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We're Live in 5

My Extraordinary Life in Television

Foreword by Billy Crystal / With Loren Stephens
Published by Post Hill Press
Distributed by Simon & Schuster

About The Book

In this dazzling Hollywood memoir, Jeff Margolis takes us on the ultimate behind-the-scenes tour of television’s most memorable variety series and specials spanning the past fifty years—from the most iconic variety shows of the 1970s to the Oscars.

Today, as one of the most prolific directors/producers of event television, Margolis is not only a technical ringmaster but also a confidante and sage to the stars who headline the shows.

Students of television will savor the “how-to” of event television while fans will love the intimate stories of beloved stars like Julie Andrews, Carol Burnett, Cher, Sammy Davis Jr., Celine Dion, Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, Dolly Parton, Frank Sinatra, and Oprah Winfrey. While not a sordid tell-all, We’re Live in 5 is a tell-it-as-it-is with all the glamour you expect, along with a deeply revealing human portrait of working with larger-than-life personalities at television’s most dizzying and demanding heights.

“Nobody has better stories or more to say.” —Whoopi Goldberg, EGOT, 4x Oscar Host

About The Author

Emmy Award winner Jeff Margolis is one of the most successful live TV event and variety special directors of all-time. As a kid, he was introduced to showbusiness by his uncle, gameshow legend Monty Hall. What followed is a career spanning five decades including directing mammoth hits of the 1970s like The Sonny & Cher Show, and Tony Orlando and Dawn and continuing with mega specials like Michael Jackson: One Night Only, Sinatra 75: The Best Is Yet to Come, Whitney Houston: Love Will Save the Day, Kenny Rogers Live in Concert, Quincy Jones… The First 50 Years, and Happy Birthday Elizabeth [Taylor]: A Celebration of Life. Jeff also achieved live television’s biggest and most coveted directorial prize–directing the Academy Awards, which he’s directed eight times along with multiple director and producing duties at the Emmy Awards, Screen Actors Guild Awards, American Music Awards, and Miss America Pageant.

Product Details

  • Publisher: Post Hill Press (March 28, 2024)
  • Length: 352 pages
  • ISBN13: 9798888451168

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Raves and Reviews

“Jeff Margolis and I have worked together for over 25 years on numerous TV specials including the Oscars. Over the decades, we've developed a deep professional respect for each other, a true fondness for one another, and an unshakeable and abiding friendship. Jeff is my brother from another mother. With ‘Live in 5,’ the world will get a front row seat to Hollywood’s biggest moments as they really happened.”

Quincy Jones

“I’m happy to have gotten to know Jeff working together on the Oscars and so many other gigs over the years. Nobody has better stories or more to say.”

Whoopi Goldberg

"The man who has called the shots, pulled the strings and been in the driver's seat of every major Hollywood TV spectacle has seen it all and now he's gonna show it to you. Break out the bejeweled sunglasses—you're in for a ride!”

Bruce Vilanch

“From my perspective, Jeff is an entertainer's director. He would be there in rehearsals with me figuring out camera shots to enhance my choreography. He would make sure the lighting and sound was immaculate and that the dialogue, staging and costumes were perfect. I knew that if Jeff was in the booth, it would be great.”

Donny Osmond

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