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Movie producer addresses Westchester business group.
October 21, 2005
RYE BROOK — Movie mogul Harvey Weinstein said at last night's annual dinner meeting of the Business Council of Westchester that when he was 10 years old, he was poked in the eye while playing cowboys and Indians and was out of school for six months.
But the Academy Award-winning producer — in his talk at the Hilton Rye Town in Rye Brook — said he made good use of that half year in the days "when there were no 500 channels" to entertain him thanks to a retired librarian who lived next door and taught him the joy of reading.
This love of books, he said, helped him to appreciate and recognize great writing. And that appreciation, he said, has been an underpinning of his career in cinema.
Weinstein was founder and co-chairman of Miramax Films. The studio's long roster of movies includes "Chicago," "The Aviator," "Good Will Hunting and "Shakespeare in Love." Weinstein was one of five producers who received an Oscar in 1999 for "Shakespeare in Love," which starred Gwyneth Paltrow.
"My first love was the movies," he said in his talk, which included anecdotes about his experiences in places such as the University of Buffalo and the Cannes Film Festival and about stars such as Clint Eastwood, Cameron Diaz and Sean Connery.
Weinstein also referred to the book "Leadership" by former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. Weinstein said guidelines Giuliani gave to "study, read and learn" are his own philosophy for success.
This fall, Harvey Weinstein and his brother, Bob, left Miramax and in early October launched The Weinstein Co., a movie studio company based in Manhattan.
The 500 attendees at the dinner reflected Westchester's business community with executives from entities including Houlihan-Lawrence, the Westchester chapter of the American Red Cross, Con Edison, Entergy and Mercy College.
Earlier in the evening, Marsha Gordon, the council's president and chief executive officer, spoke about the organization's key accomplishments during the past year.
Major ones, she said, include the leadership program at Pace University, which affords members the opportunity to learn strategic business skills such as decision-making and critical thinking.
She also said that members helping members has made the council an entity that offers "a small business resource center" in basics such as where to find financing and how to make an enterprise grow.
Source: Thejournalnews.com
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