"And the league will announce this week the NFL Pro Hollywood Boot Camp in April, designed to help players interested in screenwriting, producing, film financing and the business of motion pictures."
Hey, great! Forget all the advice I ever gave you dear readers on how to break into the business. Play professional football.
“Aaron Rodgers, you just won the Superbowl. Where you going?”
“To Paramount where I have a three picture deal!”
Watch. My agent drops me for Steeler Rashard Mendenhall, who upon learning of Bin Laden's death tweeted this: What kind of person celebrates death? It’s amazing how people can HATE a man they have never even heard speak. We’ve only heard one side…
On the other hand, I’d like to be in the room when a network executive gives Steelers’ linebacker James Harrison script notes.
And I must make a note to myself to add a rule at my next Sitcom Room seminar that there is no tackling allowed during rewrite sessions.
(Note to Tim Tebow: You might not want to join the staff of CALIFORNICATION. And thank God we didn’t have Michael Vick on the staff of FRASIER. “Hey, where’s Eddie?”)
I give the NFL credit for trying to help its players find gainful employment after they retire or are declared legally crippled, and who knows? Among the Bengals’ secondary there might be the next Tina Fey. But on a serious note, I say to these players -- beware.
Hollywood is happy to embrace you and your money the same way Vegas casinos do. Screenwriting, producing, and learning how to finance takes TIME. A lot more time than a boot camp will provide. But Hollywood will be happy to fast-track you because of your name and fortune. And if you think Hall-of-Famer Jim Marshall was good at take-aways you should see the entertainment industry.
But if you’re serious, and you really want to pursue a career in show business when you’re concussion-suffering days are done, I’ve got a great screenplay and for only five million dollars we could really make a killing! And don't feel bad about taking all those cheerleaders away from me. You're paying the alimony, not me.
