WHAT HAPPENED WAS...                                     (click here for THE WIFE)

In short... the cash came from savings I had accumulated from my acting career. I had about fifty thousand dollars saved up to shoot the film and we shot it for $47,000 (it would have been come in even lower, thanks to Robin O'Hara, had I not insisted on shooting so much more film than we had agreed). In addition to the my cash contribution, the crew (except for 2 PA's) worked on complete deferments (much of those deferments have been paid to the crew thought the sale of the film - I have yet to see a dime of my cash investment in the film). Karen Sillas even took her pay and contributed it to the production despite the fact she was broke and this was forbidden to do so by the acting union.

Additionally, through the Sundance Film Institute and Panavision I received a complete camera package from Panavision for three weeks for free (we only had to pay shipping and insurance).

On a whim, Scott suggested we apply for the NEA grant in filmmaking and to our amazement that came through for around $17,000 just after we finished shooting.

The post-production costs came to about $75,000. Luckily I got an acting job (I actually left the set of LAST ACTION HERO while under contract to go shoot WHAT HAPPENED WAS... When I took the job I asked the LAST ACTION HERO people if they could officially agree to let me go during those two weeks and though they couldn't (for insurance purposes), the production manager Bill Garrity, was a friend and he personally promised he would do his best. I found this most generous and unusual by Hollywood standards.) With the money from LAST ACTION HERO I was able to cover the costs of post-production (again none of that cash has ever come back to me either.)

So the grand cash budget of the film was $122,000. Counting deferments and other ‘in kind' contributions it probably came to a little over $300,000. Not bad for a 35mm feature.

THE WIFE                              (click here for WHAT HAPPENED WAS...)

How (link) I make movies (all two) is that I decide on a script and set dates for when the play will open and when the movie will shoot. Money is not the main consideration. When I made THE WIFE I could afford the play but I only had enough personal money (100k) to do the first week of a three week shoot (budget=300k). I decided in August we would start shooting on March 15 and as the date approached the financing did not appear. I went to a few money people through my acting agents (Gersh at the time). I thought having made one movie (which no one had seen) that things would be a little easier. I also thought the cast and the script would help but no one seemed interested.

Meanwhile, the play was about to open and still no money. Robin O'Hara and Scott Macaulay (my producers) didn't feel that we could make another no budget film (like WHW) - especially since it was a location shoot. We considered the idea of shooting in a studio in New York but I felt that would kill the movie. We also talked about shooting on a location near Manhattan but when we did the math it did n't really save the kind of money that would allow to do it. We also thought about shooting in 16mm or video and I was ready to do that if it were the only way. The only other alternative was to shoot in a week to ten days, basically cutting the schedule in half. Joe and I went over that as a possibility but everything we had worked on would have to e thrown out. It seemed that switching to 16 or video was a better alternative.

And then came the Sundance Film Festival. I flew out for the screenings of WHW and while there met Michael Aglion (who I knew slightly from his having helped produce Karen Young's movie THE PESKY SUITOR). Michael had a relationship with CIBY 2000, the French film company, along with connections to other film financiers. Michael offered to help find the money and I took him up on it. I liked him very much and he seemed to undestand what we were trying to do. At the same time I met Pieere Edelman, another CIBY 2000 person (both Michael and Pieere had idenpendent production deals with CIBY). He also expressed great interest in finding money for THE WIFE - but I didn't know him that well and only had a few brief meetings with him at Sundance (he did continue to call me almost daily during January 94, once I returned from the Festival). Then I won the awards at Sundance and I thought my money problems were over. But I was very wrong. There was as little interest as before in helping us get THE WIFE made and the first day of shooting was quickly approaching.

On March 1 all the alternative ways of making the movie for the money we had did not inspire any of us so I suggested that we just go ahead with the money I had in the bank (100k) and see how far we could get(the shooting budget being 300k). We proposed this to the crew and cast - nobody blinked, so we all moved up to the location and began the final phase (link) of prep and rehearsal. Michael Aglion and Pierre Edelman continued to pursue CIBY 2000 for the funding but that seemed a remote possibility. What seemed to move things along though was Michael showing a print of WHAT HAPPENED WAS... to David Lynch in Los Angeles. After he saw the film, Mr. Lynch suggested that we package THE WIFE with NADJA (a film that he was producing with his wife, Mary Sweeney). So CIBY 2000 was again approached for money and this time they seemed somewhat interested. But the start date less than two weeks away it seemed unlikely, even if CIBY liked the project, they could get us any funds in such short time. Additionally we could not put off the film for even a day. Both Wally Shawn and Julie Haggerty had commitments that started the day we would finish shooting (April 5) And there was the issue of Karen Young's pregnancy. She was more than five months pregnant on March 15 and was starting to ‘show'. We couldn't wait any longer to start, even if the money were available at a later date.

Two week later CIBY called up and said they would fund the film completely (shoot and post) based on the budget that we had put together based on our limited money. We were already shooting and our money was nearly gone. CIBY understood the predicament and wired us the money overnight. I am still astounded at how quickly and with what tremendous faith they dealt with us (and understanding regarding Karen Young's pregnancy - her condition made the production uninsurable so no bond company would have ever gotten involved with us). I believe that without Michael Aglion and Pierre Edelman's connection to CIBY (and David Lynch's) the film would never have been finished.

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