Ballers: My Journey from an Uncertain Future in East LA to the Heights of the Second Golden Age of Television is the memoir of Carmi Zlotnik, born to a pair of idealistic young Zionists in 1959 and raised in the chaos of a turbulent East Los Angeles childhood — a mother institutionalised, a father holding the family together with sheer willpower, and a grandmother who had survived the Holocaust on pure indomitable spirit. With no formal training and no roadmap, Carmi stumbled into the entertainment industry through serendipity and sweat, eventually becoming one of the most trusted creative and business executives in Hollywood history. At HBO alongside Chris Albrecht, he helped midwife some of the most groundbreaking television ever made — from Sex and the City to The Sopranos — before going on to lead Starz, work with Apple, and continue building at Legendary. Woven throughout is the love story with his wife Liz, his Jewish heritage, his gift for bridging the worlds of art and commerce, and his unflinching eye for the next narrow path forward. Part Hollywood insider chronicle, part immigrant family saga, and part leadership masterclass, Ballers is the story of a man who was always in the room where it happened — and who knew exactly why he belonged there.