“Well. I guess I’m teeing off on the Back Nine now.”

            Those were Clint Eastwood’s first words to me when I met him in 1999, as production began on Space Cowboys, the movie I’d co-written for him and Warner Brothers. My first produced movie, actually.                  

            I considered myself lucky to have someone of that stature even talk to me, luckier still to be invited onto the set. Writers of movies are generally not encouraged to attend production of same, many times they’re actually barred from their “own set”…

            For the record writers have brought that time-honored studio tradition onto themselves a time or two. So I can be forgiven the adolescent, voice-change-y squeak when I asked The Great One in reply, “What does that mean?”
 

            “It means every shot counts now.”

            I’m always leery of name-dropping and name-droppers. But I’ve been very, very fortunate with some of the people I’ve gotten to work with, whose names virtually anyone would recognize. And I open this letter and a new studio with a story about the biggest name of them all for a reason far beyond the usual name-dropping agenda.

            Indulge me a paragraph or two, I will land this plane appropriately.

            I’ve been writing and making movies a long, long time. Since my teenage years. I knew telling stories on film was what I was carved out to do, so I left my small-town world in Nashville (yeah, it was actually a small city once) at 19 to go to LA and learn it for real. And I did. Film school, lots of production work, even the occasional acting turn. Not a terribly unique or original path for folks like me.

            My formative years as a writer and filmmaker just so happened to coincide with what many agree was the Golden Age of the American Movie; the 70s and 80s. Now certainly many of the greatest of all time were made well before that, and there have been genius movies made since. But you’d be hard-pressed to top the concentration of film greats like Coppola, Spielberg, Eastwood, Scorcese, John Hughes, Ron Howard, Robert Zemeckis, Oliver Stone, Woody Allen, Nora Ephron… and please forgive my not mentioning the other 100 men and women on this list of greats in that era.

            As the 60s were for music, the 70s and 80s were the Renaissance for filmmakers. Their movies are in the consciousness, heck, the lifeblood of America, and much of the rest of the world.

            I came of age watching those movies, and I aspired to follow in their footsteps. Creating stories for the ages, to bring people together, get ‘em talking, make ‘em laugh and cry and think, and remind us all how great this human journey really is. And I knew the only way this Suburban Southern Boy would even get a foot in the door in this Land of Giants was with his pen.

            It took about 13 years of trying, but I finally got myself over the wall.

            And so there I was in that scene I just re-lived with you, having asked Mr. Eastwood if I could just watch him produce and direct the movie I’d co-written for him. And he said yes.

            So for the next 14 months, I went to the greatest film school of them all; pre-production, production, editing, visual effects, scoring, even marketing the movie, which ended up doing pretty well— made by a master, one of those Greatest of All Time.    

            But I learned a lot more than a craft. I watched a guy with clarity of vision, confidence in his process, a deep respect for the power of storytelling, and an innate understanding of people. His audience.

            To him, I was just the curious first-time writer, keeping his eyes open and his mouth shut.

            To me, that year laid the foundation for I-40 Pictures.

            These past 25 years, while continuing my career as a contract writer and producer both in the studio system and as an independent, I’ve been quietly building up a library of content with what is now (curiously) considered a unique brand; what I call Heroic Americana…

            Action, Comedy, Drama, Inspirational, Historical. PG and PG-13 films whose only agenda is telling a great story to make us laugh, cry, think, aspire, dream, and just enjoy 110 minutes or so in the world of that story and character.

            What movies are supposed to be, I think.

            “It ain’t rocket science.” the Great One said to me on another occasion, when I asked him what his secret was. “I find a story I want to tell, get the best people around me to make it happen, and get out of their way so they can work.”

            And so describes the operating code and philosophy of I-40 Pictures. A well-stocked Story Company, with partners, friends and colleagues I trust and cherish. To get it done, and done well. And then we do it again.

            Clint was turning 70 that wonderful year. I’m still a bit shy of that mark, but I know exactly what he meant.  There’s a point in every person’s life, when he realizes he’s on the clock with the things he’s planned and prepared for his whole life, and the practice shots are over.

            Every shot really does count now.

            Welcome. We’re open for business. Come on in.

           

                                                                                    Howie Klausner