Should We All Branch Out Into Film?

Life has a heart-stopping way of offering options.

I have been presented with a glittering deal I might not be able to refuse. William DeMeo, actor from the Sopranos, Wannabes, and Analyze That, has asked me to be an Associate Producer of his next film. I could use some help in how to handle this.

Will cornered me by promising that my share of the proceeds could go to my orphans, the orphans of Orphans International Worldwide. All I have to do is say "yes."

My new friend William DeMeo.

Will's publicist, that golden boy of the Upper West Side, R. Couri Hay, enriched the pot: Form a block of half a dozen Associate Producers for the film, each giving their share of the proceeds to orphans.

The logical extension of this idea is "Film for Orphans," which Will has agreed to launch at his N.Y.C. nightspot, Country Club.

Entertainment has been used for raising funds and awareness, Couri pointed out, at least since George Harrison's Concert for Bangladesh, when I was a kid. Sting, Willie Nelson, and Bob Geldof perfected the concert-for-care concept.

Hollywood-on-the-Hudson films could give back - "Film for Orphans" - an entire movie made here with its proceeds going to orphaned children in the developing world.

But first, I would need to recruit at least five friends who will raise $100,000 each to fund Will's The Sixth Family, pledging their 10% take to orphans, $60,000 going to the kids right off the top. The film's executive producer, Margaret Briggs Brooks, has already pledged her fees to Orphans International Worldwide. I am so moved.

"Analyze That" included Will, Billy Crystal and Robert De Niro (Warner Brothers).

Imagine the synergies, film parties, and fundraising movie benefits possible to raise even more funding for orphaned children in the developing world!

I know doctors, lawyers, trust fund kids, entrepreneurs, and socialites who care deeply about orphans who might jump at the chance to be an Associate Producer of films to help children in need.

The $100,000 each Associate Producer needs to raise is in $10,000 "units" (I am learning movie lingo already). The glamor that comes with the title, as they say, is beyond price.

The expanded vision - "Film for Orphans" - is so spectacular I cannot sleep at night. My mind expands in every direction. How many stars today, who have adopted a beautiful child from overseas, could help? Little did I realize when I adopted my ten-month old son from the developing world in 1995 what a trend-setter I would become.

Analyze That grossed $55 million internationally, rather less than the $177 million grossed by Analyze This, but impressive nonetheless. The Sixth Family should do well, as films in general do in hard times.

Hollywood box-office grosses for January were up 20% since last year, for a total of $1.028 billion. Attendance is up 16.78%. The number of folks staying home to watch movies is also up. According to the wire services last week, Netflix revealed that is had passed 10 million subscribers, including 600,000 subscribers added since January.

I do need your advice. For starters: Should I do it? Is the idea completely nuts or a stroke of genius? I could really use your thoughts. With years of Wall Street experience behind me, I think of myself as a no-nonsense, hard-nosed man. Am I being carried away here? Talk to me in the Comments section below, through my FaceBook page, or at jim@oiww.org.

Catholic iconography, from mobster movies to Mother Teresa's needy children, resonates with me. Does it resonate with anyone else? Can we produce Will's Sixth Family and change the lives of children today, leaving open the door to a bigger "Film For Orphans" to fund changing the lives of even more orphaned children tomorrow? I need your advice.

Edited by Ethel Grodzins Romm