This ‘Overnight Sensation’ Wasn’t Speedy

Movie producer Mark Gordon describes himself tongue-in-cheek as “an overnight sensation after 18 years.”

Gordon toiled for years making MTV promos, directing plays and producing TV movies before entering the feature film business with movies such as “Swing Kids” that few people saw. “Moderate failures,” he calls them today.

Then, as sometimes happens in Hollywood, a single film changed his life.

In Gordon’s case, it was “Speed”--the 1994 action film starring Keanu Reeves, Sandra Bullock and a speeding bus that was one of the biggest international hits that year. The film--discovered by one of Gordon’s executives, Allison Lyon Segan, and shunned by various studio executives--went on to gross more than $350 million worldwide. Because it cost just a shade above $30 million to make and had no major profit participation, the Twentieth Century Fox movie was about as profitable for the studio as a film can get.

Agents and studio executives sought him out. Gordon signed a lucrative deal with Paramount Pictures, and today he’s working out of a temporary office across the street as one of Paramount’s more choice lot locations is readied for him and his producing partner, Gary Levinsohn.

It appears Gordon’s encore effort is about to change things again. “Broken Arrow,” the John Woo-directed action film starring John Travolta and Christian Slater, topped the box-office charts when it opened last weekend, grossing $15.4 million and far outdistancing its competitors.

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It’s a more expensive movie than “Speed”--sources put the cost at about $55 million--but the film is clearly off to a strong start, and expectations are that it will play well overseas. There are two good reasons for that: Hong Kong director Woo is especially popular among moviegoers in Asia, and Travolta is a major international star.

“Broken Arrow” comes at a pivotal time in the 39-year-old producer’s career. He’s a native of Virginia whose family was in the clothing business, and he grew up watching movies, thanks to a free pass from his uncle who owned a small chain of theaters in the Newport News area. If “Broken Arrow” remains strong at the box office, it will help solidify Gordon’s reputation for making profitable action films and put to rest any notion that “Speed” was a fluke.

Sherry Lansing, chairman of Paramount Pictures, said the studio courted Gordon because he has a feel for quality scripts that are also commercial. She adds she was especially impressed by the way Gordon managed costs in making “Speed,” and also by his willingness to gamble on a first-time director, cinematographer Jan de Bont.

For any producer, a big hit abroad has the potential for attracting foreign capital for future projects. Capital is an increasingly scarce commodity these days in entertainment, as some companies have tightened the purse strings.

Any number of producers are trying to raise money from foreign sources, with some, such as former Paramount Communications President Stanley Jaffe, having a devil of a time at it. The funds are important because studios, especially Paramount, are increasingly looking for producers and their investors to take on some of the financial risk for films. And bringing money to the table gives the producers a bigger slice of the profit pie when the movie is a hit.

Enter Levinsohn, 36, a South Africa native who specializes in raising foreign money for films--something he did for the recent Universal Pictures film “12 Monkeys,” starring Bruce Willis and Brad Pitt. That film opened strongly last month and has grossed more than $50 million so far. Levinsohn was one of its executive producers.

Levinsohn’s teaming with Gordon says a lot about how important the foreign marketplace has become to producers.

“Anyone can look at our business in the last few years and see it has become much more of an international business,” Gordon said. “Gary had that area of expertise in financing and understanding the international marketplace that I was not aware of or comfortable with.”

The company has lined up partners who potentially can buy pieces of their films by putting up equity. Companies include British Broadcasting Corp., a unit of Japan’s Toho Ltd., Germany’s TeleMunchen and PolyGram Filmed Entertainment.

Michael Kuhn, head of PolyGram Filmed Entertainment, said Levinsohn is successful in dealing with foreign companies because he is “methodical about finding out what the end users’ needs are” first rather than trying to force a bad deal on them.

As for Gordon, who’s working on a “Speed” sequel, he’s aware that if “Broken Arrow” makes a lot of money, it will give him more freedom on projects, something he values as much as the foreign money he’s attracting.

“So much of why you are allowed to do what you are allowed to do in our business is based on someone thinking you have the answer,” Gordon said. “I don’t know if anybody has the answer, but when you have made money for someone, people are more willing to believe you have the answers than others.”

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Long, Strange Trip Continues: The William Morris Agency has signed as a client the estate of the late Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia to develop film, book, television and interactive projects. The deal was worked out with Garcia’s widow, Debra Koons Garcia, and his longtime lawyer David Hellman. Morris music chief Richard Rosenberg will head the team of agents representing the estate of Garcia, who died in August.