I Thought We Were Making Movies, Not History

32. Hello to Universal

32 Hello to Universal E arly in 1974, Marvin and I met with Arthur Krim, who had returned to resuscitate the management of UA, to discuss the possibility of a new arrangement. Surprisingly, he proposed a new contract based on the two-picture cross-collateralization formula. That proposal didn’t bother us because, by this time, we preferred the idea of having an opportunity to enjoy the profits of successful films rather than the gross deal with multiple-picture cross-collateralizations under which we had worked for so long. I still felt that the fees he proposed were inadequate, but I was more concerned about our ability to get along well with the rest of the new management of United Artists. Clearly, Arthur Krim and Bob Benjamin were in the twilights of their careers. Primarily David Picker and Eric Pleskow would be making the production decisions. Furthermore, I also knew that there was a great deal of dissatisfaction on the part of the United Artists group with its Transamerica owners. That concerned me a great deal, and I began to think concretely about moving elsewhere. My first thought was the possibility that Universal might be receptive to doing a deal with us. I had known Lew Wasserman, the president of MCA, the parent company of Universal, for many years and enjoyed a relationship with him on a nonprofessional level. Lew had invited me to join the board of directors of the Center Theater Group of the Los Angeles Music Center, of which he was the founding 324 president. He was also very active in industry affairs and had asked Marvin and me from time to time to serve on various industry committees. As chance would have it, my path ran across Taft Schreiber, an executive vice president of Universal, and he seemed aggressive about discussing the possibility of our moving over to the studio. The initial discussions we had were with Taft Schreiber, but eventually he brought Lew Wasserman into the meetings, and then Lew brought Sid Sheinberg, his second-in-command, into the talks. They made a proposal for us to join Universal under a five-year production arrangement. The deal would involve guarantees of generous fees and a 50 percent interest in the profits of our films based on two-picture crosscollateralizations . I felt strongly that this was a move we should make, and Marvin agreed. We informed Arthur Krim of our decision, and he wished us well. We had a long history with UA, and together we had created some extraordinary films. Since our first film, sixty-seven movies had been produced . We had shared many experiences, suffered a lot of heartache, and enjoyed a great deal of pleasure during that long association. But times had changed, and Arthur and his associates had their own problems , both with managing United Artists and its status as a subsidiary of Transamerica. It was not long after we severed our relationship with UA that Krim, Benjamin, Picker, Pleskow, and their whole management unit, in a corporate quarrel, resigned from United Artists and formed Orion Pictures, whose films would be financed and distributed by Warner Bros. Although there was no hint of any of this in our discussions , that issue had to have been in the back of Arthur Krim’s mind when we talked. On the other hand, Universal seemed to really want us, and it made us feel very much at home. At that time, Universal appeared to be interested in creating a group of production units that would supply the major number of films in its program. It had made deals with Hal Wallis , Zanuck and Brown, George Seaton, and Alfred Hitchcock, among others. Steven Spielberg was just on the verge of directing Jaws. Universal seemed to be a studio on the move, it was eager to have us, and I embarked on this new association most enthusiastically. As we had not made a second film to be paired with Mr. Majestyk, it Hello to Universal 325 / stood on its own, with the exception of the cross-collateralized writeoff of the acquisition and development cost of Wheels. Mr. Majestyk proved to be very successful and confirmed the opinion I had expressed to Dick Fleischer when he agreed to assume its direction. When the results of its first foreign engagements came in, it became clear that Mr. Majestyk was going to be a hit...