Freddie Fields was the Producer or Executive Producer on: American Gigolo, Looking for Mr. Goodbar, Poltergeist, American Anthem, Glory, Millennium, Fever Pitch, Crimes of the Heart, and Victory. But before that – get this – he was one of the heads of ICM (then called CMA) and was credited as instrumental in the careers of Judy Garland, Woody Allen, Henry Fonda, Marilyn Monroe, Robert Redford, Peter Sellers, Steve McQueen, and married a Miss Universe. He set up Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, American Graffiti, and Star Wars.
And I was mentored by him for a year. Unbelievable. I learned more than I could ever put into a blog – about the energy and the deal making behind closed doors. (Only Barry London taught me more.) Here is how it all happened.
Keri is a stunning brunette with a perfect body, the type you would imagine came to L.A. to be a star. But she was only interested in production. I met her out at a bar, through friends, and she gave me her number for business. We met a few times for drinks, then sort of vanished from each-others lives.
I started writing an action script called Hard Knox. It is the story of the stealing of the gold out of Fort Knox during a tornado. The tornado ends up being the bad guy. It had some unique plot twists in it. I knew it was a hot idea. I was on page 80 when I ran into her and she told me she moved to Fields/Hellman. I went in for a talk, and she had me pitch her three ideas. Since Hard Knox was not finished, I pitched that one last, but she knew this was the one. She asked me for a sneak copy. I went home and touched up what I had written and, unfinished, delivered it to her.
In the meantime, I had met a small time Producer that had a film deal at I think Millennium Pictures, plus an open door at some studios. He needed a screenwriter for hire. I don’t even remember his name for sure but think it was Jacque. I only remember his attitude toward the film he was directing in a month. It was a $3 million film, shooting in Vancouver. He called it shit, a waste of time, etc., and something that he wanted to do and flush in the toilet but he needed the money. I felt so sorry for the actors. The story and writing was very watered-down and anemic. He had read Blood, Sweat, and Gold after a lawyer told him I was the best undiscovered (cheap and willing to do ghost writing is how he saw it) writer in Hollywood. He wanted me to do a ghost writing fix on his dream project for a few thousand dollars, so I took it. I was working on that at the same time as Hard Knox, but had not told him about it.
Meanwhile, Keri wasn’t even finished with it when she called me and said, ‘My boss wants to meet you.” At that time, I did not know who the legendary Freddie Fields was, or or what would happen to me if he did a film for/with me.
I walked into his office and there was this 70 year young man, Freddie. We had a fairly formal meeting. He talked about his accomplishments, and was generally seeing me as who I was – a naïve, needy writer with some talent. He had read Hard Knox’s first 80 pages, and said simply, “I can make this a movie.” He brought in Jerome Hellman, legendary Producer of Midnight Cowboy, and they were chummy with me. Then Jerome left. Freddie was for sure the hard ass, hard line deal maker. He said he wanted a free Option on it. I said no. He chuckles and says that it’s okay that I don’t know what’s being offered, and that he promised he would make me a better writer in return. I said it sounds good, but was still too naïve to know what I almost passed up.
After that meeting I had a meeting with Jacque. When he told me about Freddie he asked me if I would give him a copy of the script. I had one in the car from the meeting so I gave it to him. I got his notes on his own lame script and left.
The next day I had a meeting with Freddie. It was my first meeting to discuss how to improve my script, make it a slam dunk. He was very nice, and told me some cool stories about Hollywood. I liked the guy. And I was surely learning. By then I had almost finished the script. It seemed like a deal with him would turn out okay, but, then again, I had good meetings before, and was not married to Freddie if a better offer came in. And they were. I was more attached to Keri. That was my loyalty at that time.
When I got home, Jacque called me back to his house. I thought it was to give me more notes. I entered the house. He was intense! He desperately wanted this Hard Knox. He knew it was a super hit. His connections at Millenium were enough to get traction, and he would attach himself to direct. Then he went into a long diatribe about how evil Freddie Fields was, “He will fuck you over so bad that you won’t even know he fucked you until your ass bleed a year later.” This guy was so crass and insulting on Freddie… it didn’t seem to fit with who the Freddie Fields i had gotten to know. But Jacque went on and on about Freddie being a snake who is too old to make another movie.
