Jack and Bobby...and Thom and Don
REAL WORLD NOTE: Final revisions to the screenplay should be finished by the first of next week (from my lips to God's ears) and on Wednesday, I will make a final story presentation to the PSA at their monthly meeting. The major concern we have right now is whether or not we can use Garth Brooks' name without his permission. I had been operating under the "public figure" idea that makes it impossible for celebs and politicians to sue comedians, etc. who make fun of them for purposes of parody, but apparently that doesn't always apply. One piece of good news, however. I was reading USA Today this morning and the LIFE section included a review of a new doc called, "My Date with Drew" which is about some guy's harmless obsession with Drew Barrymore. Drew's name is in the title and she is not in the film, so that's a good sign for us. Of course, I have no idea if anyone approached her asking permission to make the movie, so that's something we'll have to check out. Plus, Drew Barrymore is a fairly easy-going celeb from what I hear, while the G-man, for all his talent is known to be extremely protective of his image and reputation. We'll run it by the lawyers and see what happens. It may be that we'll try to get permission or maybe we'll just wing it in the "it's easier to ask forgiveness than it is to ask permission" tradition. If nothing else, I'll just create a fictional country singer, but that will cause significant re-writes and besides, Garth is just so damn perfect for this story. I don't want to lose him.
BACK TO OUR STORY: As I mentioned last time, my good friend Carol Kahn Parker played Sugar Mama for me and paid my way into the 2nd annual Writer's Conference in Fort Walton Beach. I wasn't sure if anything was going to come out of it, but what the hell, it couldn't hurt, right? And it didn't.
It wasn't a bad conference. A little too slanted toward the legal end of things, ie: contracts, agents, etc. and not that much about how to actually ply the craft, but that's to be expected, I guess. If folks didn't keep putting the cart before the horse, then we'd have no need for the cliche, now would we? Anyway, the big draw of the event were the "pitch sessions" in which you got to show your ideas to real pros with the actual ability to get your work in front of a publisher. The two most in demand were some New Yawk literary agent and a Hollywood producer named Thom Gossom, Jr.
Now, I don't think Thom would disagree with me when I say that his being an actual producer is more of a dream than a reality at this point. Thom is primarily an actor, having appeared in a number of TV shows and films. He was in the great HBO movie, "Miss Evers' Boys" and, when I met him, was a semi-regular on "Jack and Bobby", a new show on the WB about two brothers, one of whom was destined to become President of the U.S. Thom played the part of Jack's boss, the owner of a local BBQ restaurant. I was a big fan of the show when it was on Sunday nights opposite "Desperate Housewives" (I taped it so I could see them both), but lost track of it when it shifted to Wednesdays because there was just too damn much already on Wednesday to watch, what with "Lost" and "Alias" and "Smallville" and "West Wing" and "Law and Order". I didn't have time for another Wednesday show. Anyway, as a producer, Thom has a Christmas show he's trying to get out there and it's a good story. I don't know what the status is right now, but I'm sure you'll see it someday.
Unlike the agent, Thom was very open and gracious. I didn't pitch "Garth" at him, but took an old comic idea I had once played around with called "The Adventures of God", about...well, God and he really liked it. Thought it was very original. I mentioned that, in tone, I found my idea to be quite similar to an old movie called "Powder" and Thom said he knew the director of that film and if I worked up a synopsis he'd send it to him. (I have since written the synopsis and Thom has suggested some corrections which I will get to eventually). Anyway, Thom and I really hit it off and we talked for quite a while. At the banquet that night, he introduced me to his lovely wife, Joyce and we made arrangements to have lunch when Thom came back to town after finishing up the "Jack and Bobby" season. Thom and I have had that lunch and I plan to go see him when he performs his one-man show at UWF in November.
As for the rest of the conference, I managed to get some interest from one publisher for a novel I've been working on off and on for about ten years (good luck on my ever finishing it) and a children's publisher, Dianne Hamilton from Onstage Publishing got very excited about my artwork, insisting that I sell her my only copy of my children's book "Lettres Acadiennes" so that she could take it back and show some folks. She has yet to offer me work, but we stay in touch and I remain hopeful. We'll see.
NEXT: Casting about for a hit!
BACK TO OUR STORY: As I mentioned last time, my good friend Carol Kahn Parker played Sugar Mama for me and paid my way into the 2nd annual Writer's Conference in Fort Walton Beach. I wasn't sure if anything was going to come out of it, but what the hell, it couldn't hurt, right? And it didn't.
It wasn't a bad conference. A little too slanted toward the legal end of things, ie: contracts, agents, etc. and not that much about how to actually ply the craft, but that's to be expected, I guess. If folks didn't keep putting the cart before the horse, then we'd have no need for the cliche, now would we? Anyway, the big draw of the event were the "pitch sessions" in which you got to show your ideas to real pros with the actual ability to get your work in front of a publisher. The two most in demand were some New Yawk literary agent and a Hollywood producer named Thom Gossom, Jr.
Now, I don't think Thom would disagree with me when I say that his being an actual producer is more of a dream than a reality at this point. Thom is primarily an actor, having appeared in a number of TV shows and films. He was in the great HBO movie, "Miss Evers' Boys" and, when I met him, was a semi-regular on "Jack and Bobby", a new show on the WB about two brothers, one of whom was destined to become President of the U.S. Thom played the part of Jack's boss, the owner of a local BBQ restaurant. I was a big fan of the show when it was on Sunday nights opposite "Desperate Housewives" (I taped it so I could see them both), but lost track of it when it shifted to Wednesdays because there was just too damn much already on Wednesday to watch, what with "Lost" and "Alias" and "Smallville" and "West Wing" and "Law and Order". I didn't have time for another Wednesday show. Anyway, as a producer, Thom has a Christmas show he's trying to get out there and it's a good story. I don't know what the status is right now, but I'm sure you'll see it someday.
Unlike the agent, Thom was very open and gracious. I didn't pitch "Garth" at him, but took an old comic idea I had once played around with called "The Adventures of God", about...well, God and he really liked it. Thought it was very original. I mentioned that, in tone, I found my idea to be quite similar to an old movie called "Powder" and Thom said he knew the director of that film and if I worked up a synopsis he'd send it to him. (I have since written the synopsis and Thom has suggested some corrections which I will get to eventually). Anyway, Thom and I really hit it off and we talked for quite a while. At the banquet that night, he introduced me to his lovely wife, Joyce and we made arrangements to have lunch when Thom came back to town after finishing up the "Jack and Bobby" season. Thom and I have had that lunch and I plan to go see him when he performs his one-man show at UWF in November.
As for the rest of the conference, I managed to get some interest from one publisher for a novel I've been working on off and on for about ten years (good luck on my ever finishing it) and a children's publisher, Dianne Hamilton from Onstage Publishing got very excited about my artwork, insisting that I sell her my only copy of my children's book "Lettres Acadiennes" so that she could take it back and show some folks. She has yet to offer me work, but we stay in touch and I remain hopeful. We'll see.
NEXT: Casting about for a hit!
posted by Don Goodrum at 5:33 AM
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