Chapter 5

My financial advisor had a fit when I had him move money around to pay my half. "This is the stupidest idea I've ever heard. Do you or your partner know anything at all about making movies?"

"Only if watching a whole bunch of them counts. Look, I know I'm probably pissing this money away. I might as well open a window and throw it out, for all the return I expect to get off it. But it is MY money, and I'm sure in your career you've seen people spend good money for the goofiest of reasons. Now, where do I need to sign?" I still had to promise to get a good accountant and save every receipt.

We got an entertainment lawyer, formed an LLC in case things really went South, rented a set of offices. "Kind of a lot for two guys, don't you think?"

He waved his hands around. "Oh, I expect things to change fairly quickly. We may need more than this soon."

The first order of business was to get a really good producer. We interviewed several, and I'n no expert on producing, but I am pretty good at reading people, and didn't like any of them. We had flown to LA, a town I've never really liked. Eric found an up and comer with a really good record in several decent films as an associate producer. I liked him immediately. He was direct, honest in his expectations of us as clients. I took lead on this interview, so I laid it out to him.

"I'll be the first to admit we have no clue what we've let ourselves for. This is why money won't be discussed until we find someone we can trust. Can we trust you?"

Probably a question he never expected to be asked. "Yes, you can trust me, as far as making the best movie possible within the financial constraints you have. Might not want to loan me ten bucks for lunch though. When I'm totally immersed in a project, things fall by the way. You can ask my wife. I eat, breathe, and live the project. It's even put a strain on our relationship in the past. Too bad she can't work on the project with us, it would make things a lot easier."

"Is she in entertainment also? In front or behind?," I asked, meaning which side of the camera. I had a vision of some leading woman wanna be shoving portfolios at us.

"Behind. She's a screen writer, pretty good one, if I say so myself. Already sold five scripts so far, and she's just on the edge of being really successful. We're working on a series, that she writes while I produce. It's really good, but everybody we've pitched it to wants to take it, and leave us out of the loop." He went on to tell of her successes. I'd even seen two. Pretty good stuff.

"Has she ever adapted a book to the screen?"

"No, but she's always wanted to try. Leah is a big sci-fi and fantasy nut, so she leans towards those things. I don't know if you've ever heard of them, but there's a series of books on line about a band of mercenary women, called 'Battle Babes', that she swears would make a great screen saga, or at the very least some very popular cable movies, most likely on HBO or Starz. They seem to love stuff like that. She says she doesn't believe a man wrote them, because of the insights occasionally, and the sex scenes. According to her, no man alive has ever processed emotions that well."