"There are two ways to win the lottery in Hollywood these days," says Billy Frolick. "One is to sell a spec script to a studio. The other is to go to Sundance and win an award."
And Frolick, a film school grad and Hollywood journalist, knows what he's talking about. Having written for such publications as Premiere, Movieline and Entertainment Weekly, he's been hanging around the lottery winners for years. And the losers, as well.In fact, between writing assignments, Frolick has also been trying to knock down a few doors to Hollywood dealmakers - and now, it looks like some of those doors have, if not fallen, at least opened. But more about that later.
This week he's in Park City to promote his book "What I Really Want to Do Is Direct," which should be required reading for aspiring filmmakers. Frolick spent three years on the heels of seven film-school graduates to see where their dreams would take them. Some made films; some didn't. Some were encouraged; some were discouraged. All grew and matured, and they have still managed to hold onto the dream.
Actually, Frolick, who will be signing books at Dolly's Bookstore, 510 Main in Park City, from 5 to 7 p.m. on Monday, says the dream is what keeps you going. "I went to NYU (film school) myself, and I was interested in the process of pursuing a career with such long odds. I graduated in 1979, and many of the people I went to school with are still in L.A., still trying to do this stuff. That's an extraordinary amount of time. And that tells you how committed people can be to a dream."
Five years ago, Frolick wrote an unpublished magazine piece about those old film-school comrades, and it gave him the idea of following seven new graduates around as each went through the motions of trying to mount a film. "It was very iffy. It's hard trying to convince people to get involved in something like this with someone they don't know. Directing is an image business, and they're very vulnerable to bad press."
Along the way, Frolick got lucky. One of the filmmakers, P.J. Pesce, eventually did direct a script he had written, a Western titled "The Desperate Trail," starring Sam Elliott and Linda Fiorentino. All the hoops Pesce had to leap through - before, during and after the film was made - make for hilarious and heartbreaking reading. The fact that it got made at all seems miraculous.
Meanwhile, another of Frolick's subjects, Marco Williams, seemed to be on an easier road, signing with Disney for what appeared to be a sure thing. Sadly, the movie was never made. "He came extraordinarily close," Frolick notes, "but then it didn't happen. And P.J. looked like his film was not going to happen, but then it did. Just before '93, he was asking what I thought he should be doing for a living.
"This sort of exemplifies the vicissitudes of being a director, which often resemble those of being an actor - waiting for the phone to ring, for someone to give you a job."
At one point, Frolick's research took him to Park City, as he accompanied another of his subjects, John Keitel, who had a short film playing in the Sundance Film Festival. "I saw tons of movies. It's really a very interesting place, because the percentage of interesting movies you see over 10 days is more than what you see in Hollywood for the rest of the year.
"I hung around and kind of made myself a little bit of a fly on the wall. I wasn't there as legitimately as a lot of journalists; I was working on this book. And I had to convince the festival that my intention was to position them as the premiere independent film festival in the world. And I think they feel that I did that. But in '93, it was like, everyone's writing a book, so why should they pay any special attention to me? And a press pass is worth about $4,000 right now."
Though Frolick's festival experience is only a couple of pages in length, Sundance is prominent throughout the book, as independent filmmakers refer again and again to the independent showcase as the place they want to be.
Frolick has maintained relationships with all seven filmmakers, and those friendships are a bonus, he says. But this may be his last book for for a while. Ironically, his own film career has had an unexpected jump start. "I've kicked around Hollywood for so long, and then last June I just decided I had to do this. I literally had a heart-to-heart with my wife and said, `Are we going to stay in Hollywood or not?'
"It was one of those stories that you just don't believe. I wrote a script and the people at Warner Bros. started throwing projects at me. It was what I'd seen happen to a lot of other people, but I really didn't think it was going to happen to me."
His main priority is an independent production he wrote and will direct next month, "Make a Wish," starring Natasha Henstridge ("Species"). But he's also been offered "Beetlejuice 2," with Tim Burton producing and Michael Keaton in talks to return to the title role. He's also got a television deal in the works.
So, what about that Hollywood lottery? Should aspiring filmmakers try to sell that speculative script, or should they make a small movie and hope to get it into Sundance? "For people who love film, the latter is far more invigorating and exhilarating," Frolick says.
"But for people with families and a mortgage, the former will have to do."