Always pitch/perform to a friendly room
If you audition for a role as an actor, test your comedy routine, pitch an idea to a network or studio, sing or play your song, or show...
NEVER REGRET DOING WHAT YOU’LL LATER REGRET NOT HAVING DONE
Édith Piaf’s iconic song: “Je ne regrette rien”—I regret nothing - is a good rule to live by. Because, in show biz, even though...
Rule 32: You need more than a girl and a gun
The esteemed French critic and film director, Jean-Luc Godard said, “All you need to make a movie is a girl and a gun.” Here’s a little...
Rule 31: Learn from your forbears
During my childhood, our little movie theater only showed cowboy movies. If you’ve seen one, you’ve seen ‘em all. And who knew who the...
Rule 30: You're either funny or you're not
Comedies rarely win academy awards and few receive critical acclaim. But I hold in the highest regard those performers, writers and...
Here's to two iconic talents - R.I.P.
In the last 2 days, two of my idols in filmmaking left us with a legacy that will remain for decades. George Clayton Johnson wrote two...
Rule 29: If you direct all the principle photography, the studio can' fire you.
By Directors Guild contract, I had ten weeks to deliver my cut of Spy Hard. At the insistence of my exec, I handed in an eighty-page list...
Rule 28: Make sure your preview is for the intended audience
With most movies, especially comedies, there are methods of pre-testing audience reaction. Previews are arranged by a market research...
Rule # 26: Avoid Development Hell
Having directed a summer release studio feature, I signed with an ethusiastic young agent at APA. He told me, “You’re the biggest client...
Rule # 25: Trust no one until proven otherwise.
My studio exec on Spy Hard and his boss, president of Disney’s Hollywood Pictures, came to the set while we were filming. I was...