It might sound like idle boasting, but Kenny Griswold says he doesn't really care that much if people see his movie, "Net Worth." What's more important to him is that he's kept his word by making it at long last.
The Park City entrepreneur-turned-filmmaker claims that he's been talking for nearly 20 years about making "Net Worth," a drama about four friends who start from scratch in Salt Lake City as part of a bet. The only things holding him back were finding the time and money to do it.
"I've been talking about it for so long that no one expected it to ever get done. Not that I blame them — even I was starting to wonder about it," Griswold said during a telephone interview from his Park City office.
However, after Griswold sold his share of Wolf Mountain Ski Resort (which eventually became the Canyons), he suddenly found himself with the time and means to finally make the movie.
"Opportunity was staring me right in the face, and I couldn't make any more excuses. It was either time to get new friends or pony up," he said. "Besides, when I say I'm going to do something, I'm going to do it, no matter how long it takes — and in this case, no matter if anyone wants to see it."
Of course, video viewers will get the chance to decide for themselves whether they want to see "Net Worth," since the independently made drama has been picked up for distribution by the Blockbuster Video chain.
"Net Worth," along with other independent films as "Dogtown" and "Five Aces," were picked up as part of the company's new Blockbuster Exclusives program. The film is now available for rent in most of the chain's stores across the country.
Griswold and his co-producers originally toyed with the idea of releasing the film theatrically, and even held a screening earlier this year to gauge interest from movie distributors.
But the video deal was one too good to resist for Griswold, who sold the film to Blockbuster and will receive a percentage of the video rental receipts.
"A lot of people have asked me why we didn't hold out for theatrical release, but this was the best way for us to get the movie out there and to be able to get some of our money back," he said.
By the way, the Blockbuster deal is strictly for U.S. distribution. Griswold and his fellow producers screened the film at this year's Cannes Film Festival, and have already lined up an international distributor.
Also, it should be noted that "Net Worth" was not the most expensive movie project; it was filmed in 53 days for less than $5 million.
However, despite its relatively small budget, the film boasts some impressive talent. The four leads are Michael T. Weiss (TV's "The Pretender"), Daniel Baldwin (TV's "Homicide: Life on the Streets"), Craig Sheffer ("A River Runs Through It") and Todd Field ("Eyes Wide Shut").
Fortunately, Griswold called in some of the connections he had made as a resort owner and as co-owner of Harry O's, a Park City Club, which has hosted events for the Sundance Film Festival.
"It never hurts to have friends in the right places," he said.
Also, Griswold has been a longtime friend with Weiss, who had committed to help make the project years ago. (The part of womanizing Michael Winslow in the film is based on Weiss, at least to a certain degree.)
The filmmaker also borrowed heavily from his own life. Woody, the always-between-jobs bicycling enthusiast in the film (played by Sheffer), was originally written for another actor friend, Woody Harrelson, and the character is a younger version of Griswold.
"You have to write what you know," he said. "Everything I've ever written has at least a little something to do with my life."
In fact, he said he's toying with the idea of two other screenplays, also drawn from his real-life experiences and friends. And he remains optimistic that "Greenwich," a movie proposal he developed with John Travolta, will finally make it onto the big screen. (The two men pitched that idea to Sony Pictures more than 10 years ago, and it remains mired in development entanglements.)
As you can probably tell, the entertainment industry isn't actually that new for Griswold, who has acted onstage (he received a Los Angeles Theater Critics Circle award for his work) and wrote the 1989 documentary "Champions Forever."
It was after the death of his mother that he was looking for a dramatic change and decided to move from Greenwich, Conn., to Utah. "At that point in my life, I had to reassess my priorities and make sure what I was doing was making me happy," he said.
But he remained in contact with his entertainment industry friends and continued to make new friendships in show business — such as the Farrelly brothers, who wrote "Dumb & Dumber" in his Park City home and who offered him the opportunity to produce the comedy. (He turned down that offer, but wound up playing a tiny cameo part in the locally shot film.)
"I've had opportunities that could have made me a lot more money than I already have, but I still believe that things have worked out exactly how they were supposed to," Griswold said.
E-mail: jeff@desnews.com