WEBVTT - Meryl Poster on Beautiful Girls 0:00:00.200 --> 0:00:02.960 Welcome to Movie Crush, a production of I Heart Radio. 0:00:28.840 --> 0:00:34.160 Hey everybody, Welcome to Movie Crush Friday Interview edition. And boy, everybody, 0:00:34.200 --> 0:00:36.760 this was this is a big one. We got the 0:00:36.800 --> 0:00:41.400 opportunity to talk to Merril poster Um and she was 0:00:41.440 --> 0:00:43.160 kind of laughing. I told her a few times during 0:00:43.159 --> 0:00:45.160 the episode that we don't, you know, get the likes 0:00:45.159 --> 0:00:47.680 of her and here very often. But Merril is a 0:00:47.680 --> 0:00:50.279 is a producer, sort of a legendary producer in Hollywood. 0:00:51.000 --> 0:00:54.520 UM for many, many years has worked on Oh boy, 0:00:54.680 --> 0:00:57.280 I mean the list of films that she's had her 0:00:57.440 --> 0:01:03.600 fingerprints on as producer, executive producer, executive in charge of production, 0:01:03.800 --> 0:01:06.600 I mean, you name it, it's um really really stunning 0:01:06.959 --> 0:01:10.880 movies like Chicago and Chuck a Lot and Cider House 0:01:10.959 --> 0:01:14.520 Rules and Copland and Beautiful Girls, the movie that we 0:01:14.560 --> 0:01:17.679 decided to talk about actually UM because that was the 0:01:17.680 --> 0:01:21.119 one that she enjoyed working on the most. Um. It's 0:01:21.120 --> 0:01:26.000 a really, uh pretty impressive resume. And uh, if I 0:01:26.000 --> 0:01:28.120 thought about it too much before we recorded, I probably 0:01:28.160 --> 0:01:30.200 would have been a little too nervous to sit down 0:01:30.200 --> 0:01:33.000 with her. But we had a great talk about producing 0:01:33.640 --> 0:01:35.680 and what that means and how she got her start 0:01:35.720 --> 0:01:38.840 in the business and how scrappy she was early on 0:01:39.040 --> 0:01:42.280 to to make her name as a woman in Hollywood, 0:01:42.480 --> 0:01:46.640 and it was really really cool and enlightening. And um, 0:01:46.720 --> 0:01:48.640 I just want to say to the sort of the 0:01:48.640 --> 0:01:51.760 elephant in the room with Meryl is that she was 0:01:52.000 --> 0:01:54.680 Harvey Weinstein's a sort of right hand person for many 0:01:54.680 --> 0:01:59.520 many years and worked at Mirramax's head of production and 0:02:00.040 --> 0:02:03.480 amazing job during their great, great run of amazing films, 0:02:04.240 --> 0:02:06.760 and um, you know, she was obviously a little bit 0:02:06.760 --> 0:02:10.079 nervous about being interviewed, something that she doesn't do much anymore. 0:02:10.919 --> 0:02:14.200 But you know, she left Mirrormax I think about seven 0:02:14.240 --> 0:02:17.400 years ago. I told her that that wasn't what this 0:02:17.440 --> 0:02:20.239 show was about, and that the criminal justice system had 0:02:20.720 --> 0:02:23.639 had taken care of that situation and there was no 0:02:23.680 --> 0:02:26.880 need to to drag her through that again. And she 0:02:26.960 --> 0:02:30.079 really appreciated that, and I think that was that was 0:02:30.080 --> 0:02:32.560 definitely the right call to make for this episode. And 0:02:32.840 --> 0:02:35.840 but I did want to throw that out there, um, 0:02:35.880 --> 0:02:38.280 because you know, she worked for Mirrormax for many many years, 0:02:38.320 --> 0:02:40.640 one of the one of the great production companies for 0:02:40.720 --> 0:02:43.119 many many years. But we all know how that turned out, 0:02:43.240 --> 0:02:46.760 and I was just thankful that. Uh she is doing 0:02:46.760 --> 0:02:50.680 great and she has a great new podcast with our network. 0:02:51.240 --> 0:02:53.799 Uh not new, they actually have just been granted a 0:02:53.840 --> 0:02:57.200 season two called Call Your Grandmother, which everyone should listen 0:02:57.240 --> 0:02:59.000 to when we're gonna talk about that on this episode 0:02:59.000 --> 0:03:03.000 as well. So here we go with the great, legendary, 0:03:03.120 --> 0:03:06.800 super awesome Merrill Poster, my new pal on the movie 0:03:06.800 --> 0:03:10.120 Beautiful Girls, in kind of a little retrospective of her 0:03:10.160 --> 0:03:17.359 whole career. Are you in New York right now? Yes? 0:03:17.960 --> 0:03:20.880 How's New York right now? I mean it was freezing yesterday. 0:03:20.960 --> 0:03:22.600 I wasn't here. I've been in Florida. I came back. 0:03:22.680 --> 0:03:24.320 I mean, truth be told, I came back from Florida 0:03:24.440 --> 0:03:27.079 last week and I was there for a month. So 0:03:27.639 --> 0:03:31.120 that's nice. As New York still pretty um ghost towny 0:03:31.280 --> 0:03:34.560 or kind of kind of. I mean, when you go 0:03:34.639 --> 0:03:36.520 to certain in my area, it's not. I'm on the 0:03:36.560 --> 0:03:39.880 Upper West Side, so my area isn't. But if you 0:03:39.880 --> 0:03:42.160 go to certain parts of the city, it's really strange. 0:03:42.160 --> 0:03:45.520 Like if you're a midtown it's really really weird to 0:03:45.560 --> 0:03:49.320 see that. It's very upsetting when you see stores closed, 0:03:49.920 --> 0:03:53.920 it's it's beyond upsetting. I hate it. And everybody's going 0:03:54.000 --> 0:03:57.400 like there's like one place to go now, like happening 0:03:58.160 --> 0:03:59.960 place to go now for lunch and dinner. It's like 0:04:00.040 --> 0:04:02.480 the same place. Everyone's like, how come you were there? 0:04:02.520 --> 0:04:04.760 I said, because it's the happening place that everybody wants 0:04:04.760 --> 0:04:07.640 to go to. So they picked that place because it 0:04:07.760 --> 0:04:09.520 used to be you know, you used to have choices, 0:04:10.120 --> 0:04:13.920 but now so you know, there the restaurant at Barney's 0:04:14.840 --> 0:04:19.320 or um, Michaels. I mean, there were so many choices. 0:04:19.320 --> 0:04:24.080 Now it's Avat for lunch and dinner. Really because they're 0:04:24.080 --> 0:04:27.120 doing it the right way. I guess it's a big restaurant. 0:04:27.400 --> 0:04:29.279 Uh well, I'm kind of curious. You know. We always 0:04:29.279 --> 0:04:32.359 love to talk about the people's youth and on the 0:04:32.400 --> 0:04:35.920 show and kind of what inspired and we we don't 0:04:35.960 --> 0:04:39.200 get people of the likes of you on the show 0:04:39.320 --> 0:04:42.200 very often, So thank you for coming on, by the way, 0:04:42.240 --> 0:04:45.440 it's a pleasure. Um. But what was your childhood like 0:04:45.480 --> 0:04:47.400 as far as movies go, where did you first get 0:04:47.400 --> 0:04:51.000 that bug? Um? I probably first got my movie bug 0:04:51.120 --> 0:04:55.280 from my grandmother. My grandmother, UM grew up on the 0:04:55.360 --> 0:04:58.760 Upper West Side and she loved movies. As a kid, 0:04:59.279 --> 0:05:03.040 and she been wrote about skipping school, leaving school to 0:05:03.080 --> 0:05:05.760 go to a movie. So she was more of the 0:05:05.839 --> 0:05:08.880 kind of grandmother who wasn't playing on the floor with us, 0:05:09.480 --> 0:05:12.400 but would take us to see my brother and I 0:05:12.480 --> 0:05:15.040 to see movies. That's when we were with her, That's 0:05:15.040 --> 0:05:17.400 basically what we did. Because she lived in Manhattan, it 0:05:17.520 --> 0:05:21.680 was easy to get there, and and and we went 0:05:21.720 --> 0:05:25.520 to movies. I remember seeing Uh, Well, this frightened me. 0:05:25.560 --> 0:05:29.200 But I remember seeing Chitty Chitty Bang Bang scared me 0:05:29.839 --> 0:05:32.760 a lot. I think it's still yeah. And when I 0:05:32.800 --> 0:05:36.320 saw Wicked, the monkeys freaked me out. You know, I 0:05:36.320 --> 0:05:37.680 went back to that time. I thought it was a 0:05:37.720 --> 0:05:41.120 really scary moving Yeah, the monkeys and then the Wizard 0:05:41.120 --> 0:05:43.720 of oz To always had a problem with the flying monkeys, 0:05:43.800 --> 0:05:47.360 was very scary for me. And then, um, I remember 0:05:47.480 --> 0:05:50.400 her taking me to see Bed Knobs and Broomsticks, which 0:05:50.440 --> 0:05:55.840 is playing at Radio City Music Hall. Um. So she 0:05:55.920 --> 0:05:58.400 took us to the movies. My brother and I a lot, 0:05:58.960 --> 0:06:01.880 and my parents were big movie goers as well. My parents, 0:06:02.920 --> 0:06:04.760 I think they thought they were in show business. My 0:06:04.839 --> 0:06:06.679 dad was in the garment center, and I think people 0:06:06.680 --> 0:06:08.760 in the garment center kind of felt there that they 0:06:08.760 --> 0:06:11.400 were part of the entertainment industry because they would go 0:06:11.440 --> 0:06:15.159 to the Copea Gabana and they would go UM two 0:06:15.160 --> 0:06:18.840 different clubs. I mean, growing up, if we went to Florida, 0:06:19.440 --> 0:06:22.800 um for for Christmas for two weeks we went to 0:06:22.800 --> 0:06:25.560 a hotel called the Diplomat, and you would have a 0:06:25.600 --> 0:06:29.280 group they're called the Fifth Dimension who were playing. And 0:06:29.400 --> 0:06:32.960 so it's just a whole exposure to show business in 0:06:32.960 --> 0:06:37.960 a way. Um, My mom once had me stay home 0:06:38.000 --> 0:06:40.800 from school because she saw that Marjorie Morning Star was 0:06:40.839 --> 0:06:43.719 on TV. Really and she wanted me to see it. 0:06:43.760 --> 0:06:46.120 She thought it was very important that I see that movie. 0:06:47.320 --> 0:06:49.760 So that's cool. So it was sort of always And 0:06:49.839 --> 0:06:52.440 you know, your brother is Randall Poster, one of the 0:06:52.480 --> 0:06:56.520 great music supervisors who done plenty of work but made 0:06:56.520 --> 0:06:59.360 his name with Wes Anderson in large part for his films. 0:07:00.440 --> 0:07:02.719 So you were Randy, we were. Yeah. We used to 0:07:02.720 --> 0:07:07.279 watch the Channel seven movie, um, the Million Dollar Movie 0:07:07.400 --> 0:07:11.560 if you know about that. It was in New York. 0:07:11.920 --> 0:07:14.640 It was in New York. It was the ABC, the 0:07:14.720 --> 0:07:17.800 Channel seven movie, and they had a theme each week, 0:07:18.520 --> 0:07:20.880 and so like Tony Curtis was a theme. So my 0:07:20.920 --> 0:07:24.800 brother and I always used to watch that together you 0:07:24.880 --> 0:07:27.160 got your start in the business. I mean you always 0:07:27.160 --> 0:07:29.840 hear about these classic stories of starting in the mail 0:07:29.960 --> 0:07:35.320 room in Hollywood and that that was your story, right. Yeah, 0:07:35.480 --> 0:07:38.320 you know. I have to say, in my whole career, 0:07:38.480 --> 0:07:41.080 the biggest deal, the biggest thing, was that I got 0:07:41.120 --> 0:07:43.920 the job in the mail room at William Morris. And 0:07:44.360 --> 0:07:47.920 I was the second female trainee to be in the 0:07:47.920 --> 0:07:50.720 mail room because they didn't have trainees, they didn't have 0:07:50.760 --> 0:07:54.640 women in the mail room before, and um, it was 0:07:54.720 --> 0:07:57.480 really a hard job to get. I I went to 0:07:57.520 --> 0:08:02.360 Tulane and I was on this committee and the speaker 0:08:02.440 --> 0:08:05.520 symposium thing, and there was a dinner at the president 0:08:05.520 --> 0:08:09.080 of the university's home and Alexander Haig was being It 0:08:09.120 --> 0:08:11.720 was for Alexander Haig who was speaking, and I was 0:08:11.760 --> 0:08:14.960 sitting next to his aid, a guy named Woody Goldberg. 0:08:16.400 --> 0:08:18.960 And what he was talking to me And if you 0:08:19.000 --> 0:08:21.920 look at my name tag, it doesn't read Jewish Meryl poster. 0:08:22.120 --> 0:08:24.040 But I think if you look at me or talk 0:08:24.120 --> 0:08:29.200 to me, you quickly realize that I am. So he said, um, Meryl, 0:08:29.360 --> 0:08:31.840 you know what are you doing after school? And I said, 0:08:31.880 --> 0:08:34.080 I don't know him a sophomore, and he said, I 0:08:34.080 --> 0:08:37.240 think you would make a great agent. So I said okay. 0:08:37.320 --> 0:08:38.800 So he said, I'm gonna put you in touch with 0:08:38.840 --> 0:08:42.040 a woman at William Morris and see see if you 0:08:42.040 --> 0:08:44.880 can get a job there this summer. Okay, thank you. 0:08:45.160 --> 0:08:47.600 I get in touch with this agent at William Morris 0:08:48.280 --> 0:08:51.080 and she says that they only hire the children of 0:08:51.120 --> 0:08:54.960 agents there for the summer, and that, um, you know, 0:08:55.000 --> 0:08:59.200 there's no openings. Okay, so I had to take I 0:08:59.280 --> 0:09:01.960 was doing, of course at ny U for some credits, 0:09:02.640 --> 0:09:05.160 and at the end of the summer, I called personnel 0:09:05.280 --> 0:09:08.400 just randomly and I was fortunate to get this woman 0:09:08.440 --> 0:09:10.360 on the phone named Ruth Ann Cioni and she had 0:09:10.400 --> 0:09:14.280 just started there. She was an associate and I guess 0:09:14.280 --> 0:09:15.960 they call it human resources, but at the time they 0:09:16.000 --> 0:09:19.240 called it personnel. And I asked her if I could 0:09:19.280 --> 0:09:24.960 get an informative interview and she said yes. So I 0:09:25.000 --> 0:09:27.240 went in there and I interviewed and talked to her, 0:09:27.320 --> 0:09:30.760 and she said to stay in touch, and I went. 0:09:30.840 --> 0:09:35.000 I studied in London that semester my junior year, and 0:09:35.160 --> 0:09:38.480 I sent her postcards. When I traveled somewhere, I would 0:09:38.520 --> 0:09:41.880 just sent her a postcard, and then I came home 0:09:42.000 --> 0:09:45.120 Christmas break and I saw her and she said, there's 0:09:45.120 --> 0:09:48.559 still nothing available. To stay in touch. So the next 0:09:48.600 --> 0:09:51.640 semester I was studying in Florence, and I traveled all 0:09:51.640 --> 0:09:55.200 over and I sent to postcards from everywhere, and I 0:09:55.280 --> 0:09:59.280 called and there was nothing available. And by time, at 0:09:59.320 --> 0:10:01.560 some point my add stop sending money to the American 0:10:01.600 --> 0:10:04.640 Express office and I had to come back and uh. 0:10:04.800 --> 0:10:07.960 I worked as a receptionist in the garment center that summer. 0:10:09.000 --> 0:10:12.120 I went back to tu Lane in the fall, and 0:10:12.200 --> 0:10:13.800 I was in touch with her, and at that point, 0:10:13.880 --> 0:10:16.079 I think at the end of the summer, she told 0:10:16.080 --> 0:10:17.880 me that I needed to know how to type to 0:10:17.960 --> 0:10:21.160 work in the room. So I didn't know how to type. 0:10:21.520 --> 0:10:24.920 Christmas Break, my senior year, I took a short methods 0:10:24.960 --> 0:10:28.400 Secretarial Skills at the Penta Hotel, which is across the 0:10:28.400 --> 0:10:31.040 street from the garden in the basement. I went there 0:10:31.080 --> 0:10:34.200 every day and learned how to type. I went back 0:10:34.240 --> 0:10:36.720 to school for the second semester of my senior year 0:10:37.400 --> 0:10:40.720 and kids are starting to interview. At that time, different companies, 0:10:40.760 --> 0:10:44.080 advertising agencies and whatnot would come and interview students for 0:10:44.200 --> 0:10:47.160 jobs and my friends would say, well, aren't you interviewing 0:10:47.200 --> 0:10:49.280 and I said, no, I'm going to work at William Morris. 0:10:49.520 --> 0:10:51.280 I said, I know how to type, and I could 0:10:51.280 --> 0:10:53.120 be attempt. I now know how to type, it can 0:10:53.160 --> 0:10:54.679 be attempt. I'm not going to take some job I 0:10:54.679 --> 0:10:57.760 don't want. I want to work. I want to work there. Okay, 0:10:58.120 --> 0:11:00.880 So now I'm finished with school and I go I 0:11:01.040 --> 0:11:03.800 actually now get to meet the head of personnel at 0:11:03.800 --> 0:11:07.360 William Morris and he says to me that, um that 0:11:07.440 --> 0:11:09.760 I need a connection, that you really need to know 0:11:09.840 --> 0:11:13.280 someone to get into the program. So I kept saying 0:11:13.280 --> 0:11:15.560 to my parents, don't you know someone? You must know someone, 0:11:15.920 --> 0:11:18.880 And finally they realized that the cantor at my temple 0:11:19.600 --> 0:11:23.760 was good friends with this guy named Lee Solomon. And 0:11:23.840 --> 0:11:27.440 Lee Solomon was a personal appearance agent. In fact, when Kathie, 0:11:27.480 --> 0:11:29.720 Lee and Regis were on, they used to refer to 0:11:29.800 --> 0:11:31.680 him and sometimes you'd see him. He's a guy, you know, 0:11:31.760 --> 0:11:36.080 slick back hair. I think that, yeah, a flower in 0:11:36.160 --> 0:11:39.640 his pocket, very slick. And he booked, you know, for 0:11:39.679 --> 0:11:43.560 Atlantic City in Las Vegas. So I mean, it's not 0:11:43.559 --> 0:11:45.640 when everyone says to me, oh, the cantor your temple, 0:11:45.720 --> 0:11:49.520 but our temple was very small, and I had gone 0:11:49.559 --> 0:11:51.960 to Yeshiva, which is a Hebrew day school, when I 0:11:51.960 --> 0:11:54.600 was younger, so I knew Hebrew pretty fluently. By time. 0:11:54.640 --> 0:11:57.480 It was my Bob Mitzvah, and so I was the 0:11:57.480 --> 0:11:59.280 best student he ever had. I was his prize student. 0:11:59.320 --> 0:12:01.440 It was like a breeze compared to everyone else. So 0:12:01.520 --> 0:12:05.960 I knew the cantor pretty well. It wasn't that bizarre. Um. 0:12:06.040 --> 0:12:08.280 So I met with him for like five minutes, lease Solomon, 0:12:08.320 --> 0:12:09.959 and he said okay, and then I was put through 0:12:10.000 --> 0:12:13.120 the process and it was to me, three different agents 0:12:13.160 --> 0:12:16.200 and they question you and then you start So what 0:12:16.360 --> 0:12:18.800 is it about the mail room? I mean, it's such 0:12:18.840 --> 0:12:21.920 a path to kind of get your foot in the door. 0:12:21.920 --> 0:12:24.400 Why mail room? Is it just because it's the sort 0:12:24.440 --> 0:12:26.920 of entry position or is there something about the job 0:12:27.000 --> 0:12:31.200 specifically putting you in touch with people at the company constantly? Well, 0:12:31.280 --> 0:12:33.760 I mean at the time, it was it was what 0:12:33.840 --> 0:12:35.560 I should do, you know, I didn't know to be 0:12:36.200 --> 0:12:38.720 I didn't know anything else. Maybe a page program at 0:12:38.720 --> 0:12:41.760 one of the networks, but I just knew of that 0:12:41.800 --> 0:12:45.280 as an entryway, and I didn't know what it really entailed. 0:12:45.320 --> 0:12:47.640 I just knew that that's how you get in. And 0:12:47.840 --> 0:12:50.160 so you really do work in the mailroom. I really 0:12:50.160 --> 0:12:53.559 did work in the mail room. UM you read at 0:12:53.600 --> 0:12:55.880 that time, you could read all the all the emails, 0:12:56.000 --> 0:12:58.959 not all the emails, all the memos. And they also 0:12:59.000 --> 0:13:03.280 would um they would have all the meeting minutes. They 0:13:03.280 --> 0:13:06.920 would transcribe the minutes from all the meetings, the different meetings, 0:13:07.000 --> 0:13:11.760 whether it be from TV, talent, music, they all had 0:13:11.760 --> 0:13:13.679 their meetings and they were all too inscribed, so you 0:13:13.720 --> 0:13:16.520 could UM read the minutes. You could take home. You 0:13:16.600 --> 0:13:18.240 take home them. It's too hard to read all of 0:13:18.280 --> 0:13:22.800 them there, but you could take home the minutes, right, 0:13:22.960 --> 0:13:26.400 and that's how you learn. And then they also would 0:13:26.559 --> 0:13:28.800 for the who their clients were, they were in bold 0:13:29.080 --> 0:13:31.400 and a memo clients were in bold, so that's how 0:13:31.440 --> 0:13:34.320 you learned too the clients were as well. And then 0:13:34.720 --> 0:13:39.880 UM and then you would uh read scripts. And when 0:13:39.880 --> 0:13:42.400 you delivered mail like the you would try to get 0:13:43.160 --> 0:13:46.120 the card to be on the floor of what you 0:13:46.160 --> 0:13:47.520 wanted to get into. So if you wanted to get 0:13:47.520 --> 0:13:50.080 into music, you would take that card or books or 0:13:50.120 --> 0:13:54.560 whatever it was. So I wanted to be in UM 0:13:54.679 --> 0:13:58.320 in casting, I guess, and so I would take that 0:13:58.360 --> 0:14:00.440 car and then they'd ask you to read scripts sometimes 0:14:00.440 --> 0:14:03.800 the assistants and cover it so and then sometimes you'd 0:14:03.800 --> 0:14:07.680 fill in on a desk when somebody was out and 0:14:07.760 --> 0:14:11.080 it was really fun. I really enjoyed it. Um. But 0:14:11.120 --> 0:14:14.400 they didn't have women delivering packages, so that was good. Also, 0:14:14.440 --> 0:14:16.400 they didn't put us on the subway to deliver packages, 0:14:16.400 --> 0:14:18.400 so we stayed in the house. I mean sometimes you 0:14:18.440 --> 0:14:22.080 did little um runs of some sort, but nothing big. 0:14:22.480 --> 0:14:25.440 And then about six months, no really, about three or 0:14:25.440 --> 0:14:28.080 four months into working in the mail room, I get 0:14:28.080 --> 0:14:30.680 a message that the president of William Morris wants to 0:14:30.680 --> 0:14:33.680 meet with me. And I'm like, oh god, I know 0:14:33.720 --> 0:14:35.120 I put the mail in and I took the mail 0:14:35.120 --> 0:14:39.960 out certain of it. And so he um asked me 0:14:40.080 --> 0:14:42.280 if i'd like to work for him. That he had 0:14:42.280 --> 0:14:46.240 a regular secretary and she came into like eleven and 0:14:46.240 --> 0:14:50.240 he get in earlier. So, um, you know, when I 0:14:50.280 --> 0:14:52.240 come work, you know, and it's not like I can 0:14:52.280 --> 0:14:55.160 say no. So I was like, okay, it wasn't my 0:14:55.240 --> 0:14:58.800 ideal per se, because it wasn't a training desk. As 0:14:58.840 --> 0:15:01.040 he was the president, he didn't as many clients. It 0:15:01.080 --> 0:15:05.160 wasn't like I listened in on the phone calls. So um, 0:15:05.200 --> 0:15:07.640 in the morning, I would get there and he would 0:15:07.680 --> 0:15:10.400 call me from his apartment he was two blocks away, 0:15:10.440 --> 0:15:12.320 to ask me for breck, tell me what he wanted 0:15:12.360 --> 0:15:17.040 for breakfast. And at the time, unfortunately for me, the 0:15:17.080 --> 0:15:20.800 cook had quit, so I had to order it from 0:15:20.840 --> 0:15:24.000 the deli across the street, and then I would have 0:15:24.040 --> 0:15:25.480 to call down to the mail room to pick it 0:15:25.560 --> 0:15:28.760 up because I couldn't leave my desk, so they would 0:15:28.760 --> 0:15:30.160 bring it to me and then I would transfer it 0:15:30.200 --> 0:15:32.800 into China. But it was nothing. It was like toasting coffee. 0:15:32.800 --> 0:15:35.880 It was really not a big deal what he ordered. Um, 0:15:35.920 --> 0:15:39.080 And so how did I did that? And then I 0:15:39.160 --> 0:15:44.000 also read magazines and highlighted all the clients and the newspapers, 0:15:44.360 --> 0:15:46.280 and someone would come up and they'd see me reading 0:15:46.320 --> 0:15:48.280 people magazine like, oh my god. I said, no, this 0:15:48.360 --> 0:15:55.880 is my job. I have to do this and so um. Simultaneously, UM, 0:15:55.920 --> 0:15:59.720 I covered the visiting office that was next door, and 0:16:00.000 --> 0:16:03.760 that was when mostly board members from l A came 0:16:03.800 --> 0:16:05.600 into town and they used that office, so I worked 0:16:05.600 --> 0:16:08.080 for them. So I got to know people from l 0:16:08.120 --> 0:16:12.640 A because and high ranking people because um they were working, 0:16:12.920 --> 0:16:14.920 I was helping them. And also the chairman of William 0:16:14.920 --> 0:16:18.040 Mars was in that suite also, so I got to 0:16:18.040 --> 0:16:20.320 know him as well. Wow, so you get a job 0:16:20.360 --> 0:16:22.960 where you're sort of know all the inside ins and 0:16:22.960 --> 0:16:26.200 outs and then you ingratiate yourself to people by working 0:16:26.240 --> 0:16:30.320 hard and hustling, and that's that's how you do it. Well. 0:16:30.360 --> 0:16:33.160 Then I went to Mr Stevens and I said to him, 0:16:33.200 --> 0:16:36.680 because someone had someone had gotten a really good trainee job. 0:16:36.680 --> 0:16:40.200 It was actually on Kevin Eubane's desk, and I didn't 0:16:40.200 --> 0:16:42.280 have the opportunity and the girl, the girl who got 0:16:42.280 --> 0:16:44.080 it is actually one of my best friends now. But 0:16:44.160 --> 0:16:47.360 I despised her because she came from out. She came 0:16:47.600 --> 0:16:49.680 from not in the program at all, she just came 0:16:49.720 --> 0:16:51.720 from the outside and she got to be his assistant. 0:16:52.280 --> 0:16:54.760 So I said, I complained to Mr Stevens about it, 0:16:54.760 --> 0:16:57.040 that it wasn't fair and being at his desk, I'm 0:16:57.040 --> 0:16:59.960 not having those opportunities. So then he said, okay, I 0:17:00.560 --> 0:17:03.280 hear you, and then ultimately put me with a woman 0:17:03.320 --> 0:17:06.560 who is head of casting for talent for head of 0:17:06.560 --> 0:17:09.160 casting at the department. It's called how it was called 0:17:09.160 --> 0:17:12.600 talent casting, then it's called talent now. Now is that 0:17:12.680 --> 0:17:17.080 Did you get your start before you started producing in casting? Yeah, 0:17:17.119 --> 0:17:19.800 I mean I wasn't really casting. You put together lists, 0:17:20.440 --> 0:17:23.760 but it was being It was being an assistant. And 0:17:23.880 --> 0:17:25.920 the thing about being an assistant at William Mars or 0:17:25.960 --> 0:17:28.639 at any of the agencies is that you really trained. 0:17:29.240 --> 0:17:32.360 You don't get training at production companies the same way 0:17:32.400 --> 0:17:34.800 you do at an agency. You learn, you see the 0:17:34.840 --> 0:17:37.399 whole big picture. When you're at a talent agency, you 0:17:37.400 --> 0:17:41.120 know who everybody is, You have everybody's phone number. Those 0:17:41.160 --> 0:17:42.960 are the days of you know, there's no computer or 0:17:42.960 --> 0:17:46.760 cell phone. I still have certain numbers memorized. I tell 0:17:46.880 --> 0:17:48.760 Susan by Mal, who's a manager. I said, I can 0:17:48.760 --> 0:17:52.560 still remember because she represented um Marissa Tomei, who I 0:17:52.640 --> 0:17:55.520 worked with a lot the client, and I still remember 0:17:55.520 --> 0:17:58.679 her phone number. There's some phone numbers that you just remember. Yeah, totally. 0:18:07.720 --> 0:18:10.000 Now we've talked a lot about on this show about 0:18:10.119 --> 0:18:12.199 and you know, my limited work in the film industry 0:18:12.240 --> 0:18:13.480 over the years. I used to p a and do 0:18:13.600 --> 0:18:16.159 art department stuff and the stuff you should know how 0:18:16.200 --> 0:18:19.080 a one season TV show, and I've tried to explain 0:18:19.119 --> 0:18:21.800 to people. I think there's a lot of confusion to 0:18:22.080 --> 0:18:26.000 general listeners and movie fans about what producer means because 0:18:26.040 --> 0:18:28.840 there's so many kinds of producers. My wife was a 0:18:28.880 --> 0:18:32.240 producer for a while. Kind of can you break down 0:18:32.400 --> 0:18:34.199 sort of a bird's eye view of some of the 0:18:34.240 --> 0:18:37.640 different kinds of producers and then ultimately what you did 0:18:37.680 --> 0:18:42.520 as a producer? Okay, well, um, there really are all 0:18:42.600 --> 0:18:46.040 different kinds of producers. When people want you to define 0:18:46.160 --> 0:18:49.240 what does a producer do? There are all different kinds 0:18:49.280 --> 0:18:52.800 of producers. And I think the number one thing about 0:18:52.840 --> 0:18:57.520 a producer is problem solving. That that's really a key, 0:18:58.520 --> 0:19:04.800 A key characteristic is problem solving. And um, I was 0:19:04.840 --> 0:19:08.639 an executive, but the way that my company operated was 0:19:08.680 --> 0:19:11.840 that we were very produced OIO. So we weren't like 0:19:11.840 --> 0:19:14.200 like they would they would call someone a suit. As 0:19:14.200 --> 0:19:17.560 an executive, we were in suits, we were in the 0:19:19.359 --> 0:19:20.960 we were in with them. We were in the trenches 0:19:21.000 --> 0:19:24.960 with the filmmakers and often guiding it much more so 0:19:25.040 --> 0:19:29.040 than a producer. Okay, we would take a lot of responsibility. 0:19:29.600 --> 0:19:33.080 So uh, for I think the best way I can 0:19:33.320 --> 0:19:36.080 I can give you examples of movies and what the 0:19:36.119 --> 0:19:39.719 producer did on this one or that one? Um, well, 0:19:39.760 --> 0:19:41.119 should we talk about the movie that we're going to 0:19:41.200 --> 0:19:43.080 talk about and how I could say that producer or 0:19:43.119 --> 0:19:44.880 do you want to wait? Let's wait on that one. 0:19:45.160 --> 0:19:47.399 But can we go through some of your other movies, 0:19:47.440 --> 0:19:50.719 because you've you've worked on some of the greatest movies 0:19:51.280 --> 0:19:54.119 that have ever been made and some of my favorite movies. Uh, 0:19:54.160 --> 0:19:57.520 And I did want to talk about Copland. I think 0:19:57.560 --> 0:20:01.640 that was James Mangold's first film, right, No, kate Leopold 0:20:01.680 --> 0:20:04.400 was no, Heavy was his first movie. Actually, that's right, 0:20:04.400 --> 0:20:06.800 that's right, Okay, with that he did, Yeah, then he 0:20:06.840 --> 0:20:09.960 did Copland and he did kate Leopold, right well, yeah, 0:20:10.119 --> 0:20:13.000 I think so for Copland, like, what did you do 0:20:13.200 --> 0:20:17.919 on that movie compared to other films? Well, on that movie, 0:20:18.480 --> 0:20:22.760 I had worked with the producers, Carrie Woods and Kathy Conrad. 0:20:22.800 --> 0:20:24.520 I'd done a bunch of movies with them before, so 0:20:24.560 --> 0:20:28.359 I was really sort of part of their team. And 0:20:29.760 --> 0:20:32.320 he had wanted I remember that, it's the things that 0:20:32.359 --> 0:20:35.840 you remember. So Jim had wanted Nick Cage for the part, okay, 0:20:35.960 --> 0:20:38.960 for the Stollane part. Yeah, Okay, that's what he wanted. 0:20:38.960 --> 0:20:42.360 He wanted Nick cage and I don't remember what happened. 0:20:42.440 --> 0:20:46.119 All I remember is that I've been in London on 0:20:46.200 --> 0:20:48.159 a movie and I came back to the office a 0:20:48.200 --> 0:20:52.040 Tribeca Film Center and I walked into a press a 0:20:52.240 --> 0:20:56.639 press um, what is it? A press press junk? No 0:20:56.880 --> 0:21:01.359 press conference, a press conference, and it they're sitting at 0:21:01.440 --> 0:21:04.840 it's being announced that Sylvester Stallone is playing the part. 0:21:05.400 --> 0:21:08.920 I didn't even know that was happening. And I'm not sure. 0:21:09.280 --> 0:21:12.159 I mean, ultimately Jim was very happy about it, but 0:21:12.280 --> 0:21:15.080 at the time I don't know how thrilled he was 0:21:15.119 --> 0:21:17.840 about it. Yeah, it ended up being a great part 0:21:17.960 --> 0:21:20.360 for still and here and you know, a lot of accolades. 0:21:20.400 --> 0:21:23.480 I think. I think he was pretty great in it. Yeah, 0:21:23.520 --> 0:21:26.680 But I will say one of the worst part, one 0:21:26.680 --> 0:21:29.320 of the worst things about being in the movie business, 0:21:29.400 --> 0:21:34.320 at least for me, was research screenings. And we remember 0:21:34.359 --> 0:21:37.840 the first research screening we had. A research screening. I 0:21:37.880 --> 0:21:40.240 don't know if your audience knows, is when you recruit 0:21:40.280 --> 0:21:43.199 people to see a movie. When the movie's over and 0:21:43.240 --> 0:21:45.840 you don't do and when the movie is over, you 0:21:46.040 --> 0:21:49.080 passed out a questionnaire. People fill out a questionnaire and 0:21:49.119 --> 0:21:51.960