For Tampa native Glenn Williamson, the movie Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind is a chance for screen credit long overdue.
Ask any celebrated director or the most anonymous grip and they'll say a screen credit is something to cherish. It's a signature on a piece of art, preserved forever on film and later, digital video, reminding generations to come of their accomplishment and famous elbows they rubbed against.
Williamson, 41, has directly influenced memorable films for 15 years and never saw his name in the credits. He helped America meet Harry and Sally, working publicity for Rob Reiner's Castle Rock company in 1989. Williamson was among the first hires at DreamWorks in 1994, cultivating the Oscar-winning American Beauty, plus Almost Famous, Road to Perdition and Catch Me If You Can. He gave orders to Men in Black for Amblin Entertainment. Three years as president of production for USA Films and Focus Features yielded Far from Heaven and other art-house favorites.
But his name was tangibly connected to those movies only on paychecks. Posterity counts, too. "Which is one reason I'm now a producer," the 1981 Plant High graduate said in a telephone interview from Los Angeles, where he landed after graduation from the University of Virginia and advertising gigs in New York and Chicago. Two minor credits a decade ago as a crew assistant on Edward Scissorhands and Singles aren't enough.
Now, for the first time since those films, Williamson name in on the screen as one of four executive producers of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
"I ended up championing the movie, was there during all the critical casting decisions and through the entire making of," Williamson said. "It was an acknowledgement of my role in the movie that I ended up getting credit on the film."
The film has been Williamson's pet project since Charlie Kaufman's screenplay crossed his desk at Focus Features. He heard Kaufman's pitch - his presentation of the story idea - while working as a DreamWorks executive years before. Kaufman was too occupied with Being John Malkovich, Adaptation and Confessions of a Dangerous Mind to finish the script until 2002, when Williamson decided what films Focus would produce.
"I loved it, felt like it was a movie we should make," Williamson said. "I worked on the script with one other producer, the writer and the director (Michel Gondry) for some period of time.
"We actually had the movie ready to go and Jim Carrey wanted to do it. But Universal asked us to wait so he could do Bruce Almighty first. So we waited. Jim Carrey would make his full salary on that film, which was certainly not the case with this one." Carrey's usual $20-million fee would have been more than half of the film's $35-million budget.
The chance to shepherd an entire production and receive credit for doing it led to a career decision.
"I got to a place where I wanted to focus on fewer things at a time and get my name on the film," Williamson said. "It was hard when you work as hard as so many other people involved but it's like their private ownership. I was also ready to not have the structure of a studio job with five or six staff meetings a week. It was getting harder to be truly creative."
Last fall, Williamson left his executive position at Focus and set up a production company, Back Lot Films, appropriately located on the studio's back lot. Focus gets first-look privileges at anything Williamson produces.
"I do a lot of what producers do: Look for good material whether it's a script, a pitch, a news article or a remake," Williamson said. "You try to find writers who would write the best version of that material. I hope to set up the project at Focus so they'll fund the development. If they don't, I can take it to other studios and they'll hopefully finance it."
Plans for two more Back Lot Films projects for Focus already are under way: a remake of the horror film The Changeling and Truth, Justice and the American Way, an L.A. Confidential-style account of the death of the original TV Superman, George Reeves in 1959. Production on the latter film is expected to begin this summer.
Above all, making the move from front office to Back Lot enabled Williamson to complete production of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Certainly the film's eccentric style, complex plot and decidedly unfunny role for Carrey make it a delicate task. As a producer, Williamson must balance his instinct for what the public will buy against the creative integrity of such an unusual movie.
"I see various cuts of the movie, give input about what works and doesn't work, give suggestions," he said. "We screened the movie several times for preview audiences. Particularly with this film, that was informative. Some things we thought might have been unclear (about the plot), people actually got that. And they were fuzzy about other things after we thought for sure they would get that."
At times, directors and screenwriters have blamed such test screenings for warping their original visions as producers make changes based on survey scores.
"Some filmmakers are afraid of them," Williamson said. "I always find them to be a tool to help see how an uninitiated audience is responding to stuff. The best directors are aware of what can be gained through previews.
"A lot of times you can intuitively feel how a movie is playing to an audience. Anybody who's slavish to numbers can look at them. It helps you market the movie, maybe understand where your audience is. But it's a tool like one of many."
Test screening results aren't always dependable, either. Williamson recalled his film Forces of Nature starring Sandra Bullock and Ben Affleck that got an impressive 90 percent approval rating with preview audiences then did only fair business at the box office. On the other hand, American Beauty posted scores in the 50s and 60s yet grossed over $130-million.
"A lot of time those specialized films that aren't your mainstream blockbusters don't preview so well," Williamson said. "The viewers of those movies usually know more about the movie going in because they're sequels or have big stars. When you walk into a (specialized) film cold, you don't have any idea what you're in for."
I suggested to Williamson that may explain why several viewers walked out of a recent public screening of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. "Yeah," he said with a soft laugh, "they probably thought they were going to see Bruce Almighty again."
