Murder in Kansas -- and the Mini-Series That Les Moonves Lost
May, 31, 2011 1:10 pm | Comments On #Television
Twenty-five years ago, in the halcyon days of TV movies and miniseries, there was that one story that broke, sometimes on the front page of the Los Angeles Times, sometimes in the magazine section, in a regional magazine, on the pages of a national magazine like the New Yorker and sometimes it was everywhere.
The amazing thing about what was once called "Kansas Gothic" was that, unlike most every other scenario, it did not begin with me. Traditionally, something hit me about a story and I became obsessive about getting it, selling it and seeing it made by one of my clients. Religious hypocrites in Kansas? Couldn't care less.
Otherwise occupied, I never flew anywhere to meet with rights holders or lawyers -- the key figures seemed eager to come to me. In fact, I remember a Tuesday staff...
Read MoreOur Very First Vietnam Movie
May, 29, 2011 3:32 pm | Comments On #Arthur Axelman, Bob Banner, Sally Struthers, Television, Television movieColleagues and friends from the agency and network days believe that I was ahead of the game when I put together "Tour of Duty," the 1987 CBS one hour about our heroes in Vietnam. But, actually, when I first got to town in the mid-'70's I sold and developed a TV movie about an MIA soldier that was astonishingly prophetic and wildly successful at a time when no one was supposedly watching NBC.
A writer team, John Herman Shaner (the dentist in "Little Shop of Horrors") and Al Ramrus, heard that I had an interest in original TV movies that were more substantial than Gary Collins...
Read MoreThe Sandra Dee Movie That Could Have Been, but Never Was
May, 21, 2011 5:29 pm | Comments On #Allen Sabinson, Bobby Cassatto, Bobby Darin, Dick Clark, Hy Lit, Movies, Sandra Dee, Steve Blauner, Troy DonahueWhen it broke as a People magazine cover story, it should have been a slam dunk at all three networks. But only ABC showed interest in making a two-hour movie of the week from "Look at Me, It's Sandra Dee," the cover story revealing Sandra Dee's miserable Hollywood life.
Allen Sabinson, the ABC movie boss, was enthused. "I also love the idea of finally being able to depict Bobby Darin, and I want you to see about getting synch rights for some of his hit songs. You know there are at least two major features competing to get a Bobby Darin story made, and I can win this battle by doing it from Sandra Dee's point of view....
Read MoreBuddy Hackett Enters My Life
May, 13, 2011 6:50 pm | Comments On #MoviesI don't remember who sent me the book but it was Owen Laster's client Bob Thomas' not yet published typed manuscript of the biography of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello "Bud and Lou."
A three-day bout with the flu got it personally read quickly. A definite TV movie, I yelled at the dog.
But when I recovered I had several pitches planned for all three networks for six different clients. I was overbooked and it was to be a nightmare week. Some syndicated documentary producer Robert Halmi was in town and I had promised Leon Memoli that I...
Read MoreTaking Lunch With Eldridge Cleaver -- at Scandia
May, 01, 2011 5:14 pm | Comments On #TelevisionEarly '80's and a call to ask if I would want to meet with Eldridge Cleaver, former Black Panther and author of the seminal "Soul on Ice," a memoir of a a radical black militant in prison.
As a good liberal, I had read Cleaver's book and never believed he would be alive and well (and free) to meet with a William Morris agent. But now I saw "Ice" as a four-hour miniseries for CBS and called Dennis Doty, who was handling the network for packaging.
"You want to go to lunch with Eldridge Cleaver?"
He, too, envisioned the mini-series. I went to his office and we both called Donald March, a hip network exec who headed...
Read MoreJoe Wambaugh, Patty Duke -- and the End of NBC's 'Features' Game
April, 26, 2011 12:49 pm | Comments On #Joseph Wambaugh, Patty Duke, Television1987. The soon-to-be-published Joseph Wambaugh true crime bestseller "Echoes in the Darkness" was "too big" to be a theatrical feature, signaling the chase to get it for TV as a miniseries. Wambaugh came to the William Morris Agency to check me out.
The former LAPD detective sergeant, unimpressed with the trappings of Hollywood, appeared to like me enough to sign papers and have me get him something he didn't find himself. Which is not what other agents had done. I immediately got him an assignment to adapt someone else's book at ABC. I also brought him to the head of series at CBS where we sold a one hour about laid-back cops he called "Palm Springs Heat."
Joe was appreciative and brought me a script he had written on his own based on his novel "The Secrets of Harry Bright."...
Read MoreBut What I Really Want to Do Is Direct!
July, 13, 2010 5:32 pm | Comments On #Arthur Axelman, Danny DeVito, directing, Leonard Nimoy, Movies, Roddy McDowall, writingThe late-2009 release of Drew Barrymore’s directorial debut, “Whip It,” earned some positive reviews, albeit limited box office. With this $10 million Fox Searchlight film, Barrymore joined the ranks of colleagues Clint Eastwood, Rob Reiner, George Clooney . Mel Gibson, Kevin Costner, Ben Affleck, Emilio Estevez, Tim Robbins, Tom Hanks, Sean Penn, Ben Stiller, Robert Redford, Denzel Washington, Zach Braff, David Schwimmer and (yes, even the Duke) John Wayne, plus a host of other actors who use their stature and contacts to score a directing gig.
It was the show business bible Variety -- the long-lamented Wednesday “weekend” edition -- that came to my Philadelphia doorstep, where as a 12-year-old I first saw a cartoon of a Rockettes chorus line, all the long-legged dancers kicking, with the caption “What I really want to do is direct!...
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Description
A former senior vice president at William Morris for two decades, Axelman founded the movie for television packaging division, responsible for putting together the elements for more than 150 TV movies, features and series while representing winners of the Tony, Emmy, Oscar and Pulitzer Prize.
Since 2004, he has taught Entertainment Business and Law at UCLA.
He currently has written two half-hour pilots and co-created three reality shows with Diane Raymond.
He is at work on an agency-inspired tell-all novel.
