sation, found the card, and wrote Brokow a letter saying that he would be
honored to interview with the William Morris Agency. He started in the
mail room in 1984.
Furie was eventually pro-
moted out of the mail room
and onto a desk as an assistant
to an agent. He left William
Morris a year later to take an
assistant position with the Jay
Michael Bloom Agency, in the
department that handled
writers, where he remained for
13 months. Then it was on to
United Artists for a year to
work in the studio's film acqui-
sition department, where he
watched movies and made rec-
ommendations about films the
studio should purchase and
distribute. Furie's next move
was to Twentieth Century
Fox Films to work for then-
president of production, Scott
Rudin. Three months later he
transferred to work for another
production executive, serving
as a combination executive
assistant and development
executive, charged with reading and making recommendations about
which scripts the studio should purchase and put into development.
Fourteen months into his time at Fox, Furie was offered a job with
independent film company Mainline Pictures, to acquire and develop
screenplays. Eighteen months later, Mainline lost their funding and Furie
was out of a job.
Furie had possession of a screenplay written by Noah Stern, which the
writer wanted to direct. Deciding to produce the $3 million project
himself, Furie enlisted Norman Lear's Act III Productions to back the
first-time producer and writer/director. Thirteen months later Pyrates,
starring Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgewick, was released.
The next project was Tainted Blood, a $2.5 million made-for-television
movie, starring Raquel Welch. Furie's third film, True Crime with Alicia
Silverstone, had only a $1.6 million budget.
What do you like
least about your job?
"The part I like least is
having to make the call
saying, `You came very
close.' Oftentimes, clients
will interview for three
or four jobs and not get one. The other part
I like least is when clients are not working
as much as they'd like to and you know that
they've got a wife, kids, a mortgage, and
they're having trouble making their monthly
nut."--Jonathan Furie
What do you love most
about your job?
"What I love the most is the phone call
from a buyer, meaning a studio executive,
producer, or director, who says, `We want
to hire your client.' Then making the call to
that client and saying, `I have good news for
you today.' That's the most rewarding."
--Jonathan Furie
VOICES OF
EXPERIENCE
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