In trying to broaden my search for what to do next, I have been trying to meet different people, maybe even find someone who might be willing to cook up movies to pitch together.
For instance, a few weeks ago I decided to invite Fred A. Nonymous to lunch. (I decided to give him a pseudonym, not because this story is so bad, but just to courteous.) The same Fred A. Nonymous who co-directed several famous top-grossing animated movies. I had made a tentative connection with Fred through a website called "LinkedIn," a sort of FaceBook for businesspeople, I think, since I have never been to FaceBook. I'm too old.
Anyway I figured, in a rather mercenary way, that I might be able to convince Mr. Nonymous to work with me to cook up an animated movie idea for me to produce and him to direct. After all, I'm good at coming up with stories, and he hasn't had a movie made in a while. Maybe he'd be up for it. (I already have three animated movie ideas that I am pitching around, but the three of us who cooked them up do not have the name value of Fred N.)
I send an e-mail, and Fred quickly agrees to lunch. I guess he's in the "hey it couldn't hurt to meet anybody" mode too! We meet at a groovy forties-style deli in Glendale at noon last Wednesday. Fred's maybe my age (a little under 50), still got all his hair, or most of it, and has an open, young-looking, generous face. He smiles when I introduce myself and we get a table. I order the pastrami. I forget what he ordered. But so far so good, lunch couldn't be more pleasant.
I ask him to tell me the story of his last few years (since it's been that long since he's gotten a movie made). What happened? Well Fred launches into his narrative of woe. The stories are very entertaining, full of visits to development hell, development purgatory, and development boredom. There are good guys and bad guys, and many hurt feelings. I ask, what happened to Ethelred the Unknown, his partner on all his movies? Well, he's at (another animation compnay), laboring away, also trying to get a movie to direct. (But seemingly happy there, to hear Fred tell it.)
What's Fred doing now? Well trying to get some movies going with various former colleagues.
Just to clear the air, I asked him if he was offended by the idea of sequels to his movies. No, he answered, I just avoided seeing them or thinking about them. He had heard a few of them were good, and a few of them were bad, no skin off his nose.
So I launch into my pitch. I've spent the last 8 years cooking up stories at Disneytoons with some level of success. I know he doesn't know me from Adam, and I worked on mostly sequels, but maybe we could help each other. I would do as much of the heavy lifting as he wanted in terms of cooking up a story, and we would together use the leverage of his name to pitch around town, trying to get something set up. He nodded politely, and I could tell already he was not ready to accept this offer right now.
So I backed off, saying it's something that maybe could be filed away as a future possibility, that right now it's great to have met and establish a relationship. Yes, he agreed. But, I continued, maybe there was a way for him to familiarize himself with my work, since I of course was already familiar with his work. Although it may sound nutty, the movie I am most proud of from my DisneyToon days was Cinderella 3. Maybe he'd like a copy to watch?
Well you should have seen the look on his face. It was as if I had handed him a knife and asked him to go home and stab his mother. He was trying very hard to be polite, but it was clear that underneath the polite smile was the feeling, "I'd rather drink my own urine than watch Cinderella 3. Didn't you hear what I said before about the sequels?"
Well there you go. I accept his reaction. And I still found him charming and pleasant. But it was a clear reminder where the direct-to-video sequels stand with some people.
Onward and upward!
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