fbpx
Category

producers

Persian Jews break with tradition to break through in Hollywood

Whether it\’s producing Oscar-winning films, appearing on prime-time network television series or performing stand-up comedy, young Jews of Iranian heritage have been breaking with their community\’s traditional norms and leaving their imprint on Hollywood.

The Furst Brothers’ Gamble

When producers Sean and Bryan Furst met Wayne Kramer in 2001, just about everyone had rejected his Las Vegas fable, \”The Cooler.\” The screenplay was a hard sell, \”because it defies any specific genre,\” Bryan Furst said. \”It\’s not a mob flick, it\’s not a comedy or a love story, but all three together.\”\n\nIt didn\’t help that the inexperienced Kramer wanted to direct, although that hardly bothered the Fursts. With their eight-year-old production company, Furst Films, Sean, 33, and Bryan, 26, have made a name for themselves by discovering previously unknown talent. In 2000, their Sundance picture, \”Everything Put Together,\” introduced filmmaker Marc Forster, who went on to direct the Oscar-winning \”Monster\’s Ball.\” \”Sean has this incredible, risk-taking entrepreneurial spirit,\” Forster told Variety, which listed the Fursts among 2003 \”producers to watch.\”

‘Slap’ Happy

\nWhen Melanie Mayron read an early script of the iconic yuppie angst-fest \”thirtysomething\” in 1987, she rushed to the telephone. The series\’ creators had portrayed her character, Melissa, as Jewish, fat and troubled. But the famously redheaded actress didn\’t want any of that. She\’d already been a recurring character on another show about a food-obsessed Jewish chick, the 1970s sitcom, \”Rhoda.\” And she was tired of the cliché.

The Ongoing Dream

Producers Andrew Kosove and Broderick Johnson are sitting behind twin prefab desks in their spare Los Angeles office, looking like the Odd Couple.

The Show Must Go On

On the surface, it could have been any other Hollywood industry event: legendary producer Mike Medavoy and actress-director-producer Penny Marshall received awards before the festival-opening movie screening at the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. Business as usual in Hollywood.

New Articles

More news and opinions than at a
Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.

More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.

More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.