Actor Jamie Cromwell
Self-employment is fraught with uncertainty. We knew this when we quit our jobs in 1983 – Rob in journalism, Trish in teaching. But we knew that we didn’t want to spend our lives working at jobs that we disliked and we were willing to take that Castaneda leap into the unknown.
We kept following the synchronicities and they led to some and they led to some pretty strange places. One of those places was the world of ghostwriting.
Through a contact in Iowa – Ed Gorman, one of the most generous human beings we’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting – we hooked up with a a book packager. A book packager is someone who brings together a person with an idea – often a celebrity – and a ghostwriter.
+++
It was the 1990s, our careers were in flux. We had left one agent, were in search of another, and were working with a book packager in the hopes of generating income.
Many book packagers generates idea that might interest publishers. These ideas often involve bringing a celebrity and a writer together to produce a book that a publisher buys, with the celebrity’s name on the cover. And this was how Jamie Cromwell entered our lives.
It was 1996, Babe the Pig had been nominated for an Oscar and Cromwell was a hot commodity. So one day we got a call from the book packager. “Hey, you guys interested in doing a UFO book with Jamie Cromwell?”
Well, hey, are you kidding? We had just gone to see Babe the Pig with Megan and loved it. “He’s interested in UFOs?” we asked.
“Yeah, he goes out into the desert with Stephen Greer and looks for these suckers.”
So one thing led to another and one Saturday morning, the phone rings. It’s Cromwell. His voice is soft, measured, just as it was in the movie. We spend an hour tossing around various ideas, all related to UFOs, abductions, the whole nine yards. He likes us, we like him, and he says he’s going to book a flight to Boynton Beach, where we’re living at the time, so we can brainstorm about the book. And a few weeks later, he arrives, a man so tall that he has to duck to get through our doorways. He must be six foot seven, maybe taller.
We’ve got a vegan lunch ready, and sit around our family room table while Megan is at school, and talk. Really talk. If you’re the kind of person for whom ideas hold promise and intriguing speculation, then this is the table where you should have been sitting that day. Jamie’s mind was labyrinthine, beautiful in its extremes, and we actually found commonalities in our mutual questions about the true nature of reality.
Jamie, like us, was fascinated about what UFOs are, what the abduction experience might actually mean, and what its ramifications might ultimately be. He related his experiences on a desert sojourn with Steven Greer; we related our experiences in the 1980s with Betty Hill.The conversation went on from there.
That night, the four of us went to a local Olive Garden for dinner, Megan, who was maybe eight at the time, questioned Jamie about the acting world, movies. At one point, our waiter came over and started talking to Jamie about the movie business. Jamie was gracious and kind, answering the young man’s questions the way only a pro could.
The next day, we sat around the computer, hammering together ideas for the book. By the time Jamie left, we felt we had a solid idea, a solid proposal. We wrote it up, sent it to the book packager.In the meantime, we started working on the book and sent Jamie the first 100 pages or so. The packager sold the idea to Ace books and before the ink was dry on the contracts, Jamie called.
Jamie: “I read the pages. I really dislike the way this sex scene is written. This isn’t how I make love to my wife.”
Trish: “Then you write the scene.”
Jamie: “I think I should come back down there and sit next to you while you write and correct it as you go along.”
Trish: “We don’t work like that, Jamie. You’d better write the book yourself.”
Jamie: “I think my wife and I are going to take a shot at writing the book.”
And that, as they say, was that.
As far as we know, the book was never written. We’ve followed Jamie’s career over the years and are grateful that from him we learned to never start ghostwriting the book until the contract has been signed.
His interests really are apparent in his films, Ray. Loved the general's daughter. Book and movie.
I can just see Cromwell interested in UFO's. It ties in with some of his movies and TV programs I've seen. When I saw his photo I immediately thought of his role in Species II as Senator Judson Ross. I also remember him in another movie as Lt. Gen. Joseph Campbell in The General's Daughter a movie I've seen just about every time it has appeared on TV.
After looking at his filmography he has been in quite a few SciFi roles, usually as a villain.
Ray
well, there seems to be a postscript to the john hurt comment above – you know, i've not been feeling well so haven't really been engaging in anything at all, including tv and/or movies etc – however, the very first time i turned on the tv after i made the hurt comment, to escape reality, i clicked immediately to one of the movie channels – now, just guess who was in the movie on the channel i clicked to – john hurt – in a film called "lost souls" in which he plays a priest who performs exorcisms – his young associate [winona ryder] tries to convince/warn a young male author that satan has chosen him for a physical body in which to make his imminent return to earth – the time of this transformation will be at the hour of the mans birth on his birthday – now, in one of the scenes, the camera goes to the clock that is ticking away for the transformation and the time is 5:53pm – which is the exact time of my daughter lisa's "second birth" – she was "born twice" literally and has two times of birth on her birth certificate – anyway, while they escape me at the moment, there were several other similar incidents in this movie, all of which left me with a very weird feeling –
wv="lingsiv – livings? or lin gives? [lynne is lisa's middle name]
Great story, Gypsy! Love his work.
and dp's cruise story is almost identical to one of mine involving the actor john hurt – years ago heather and i were in a B&N bookstore at the national shops mall in dc and i was at a table of books when i noticed a guy walk up to the table directly in front of me – i just glanced up because of someone walking up directly in front of me and had glanced back down at the table when it dawned on me who that was standing close enough to reach out and touch – i looked back up and at that very moment he looked up straight into my eyes and i remember "feeling" this huge question mark look in my eyes "?are you john hurt?" – apparently he saw it too because he grinned at me and laughed and shook his head up and down, yes – i realized how he did not wish to be recognized so i just smiled and said hello – as we left the store i looked back at him and he smiled again and nodded –
What a funny story. You preserved his identity!
I did get ti meet Mr Cruise. He spent a morning shopping in a bookstore I worked in. It was a small store, and I was the only employee in the store at the time. There were a few regular customers coming and going during those hours. He was dressed like a hippie , pretending he was hanging out at the beach. I knew his boat was docked nearby, but I pretended his disguise worked and didn't give his identity away. It was a private joke between us. The biggest shock was that he was so short.
sansego – never met cruise.But he was more than fair with the book deal.
You guys got to meet The Cruise, too? Wow…I definitely want your job! Not to meet him, per se, but to meet other celebrities and ghostwrite their books (I'd love to help Madonna write one).
I can understand why celebrities might be annoyed by regular people, though. People seem to want them to act out scenes from their movies or recite their most famous lines. I've gotten to meet quite a few celebrities, and I generally ask them what they think about such and such issue, usually on something that I know they are interested in. I like to engage their intellect, not treat them like monkeys meant to amuse us.
Back from my travels and just read Trish's post on Jamie Cromwell. I thought I might clarify a bit.
Why were writing a sex scene in a book on UFOs? It was a novel, and a pretty good idea. In fact, the celebrity angle wasn't what sold it. The editor who bought the novel didn't know who Jamie was. He just liked the story and the chapters we sent.
But Cromwell's idea was to just stay at our house while we worked on it, virtually reading and editing over our shoulders. You can't write novels that way. At least, we can't. Basically, one person has to take it and fly with it. Later, others can offer suggestions.
But Jamie's approach was hands-on, hands all over it, and while that might work with non-fiction, it wasn't going to work with this book.
Besides, having a six-foot-nine celebrity-type in the house was a bit overwhelming. Neighbors who never talked to us were suddenly very interested in what was going on. I remember one woman came over and tried to get Jamie to dance the Irish jig with her. He did that in Babe the Pig. He was gracious with people, sighed autographs, posed for pics, even put up with people approaching him in restaurants.
So it was a strange and interesting experience that was quickly replaced by another project – writing a series of novels for Tom Cruise based on Mission Impossible.
Trish signed the contract and before she could even get started Cruise changed his mind. (Oh, those celebrities!) But he was very generous. He paid 100 percent of the advance and we were able to live well for the rest of the year, and didn't even have to write the book.
We wrote others.
Rob
wv: prolse
I liked the movie, though it kind of moved a bit too slow and the story was basically not too surprising. I don't know if its on DVD yet, though. I wrote a review on my blog about a month or maybe two, ago.
It definitely requires patience and concentration.
Bummer! A very expensive lesson.
Sansego – been meaning to rent it. Was it good?
Nat – yup, good lesson learned. Lots of waste time and paper, though:)!
What a disappointment that after all those terrific vibes between you, it ended so weirdly.
Good lesson learned though. 🙂
I'm scratching my head and "LMAO" wondering what a sex scene between an actor and his wife have to do with UFOs! Maybe that's why the book never got published…his wife didn't want that kind of info about them divulged for public consumption!
Did you see the film "The Ghostwriter" with another MacGregor? That's another reason to not be someone's ghostwriter!
Good post!
Hey Gyps! Welcome home! Missed you in MU! cuzju
Mike, good for you!
These WV are hilarious – twogo, nocri.
Gypsy – hope you're feeling better!
oh, yes, there's nothing like walking out a door, closing it, and finding your way right straight into another one – bigger and better than the last –
and what a story – flowing along and then – and then – great lesson for us all!
love cjc's wv above!!!
– MU –
Gret post! Great insights! Great lesson learned! Thanks for sharing! I agree with nancy…DARN! That would have been a good book! cj in MU
Check out this WV: nocryi
What an interesting post and a good tip there about the world of ghostwriting.
I spent too many years with a finance company and when I finally plucked up courage and left it was a wonderful feeling – and other doors to opportunities and experiences do open.
wv was twogo!
Wise words. Sometimes contracts are important.
Wow, that book would have been interesting! Darn.