Teddy Zee Q&A Called his assistant Jeff. Called back Friday afternoon with Teddy on line. Overbrook was begun around early 1999. Overbrook Music released Wild Wild West Soundtrack June 15, 99. Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith Click for larger view Will Smith signs on Sony's dotted line By Kit Bowen, Hollywood.com Staff HOLLYWOOD,  January  31, 2002 -- Will Smith is on top of his game these days. The actor's production company, Overbrook Entertainment, has recently signed a three-year, first-look deal with Sony Pictures Entertainment, which released Smith's current film Ali and will be releasing the summer sequel Men in Black 2. Where did you go on vacation? To the Caribbean. When did you move to Overbrook from Davis Entertainment? About two years ago. Why did you make the switch? It was a great opportunity to work with one of the biggest stars in the movie business. Does Overbrook have an agreement with one of the studios? We have an areement with Columbia Pictures as a first look. Overbrook is a partnership betwen Will Smith and James Lassiter. In this day and age with the business shrinking you need a competitive advantage. Will Smith is a magnet as a personality and the things he does, whether it's music or action or comedy, it's almost a brand. People want to be in business with Will and it allows me to have a competive advantage. How long were you at Davis Entertainment? I was there a little over 3 years. It's a great company and they do a lot of things but there you're just another production entity. Weren't you the president of production at Davis? It's a great company but when you're there, you have to compete with every other company in town for every script that comes out and it's a real rat race. When I'm here with Will Smith, we get the best scripts. Everyone picks up the phone and wants to be in business with you. They call you. That's the difference. So you're the one that's courted. It's a two-way street. Now when I call, it's not just, 'Teddy Zee -- do him a favor since we have a relationship with him. Now Teddy Zee is offering something. He's offering a piece of the magic. Any projects you're excited about at Overbrook? Yeah, there are a number of them. We haven't announced it yet, but one is going to be shot half in Mandarin and half in English. What's the title? I really can't talk about it but we're gonna start very soon. It's a really small movie. It's a cross between big fat greek wedding and Ang Lee's Wedding Banquet. That sounds interesting. It's so delicious. We've got a great cast. Your name seems almost synonymous with agenting. The only reason it's synonymous with agenting is because there was a TV show on called The Amazing Teddy Z and the character was an agent. And in truth, I've never been an agent in my life. The creator of that TV show, Pete Wilson, had an office upstairs from me and just loved my name and borrowed it. That's why it's been that way. The Teddy Z. thing is baffling for a lot of people. How did you feel about this guy just taking your name? The funny thing was, I was actually flattered. I had only discovered it two weeks before the show was going to be aired and I read the script and I thought it was great and I called him up to tell him that I thoght the script was great. And he said, 'Well, wait wait wait! I'll change the name. I'm sorry, I'm sorry.' 'I honestly wasn't calling you about that. I'm calling to tell you that I thought it was terrific.' I had just changed jobs and I had moved to Columbia Pictures. The company that was producing the TV show. And literally for a year, every phone call ended up stretching out an extra three minutes because I had to explain. And the show didn't last very long and I still have to explain. I'm surprised that many people remember the show. What year was that show? My guess would be 1989, 90. Somehow it passed into urban legend. We saw an article by someone who used your name as the embodiment of the hustling agent who starts in the mailroom. The guy in the TV show was named Teddy Z. and the Z was short for some Greek name. The real person it was based upon was Jay Cantor. He was an assistant at William Morris and he was sent to pick up Marlon Brando at the airport. Marlon Brando said, 'Kid if you're taking the time to pick me up at the airport, then you're my agent.' So you're actually on the other end of the movie business. You've never been on the side of selling talent. No, I try to sell movies. I basically sell scripts, sell movie ideas, go to the studios and sell. So your day is still primarily selling. Yeah, working with writers, creating and selling. So your typical day consists of getting meetings? A lot of phone work, a lot of reading and working with writers. What do you need before you take the final step and go sell to the studio? A great story or having a great actor attached or having a great director, something that gives the studio confidence. They say, 'We're going to end up spending millions and millions of dollars. Give me a security blanket. Give me a reason that I can go tell my boss that this is the one we've got to go with." So now the acting problem is solved for you. It's true in some respects. We don't do everything for Will [Smith] to act in and star in. What's your relationship with Will? I run the production company for him. So all the movie stuff goes through me. Is there much budgeting and costing in what you're doing? It comes with it, but that's when we're fortunatre enough to get the movie made and we go through with the studio but often we hire line producers to come help us with the day-to-day financial aspects of moviemaking. So you're more on the conceptual, creative side of things? Yeah. How did you get started in the business? I started out in personnel at NBC and I quickly got bored of that. I went to see Jeff Sagansky who at the time was an executive at NBC and later went on to run [NBC's dramatic series]. I said, 'You've got the greatest job. How did you get this job?' He said, 'I don't know how people get it but I went to Harvard Business School. So I immediately applied to Harvard Business School and was fortunate enough to get in. I came back out, went to NBC and applied for a job and they turned me down. And I was in shock. I did the next best thing and got a job at Paramount Pictures as an executive. Little did I know that I'd just gotten a dream job. I didn't have to start in the mailroom. I didn't have to start as someone's assistant. I didn't have to start as a gopher. I was immediately given a secretary and an expense account and I was trained to do the job by some of the most talented and giving people in the business. At the time Paramount was king of the movie business. Beverly Hills Cop, Witness, Top Gun, The Untouchables... I was around and participated in some of those movies, got to work on a lot of them. It was just a great education. Also I started at a time when home video was just starting. The business was just in its infancy. There was a whole new boom that was going to grow. And that was videotape. It took off again with DVD and it took off again when the international market started becoming 50 and 60 percent of the businsess. When I started the international markets accounted for only 30% of box office totals. It was a go-go age when you couldn't make movies fast enough. Wht year was that? In '86. How long were you at Paramount? I was there for 5 years. Harvard Business School only accepts people with impressive undergrad credentials. I went to Cornell undergrad. I had a 3.3 GPA. But I was fortunate enough when I was at NBC to become the project manager of something called teletext. It was an experiment that they conducted in Los Angeles. It was very popular in France at the time. It was a way to bring information into people's homes through the broadcast signal on your TV set. You had a decoder and basically you could get the newspaper delivered over your TV set. It was one of the precursors to the internet. It was a combination of journalism and entertainment technology. Because I was involved with running that, I was able to parlay that into an interesting enough experience so Harvard Business School thought, Wow, we don't have anyone like that.' I think getting into Harvard Business School you have to distinguish yourself somehow. How long were you at NBC? 79-82, 3 years. So you had gone there straight out of Cornell? Yeah. What did you major in? I was majoring in labor erlations. The only reason is, I grew up a real poor kid whose dad was a hotel worker. My dad was a chef in the Jewish resorts. He belonged to the Hotel, Restaurant and Bartenders Union and they gave a scholarship every other year to children of members. So I got a full scholarship to Cornell at the Labor Relations school. That's how my major was chosen. So you're not from privilege like most Ivy League kids. No. In fact, my first job out of college, my starting salary at NBC was $19,000 and I was living in New York City... What year was that? '79. I had to borrow money from my dad to get along in New York even though it was a great starting salary for New York, and what was the most embarrassing thing was that my dad at his peak had made $17,000. And he put four kids through school and I was a single guy in New York and I needed to borrow money. We're sure you've paid him back. Oh, yeah. Where were you born? I was born in Liberty, New York. What part of the state is that? That was in the Catskills. It's two hours northwest of New York City. Not that far from Cornell. My parents were born in Shanghai. My dad was a merchant marine and he enlisted in the U.S. Navy during the war. Because of that he got his citizenship. He sent for my mother and oldest brother and smuggled them out of China. My mother had bound feet, could not speak English and was old-fashioned Chinese. We spoke Shanghainese at home. What is your birthday? May 15, 1957. Did you go to a special high school? No. Public high schools all the way? Yeah. Do you have any siblings? I have two brothers and a sister. My eldest brother is a career officer in the Marine Corps and now he runs security at San Diego [International] Airport, part of homeland security. The other brother is an attorney in Albany, New York. And my sister is a business marketing executive. So you're all pretty successful. Everybody has a nice life. Which child are you? The youngest Are you married? I am married and I have two childrren. Where do you live? In L.A., Hancock Park. Life of Something Like It got a lot of attention from the critics. What role did you play in making it? I had zero to do with the making of the movie because I had left [Davis Entertainment] at the time. That was a script that had come in to me through Ken Atchity and Chi-Li Wong. They wanted help in getting it done, getting it made. So I brought it in and sold it to New Regency. I worked with the writer on multiple drafts, got it to the point where it might have been good enough to get it made. Then directors came on board. It's funny because at the time we had Renee Zellweger who was interested in playing the part. She had just finished Bridget Jones's Diary. And there were people who felt they needed someone who was a bigger star. Angelina Jolie is terrific and a big star in her own right, but I always thought it was not an Angelina Jolie movie. By the time it ended up getting it made, I was over here at Overbrook. Then there's God of Cookery which was going to be a remake of the Stephen Chiau movie. What was your role in that? Thomas Leong who is the manager of Stephen brought it to me and I ended up getting it sold. I took it to Fox and I also got Jim Carrey to look at it and Jim and I had worked on a movie before and I knew Jim from the days of In Living Color when he used to hang out there. I loved the movie and got it sold and we got a writer and worked on the script and had a director at the time. The studio never felt like the script was in shape to go forward. So it was shelved? They're still working on it. Are you still involved in it? Yeah, we're involved but I can't spend much time on it. I've got a day job here. Do you get paid from Overbrook from a percentag eof profits or are you working directly for the studios? I draw a salary and I get bonuses based on movies. That's from the studio? No, from Overbrook. So you're in charge of your own separate business as far as financially. Basically the studio funds our overhead. Are you like an employee of the studio with a lot of autonomy or are you like an independent contractor with a long term contract? Exactly, a contractor with a longterm relationship with a studio. Is this the ultimate position for people who have proven thmselves capable of putting together packages that might work out as a movie? The ultimate position is when you get a salary every month. Most producers in this business have to go from paycheck to paycheck which is a terrible way to live. And when you have security to get paid every week to go out and do your job and think about it in the long term and not just have to get something going. Are you married. I have a wife and two daughers Since 1986. What is her name. Her name is Elizabeth. We met at Harvard Business Scvhool together in 1982. When did you have your two daughters? 1988 and 1990. They're going to school locally? They go to private school. Eighth grade and tenth grade. What role does Will Smith play in the Production company? First of all, he and James Lassiter are the co-owners. he has a number of pet projects and he comes up with an idea, he likes to work with the writers. So he's involved when he can be. because he's busy recording, writing, acting and all sorts of things he's limited and he picks and choose when he wants to get involved. On a more day to day basis James is far more actively involved. If Will Smith would come up with a story idea he would like to get developed, would you get involved and help to get that produced? Yeah. You also represent other actors and do production for other actors? Yeah, James has a management company representing a number of actors and sometimes we'll develop something for them, but primarily our goal is to get great scripts and attach people to them. How do you get great scripts? A lot of hard work and perseverance. On a more concerete level, it's something you work on day to day? Yeah, it really is about finding writers and establishing relationships with them and finding something to work on together. What is your typical day like? I'm on the phone most of the day or in meetings with writers or actors or directors, watching tapes as samples and I'm reading. Scripts that are submited? For our projects. How would a writer get on the radar with you? There is a network of agents and managers and lawyers out there who I've over the years established relationships with and over the years it doesn't take much to have one of them call me. So your assistant would be fielding a lot of calls from agents? Yes. What's the difference between now and when you were working at Columbia, Paramount or Davis? Wjen you work at a studio your days are not dictated by you, they're dictateed by your bosses. At the studio you are probably spend a good 10-15 hours a week attending staff meetings, group meetings and you are responsible for your own projects but for the readin and discussing the projects of everyone else. Plus you're doing a lot of reading on the weekends. I get to think a lot more during my day. I don't have to service 16000 people. I get to think about the projects I'm working on and be creative and brainstorm and sit with writers and talk with them on the phone and spend a lot more time with them in a hands on way to make sure the script gets to a place we need it to get to. When you get to wehere you're pretty happy with it, do you decide to take it to the studio? There's two ways to go. Most of the time we get the studio involved early and the studio pays for the work that's being done and then I disappear with the writer and then deliver to a studio that's already bought it. Then there are other circumstances where I work with a writer and try and improve it to the point where we will then be able to sell it. Do you ever find something like a book or something you like or an idea and start fro there? Oh, absolutely. What degree of approval would you have to get from james or Will to approach the studio with it? There is no approval process. It's about levels of passion. There could be something I'm absolutely wild about and all it takes is one person's passion to get something through. Not everybody has the same tastes and that's the great thing. You actually can go ahead and devote a lot of energy and resources to getting a project started without anyone looking over your shoulders. It's entrepreneurial in that regard. And I just want to make sure that the quality of the proejct and the subject matter fits into the scope of who Overbrook is and the identity that we've establisyhed. What genre are you guys interstged in? No, no, no. Not at all. How about you personally? No. It seems a lot of Ivy leaguers are entering Hollywood. Have you noticed that trned? I think it's not a new trend. It's been a trend taht's been there for a long time. It's a visible industry, it's no different than a lot of ivy leaguers in investment banking or washington politics. Whenever you get industries of great influence or great potential wealth, you're going to attract a lot of ambitious people and ambitious people are ivy leaguers. Are there certain backgrounds that are disproportionately represented. I'm so far removed from that now. The single common denominator of people who entering the business or have jobs like I do are they're all passionate about movies. So a person's background doesn't help getting someone's attention, but it's sorta like are SATs great predictors of hhow well you'll do in life? I don't necessarily think so. It's really about people doing what they love and not worrying about the paycheck but worrying about the passion and love for the process. And those are the people I think are gonna succeed in the long run? What's the next step for someone like you? I honestly don't even think like that because if you are so looking down the road about the next step you miss the step that you're on. I thoroughly enjoy what I do. I love coming to work every day. I started in this business not for anything but for the love of what I do. I had to take a huge pay cut when I started in the business and so that was never an issue. In terms of ambition, I feel like I have a great life. I've just started this company two eyars ago and now everything now starting to blossom. It's the perfect time. The business is in a state of contraction, it feels like, less deals, less movies, less everything. Right now I have an opportunity to get a lot of things accomplished so I don't want to move, I want to stay and I want to have ev erything come to life. Over the next nine months there are possibilities of five movies coming out of Overbrook. That would be the result of two years of hard work. Two movies being relased? No going into production. What percentage of projects you start devtong time to end up going into production? That's really hard to say. Is it a minute ratio? I'd say one out of seven or eight, one out of ten. Is that a good ratio? Is it considered a healthy profitable way to operate the company? It's hard to say what the ratio. It's between one in seven and one in ten. If yo9u're one in seven it's great. But today if you're getting any movies made, it's a great accomplishment. Everybody strives to make grat movies but oftentimes it doesn't turn out that way. The way this business operates is that somebody else is paying for your overhead somebody else is paying to develop the project. The studios are actually laying out the money. At the end of the day, they'll decide whether your deal is profitable or not. What about when it goes into production, what percentage actually ends up being released? I'd say that's a lot. 98% of movies that go into production will be relased. So there's an excellent chance that all five will be relased in the next couple years. Can you give me an idea what these movies are? I don't really want to talk about them right now. We're going to make an annoucenment in a couple of weeks. about the first movie and it's gonna be in Chinese. Any stars attached to it you can mention? Again, I don't wanta, if yo hold off we can talk about this in two weeks. Do you have any particular interest in working with Asian stars or Asian writers or Asian directors? Does that make you a litle more wiling to take the time? Oh, absolutely. I have great affection and affinity for working with Chinese Asian talent. And over the course of my career I've sought out these players, and I take it as not only a part of my job workwise but a part of my reason for being on this earth. Why do you feel that way aside from the fact that you're Asian Have you had any particular experience that makes you feel that way? Take a look around the landscape of Hollywood. There are not a lot of Asians in roles of determining what gets made and what gets put up on the screen. And growing up the portrayal of Asians.. It was embarrassing watching TV shows and movies. And if I can do my little bit to help that to change, it would be great. Do you feel ambivalent when you see all these Asian writers accusing Hollywood, putting Hollywood in the role of the villain. I think it's a level of frustration that's earned. it's hard for a particular Asian actors to get roles that unless they're hiring for restaurant worker or hooker, it's terrible. It's hard for very talented actors to get work that's basically blind to color and race, so yeah, I feel like we actually need movies that brought greater opportunities to these Asian actors and writers. So you feel some personal responsbility? Sure, absolutely. do you also share an anger toward Hollywood? I honestly don't feel any anger because Hollywood's been very good to me. It's a great place for me to work and as a semi-insider in the business, I have opportunity to not play it the way it was played. Who are some of the bright Asian stars that you have kept an eye on? Let me just go over who I've worked with in the past. Terrence Chang John Woo in producing a movie, the Replacement Killers. and I gave Chgow Yun Fat his first role. I worked with Ringo Lam who was a Hong Kong director ona movie. It was a Jean Claude Van Damme movie and I don't have a good memory. And then working with Alice Wu who I think is potentially an unbelievably great writer/director and I have complete faith in her. She's gonn a have a long productive cr4eative career. Has she written any books novels? No. the Ringo Lam movie was Maxium Risk. I was an executive at sony when we did these movies. Any other Asians you feel have a particularly bright prospect? You're puting me on the spot. We can revisit that one. Hollywood has been good to y9ou and you've been successful for a long time. What is it about the lifestyle that you love? Let me put it in perspective. My mom didn't speak English. My Dad worked as a kitchen wo4rker in resorts and I worked how hard they worked to raise four kids and money was everything in the world to them to accumulate enough money so they could scrape by. I didn't want to live like that and everything they did to put us through cllege, taught me I don't want to have to work for money. I want to work hard because I love what I do. And Hollywood has afford me the opportunity to pursue my passion. You mentioned that the money was not very good at the beginniing. Did you mean when you shifted from NBC? No, my first job out of business school was working as a managemtn consultant for touche-ross. I was making quite a bit of money at the first job out of business school. Six figures? It wasn't six figures but at the time people were starting at 60,000 this was 1984, which was a lot of money. And my first job at Hollywood I took a pay cut. 30,000 at paramount. I was an executive. you were out here in Holywood by then. But money never became an issue after that. So you did better at paramount after that? Of course, people would pay for those kinds of jobs. What you are making was the opportunity you are given. What do you make at Overbrook? I can't talk about that. How about at your last job? What's the ballpart that a person in your positon makes? I don't want to talk about that. But you're happy with the money. Yeah.