S3E10 Hollywood Sized Balls

The How NOT To Make A Movie Podcast

We first met JACKIE GEORGE when we took over running TALES FROM THE CRYPT. Jackie worked for WARNER BROTHERS and SILVER PICTURES at the time (on movies like DIE HARD, RICHIE RICH and DEMOLITION MAN). That means she worked for our old boss JOEL SILVER. That took considerable balls. Hollywood sized balls.

Jackie was Joel’s executive. Before that, she was a super-talented production coordinator. When you meet Jackie, she and Joel seem an unlikely pairing. He’s an over-the-top, over-bearing, egomaniacal movie producer and she’s a woman with a zero tolerance for other people’s bullshit. Especially when that bullshit is male.

Yet, Jackie stuck it out with Joel for three years – and, boy, does she have JOEL STORIES to tell!

The Deep End

Hollywood has changed a lot since Jackie first arrived from ERIE, PENNSYLVANIA by way of Boston in the late 1970’s. it’s no bedrock of equality and equal treatment today, but, it really was a lot worse before.

When Jackie first landed in LA, she knew very little about the movie business. All she did know was that she was a movie fan enthralled by the flickering images up on the big screen and wanted – somehow – to be part of its creation.

Having an iron will, the willingness to take chances and “more balls than her three brothers combined” (per Jackie’s father), Jackie headed to Los Angeles.

Back in the mid 1980’s, female executives were a lot fewer and farther between. They had to be three or four times the producer any man had to be. And – the icing on that disgusting cake – they also had to tolerate constant sexual predation from their co-workers and bosses. Alas, we all tolerated it which is why it flourished.

Adventures In Hollywood

But, Jackie tells how she successfully navigated those tricky shoals and lots of other challenging situations. Like chasing snow while making DIE HARD 2 or trying to protect 13 year old MACAULAY CULKIN while he made RICHIE RICH. Or muling personal gifts from Joel to MADONNA then from Madonna back to Joel or lunching with GIANNI VERSACE.

If you like Joel stories, this episode’s loaded with them – including lots of new ones we’ve never heard before! We also talk lots about making Crypt – what made it special and what made it especially challenging: Joel.

If you want to make it in Hollywood, you’re gonna need Hollywood size balls. Or a chat with Jackie George.