There are several
moments in your life when you become aware of
character transition. Today sure as hell feels like
one of those moments. I'm not the man I was in
2000, and I'm still not sure if that's good or bad.
But this was one unbelieveable day.
Not only does Josh
know Jim personally, he knows everyone at Comedy
Central - they hang out all the time in and out of
work. They have done business with them forever, 3
Arts Entertainment is a huuuuuuuuuuuuuge
Management/Production company and simply put, they
are the comedy world. Executive Producers for
30 Rock and The Office, and are involved in seemingly
everything comedy-related. He asked me my story and
seemed incredibly interested. He then threw me for a
loop:
"Weller/Grossman
shouldn't have put up their own money, it should come
from Comedy Central"
Woah. So they were
right. Josh said however, they should've negotiated
that with Comedy Central from the beginning. They knew
the type of things I did, and what I would need (or at
the very least should have asked). And this is where
he nailed it - I mentioned the 4tvs IN the
meeting as well as right after we got out. That they'd
be onstage with me, etc. Clearly they knew some
production and planning was involved. They never said
another word about it until August.
Josh looked at my
stuff and really got a feel for the characters, how
they differ from other performers that do multiple
characters. He totally got the "show within a show"
concept for the Comedy Central show and was also
interested in pitching a different sit-com type show
to NBC. I explained to him that I knew of a way
to do a 3 camera shoot with The Egos (never been done
before) that I thought would blow people away, and his
ears perked up. It was clear he was feeling me out,
and spent well over an hour with me. Something that
has never happened to me with a company of their
stature. Halfway through he stopped and said he wanted
to go get his boss to hear all this. At which point I
whipped out the camera:
My
goodness there's a lot going on in that
video for 9 seconds. I know what's
happening. I know there's interest, I know
they're going to call Jim at Comedy
Central and see if they can't intercept
this. Then come back to me with some sort
of offer of a budget, etc. and as you can
see in the video - I'm
excited...
...but
it means Weller/Grossman, the people that
got me into Comedy Central to begin with,
get the shaft. Not that they've made it
really easy to stay loyal, but no matter -
it's a slimey move. It's as grey ethically
as you can get. And that isn't lost on me
at all. Even sitting in that room felt
like cheating on them.
His boss is just
going into a meeting so we just sit and shoot the shit
some more. He says not to worry, I won't lose Jim over
this. He asks me if I could produce the whole thing by
myself for $10,000 and I said yes. And he shook
his head as if to say: "Don't worry about it"
and I just nodded. I made it clear how concerned
I was about Weller/Grossman and wondered where I
could include them in this and he said I was risking
the pilot not being picked up if I bring on too much
weight. Meaning, if a network is looking at the budget
and sees a chunk going to 2 people that are adding
absolutely nothing, it could hurt your chances.
It happens a lot in this business where the
"entourage" so to speak weighs down the entire
thing. I know he's right, but it was kickin' my
ass while I was sitting there. He said: "Listen
you've worked your ass off to get here, you need to do
what's in your best interest." He didn't say it
exactly like that, in fact I'm certain that as long as
I live I'll never forget the exact words he used, but
the sentiment was the same. What doesn't help you,
hurts you. And yes, they did make a phone call to Jim
and get the meeting... but I can't forget that it's my
content that is why we're here. Weller/Grossman knew
that and jumped on-board. That doesn't mean they have
the ability to take it to the next level.
A lot to
process. A lot to fucking process. We waited as long
as we could and eventually Josh had to get to another
meeting, but he assured me he'd be in touch with Jim
soon and this would all be worked out. He needs to
figure out Comedy Central's commitment and then we'll
go from there. It was an incredibly positive meeting,
the like of which I've probably never experienced. But
I was way too trapped in my conscience to really grasp
it. I left...
...they validated
my parking...
...and I went 2
blocks over to Paradigm to meet with Alisa about it.
Lest you forget what this place looks
like:
...it's unreal. As
is a day where you come from 3 Arts Entertainment to
here - and you're not just fucking site-seeing. To
have actual business to attend to at places of this
stature... fucking ridiculous feeling. So I told
Alisa what happened, she was incredibly happy and she
threw in quite a nice little point: "Your credibility
with Jim at Comedy Central is gonna go through the
roof when someone from 3 Arts calls on your
behalf."
And it really hit
me. It really hit me how it alllllllllllllllllll
works. You know why 3 Arts can get that $10,000 in a
heartbeat from Comedy Central, and Weller/Grossman was
hesitant to even ask for a couple hundred for my
make-up guy? Status. Status is why this shit gets
made. You think this pilot doesn't get picked up with
3 Arts and Paradigm repping me? Knowing how good it's
gonna be? The chances are astronomically better. The
production company really matters. Comedy
Central is comfortable with what they know, it's much
less of a risk, and ya know - it's one thing for my
agent to call all-day Friday and Monday and not get an
answer - what happens when Comedy Central does that?
As a business
decision, there is barely any grey. But I'm sitting
here tonight feelin' pretty slimy. Weller/Grossman is
the only reason I got in the door at Comedy Central
and they're gonna get fucked over. 3 Arts wouldn't
have sat with me for 90 minutes without Comedy
Central. In fact, they would've treated me exactly the
way Mangement 360 did in November. 10 minutes, and a
polite pass. <shakes head>
An incredibly busy
afternoon. An incredibly huge character
moment.
