Interview with
Robert J. Elisberg
Interviewed by Jenna Glatzer
Robert J. Elisberg is a screenwriter, songwriter and has co-authored a book on world travel. He has also written for such publications as the Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles magazine, and the Los Angeles Daily News, as well as many articles about computers for C|NET, CD-ROM Today, Yahoo! Internet Life, E! Online and others. As a film publicist, his credits have included such movies as "Naked Gun 2-1/2," "The Naked Gun 33-1/3," "Salvador" and "Pet Semetary," and he's written advertising and marketing material for "The Talented Mr. Ripley," "Runaway Bride," "The Truman Show," "In and Out" and many others. A member of the Writers Guild of America, he is a contributing editor of the WGA Website editorial board.
You've written for many different mediums (film, magazines, websites,
songwriting, novels, plays, advertising, etc.) Did you set out for this kind
of diversity, or did these opportunities find you?
First of all, to clarify, it wasn't a novel, but rather a non-fiction book on world travel. Alas, I didn't get to do on-location research. Surprisingly though, sitting in a room under a lamp typing away at a keyboard with a morass of papers and books and notes and magazines spread all over the place among crusts of half-eaten sandwiches is an almost exact-same experience as laying on a sun-drenched, pristine beach in Bali amongst swaying palm trees and banquets of food with the exotic locals waiting on your every whim. Almost.
That aside, my work has probably been a combination of intent and accident, with the former often leading the way to the latter. By that I mean, the more work you do, the more likely it is that unexpected opportunities will crop up. Also, even though my training is for screenwriting (I have a Bachelor's Degree in Film from Northwestern University, and a Master of Fine Arts Degree in Screenwriting from UCLA),
I don't consider myself a screenwriter, but rather a writer -- because that's where the pleasure is for me. So, if someone asked me to write a greeting card, and I had the time, I'd probably be more than happy to do it. I love writing, so what it is I'm writing is often secondary to the process.
(Hey, I had a letter to the editor in this past Sunday's Los Angeles Times Calendar section. Does that count? Oh, sure, it pays in the low zero figures, but nonetheless makes a lovely lining for hamster beds.)
Because my background and training is film, that's what I've most directly pursued. (Well, that, and a career as a letter writer.) However, since the realities of the entertainment world are so tentative, it occurred to me at one point that it was wiser to have my fingers reaching out in as many different directions as possible -- if one area was slow, then there'd be others (hopefully) to fall back on.
Oddly, though, while it all seems so disjointed, most of the directions have some sort of connection.
One thing really does often lead to another. For instance, my work as a publicist got me in contact with a fellow who became a friend and eventually we wrote some scripts together. I spoke with him just last night (as I write this), and had he had signed papers literally earlier in the evening to sell an animated series and will hire me to write some episodes. Through my work as a screenwriter, I became friends with a fellow who's a writer/director -- a couple years later, he needed a song for a movie he was doing for Showtime and knew I wrote lyrics and liked them, and he hired me. (In fact, my composer collaborator was a friend I'd met back when I was a publicist.) The advertising work came from a recommendation of a publicist friend who knew I was a writer and had worked in marketing. The play also came from a recommendation -- this one from someone who was friends with a composer/lyricist who needed a playwright to do the script for a musical he was working on.
The point is that there's rarely one single direct way to getting your work done. As I said, the more things you do, the more likely it is that another path will open up. It's then up to you to decide if you want to take a trip down that road.
What kind of writing do you find most rewarding?
You mean, other than letter writing?
There's a famous quote from Samuel Johnson 200 years ago: "No man but a blockhead ever wrote except for money." That's the kind that's most rewarding. Okay, so I'm being facetious -- though only a bit. After all, the point of making a profession of something is that you sure hope to make a living at it.
But payment aside, I'd say that I particularly love screenwriting and lyrics. Screenwriting has its appeal because I can get so involved in the story and characters, and when things are working well it's such a wonderful job creating a world. But there's something about lyrics that especially transports me -- part of the charm for me (oddly) is more technical than artistic or creative: I love the workmanlike challenge of figuring out a rhyme and making it fit in the correct meter. Balancing that with the storytelling aspect of making it artistic is such a fascinating combination. It's not uncommon when I finish writing a lyric that I have no idea at all how I came up with it. With a screenplay, I can generally work back and figure out the structure that lead through all the words. But in both cases, I really get lost in the work and hours will pass and it seems like minutes.
How did you start making contacts in the film industry?
It's a long, slow process. Step-by-step, things just happen. The actual start, in fact, begins in high school in a suburb of Chicago, named Glencoe. And it even includes working as a camp counselor in Wisconsin. It then jumps years ahead to finishing graduate school at UCLA and getting a seasonal job with the California State Parks system because I loved the outdoors and camping. (I worked at Will Rogers State Historic Park and, in fact, I loved it so much I almost decided against film in place of taking the Ranger test. I didn't, but I stayed at the Will Rogers for a couple years.)
So, how in the world does all this relate to making contacts in the film industry??
At the same time I was working for the state park service, a friend of mine from high school -- see, there's the high school layer -- had a part-time job as a tourguide at Universal Studios. (Of all things, he was studying to be a rabbi. The tourguide job helped pay his school costs.) We'd stayed in touch over the years and when my seasonal state park job temporarily ended for the season, he told me I should apply to Universal as a summer tourguide, since I'd already been giving tours at the state park, knew film and should easily get hired.
After about eight months as a Universal tourguide (the limit, I think, before one's brain fries), I applied to work anywhere on the Universal studio lot. By sheer chance, I got hired as a secretary-type in the publicity department, probably aided by the fact that I had a film and writing background. Eventually, I was promoted to publicist.
As a publicist, I met a fellow named Barry Glasser at Twentieth Century Fox who did the same job I did. We became friends and even wrote a couple scripts together. We've remained friends to this day, and he's done very well as a writer. Among his many works, Barry wrote a wonderful movie a few years ago, "Gold Diggers" about two little girls on a Huck-and-Tom type adventure. We've continued to talk about working together again should the right project occur, and as I mentioned above, he just created that new animated series, on which he's hiring me to write a few episodes.
Similarly, while working as a publicist at Universal, I crossed paths with the head of the studio, Bob Rehme. Eventually, he gave me some side work to do, liked it and asked me to move over to the production side and become an assistant production executive for him. A year later, he left the studio to become part-owner of a major production company. We met on the street one day, he asked what I was up to and I mentioned a couple of screenplays I written. He said to send them over -- and his company liked one of them enough to buy one. It's what got me into the Writers Guild of America.
Bet all of that isn't what you were expecting.
The point here is -- again -- there is no one way to get to the point you're headed. All the things in your life, all your experiences and friendships and business relationships can be built on. That's not only how we grow as people, but simply how we get through life.
(I should mention too that Bob Rehme eventually became president of the Motion Picture Academy and has had a couple of terms. I think he's currently serving in that position. The president is the guy who, among other duties, comes out on stage during the Oscars and gives a two-minute speech that everyone ignores. But I digress...)
Describe the first day you were ever on set for a major film.
I assume you mean working on a set as opposed to just visiting one. I think it was for the
movie "Salvador," written and directed by Oliver Stone. I was hired as the unit publicist (which is the publicist on set during the movie), but only for two weeks, which isn't uncommon for low budget films. It was filming in Cuernavaco, Mexico, so there was a long airplane trip just to get to Mexico City and then I was picked up at the airport for probably a longer drive to the film's office very far outside the city. It was a real jumble there at the office, a madhouse, small and crowded, phones ringing, people crashing into one another, voices yelling over one another, not always successful attempts to make telephone connections through the international operator.
I didn't get to the actual set until the next day, and it was almost calm and beatific by comparison. (And believe me, it wasn't calm and beatific.) I don't remember too many specifics -- there was a great deal of sensory overload. Keep in mind that it was not only my first day on a movie set, but it was in a foreign country...and two-thirds of the people didn't speak my language. Add to that the fact that the "language" (and etiquette) on a film set is foreign, too. I was introduced around to the main folks -- Oliver, the producer, the actors. I think I was just happy to survive it all without making too big a fool of myself and not being called out as a fraud. It was a fascinating experience: we even used the actual Mexican army for one battle scene, with airplane buzzing overhead and special effects bombs exploding all over the place. One of the actors walked off the movie for a few hours (literally -- as I was arriving one morning, he was storming off past me in the other direction, with the first assistant director pleading with him for a couple miles) until being talked back. Another day, the entire crew threatened to strike unless they got their money. (It showed up.) I remember one of my days-off spent with some crew members and one of the actresses exploring the city and gorgeous backcountry of Taxco. And this was all my introduction to being on a movie set.
I think my first time ever on a movie set was when I was a tourguide at Universal Studios, and went down to visit the filming of a movie we had in production, "The Island," which was written by Peter Benchley who had done "Jaws." I felt sort of goofy, because I was required to wear my tourguide uniform which included a pink Universal shirt. (Happily, they've since changed the uniform. Too late for me, unfortunately.) Anyway, the producers had me stand out of the way and move off behind some planking. As I stood there hidden away while the actors prepared for a take, I noticed that my secluded nook blocked off everyone but me and the star of the film, Michael Caine. Right before the cameras were ready to roll, he turned and saw me standing there in my stupid uniform and -- to his everlasting credit -- he didn't scream out, "Who is this blithering idiot hidden away in my private area!!", but instead smiled and waved understandingly.
What's one thing you wish you had learned earlier about the film business?
The importance of staying in contact with people when you're starting out.
When you're beginning, you look around at everyone you come in contact with down there at the lower levels and see you're all lost, struggling and pretty much in the same boat of ineptitude. But the reality is that these are the very people who in 10 years or so who will become the producers, writers, directors, actors, agents and studio heads in positions of responsibility. There are people I went to school with or was a Universal tourguide with who have now done very well within the film industry. Not everyone, and not even most. But it doesn't take many, and there are enough. Fortunately, I stayed in touch with some, but definitely not most.
By the way, I want to be very clear -- I'm not suggesting that one become friends with people because of what they can do for you, or to suck up to people out of similar hopes. In fact, the very opposite: you should become friends with people who will support you emotionally as much as you will for them
-- the film industry is so difficult with so much uncertainty that the one place you can get the support you need is with your friends and you should pick them wisely and cherish them. What I'm saying is that you should simply "stay in touch" with people -- it can be on a business level, acquaintance level, sociable level or as friends -- and be willing to do the very same in return. Don't ignore people because they "can't help you." People will end up being able to help you (and you them) in more ways than you can imagine.
How did you begin working as a publicist, and what was that experience
like?
I explained earlier how I started out as a staff publicist at Universal Pictures -- however, becoming a unit publicist on movie sets was a different matter. And by and large, it was a miserable experience.
The problem is that most people look at publicists as pond scum. (When I later worked on movies, crew members would come up to me and say, literally, "So, you're the guy who's going to lie about the movie." Another time, a producer -- who liked me enough to hire me -- said, "I just want you to know upfront that I hate unit publicists." This doesn't tend to lead towards warm and nurturing experiences. There is one major exception though, and more on that in a bit.
Working on the publicity staff at Universal wasn't all that bad. While you're looked on as a necessary evil, at least you're surrounded by the protection of the rest of the staff. There's a sort of security in numbers. Also, my main job was as the staff writer -- writing is my background, and so I enjoyed it. Doing the actual phone-calling, glad-handing, schmoozing publicity work...well, I never particularly liked that part of the job and was never as good at it as others. But keep me in the office typing away at the keyboard, dandy!
I left that job to go into production working for the head of the studio, as I mentioned before. Eventually, he left and because I was working directly for him, I was let go. I was given the opportunity to go back into the publicity department but turned it down. I decided I'd rather try the more risky route and get back to my screenwriting, while working freelance as a unit publicist. (It worked. More on that in a couple paragraphs...)
Through contacts I had made during my tenure as a studio staff publicist, I was put in contact with a few independent PR agencies, who were looking for people to hire freelance. That's how the two-week "Salvador" came about, and then my first "full" unit publicity job on a horror thriller called "The Hitcher." Others followed suit.
The upside of unit publicity is that there is a lot of writing, which I loved. The presskit includes the production notes, which are basically a 30-page "history of the making of the movie", along with writing the biographies of the main filmmakers and press releases and such. The downside is that you have to deal as a publicist with actors, agents, studios, journalists and all the filmmakers and be a combination diplomat/train conductor who everyone pretty much dislikes and thinks your only acting as a spy on behalf of everyone else but them.
(In the meantime, I did get back to my screenwriting, finished a couple scripts, and sold the one I mentioned previously, to Bob Rehme's company. While this let me keep pursuing screenwriting more actively, I also knew I should keep all the various writing/work doors opened and continued to do unit publicity, as well.)
The one "exception" experience that I mentioned was coming into contact with the Zucker Bros. company, run by David and Jerry Zucker. I've done four movies with them, including a couple of the "Naked Gun" films, and they've been the best publicity times I've ever had. Most of my contact has been with David and, contrary to all the other films I've done, he's treated me as almost one of the family. He directs sitting around a video monitor with his team, and I was always included to be there. In fact, if I had an opinion on some matter, I was encouraged to give it. Needless to say, as writer-director-producer, he surrounded himself by a group that kept you on your toes, and I've learned as much about moviemaking -- and writing -- from him and those films as just about anything I've done.
After a while, of course, I pulled away from doing unit publicity -- the personal treatment and work itself just wasn't something I enjoyed, the Zucker Bros. films aside. That's when I moved more into advertising (writing movie trailers -- which are what coming attractions are called -- and TV ads and so on) and more marketing-based writing. And all the while, I kept up with the screenwriting, songwriting, magazine and newspaper work and anything else I can't think of at the moment.
Continue to Part Two by clicking here
