#55: Ball Makes Movie Magic (almost)!
Sleuthing the Time Ball Was Asked To Fund A Motion Picture
As we enter the height of the holiday season, here is a lighter piece that was more than 20 years in the making - the time Ball was asked to invest in a major motion picture. Thank you for all your kind comments and shared memories during the past week, every one was important and helped. Merry Christmas to all - I appreciate you. Scott
A lot of strange inquiries find their way to a company’s corporate communications department. When employees in other parts of Ball didn’t know what to do with something, they passed it on to me.
Or, in this particular case to my former boss, VP Harold Sohn, who then dropped it on my desk just before Halloween 2002.
The 8-page proposal was addressed to Ball’s CEO at the time, “Mr. R. David Hoover” – the name handwritten on the opening page. I share it with you exactly as it was written, including punctuation.
The topic? “ESPIONAGE IN BLOOD (the movie).”
The pitch began on a convincing note. “A Sound Corporate Investment” it read. Clearly this came from someone with a good working knowledge of public companies. We are all about sound investments. Which this will surely be.
The first paragraph noted that the movie industry was expanding rapidly in 2002. It had become a trillion dollar business, “due to penetrating foreign barriers.” Growth is good. Not sure about the “penetrating barriers” thing, but I won’t call HR … this time.
Go on.
“We pursue a massive corporate and product invasion.”
Is a “product invasion” like product placement? If this turned out to be an action film, I could picture Ball’s circular beverage can ends, with colored stay-on tabs attached for movie flair, whizzing through the air like ninja throwing stars. Could an aluminum beverage can be a murder weapon? Unsure of how I felt about that, I read on.
“’ESPIONAGE IN BLOOD’ is similar to ‘Mission Impossible II” and it had a worldwide gross of over $2B. with a $125M budget. The difference is, ‘ESPIONAGE IN BLOOD’ has a more compelling storyline with superior special effects, a combination for worldwide distribution.”
That. Sounds. AWESOME! So what do you need from Ball?
“This offers your corporation far-reaching opportunities that commence in pre-production on to an estimated 3 to 5 years. Your corporation’s name is attached as the movie travels in a variety of diversified fields.”
Sounds great! Again, how can we help?
“Corporate loan. The movie budget is $125 million. The loan is paid back with interest, within 3 to 5 years from movie production. The promotional $ value far exceeds the loan.”
A $125 million loan, you say? That exceeds the limit on my Ball corporate card. I’ll need to get special approval for this one. Or ask Dave Hoover for some change (rimshot). But first, tell me more about the script!
“It is a captivating fast action, big budget movie. The original script, innovative special effects and stunts are overwhelming. There are exhilarating car and helicopter chase scenes. The spectacular explosions are mesmerizing.”
If it weren’t 2002, I would strongly suspect AI wrote that. You don’t think an AI consciousness traveled back in time to wipe out humanity pitch a movie, do you?
“And so is the elusive torrid romance between SHAWN and KATHIE. This worldwide film has a SPECIAL EFFECT in almost every scene. The fast pace leaves the audience no time for popcorn.”
Whoa, wait a minute – who are Shawn and Kathie?
“SHAWN REEVES, the main character, head of a special LAPD drug task force, gifted with athletic ability.”
OK, well, I guess athletic ability comes in handy if you’re in a 40-yard dash with drug runners, or perhaps a dance off. [Note: Did you know I once defeated David Heller in a dance off at a Ball leadership conference? He claims he won, but he knows the truth. Ask him.]
“His aggressive macho personality is squelched by his female counterpart.”
“Squelched?” This is starting to feel uncomfortable again.
“The seductive KATHIE BLOOMINGTON a gorgeous exotic worldly type, trained as a Russian counterespionage agent and a gifted dancer (Ballerina). The FBI send her to assist Shawn.”
There’s all kinds of nope going on there. But at least when she’s not squelching , KATHIE can team up with SHAWN to win dance offs.
But there’s more …
“The storyline pits our two action heroes with DR. ROMINOFF TISKALOV,” a demented homicidal maniac.”
Wait – pits them “with” DR. TISKALOV? Or “against” him? Because demented maniacs are the worst. But wait, DR. TISKALOV isn’t simply a demented maniac. He’s a …
“… prior K.G.B. scientist and inventor of the most addictive drugs ever conceived by man. Money’s not enough! His destiny is to be a CAESAR!! A GOD of all creation!!!”
Some of that last bit feels familiar. Wait, are we sure AI didn’t travel back in time from 2025? Ahem.
So 2002 seems really confusing. We have both Russian bad guys and good guys (I’ll overlook the squelching), and the bad guy seems to have mixed priorities. Maybe that’s his dementia speaking?
Speaking of feeling familiar, the script moves on …
“One PILL transforms the person into a living bomb… using their own juices to create an explosion of cartilage, bone fragments, flesh and blood. This eliminates a witness along with everybody in the vicinity.”
TMI! Also, does the person who is going to blow up shout, “Can I get a wit-ness?”
“The other PILL leaves the user high for a week, for a nominal price. It slowly degenerates the body but the addict perishes very happy.”
Hey, it’s like working in corporate. But seriously, take the blue pill, Neo.
“Rominoff’s method of cleansing the world of unproductive social leeches and makes him the richest man in the world.”
I join the doctor in his opposition to unproductive social leeches. They are almost as bad as demented maniacs. Anyway, so he sells a pill that kills his own customers, but somehow the pill makes him the richest man in the world? That sounds pretty capitalistic for a communist.
If that wasn’t exciting enough, here is how the script teaser ends.
“ROMINOFF TISKALOV brings all his devastating knowledge to the fertile U.S.A. for more than a piece of pie. He wants the whole bakery! The MOB and POLICE are no match for this diabolical killer. He will take over the world with scientific marvels and a pill. His headquarters is a maze of tunnels underneath the plush OLYMPIC RESORT CENTER it is unknown and impenetrable. He must be stopped before it is too late!”
Pie, a bakery, the mob, tunnels and a secret lair. It’s like Twin Peaks combined with James Bond with a dash of Sopranos. I would actually pay to see that movie.
I googled “Olympic Resort Center.” Turns out it can refer to different places, but commonly points to the historic Lake Placid Olympic Center where the U.S. hockey team famously upset the Russian team in 1980.
And the bad guy is Russian.
That’s actually sort of clever, in an obscure way.
On the front of the stapled proposal, my old boss Harold had handwritten, “This is perhaps the best and most original of these type scams that I’ve seen.”
I assumed in 2002 that Harold was right, that the pitch was a scam. Still, part of me wondered if it might more accurately be called a genuine attempt by a guy who wanted to get rich and make a movie - and his eureka moment was to think of pitching it to corporations to raise money.
Of course, Ball didn’t invest $125 million in “Espionage in Blood” (we were saving up for that naming rights deal for Ball Arena, rimshot). I put the pitch aside, thinking maybe I could use it in a future lesson when I started teaching college classes again.
More than 20 years passed, and while searching for something else, I happened upon the script in November. And it got me thinking.
Was it a scam? And if it was, isn’t that level of detail and devotion to a con worth recognition?
And so like SHAWN REEVES, I athletically began my investigation.
At the end of the 3 pages I just highlighted for you (yes, that is only 3 of the 8 pages of the pitch), it is signed, “Written by George R. Barrack.” Then the pitch notes it was copyrighted in 1995, and again in 2002. That’s an odd detail for a simple scam.
The same page references “Barrack Productions,” at an address in San Diego: 7815 Blue Lake Dr. And includes a phone number.
The address was easy to find on Zillow. It’s a house, valued today at $1.26 million. It looks like it was recently for sale - there are lots of photos of its clean, empty interior.
Mr. Barrack was a bit harder to find. If you search for “Barrack Productions” you get links to Barrack Obama and the movie he and his wife, Michelle, were involved in a few years back.
But if you poke around, you’ll find there was a George Richard Barrack of San Diego. Sadly, he passed away in 2018 at age 74.
His online obituary states at one point, “George would be known to entertain the children of the neighborhood with his wit and storytelling, spray painting “The Big Show” on the family garage door.”
Sounds promising. It goes on to say Mr. Barrack was a businessman, and worked in his father’s liquor store, owned and operated jewelry stores in San Diego County and bred and raised horses.
Then… viola! At the very end of the long paragraph describing Mr. Barrack’s ventures, the obituary states, simply: “Later in life, he enjoyed scriptwriting.”
Bingo.
So today, 23 years later, Mr. Barrack, I salute you. Whether you truly hoped to make a movie, or just wanted $125 million, your effort has been remembered.
Today, we honor “ESPIONAGE In BLOOD.”
RIP, sir. I hope DR. TISKALOV got what was coming to him, and SHAWN and KATHIE lived happily ever after, squelch-free.
Thank you for reading and, hopefully, subscribing to “Now … What’s Next?” Scott
Great story Scott!
This is marvelous. Thanks for the laughs.