With an eye for the creative and an ear for a great story, Guilford resident Grant Copeland has written a top-selling book with friend and notable television and screen producer Peter Friedman: “I'll Get the Tip: Moments Between the World's Biggest Stars and an Unknown Ad Guy.”

The book is not a tell-all but rather a collection of heartwarming stories chronicling Friedman's five-decade career as a television commercial and video producer. Some of Friedman’s impressive behind-the-scenes work included stints as the head of the Lucasfilm commercial production company and first global head of television production for Nike. Along the way, he encountered A-listers, including athletes, musicians, entertainers, politicians, and others. Friedman, a former Madison resident, now resides in Newton.

Grant is president and Chief Creative Officer of WORX, a Connecticut-based marketing agency.

“Peter has been a friend for several years, and we’ve also worked together a few times,” says Grant. “I’ve always clamored to have the opportunity to work with him and to learn from him.”

From his professional perspective in the marketing world, Grant praises the many notable campaigns and ads in Friedman’s portfolio as among those which are “...absolutely remarkable in their creativity and point of view, and obviously helped transform some of the fortunes of some of the biggest companies on the planet, as well.”

In March of 2022, on the way to attending a New York Islander’s hockey match together, the two friends spent some time catching up on family and life. From that discussion, Grant began toying with the idea of translating Friedman’s compelling anecdotes into written form.

“I knew that he was interested in doing something to capture a five-decade career,” says Grant. “Unbeknownst to me, during the pandemic, Peter had started to record Zoom sessions with past colleagues about stories and interactions he’s had.”

Grant offered to transcribe one of the Zoom sessions for Friedman to look over.

“It was one his transactions with Arnold Palmer. I said ‘If you like it great; if don’t like it, we’re still friends,’” says Grant, laughing.

Friedman loved it. From there, they set a self-imposed deadline of two years to write the book, completing it by the end of 2023. This past year has been dedicated to bringing the book to market. Launched in September 2024, the book has already earned self-publisher IngramSpark’s number-one seller ranking for Humor - Business and Professional. It’s available on Amazon and at peterfriedmanbook.com

“I really just saw it as writing a keepsake of Peter’s career,” says Grant. “He’s just such a humble, down-to-earth person in an often cut-throat industry, who did it the right way with a work ethic and perseverance.”

Needless to say, Grant was already pretty busy with his agency work when he took on the idea of building the book which eventually became “I’ll Get the Tip.” In his field, Grant is regarded as one of the country's top branding and creative strategists and has won dozens of awards in branding, identity, print, advertising, web, television, radio, video, packaging, and environmental design.

He’s also an active community leader serving on the board of the United Way of Greater Waterbury, for which he founded UPSTARTERS® youth leadership program with participation that’s now over 2,600 strong. Grant also serves on the board of the Mattatuck Museum, which hosted a well-received book talk and signing event two weeks ago with Grant and Friedman.

“It’s a really fun read, and I think it’s got some universal messages that are appealing to everyone, regardless of whether you like celebrity culture or the advertising industry or some of the particulars about Peter’s career,” says Grant.

As Friedman humbly says of the book, “I’ve had the good fortune to be around people that other people want to be around. This book is about those moments.”

In the book, Friedman, who is still actively working, shares recollections of working with Arnold Palmer, as well as his career encounters iconic names including Michael Jordan, Bill Clinton, Lebron James, Paula Abdul, Derek Jeter, Bono, Jane Seymour, Kobe Bryant, Ted Kennedy, John Travolta, Neil Armstrong, Dr. Dre, Yogi Berra, Kendrick Lamar, Justin Bieber, Tiger Woods, and Olivia Rodrigo.

Each of the stories is a factual interaction Friedman made in his work, told with no creative license or embellishing, Grant notes.

“As a producer, Peter’s job is to essentially manage the rodeo. He’s not there to socialize or be the sidekick of the celebrity that’s about to go on camera. But he had these amazing little interactions,” says Grant. “We tried to present these brief interactions and truly what the moment was. Some of the stories, it’s Peter’s emotion kind of taking over, and other times, it’s the emotion that he observed. I think it’s a really fun collection of basic human relations, and that’s what makes it rewarding to me.”

Grant and his wife, Meghan, a physical therapist, have raised their two children in Guilford with an understanding of the importance of contributing to their community.

In 2019, their daughter Ella took on a challenge posed by her dad and chaired the Waterbury United Way Campaign as a 12-year-old. The campaign generated fundraising for Ella’s concept, “EVERYBODY UP,” and spread the hashtag #theEllaEffect. Ella still volunteers in the community and is now a Marist College student.

Their son, Adam, a Guilford High School (GHS) senior, is involved in several extracurriculars and is a pivotal member of the GHS baseball team. Adam is also the owner of a registered Connecticut LLC business, Guilford Cave Apparel (guilfordcaveapparel.com), which he created to spread town and school spirit.

Speaking of GHS baseball, about two years ago, Grant penned a keepsake book for the baseball team’s parents and families recapping the GHS team’s run to the state championship game. Grant also exercises his creativity as a painter. As for the creative experience tied to bringing “I’ll Get the Tip” to life, Grant says it’s been well worth the effort.

“I think fundamentally it is exactly what I was hoping it would be, which is a great homage to a friend and something that is really fun for anyone to pick up. There’s a nonlinear quality to it where you can pick up any chapter, and it’s fun to read,” says Grant. “You can just jump right in. I hope people will keep it on their coffee table or nightstand and approach it that way.”