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Writer's pictureFrank LaLoggia

AN ELEPHANT NEVER FORGETS: EPISODE 3: CHRISTOPHER WOOD, UNIVERSAL “TALENT SCOUT”

Lots of stories to tell regarding the journey that led to LADY IN WHITE:


Just prior to arriving in Los Angeles in 1974, my short film, GABRIEL, was awarded a Gold Medal at the Atlanta International Film Festival. The festival, at the time, was considered one of the most prestigious in the U.S. The festival offered to fly myself and my girlfriend to Atlanta to accept my award. I accepted.

Once there, I met two charming executives who ran a non-theatrical film distribution company out of New York called Phoenix Films. They were interested in distributing (selling 16mm prints) of GABRIEL to school district film libraries and universities. They asked me if I had made any other films and I told them I had. They decided to make it a two picture deal and picked up WILLOWPOINT as well, the 16mm short film I had made prior to GABRIEL and the winner of the Photographic Society of America Award a couple of years prior. Prior to making the deal with them, I had personally set-up screenings of GABRIEL at universities and libraries up and down the Florida peninsula and sold a number of prints on my own at $350 a pop. I managed to re-coup $5000 of the film's $10,000 budget and promptly returned those earnings to the film's investors. After signing the deal, I never saw another dime. (An early learned lesson in film distributor shenanigans.)


Upon learning that I was going to Los Angeles to pursue a professional career, they put me in contact with a friend of theirs at Universal, “talent scout” CHRISTOPHER WOOD. WOOD, in his early thirties, bespectacled and buck toothed with thinning blonde hair, screened the film and called me in for a meeting. He told me how mightily impressed he was and said that he wanted to run the film for a number of producers and executives on the lot with an eye towards trying to get me a gig directing an episodic television segment. Hell, it had worked for a young guy named Steven Spielberg who was making his way up the ladder in the same manner as well as another young director Wood had “discovered” by the name of Randal Kleiser. Kleiser had made a short film like mine titled “Peege” and Wood managed to successfully launch his career as a result. (Kleiser later directed THE BOY IN THE PLASTIC BUBBLE and GREASE, among others.)


Weeks passed and Wood would occasionally call me to tell me that the screenings were taking place and to be patient. He seemed to take a genuine personal interest and was always pleasant, even fawning over me. Then, one day, he invited me to his Santa Monica apartment to “discuss” where things were going. Upon walking in, I immediately noticed framed black & white photographs of a half naked David Cassidy on his walls. As we sat down for coffee, a subtle seduction began.

I had a decision to make. Drop my pants and remain in this guy's good graces or run the risk of losing my biggest opportunity so far. So, what do I do? I decide to protect my reputation of course and keep my pants securely fastened, thank you! No more screenings at Universal, no more phone calls from my “Hollywood Talent Scout”. Truth is, even though I was closeted at the time, I had “given it up” for countless guys but never in return for anything more than the heady passion mutually shared.


Footnote: Randal Kleiser was gay and well known to be, at least in future years. I used to run into him at a Los Angeles gay bath house called Flex on occasion. Years later, as LADY IN WHITE went into release, I get a phone call from, guess who? CHRISTOPHER WOOD! He congratulates me and tells me how pleased he is to hear of my success! He tells me that he often wondered what had become of me and why I hadn't, deservedly, advanced more in my career...as Randal Kleiser had. Gee, Chris, I'd wondered that as well! Maybe you could enlighten me in that regard?

AN ELEPHANT NEVER FORGETS




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