Kim Rollins (Interview) excerpt

In September of 1985, I sat down in the studio to tape a television show that was unlike anything I'd ever done before. It was to be called "(Interview)" and I would ultimately tape 500 half-hour segments of this show, which was similar in tone to the Charlie Rose series currently on PBS. I conceived the form and function of the show with a specific purpose in mind. I wanted to sell a product that nobody wanted to a public that had an aversion to buying.

The product to be marketed: stories for motion picture development. The public: film directors and producers. It is well established that, while scripts are difficult enough to sell to Hollywood, unpublished stories are impossible. The buying public of producers and directors unanimously refuse to accept unsolicited materials. The function of (Interview) was to create a demand for an unwanted product amongst an insulated public. It did exactly that.

Every show in the series featured a cast of two, an interviewer and an author. The guest had lived some incredible adventure that was recounted in his or her book. I played the interviewer. An actor played the author, for there was no book. What he or she would recount for the camera was actually a story of my own creation, but told as though it were their true story. Why an author with a book? My research told me that new books were the hot button with producers and directors. I called it "(Interview)". The Kim Rollins segment is exceptional being one of only two from the series of 500 shows that I co-wrote with the actor--in this instance, the talented Victoria Foyt.