Adam Fields- Behind The Scripts!

 

Renowned Hollywood producer Adam Fields has worked on some of the most fascinating tales to have ever made their way to global cinema. With his unprecedented eye for talent and opportunity, not only has he been able to launch and push the careers of many superstars of modern day, but has also done a marvelous job at bringing some of the most overlooked scripts to silver screen.

 With movies such as Ravenous, Great Balls of Fire, Brokedown palace, Donnie Darko, Limitless, and The Wedding Ringer, Fields has showcased his amazing film-making skills time and time again. The sharp-witted producer and executive has wore many hats during his fabulous career of 40 years and counting. From executive  to music supervisor, from executive in charge of production to executive producer, and from co-producer and writer to finally becoming a successful producer and entrepreneur. Fields has surpassed the norms of becoming an ordinary film-maker by playing a key role in a number of well-known production houses including Sony Pictures, Miramax, 20th Century Fox, Universal, Warner Bros., Relativity Media, and Broad Green Pictures.

 As versatile as he is, Adam Fields has a simple method of selecting a script which he has been transparent about in many of his interviews. For instance, in an interview conducted by The New York Times, he openly admits that regardless of how appealing a script is, choosing the right one is always a gamble.

 Imagine Hollywood as a giant poker table with film-makers as players and their scripts or screenplays as chips with which they are supposed to play and succeed.

 He further explains that most of the scripts that never get to see the light of the day i.e light, action, camera in the biz terminology is due to a multitude of reasons. It could be a copyright issue of a book, material, or source whose rights have expired, or it could be inflation during years of development from one studio to another which further raises the price tag. Yet the most common reason for refusing a script is when it doesn’t intrigue you at all, as Fields puts it.

 The latter is something he proved while listening to the script of Great Balls of Fire for the very first time. Upon hearing the story, he was so intrigued, especially with the tragic life and equally sensational career of the protagonist (the first wild man of rock and roll “Jerry Lee Lewis” who was known to be the sole professional rival of king Elvis Presley in his heyday), that he wasted no time in giving it the green light. Not only that, he also gave the much needed break to then unknown Richard Kelly who wrote the script in the first place, to direct it as well!

 In the quest of getting his hands on prospective screenplays, Adam Fields has gone to great lengths many a times. In 2011, upon hearing the news of Disney selling Miramax, he was quick to procure about 642 un-produced Miramax scripts to identify likely prospects which he eventually did.