T Bone Burnett

One afternoon the phone rings and a fellow by the name of T Bone Burnett is on the line. He says, "My girlfriend and I have been watching your interview series on cable and there's something going on you may not know about." T Bone goes on to tell me that their circle of friends are fans of the series and call each other whenever they discover that an episode is airing. They would then watch it and afterwards have a discussion about the theme of the story that was presented in the show. He was right; I did not know this sort of thing was happening.

It was usual during the years the series ran to get calls from people like Marlon Brando, Tita Cahn, Henry Jaglom, Steven Keats, June Lockhart, Adrian Lyne, Ryan O'Neal or Ron Shelton. These phone calls were always fascinating and usually lasted up to thirty minutes or more as we would discuss the show, its unusual concept and, of course, the story. Very often, such a phone call would end in a transaction to option or buy the story. In any case, these conversations conveyed that the callers had been personally moved by the show's content and it was very gratifying that artists whose work had pleased me were pleased by my own efforts.

What set T Bone Burnett's call apart from all the others was that a de facto group had formed for a time around the show. It recalled my time living in Paris when a movie would air on French television followed by a televised discussion or debate about the story--except that these discussions were taking place off-camera. What impressed me was the T Bone had taken the trouble to call and tell me about their interest. It was a very thoughtful thing for him to do.

T Bone is a twelve-time Grammy Award winner and entered my Hall of Fame with his contribution to The Big Lebowski.