Customer Reviews

Open-Field Running: The Adventure of Selling A Screenplay

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Despite the hardships endured over the years of trying to get his screenplays in the right hands, Mr. Catherman persisted in his quest. This book is not only for those who strive to follow the same path, but for all of us who need to remember what is important in life. My take away is to follow my bliss and the rest will take care of itself. I expect Mr. Catherman will continue to do the same and we will be seeing him accept his Academy Award before long.

Being a screenwriter myself, I couldn't wait to read about the adventures (or, as it turns out, mostly misadventures) of whom I believe to be the most read screenwriter in motion picture history. In this page turner, Brad Catherman uses the moxie of a bulldog -- along with his "never give up" attitude -- to push, pull and shove his "life" plays in front of everyone from Spielberg to Secretary's of State to movie loving Monks. Catherman's "movie within a movie" moves along at breakneck speed through countless peaks and valleys as his screenplays get the star "treatment" -- at $1 per sale. I laughed, I cried, and I lit a match to hundreds of my own index cards. "Open Field Running" is a must read for anyone and everyone who wish to become a part of the world's oldest profession -- the movie making business.

In Fairy Tale Land, an unknown writer submits an unsolicited screenplay to a studio and it is passed up the ladder until the stogie-smoking studio chief shouts "Eureka! This will make a boffo movie. Get that young hotshot on the horn and tell him he can name his price!"

In the real world, this rarely happens. The math is staggering. Even with a bona fide agent, the ratio of screenplay submissions to "green lit" projects is astronomical. What's a wannabe screenwriter gotta do to get noticed in Hollywood? Brad Catherman attempts to level the playing field by trying every tactic in the book - and several that aren't - to sell a screenplay. If you can scheme it, there's a good chance that author Catherman has tried it.

Open Field Running is a hilarious memoir concerning one man's attempt to get his screenplays noticed, read, represented and produced. Catherman is talented enough to win screenplay competitions and garner meaningful endorsements, but each time he comes tantalizingly close to cutting a major deal..... well, you've got to read it to believe it. Suffice it to say that you'll come to appreciate Catherman's gumption, self-effacing humor and perseverance. You'll be rooting for him all the way. This story does have a Hollywood ending, sort of......

"This guy never gives up and his book might just inspire you to stay in the game as well. Since beginning his quest in 1983 to watch a screenplay he's written magically appear on a movie screen, this guy has a genetic flaw that makes him not want to quit trying to get produced... A fun read that really gives you a sense of what it takes to get a script turned into a film."

Brad Catherman is the rare combination of heart and ambition. His book on his 18 quest to see one of his screenplays come to life is an allegory for the human condition and a testament to the human spirit. What Makes Sammy Run. It is simply the glimpse of beauty, the joy of being moved, the love of being touched by a story -- and the compelling drive to want to take the paintbrush from some Picasso and ask for a turn to paint a stroke or two. And so he runs, offering the treasures of his heart to perfect strangers, trying to find a cross-section of self-interest where some stranger's desire to make a buck or hit it big or get a statuette collides with his desire to see some story from his heart on the big screen. All running to be beautiful to rows and rows of strangers in the dark,spilling popcorn and stepping inside some story he has woven. Catherman is modest and self-aware and funny and talented. The book is a surefire guarantee that if Catherman ever crosses the goal line, he will not be putting on gold-plated sun-glasses raising the roof on some hot car. He would invite you matter of factly to come dance with him in the endzone -- and I bet you he would say "we made it." When you have as much heart and talent as he does, I have a feeling we will be high-fiving in the endzone soon. In the meantime, this honest and funny saga of the race to be beautiful is touching -- and should be a movie!