. Plates on laps, not at a table.
7:40
Warm-up round
Go around with the two warm-up questions. Anyone can pass and come back later.
8:00
Theme conversation
Pull two or three theme questions from a bowl rather than working through all four in order.
8:40
Cookies out of the oven, deep questions
The smell resets the room. Switch to the two deep questions while people are happily full.
9:10
Trivia, scorecards, and soft landing
Light trivia for laughs, fill in scorecards, hand out bookmarks at the door.
Host tips
- Keep the lighting low and the music under the conversation. Lamps, not overheads.
- Let someone who did not finish the book stay. Frame the warm-up questions so partial readers can answer honestly.
- Batch the drinks before anyone arrives so you are never in the kitchen while the best story is being told.
Playlist
Warm, confident, slightly glamorous background music: vintage soul, easy piano, and a little Sunset Boulevard swagger kept at talking volume
- 01 Ain't No Mountain High Enough - Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell
- 02 California Dreamin' - Jose Feliciano
- 03 Lovely Day - Bill Withers
- 04 The Boss - James Brown
- 05 Harvest Moon - Neil Young
- 06 Walk On By - Isaac Hayes
- 07 Ventura Highway - America
- 08 Feeling Good - Nina Simone
Trivia
- 1.What is Ari Emanuel's role in the entertainment industry? (He is a talent agent and executive, best known for leading the agency that became WME and its parent company Endeavor.)
- 2.What agency did Emanuel co-found in 1995 before its later merger? (Endeavor Talent Agency.)
- 3.Endeavor merged with which legendary Hollywood agency in 2009? (William Morris, creating William Morris Endeavor (WME).)
- 4.Emanuel is widely believed to be the inspiration for which brash TV agent character? (Ari Gold on HBO's Entourage.)
- 5.In which city did Ari Emanuel grow up? (Chicago, Illinois.)
- 6.One of Ari's brothers served as White House Chief of Staff and later as mayor. Who is he? (Rahm Emanuel.)
- 7.What genre does Roll The Calls belong to? (Memoir, specifically a business and entertainment-industry memoir.)
- 8.The phrase 'roll the calls' refers to what daily agent ritual? (Working through a stacked list of return phone calls, the backbone of an agent's day.)
Bookmarks
Print, cut, and tuck one at every seat, a small keepsake from the night.
“Pour the cider. The phone can wait until morning.”
Roll The Calls
Ari Emanuel
bookclubnight.com
“Every empire started with somebody picking up.”
Roll The Calls
Ari Emanuel
bookclubnight.com
“Big dreams, small kitchen, good people around the table.”
Roll The Calls
Ari Emanuel
bookclubnight.com
Rate the book
Warmth☆☆☆☆☆
Storytelling☆☆☆☆☆
Honesty☆☆☆☆☆
Page-turn pull☆☆☆☆☆
Would reread by the fire☆☆☆☆☆
One word for this book: ______________________
The moment I wanted to read aloud: ______________________
Who I would hand this to next: ______________________
That's a wrap
Thank you for coming
We hope the company was good and the conversation even better. Until the next chapter.