Last week was an action-packed one for yours truly…
I was in Los Angeles from Memorial Day through Saturday. The main mission was taking in three and four meetings a day from prospective movie rights buyers for my book, The King of Sting.
I had been with the Eisner/Lorenz/Eastwood group these past three years. Clint Eastwood had decided to retire a couple years ago and was going to turn over the reins to fellow director / co-producer Robert Lorenz who was set to direct King of Sting for me and Eisner. Rob has been Clint’s right hand man for the past 15 years.
However, Eastwood decided last year that he would continue to direct movies until the end of his days. He then decided to make Jersey Boys and is now shooting American Sniper. Since Clint needs Rob’s help on these big projects that would force me to wait at least another year or two to shoot King of Sting. Clint had Rob direct Trouble with the Curve last year which, unfortunately, was not a big box office hit.
The latest:
I was contacted by a young director named David Jung who is a hot new director with just one film under his belt. William Morris is all over the project, so I decided to join that group and move forward, thus all the meetings. This time out, I’ll write the script and produce with Jung. So hopefully in the end it’s a better deal for me. All our meetings went very well, so I believe we’re in good shape…we’ll see.
It was good to be back in LA but with meetings every day it was hard to see everybody I wanted to, but I tried. I did have an opportunity to connect with my old flame, Kansas City actress Sandahl Bergman. And she looked great. I was also able to have breakfast with Ron Hammity, my partner from the Champions Forever boxing film series – a good guy.
Then on Memorial Day I was the special guest for Talking Shit, a podcast starring Eddie Ifft (and formerly Jim Jeffries). We covered the usual banter about strippers, sex, drugs and the crazy comedy world. Complete with co-hostess, a porno star chick whose name I can’t remember. His studio is right next to Venice Beach, so you can imagine how wild it was down there on Memorial Day night. Fun stuff.
One of my best comedy buddies is TJ Miller.
And TJ is on fire, he stars and is the executive producer of the hit HBO show Silicon Valley. He’s also the lead in Universal’s Search Party out later this fall. But probably his biggest shot is co-starring with Mark Wahlberg in the new Transformers movie, out later this month.
Anyway, TJ invited me to a small get together, or so he said, for Tom Jones’ – yes, THAT Tom Jones – 74th birthday party.
It ended up being a who’s who of people in Hollywood at a huge party in a $30 million Beverly Hill mansion. The Arrowhead Stadium-sized home belonged to Jeff Franklin, the former executive producer of Full House. Present and playing the drums in Jones’ party band was TV superstar John Stamos; a good buddy of TJ’s.
My dinner table had the crew of the Howard Stern show including the show’s producer, Gary Dell’Abate. A middle-aged woman comic followed me around the party, having heard about Stanfords and wanting ta stand up gig. My entertainment attorney had to inform me that she was Kate Flannery, one of the stars of The Office.
Which brings me to Tom Jones.
While Tom’s hair is completely gray, he’s in pretty good shape for a guy in his mid-seventies. With Stamos on drums and other celebrities filling in in the party room of this gargantuan home, Jones blasted off a couple of his huge hits – even an Elvis song or two.
I gotta tell ya, the guy sings like he’s 25. And all the women there serving as bartenders, servers and hostesses looked like try outs for the Hawaiian Tropic Bathing Beauty contest – hot, hot, hot.
I went up to Tom in a quiet moment when he was on the patio smoking a cigar.
It went like this:
Me: “So, Tom when you wake up in the morning do you still think you’re 35?’
Jones: “Yeah for a minute, till I get out of bed, look in the mirror and begin to feel those aches and pains of not being 35.’’
Me: “Who’s responsible for all these gorgeous, part-time employees working your birthday party?”
Jones: “Mostly, I am. I probably did half of them and would have done the other half but I ran out of gas.”
It was quite a little shindig.
Oh, those Hollywood Nights…
Looks like Eastwood’s company didn’t work out so you went with someone else?
Tom’s 2010 release, ‘Praise & Blame’ is by far some of his best work, proving that he is still the man.
Good rootsy sounding stuff!
“I’ll write the script…so I believe we’re in good shape.”
Glaze, much like Hearne rewrites your fourth grade musings here I strongly suggest you get a ghostwriter/editor.
Words of wisdom, right there….
Take the comment to heart Glazer.
HIRE A REAL WRITER.
First off I write with the director. I have sold five other scripts, not about me, in LA before..believe or not I’m pretty good with story,scenes and movement of movie.
I kinda know what I am doing. No I am not good at writing itself, but good at story and all the rest. Done it before. But thank you for advice.
Were they sold or optioned? Full script or synopsis? I don’t see your name with any screenwriting credits on IMDB… Not taking potshots – if you’re selling scripts I think that’s awesome – just curious how it works and what you’re up to.
” No I am not good at writing itself, but good at story and all the rest”
That sentence is pure genius. Not only was it accurate, the actual sentence was poorly worded. Hats off. I don’t know how you do it. That’s some David Copperfield $hit right there.
It’s like he’s an idiot savant…without the savant part.
How many scripts you sold Carl. I have sold 5 and King of Sting on top of those…I always write with a partner like Sal Manna, Dan Gordon(Hurricane/Wyatt Eurp/Murder in The First) Bob Pool(Outbreak/Bigtown) and yes Nick Kazan academy award winning writer..as well as Studio VP Universal Dan York..he and I optioned two scripts one a modern day Hardy Boys Pix…nice..to Disney…so I didn’t just fall off the truck guys…oh and producing 5 sports pix as well..helps.
It is both hilarious and really sad at the same time.
Translation: The option expired and he didn’t want to make the movie. I tried to shop the option but nobody wanted to buy it, so now I am trying to self finance the movie.
I love the trolls, no he did want to continue option. I just don’t want to wait…self finance..guess I would if I had millions to do it..in the movie biz you package and move to another studio or production company. In todays world studio’s release the pictures and most are financed outside the studio. We have a strong story, director and film makers on board. So we take that to the buyers. They pay for everything else, same as a studio. That’s how it works..this project has always been in play for 30 years and paid for all that time. It’s in the book. You can buy that and read about all those issues.
Getting films made is not about the best stories, sadly, its about timing, luck, who you can be with to go forward etc…that’s why there are so few good films.
Clearly this one deserves to be made…now we just need the rest to happen.
Shop the option? You shop the project, that’s what we are doing now. All options are new deals, not old ones. All movies/books/projects are optioned first then made or not.
I fail to see what anything you typed contradicts what you said. Clint won’t be making the movie, you were unable to find a big name backer so you are now trying to do it yourself. Yes, you would be shopping the rights for someone to buy the option- which was unsuccessful.
Good luck with Kickstarter. Your film was in limbo and you know as well as anybody else it aint ever getting made unless you cast Stanford’s doormen in the roles.
Look AHole, what is wrong with you? You jealous,hateful twit. I have ‘optioned’ this project for 3 decades to various studios and production companies. Sometimes they can’t get it done and don’t want to continue which only happened once, the other times I want to find someone who can get the movie made. When you leave a company you have to submit your project in writing and with your background to other studio buyers or producers. That’s how its done.
To do that you need a strong agent in this case William Morris and mine is a little company called CAA. Then the buyers ‘HAVE TO BE INTERESTED’ to see you at a pitch meeting. That’s why I was there with the director who lives there to go to those meetings. Huge companies like the one who does all the FAST AND FURIOUS/I AM LEGEND(NOW A SECOND ONE) 21 JUMP STREET AND 22 JUMP STREET..so on..ALSO THE FOLKS WHO Brought us THE TOWN..so on…not excactly kickstarter, huh…getting into those rooms ain’t easy pal.
Now I’ve repeated the same information twice once in the story and once to you. Maybe you get it…Nothing insures a picture being made til you make it lord knows…I have made a few. Including CHAMPIONS FOREVER w/ Ali..twice…so I made a nice living in this field old pal. You know zero about it.
It’s easy to point and belittle others who are out there busting their ass with some talent..its hard to go out and really do it. I’ve done it, and will continue to work hard on this picture. Oh yeah, and there’s the matter of getting a hard cover book and soft cover book out on one’s life. Not many do that, like how many from here, 20 or 30 in a few hundred years. Pretty tough stuff, you try it.
Development hell!!!!!!!!
time to come back to earth glaze.
all this is a bunch of bull.
truth is you can drop all the names (old names like tom jones…I thought
the guy died and no one under 70 knows who he is…our moms liked hm back
in the ‘s…like roy rogers!)
I said ye ares ago this movie isn’t getting made. No real plot…just a lot
of different stories ….fun to maybe read but you’re not talented enough
to do thescreenplay.
get used to it…you’re just another dude trying to make it big…like the other
one billion b.s artists in Hollywood and los angeles.
I’ve met many of them…all talk…no walk.
sitting by sterns producer is no big deal…having lunch with old stars
is less than me talking for an hour with wayne newton in branson.
lots of old stories…but just likethe other guys say…all these aare ancient
people and ancient history.
no one cares…and most importantly no oerr writerbelieve this stuff you
talk about.
you’re cred is gone here. I do think that maybe one day you’ll get this
movie made locally with a small time budget. try that…get together 200K
and make it …otherwise get in line because there’s about q million scripts
out thereright now with the same shot you have.
friend of mine won spielbergs contest (2 day shoot) and he’s still trying
to do something in l.a.
good luck…but sometimes you’ve got to get serious and realize the
lights have gone out.
but good luck…persistence might win out in this case.
your friend
harley
Expat, I just saw your question, all of them were optioned. One by Disney another by Universal. I did a rewrite, the comedy portion, of Dragon The Bruce Lee Story for my then partner Dan York. Dan and I optioned the other scripts when I was working with him as a producer at Universal. Dan had been a VP production exec. before he moved to producing on the lot and was kind enough to invite to join him. This was in the 90’s. He and I worked together on several things til the early 2000’s. Great guy… it ain’t easy. I got the sports films made during that period and beyond. But between the those fees, rewrite fees, options on my life story, I did fairly well til I decided to make my main home KC in the early 90’s when Dan’s deal ended at Universal..from there forward I could see I had better income from KC and could always go back and forth which I have these past ten years or so. Been to LA about 50 times for different business on film and tv since.
For somebody who brags so much about every one of his achievements, whether real or imagined, The “Scribe” sure does seem to have a thin skin. If you can’t handle a few internet barbs, maybe you shouldn’t put yourself out there so much. I mean what would we all do without another mention of Sandahl Bergman? Her name gets dropped more in this space then it did during her entire Hollywood career.
Here’s a suggestion for you in your battle with all your so-called haters/trolls…while I realize it’s not in your vocabulary, perhaps a little humility would go a long way towards silencing some of your critics.
Good point, they will always be there, always have been. But you make a good point.
For those of you that might subscribe to Duvall’s Daily Quotes ( interesting offerings that I’d recommend) today’s quote seemed appropriate here.
” Hollywood set out to give people what they want. The most horrifying thing is what people do want”
David Jung? You sure it wasn’t Albert Pyun?
I would love to read a spec script of yours, Glazer.
Sure you can…get me your address or you can pick one up at my club just call and let me know…ok…no problem..you will be surprised I’m sure..it won’t be KING OF STING either.
This is never getting made. Deal with it. They bought the movie back in the day trying to recreate the Sting. If you would have never been busted for blow they would have probably made it but you made that bed not Clint. N ow you are trying to get outside financing from 3rd parties.
Are we supposed to be impressed that you got an agent at CAA (aka the CAA death star), the largest agency in the world? Clearly they care a lot about the project since they attached such a big name director who is a big up and comer.
There are actual real filmmakers who are in Kansas City doing good work. You are not one of them, Craig.
Don’t know why you’d get so upset at Kickstarter. People more talented than you have raised millions for their passion projects (Spike raised 1.4 mil, Adam Carolla raised 1.5 million, Veronica Mars movie 5.7 mil). But to get that crowd to give you money you actually need a fanbase of people that are already willing to pay for your creative product. You don’t have that. You are the owner of a yuk yuk house in the exurbs who used to snitch and steal cocaine in the 70s before your buddy got shot.
As a twice convicted cocaine felon, you probably have a $70 a day habit. $70 x 365 x 30 years = $766k which would be enough to finance it yourself. But hey, priorities.
Hey fake guy, truly words of wisdom. Fake name guy, nice to know I have so many fans LIKE YOU. JOY. Where do nut balls like you get this stuff. Law enforcement needs to keep an eye on you to make sure you aren’t the next crazy shooter at the mall. Go with God pal.
Just like “ball don’t lie”, math don’t lie Craig.
Where do I get this stuff? Your case.net, lol.
I’m sure law enforcement is keeping an eye on you considering your reputation in this town. You seem to be the one with the hair trigger temper and a raging cocaine problem.
Three decades Crag, THREE DECADES. That tell you something?
This time don’t leave out your greatest accomplishment, perpetuating the Hep C virus