Farewell & Thank You…
But it was time.
Jason & I parted ways with Ricky, my manager-producer, who’s really a full time actor and dabbles in reality television, among many other venture, today. As some know, I came to Ricky almost exactly a year ago through my one-time mentor and friend, Paul Castro, who was a key influence for Jason and myself at UCLA. In fact, i’d have to say that I probably wouldn’t have this awesome partnership, if it weren’t for Paul Castro. The legendary 431 writing group came out of that first class and their’s some real talent in that crew.
I came to Ricky through Paul and Boss, which a lot of you know has been parked – with no official deal – at HWY 61 with Academy Award winning director Paul Haggis attached to direct and executive produce. Ricky got us to Haggis, or rather Haggis former Agent and current Manager Larry Becsey, a good guy and Hollywood Vet. I say “got us” in a loose way. I don’t mean to undercut Ricky’s effort – he worked fairly hard for me for most of the past year – but we honestly stumbled into that meeting. It wasn’t toally cultivated. Larry wasn’t a target. He was an afterthought that weekend of first meetings. Neither of us knew exactly who he was. It was a classic friend of a friend of a friend film industry get, and it got us somewhere.
But, in the past year things have, quite frankly stalled. Not terribly, mind you. Boss is still there and as far as I’ve been able to gather in recon on my own before making this decision with Jason, it’s very much alive there – for the moment. That could all change tomorrow when super-lawyer, Dave Feldman, calls Larry to inform him of the changes on my side of the table. Now, per our signed contract, Ricky’s still a part of that deal, as long as it stays with Haggis, because technically he set it up. Actually, I believe Paul and Ricky are both part of Boss. But I have a feeling that it won’t stay with Haggis. Call it an early hunch. And, I hope I’m wrong, but I’ve got a feeling it won’t in the end. This is, sadly enough, all pretty mundane and typical, as far as Hollywood deal making and development/project acquisition politics and jockeying for position. It’s all done in the name of growing a healthy project, but in reality a big chunk of it, really, is all about maintaining control between various, conflicted parties. Crazy, isn’t it? This is one prime example why it’s so difficult to make a film or show, it costs so much money, and their are such bad projects that come from seemingly good source material.
I do love Ricky. He’s a helluva a guy, with only good intentions. Parts of today actually made me a little sad. But I stress a little. I think deep down, that Ricky wanted this, actually. I don’t think he was enjoying playing career builder anymore. Especially once I partnered with Jason. His communication skills took a sharp nosedive in the past two months. There was far too much of a lack in forward momentum and, even, information. I think our concern arose when, as television staffing season began, Ricky became recalcitrant and impossible to talk to about simply getting us jobs on a show as staff writers for next year. Something he should’ve been able to do easily, but – after awhile – became apparent he didn’t grasp the importance of it for Jason & m career going forward, how it would make the conversation around Boss easier (We would be known entities, with a credit to refer back to.) We finally had a meeting with Ricky a month ago. It was a kind of “we-need-to-address-how-we-work-together” meeting. Ricky made Jason and I wait two hours for him from the initial start time, then had a personal friend – not in the business join us for the first half of what was supposed to be a serious business meeting. Somehow through all this, we had a good meeting – after the friend left and we got down to brass tacks. But, I knew something was up when, on the way out, I asked Ricky point blank about whether he was our manager or not. He waves off the question saying, “I’m whatever, Doc, it doesn’t matter. I’m not going to stand in the way of any deal if I don’t get a producer credit.” At that point in my head, I thought, “Hmmm. Actually, it does matter. And I don’t believe that you won’t stand in the way anymore. In fact, I’m concerned that’s exactly what’s happening.” From there, it was a matter of time. Almost 4 weeks later, it’s done.
Though, Ricky – in all likelihood – will barely notice and it won’t effect him at all. He’s doing just fine. It’s a long story and one I’m not thrilled about – but we attempted to have a meeting to discuss this with him – even by phone. We had a time set for a week. We gave him alternate times. We contacted him repeatedly in the days leading up to and the day of the meeting. He never once indicated a conflict, then canceled a half-hour before. Citing an ultrasound appointment for his expecting fiance – which we also just found out about. So we had to do it by email. Something I am not proud of, but for reasons that – if not clear with that behavior – will become clearer as we move forward – had to be done today to properly break the current contract and get on with our careers. We couldn’t afford several weeks of unreturned phone calls and canceled-at-the-last-minute meetings. The truly sad part if that Ricky has not, in the least, responded to either of us.
And yes, it’s unfortunate, but not unusual at all. This is the second or third manager that Jason has been through. Every single fellow writer I know from UCLA, who’s made inroads professionally, while in school or right after school, as had to deal with this very situation – letting go of that first person who believes in your talent in a professional sense and sets out to make that professional life happen for you, somehow, someway. Unfortunately, most all of them are trying to make some professional life – in a different way than the one they have – happen for themselves. And, unless there’s big success early on, it gets hard to sustain and eventually you find yourself with different needs and different priorities – which is a really, really dangerous way to operate, as a team, in this business.
So there you have it. Don’t fret, though. There’s a lot going on. Boss is still in the mix. Jason and I are really blazing a good, early trail. I think we feel pretty confident we can do well.