The results came in from the test market dates in Minneapolis and Denver. While we had some decent weekend crowds, there were very little ticket sales during the week. Also, there was that highly successful shark picture in the marketplace, which was gobbling up every other movie’s grosses. No one in distribution and marketing wanted to make a move with our picture before the test market numbers came in, and now that the results were not exactly overwhelming, nobody even wanted to discuss the picture. Besides, they obviously had other fish to fry with their major hit movie, which was going to make Universal some serious bank. I tried to call up the various marketing execs and inquire about what they were planning for our film and was told that they were still assessing how the studio would proceed.
With the film now completed, and technically in release, Universal suddenly realized that they did not need us wasting their valuable office space. It was politely but firmly suggested by studio services that we shut the door on the way out. Craig and I were all of twenty years old, and we had lost our own little office on the Universal lot. During our tenure we had some great times there and enjoyed the terrific perks that came along with that office—including priority tickets to the nearby Universal Amphitheater for great seats at high-demand concerts, at face-value prices. We would invite all our high school and college friends up to Universal for parties in our office prior to these concerts. No one else on the lot did this kind of thing; no one there was as young as we were, and they probably would be afraid of getting fired. (Of course Craig and I could not be fired since we weren’t getting paid.) The studio guards were always cool about it and would give us a wink and ignore us as they made their rounds. It was a genuinely terrific time, one I will never forget. But all things must pass. My “college years” were over and it was time for me to leave the studio system and get back to making indie movies my own way. Truth be told, I would never have an office on a major studio lot ever again. Oh, and I never did meet Steven Spielberg … but he did throw a nice reference to one of my movies in his film Ready Player One. See if you can spot it.