Sex, Drugs & Pilot Season: Confessions of a Casting Director

by Joel Thurm

From his humble beginnings growing up on his grandfather's dairy farm in New York, JOEL THURM became one of the most admired, powerful, and accomplished casting directors in Hollywood, Early on, Thurm's instincts proved beyond reproach when he recognized John Travolta as much more than a teen idol, casting him in the TV movie THE BOY IN THE PLASTIC BUBBLE. It was during his years as Vice President of Talent and Casting for both Paramount Television and NBC that he discovered the remarkable Phoenix family, from which River and Joaquin became A-list movie stars. With his insider's knowledge, irreverent style, and biting wit, Thurm tells the stories of his key involvement in such iconic movies and shows as GREASE, AIRPLANE!, THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW, CHEERS, TAXI, THE LOVE BOAT, FANTASY ISLAND, STARSKY & HUTCH, CHARLIE'S ANGELS, THE GOLDEN GIRLS, KNIGHT RIDER, THE COSBY SHOW, HILL STREET BLUES and many, many more. SEX, DRUGS, AND PILOT SEASON is the ultimate backstage pass to the boardrooms of Manhattan and the executive suites of Hollywood where show-business history was made.

"A true talent at the top of the biz. We are all lucky to know him! And a great guy! It's fun and I love it."
-JOHN TRAVOLTA

"Thank you for pretty much everything in my life."
-TED DANSON

"Always grateful for helping to cast me and for all the unsung work he did behind the scenes for GREASE …. Great memories and details I didn't know."
-OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN

"Actors are naturally nervous around casting directors. Then one comes along who changes your life! Thanks, Joel,"
-DANNY DEVITO

"Joel is one of the good guys,"
-TONY DANZA

"This book will make you laugh out loud, cry and wonder 'did this really happen?' Joel Thurm was in the eye of the tornado and he is still standing."
-DEBBIE ALLEN

Genres: Biography

416 pages, Paperback

Published December 12, 2022

Reviews

[Michael Ritchie]

I'd like to report that this was a quick, breezy, gossipy read and leave it at that. But I can't. On the copyediting level, it's a disaster, filled with typos, practically one every 3 pages, and weird line spacings. The writing style is almost as bad. I used to teach collegiate freshmen English and the writing here is on the level of the first draft of a paper by an 18-year-old. It feels self-published, but it's not. Someone (or, more likely, several people) failed this author in terms of editing. As for content, there is fun stuff here, though some of it (much of it about people no longer living) has the stink of unsubstantiated gossip. His best chapter is about Nell Carter, Tony winner and star of the 80s TV show Gimme A Break, who became a friend of his. Perhaps worst of all, Thurm never talks about how he did his job; there's rarely a word about his thought process behind casting. He just says things like "John Travolta would be perfect for the part" without ever saying why. Disappointing to say the least, especially since we rarely hear from background show biz folks like casting directors.

[Diana]

Honestly I skimmed through a lot of the beginning to get to the actors and shows I remembered from childhood. The last chapter he lists every series he was involved with and some facts about them and refers back to the book if covered in more detail there. (Alf!! My favorite!!)

Actually very dark, depressing with the drugs, alcohol and sex abuse demolishing so many lives, particularly kid actors. (Diff'rent Strokes prime example) This is an industry that destroys people. Everyone more powerful seems to prey on those less so. Or turns a blind eye to it in the quest of the almighty dollar. Then if they are successful they are preyed on by the financial types who "invest" (steal) their money.

The Punky Brewster actress made a documentary 'kid 90' that really covered this well. I was heartbroken when I realized Jonathan Brandis from seaQuest had committed suicide when he couldn't find acting work as he got older. I had watched seaQuest on Netflix as an adult and wondered what happened to him.

If you hate someone send them to Hollywood to be a star.

[Mike Allende]

The content was essentially what I expected though there was a lot of "Why are you telling us this?" Given his experience I would think he has a more interesting book in him if he would've taken a deeper dive into the thought process of actually casting. As it is, it seemed like every random actor he thinks of becomes the exact person who gets the part every time, which doesn't seem plausible to me. The bigger issue is how horribly edited the book is, to the point of distraction. I ended up paying more attention to what the next error would be than what was being written. And so I wasn't surprised in the acknowledgement to see him thank someone for showing him how to edit his own work (though that person clearly failed in that effort). This is why you get someone else to edit you.

[Robert Castelli]

The book is full of typos and format issues and that is most likely the most positive thing I can say about it. The book is utter crap and has very limited useful or entertaining information. The author is vile to some people and I feel it's for nor reason other than shock value. The comments he made about Kim and Kyle Richards are inhumane and the fact that Andy Cohen had him in WWHL to advertise this book is shocking to me. Total waste of time and any payment that was made to the author is a crime of robbery for what was provided to print.

[Edmund Kubiak]

This book was okay, but I had a problem with the punctuation and spacing mistakes. Those made it hard to read and the book should have been proofed better. That said, it was an interesting read although I didn't always agree with the assessments the author made of the various shows he'd worked on and the various stars he worked with. Also, he wasn't only a casting director but held many different positions over the years. Still, it was worth the read.

[Alice]

I had high hopes for a light, trashy read from an author who has been "celebrity adjacent" for decades - primarily 60s - 90s. Alas, there was lots and lots of detail about Thurm's own life story and not nearly enough about celebrities. It wasn't worth the time to nuzzle out the interesting tidbits. For a much better read, try "Dropped Names: Famous Men and Women As I Knew Them", by Frank Langella.

[Michael]

Fantastic! For anyone who loves television, pop culture, and grew up on entertainment. This book is for you! Love, love, love, loved it, and you can tell this guy has A good heart, and it was always in the right place. However, someone should’ve edited the book before it was published… That was very distracting… So many typos, and beyond… Still a fun read!

[Martin]

This was a fun read about the live and times of a casting director, in NYC and then mostly in Hollywood. The author has many amusing tales to tell and makes special notion of his close relationship with the Phoenix family and John Travolta. There is a great appendix where the author discusses all NBC pilot shows and series in the 1980s..

[Terry Newton]

It's not a page-turner, but this biography does give a lot of insight into how TV series and movies are cast, who gets cast (and who does NOT get cast, and often why). It also gives an inside look into who is who: producers, scriptwriters, casting directors, etc. I learned a lot about behind-the-scenes drama in the production of some of my favorite movies and TV shows.

[Tim Oldakowski]

Juicy, salacious, a tell all about what really went on in casting between the 70’s and early 90’s. Joel Thurm was responsible for casting many of my favorite shows and films and it was interesting to Lear who he cast, and under what conditions. Up there with Sue Mangers’ bio. Highly suggest if you’re a celebrity slut like I am.

[Frank Duke]

Incredibly badly written book about the people a casting director met in his work. The grammar is horrendous and there are way too many misspelled words for my taste. It boils down to little more than a retiree's opportunity to make money by name dropping. I do not understand how it got the good reviews it received unless these were friends who felt sorry for the author.

[Eric Z.]

Great stories but MY GOD the typos. It’s riddled with them. Mr. Thurm, your book deserves better. As a writer with extensive backgrounds in editing and proofreading, I’m willing to make corrections for you pro bono. Let me know.

[Lisa]

Lots of interesting info about the TV shows and movies that the author has done the casting for. However, this must be a self-published book because the number of typos and misspelled words are mind-boggling. For me, I admit that it's very distracting.

[Mim]

I wanted to like this more, thought it would be fun celebrity dishing memoir, but it was just so badly written. Sentence after sentence plodding along. Didn't finish.

[Jami]

Didn't need the tell-all stories, but the biz-related stories were great.

[Alan Rust]

I felt the flow was random. There were also quite a few editing errors.

[Randy Chronister]

Great book! It was fun hearing about the casting process.