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entry unlocked
05.19.09
8:08 PM, Thursday,
December 20th, 2007:
You know, you were
a smart mofo 6 years ago. But in true Adam fashion you
gave someone a second chance assuming they grew as
much as you did in that time. Unfortunately, I think
you need to admit fault before that can begin and we
all know that ain't happenin'. Isn't it
wonderful though, to be able to handle it with such
ease? Considering your opportunity was even
bigger this time? Says a lot.
To an
almost laughable degree, Charlotte is
clearly not management material. It is
literally so obvious that when it
eventually comes up with her I can't
imagine there being too much of a squabble
over it. Ineptness is one thing, but the
inability to accept fault is far more
detrimental...just as it was last time
around.
So why
the entry? It's actually quite important
for me to lay it out - even if it's locked
forever (although nothing in here will be
worse than what's unlocked in 2002). I
need to remember specifics. Because
honestly, I like her. I enjoy talking
with her, we generally get along. Many of
the same views on things. But dear jesus
is she a bad manager.
She has literally
rubbed every single person she's had contact with in
regards to me, the wrong way. All of them. The list is
actually funny.
-Bob Saget. She
annoyed him so much that his agent finally yelled
at her. I thought nothing of it at the time, she
was trying to get ahold of him and did the best she
could.
-Charlotte
booked 3 shows the entire first year we were
together with The Trinitrons and none of the
executives she ever promised ever showed. I gave
her the benefit of the doubt. An assistant from
Paramount finally showed up at The Comedy Store
(which I booked through a friend), but even
that was a disaster.
-Belinda/Mitzi/Duncan
at the Comedy Store. Still don't know what happened
here. It's such a convoluted story. Basically I
killed at the Comedy Store. Belinda who ran
the night said Mitzi just called and that I'd be
playing the big room from that point on, several
shows. Never played there again. She pissed off
both Duncan and Belinda to the point of not
speaking. I spoke with Duncan personally 6 months
later and he said: "no one here appreciated how
pushy she was." Never spoke to Belinda, so don't
know what happened there. Everything was in her
hands so it doesn't really matter why it
didn't work out - it didn't. And when you're the
boss, it falls on you.
-Aspen? What a
nightmare. Looking back she had so much control of
that situation that I can't even begin to
understand exactly what was happening. Everything
was second hand, I never met or performed for any
of the judges. Everything felt fishy. It blew up in
our faces, we never got in after her spending an
entire year saying that was the goal... and then
had the audacity to say "your expectations were too
high". Christ. The next year I submitted
myself again and my contact there said clearly:
"Your show is great, but it's not Aspen material at
all. Not sure if you have ever seen the acts
at Aspen - but this doesn't belong there." Once
again proving the ineptness of Charlotte devoting a
year of my time to this.
-The Paramount
meeting gained from the assistant at The Comedy
Store was with a casting director who lambasted me
for not having a headshot and resume. Something
Charlotte said specifically that I didn't
need. The CD looked at me and said... the fuck? How
am I supposed to help you? My headshots
weren't done yet and it's clear that the
appropriate thing to do as a manager would be to
make the appointment after that. She blamed
it all on the casting director which at the time I
had little reason not to believe. She even turned
it on me that if I don't get a callback for a pilot
than it's clear I didn't perform well in the
meeting. LOL! Classic.
-She had
nothing to do with The Early Show, in fact Mike
Lane's girlfriend at the time is who told him, who
later emailed me. When I was in NY to try and
pitch something her ideas was for me to be an
on-air host each week introducing the acts.
Although it seemed like a great idea, it had
nothing to do with what ended up happening. Their
idea was a web show and the only thing that got me
that was me staying in NY for a month and
bugging Tammy. My persistence, period. The reason
I still took her on as a manager was basically
to mend old wounds as I knew she had put her
heart and soul (and money) into the original
Trinitrons with nothing to show for it. Once I got
the CBS gig I figured now that we were "in the
game", she'd really be able to use her expertise to
help out. Wrong.
-The first
round of negotiations was one debacle after the
next. Charlotte was going by guidelines in the
guilds that had no barring on CBS as they hadn't
signed or agreed to those guidelines. A point that
was later brought out and made us look like idiots.
They certainly played hardball, and I can't fault
Charlotte too much because we did get more money
when it was all said and done. But they were pretty
pissed at her, and it really came out the next time
around.
-In the span of
2 days of shooting on set, she managed to piss off
every single person there. This I saw with my
own eyes and am befuddled at how it's even possible
with the people in question. Like the mellowest
people ever. Jim the producer, Tyson, Jodi,
Hunter. She was just really pushy and arrogant,
didn't really seem like a big deal to me as I was
used to it, and kept telling people how to do their
jobs. I finally got a call from Jim asking if
she please never come around again because not only
did she piss him and Hunter off, but everyone in
the make-up room. When I came back Tyson and Jodi
(makeup) were beside themselves literally saying:
"How do you put up with that?". I thought they were
kinda being over-sensitive but come on, they're
dealing with stars and agents and all of that shit
daily. For them to say that is hard to
ignore.
-The second
contract negotiations pissed off CBS so bad they
said they would never speak to her again, dealt
directly with me and said quite clearly: "If we
every have to deal with her again, you will not be
working here." If it wasn't for Steve telling them
to call me directly, it was over. They were
ready to walk. Now although I was never able to
hear the phone calls she made, I did eventually
read the emails and they seemed fine to me. They
were stern, but nothing I could see that would
create such anger on their end. Hell, it could've
been CBS all along but the bottom line is (and this
is the point of the century folks) - it doesn't
matter. Right and wrong doesn't matter here. Me
thinking the emails seemed cool doesn't matter. I'm
not a manager. I don't know how to negotiate with
television studios. That's why I hired you. If
they're so pissed at you that your client now has
to negotiate WHILE he's writing and producing
the episodes, you've fucked up. I had to do her job
for like 3 weeks, and play actor, writer, director,
editor AND pay her 15% the whole time.
-And finally -
where are we? A year on national television
over 30 national TV appearences and mentions and
where are we? She did nothing. I was so busy
with the work, I barely had time to ride her -
but starting in June I made it very clear that we
couldn't leave CBS empty handed. I had a
feeling we had burned the bridge so bad that this
was it and something had to develop before the gig
ended. Yeah. Nothing. Not one audition, not one
meeting, nothing. After Steve got fired (end of
August), I begged. Said, listen I really need
you to hustle on this I can't do this by myself.
All she could say is I had to write the sitcom
pilot and bible for The Egos to pitch to a studio.
(sigh). I just wasn't doing enough.
When the gig
did end (end of September), still nothing. She
finally sent me on a website commercial audition
for Schick, the Soapnet audition (which she says
she still hasn't gotten an answer on), and then
another strange Soapnet type promo or something?
That's it guys. Begging, pleading. Send me on
ANYTHING. PLEASE. Now of course the writer's strike
hit in November and by the 15th - almost everything
was gone and that's where we stand
today.
Add onto all of
that, I know of zero successful stories from any
of her other clients. I think she said one girl got a
holding deal that fell through (which is actually
quite a coup to pull off) and a few actresses in a
some small roles. Everything writing wise has never
panned out (again, from what I know, she's quite
private about it), and there's just an overwhelming
feeling that she has no idea what she's doing.
The thing is, this
time as opposed to 2001/2002? I've done my part man.
The material is incredible, when the pressure was on
me I outperformed every, single, time. I wrote
every single episode by myself as well as acted and
produced and editing them. I fought for The Price is
Right and got it, I fought for Young
& The Restless, and got it. That was all my
doing and I succeeded and succeeeded and succeeded.
When the ball was in my court, when the spotlight was
brightest on me I never failed. You're never gonna
find a client work harder or be more willing to do
anything you need... except actually believe in you
after all I described above. I mean I would
have to be in a mental institution before I let
her negotiate a deal for me ever again. Luckily in the
last case, everyone that she pissed off is no longer
with CBS and Steve and I are still friendly and
talking so - whatever bridge was burned afffected the
CBS situation very little. What is unforgiveable
is how little she did other than that.
I won't blow up
the house of course until I have another
agent/manager. A very hard thing to pull off and now
with the strike - on indefinite hold. No one wants to
take anyone on until that's resolved. So hopefully
anything that happens with us for the next few months
will be commercials and whatnot where there's no
negotiating involved and she can't fuck anything else
up. I'll keep in contact with Steve and Tammy and keep
on scheming. Yeah, I'm back to square one, but the
shit is good man. The last few episodes of The Egos
were astounding, it's just a matter of time
until the rest of the world catches on.
...but can you
imagine if I had real representation this
last year? Wow. This could've been pretty
special.
