What Lew Hunter says about "Just
Say Yes: Memoirs of a Geezer
"Wonderful! All 'remember when' in the
most glowing ways. His superlative memory book will keep me going
for weeks with the uplifting things he did, which trigger my personal
uplifting things. No matter what vocation anyone has had, these "memoirs" can
well help the pain of the leaves falling off the tree. "
Lew Hunter, screen writer, network executive with Disney,
NBC, and ABC, TV producer, originator of the UCLA Master Class in Screenwriting
and author of Lew Hunter's Screenwriting 434, the best-selling book on
screenwriting.
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How John Broke into Broadcasting
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Since his efforts
to break into broadcasting had been unsuccessful, he finally decided
to start at the very bottom, and became a page at NBC. Six months
later he was selecting recorded background music for Matinee Theater daily
dramas, followed by an eight year stint as an NBC Broadcast Standards
Program Policy Editor (so-called censor). This led to the position which had become his
goal: Manager of Film Programs, where he supervised for NBC such
shows as Bonanza, I Dream
of Jeannie, Ironside, The Man from Uncle,
Then Came Bronson, The Debbie Reynolds Show, The Monkees, and
a series shot in London with Lord Lew Grade called The Strange Report.
In 1970 the management changed
at MGM-TV and Graves moved over to become Director of Current Programming. He
was the executive in charge of the award-winning Medical Center, The
Courtship of Eddie's Father, GE Monogram Documentaries, and
several syndicated talk shows. Since executive regimes at this level
tend to change about every two years, 1972 gave him the opportunity to
become a producer. He helmed Assignment Vienna, with
Robert Conrad, an eight hour miniseries filmed on location in Vienna, Austria
for MGM-TV and the ABC Television Network.
Assignment Vienna
(short exerpt from "Just Say Yes: Memoirs of a Geezer"
Bodies flying through
windows do so with ease in Hollywood productions - because the glass is
really a sheet of sugar and shatters easily. When we finally found
a Viennese artisan who could fashion such a window for an action sequence,
the day of shooting turned out to be in the middle of a record-breaking
heat wave, and the sugar glass, instead of shattering into a thousand pieces,
bent to the touch--a gooey, taffy-like mass. The English stunt
man shrugged, and went flying through a real window.........John Graves
on Assignment Vienna
Read more chapters of "Just
Say Yes: Memoirs of a Geezer " and more mini
reviews
Another teaser from the book....
Just What Does A Producer Do? - exerpt
from Assignment Vienna on location
When
the executive regime at MGM-TV changed in 1972 (it seems to happen about
every two years at that level) my job as Director of Current Programming
was eliminated in the re-organization. My boss (who was also to
be eliminated) offered me the opportunity to produce a mini-series we
had been developing called Assignment Vienna," to be shot
on location in that city--in five weeks. I accepted. I had
never produced anything in my life, though I had been around production
for some twenty years. I'd learn the hard way--by doing it. "It" turned
out to be the biggest nightmare of my life, but also a fabulous six month
education, and door-opener. more
exerpts
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Barbara Eden
I Dream of Jeannie |
The Monkees |
Michael Landon
Bonanza |
“And the
Golden Globe goes to Medical Center!” This was the good
news which our MGM-TV table had been waiting for. The producers, Al
C. Ward and Frank Glicksman, accepted the award, while a bald Cicely
Tyson beamed on. Since I was the executive responsible for this, and
every other series at MGM-TV, I beamed too!
“I wish the
NBC censor would take his hand off my knee.” So remarked
Michael Landon during a silent, darkened lull in a rough cut screening
of Bonanza on the Paramount lot. (I was actually across the room.)
“You’ve
got the job.” Barry Diller, then Vice President of Programming
for the ABC Television Network, had just hired me as a West Coast Program
Executive for the network. But I got a much better job offer, so I
went to Australia instead.
Susan Strasberg, actress and daughter of Lee Strasberg, founder of The Actor’s Studio
and Method Acting, was a guest star on Assignment Vienna, which I was
producing. Before every take, she would sit huddled into a ball, somewhere
where it was dark. When the call came to shoot the scene, she would emit
an extended, deafening, bloodcurdling scream. She said it cleared her
of inhibiting obstructions.
The day before, the two of us spent the day in Vienna’s finest boutiques,
trying to find just the right ensemble for an elegant scene in which she had
to be “dressed to the nines.” Fortunately, even after five or six
shoppes, she didn’t feel the need to clear any inhibiting obstructions
and we found a nice dressy suit.
When
Ray Bradbury and Charles Schulz played a frenzied match of
tennis singles while attending the Santa Barbara Writers Conference,
I was their ball boy.
Hollywood Show Links
I
Dream of Jeanie Online / Bonanza /
The Monkees
