FIRST HOLLYWOOD “PITCH” MEETING.
Let me get a cup of tea and then bring you up to speed. Hang on for a moment.
Okay… tea is in hand, and a cinnamon raison bagel… I’m ready. Let’s start by going back in time to last week. I got back from Chicago, wrapped up the work week and printed out all the large format concept art I needed for my pitch meetings. Friday came along and very early in the day I received word from Tim that our contact for the big Beverly Hills party over the weekend may be flaking on getting us on the list. So, THAT became an ordeal all in itself. You need to know that Tim “took a bullet” for the team and made that all work out… or so we thought. So Saturday comes along, and the part starts at noon. I’m up at eight working on the “pitch displays,” which I am very pleased with, and yes, proud of. We get in the car and head up to Beverly Hills; Eddie Murphy’s old house to be exact. We’re at the gate and we are NOT on the list. Luckily, between Tim and I we know enough of the names of people ON the list that we somehow get in.
We park and walk up the drive only to be greeted by people from the E Television network asking us to sign releases because they’re filming an episode of “Help Wanted: Beverly Hills 90210.” We sign our lives away and go in. The day is filled with meeting a wonderful variety of people from a former Ms. USA and Passion cast member Kelli McCarty to some ridiculously famous porn stars, etc. I EVEN ran into someone who worked on Final Destination 3 with us… Wolfie… he’s a grip and was working with the “E” network gripping for the weekend shoot at the mansion.
Tim and I had a reasonably good time and met some great people and some potential business contacts. But I also met some people that turned my stomach. This person I’m thinking of in particular remarked that “you (referring to me) do real work, real things in the industry. I would never be interested in that. The only thing I’m interested in is getting hot women over to my house.” I asked: “Yeah, but what’s your real objective? Your ultimate goal?” His response: “I just told you. I’m not interested in anything that doesn’t get hot women over to my house.”
Now, I like to look at beautiful women as much as the next guy, but this cemented my already unflattering opinion of this person. It’s not whether someone is interested in what I’m doing or not that influences my opinion of one, but the passions and motivation that drive the soul of the person in front of me; rich, poor, whatever. Use your money however you like, if you have it. Buy all the company you need to buy. Unfortunately, (and this may sound bitter but I’m truly not) I am disgusted at the motive power of someone being that of buying that which you could not otherwise earn by nature of your personality, intellect and value as a person. One could argue that because one has the skill to earn the money by which these things are paid, that by extension they earn the company they keep. And in a manner of speaking, that logic could work from a certain perspective. Not mine. The company you keep is not earned by the ulterior motive of money, unearned reward or hope of the “gift” of unqualified advancement through the ranks. If it is, it is a façade; a ghost reality that perpetuates itself by the attentively managed fakery that one in that position has to maintain in order not to be discovered as a fraud. Not a fraud in the sense of money or skill at a certain trade, but of a mortgaged intellect that has no bank to draw upon. Thus, the financial bank is called upon to substitute for the mortgaged personality, but no equitable exchange rate exists for that transaction because it takes SO much more money to blind enough people to the truth that by nature of the interaction, the entire circumstance becomes an illusion.
And so I now understand another aspect of the politics of wealth and influence of money that I had largely theorized about in the past. I am in the position of requiring money to make the films I desire to make. I am not in the position of changing who I am or pretending that your wealth makes you an intellectually valuable person worthy of my attention to get it. I am aware that you have a skill in some respect that has been largely successful resulting in the deep lining of your pockets, but I am not obliged to clumsily grope for an unearned hand out to fulfill my business requirements in life. I require that the person investing in my endeavor do so because I have earned their trust and provided a circumstance that warrants the level of fiscal and professional interaction I am proposing.
There may be easier ways to make it in this business, and a lot of people do a lot of things to get where they want to go. I am not going to judge what works for anyone but me. To this end, I am happy to be able to say that the people I call friends and the people that I count as colleagues are substantial people that challenge my intellect and make me strive to be better, stronger and smarter; that respect others as they demand to be respected - as a rule, not a convenience – and deal in the money of the mind. That is my code of conduct and the currency that I value above all else.
So, the party was an eye opener and a wonderful reminder to that which is most important. Tim and I also met a couple of lovely young ladies that we had lunch with the following day before they flew back to their homes in Nevada and Utah.
ON TO SUNDAY. We got back from our lunch with the ladies and I continued my work on the concept art as Tim went off to shoe some horses. I worked through the entire night breaking only to watch “The West Wing.” I finished everything leaving exactly enough time to shave, get a shower and go to the model shop where the pitch meeting was to take place. It is NOW MONDAY.
Tim and I set up the art in a huge semi-circle around the oak conference table in the conference room and placed the models of the characters on the table complete with packaging giving them the look of having just come off a store shelf. The concept art included video game tie-ins, tee-shirt and graphic novel tie ins in addition to the movie art.
The pitch was with a Japanese businessman and I enjoyed our interactions, discussions and ability to ask and answer questions of every variety regarding our work, our possible work together, my material and the industry in general. I had not slept in over 30 hours, but I was acute, present and on point. My FIRST PITCH in Hollywood (I have to date only produced and made pitches in New York) was a wonderful experience. I felt more at home in that room discussing business than almost anywhere else I’ve ever been, save perhaps sitting at a piano.
Joseph, Tim and I went to dinner to celebrate the first meeting, and our hopes and plans for the future and capped it off by going to see “Ice Age 2” which all three of us slept through. We’ve all been very busy and working long days. Imagine, driving to Burbank, having some food, paying $10 dollars to enter a theater and sleeping for an hour and a half, then getting back in your car and going home to bed. Makes perfect sense, no?
So the result of the pitch meeting is that the man we met is interested in getting the money for us, loved the “toys” and “video game” tie ins I had and is setting up meetings to interest one of the largest Japanese video game producers and another company that is also one of the largest Japanese toy manufacturers. He will make the introductions regarding the production and then asked that we “pitch” them using all the art and materials that my crew and I have assembled. A special thanks to Angie Ottati for the amazing sculptures, Giovanni Dulay for the wonderful graphic novel art, Faith from Tiny Dragon Productions for the great "combat art" and Bob Hurrie as well as Mike and John Joyce from Cinema Production Services for making yesterday’s introduction to the world of pitching an amazing experience for me. Keep your “ears on” and I’ll let you know how this develops. CDJ
