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Diller spent three years reading archive files all day at William Morris

Barry Diller · Barry Diller: Building IAC · Sep 30, 2025 · at 9:35

Media executive Barry Diller describes his entry into the entertainment industry working in the William Morris Agency file room.

0:00 / 0:19exact quote · 19.7s
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“I took the job no one else wanted. They all wanted to go, in that horrible word, network around, meet people, press people, do whatever. I went to the dungeon and had this job that allowed me basically almost the entire day to read, and that's what I did for three years”

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