MetLA

Today I had to drive out to Malibu to deliver a script to Martin Sheen's house. If I was actually a real producer and had an office or an assistant, I would have made them do it, but instead I hike 40 miles in the pouring rain (in LA, that's the equivalant of a blinding snowstorm) to place this material on Martin's doorstep. Martin is playing King Henry in "Shakespeare's Henry IV" and wants to review the script while he's in Ireland for the next couple weeks.
So I finally make it out to Malibu and ring his doorbell. I expected either a maid type or no one to answer, but after a couple of minutes the door opens....and I am face to face with President Bartlett in his sweats! And get this, instead of calling the police, he invites me in! So there I stand, in Martin Sheen's kitchen, looking at pictures of him and Tiger Woods on his fridge. We start talking about the project. I had never met him, he's been talking to my director and I've been talking to his manager. He starts to read passages from the script to me, monologues from Shakespeare. He asks where I'm from, we discuss India, and he starts telling stories of shooting "Gandhi" there in 1981. "Gandhi"!
I've had a tough year this year, I've been working really hard and pushing myself to get my projects greenlit. It's been a real struggle, since every day I have to do battle to get my projects in front of financing types, agents, actors, executives, etc. and it's an endless round of mostly rejections. But then a day like today comes along and I get a private reading of Shakespeare by Martin Sheen, and it all seems worth it.