University of Delaware Office of Public Relations The Messenger Vol. 6, No. 1/1996 Scripts win Showtime spot Not too many University graduates with degrees in plant science end up in Hollywood with the likes of actor William Shatner of Star Trek fame starring in a script they wrote. But, that's exactly what happened to Rodman Gregg, Delaware '75. The Prisoner of Zenda Inc., written by Gregg and starring Shatner, aired on Showtime cable TV in September. But, Gregg's journey from plant science major at the University to scriptwriter/producer was not an easy one. A few years after graduating, Gregg found himself looking for a change. He had worked for awhile as a manager at Southern States Cooperative in Rising Sun, Md. In 1979, he came back to UD for a teaching certificate in agriculture, which landed him a job at a vo-tech school in Salem County, N.J. "Things were getting pretty stale," Gregg says. "What do you want to do, Rod," he asked himself. "I've always loved the movies; why not give it a try?" So, in 1980, Gregg packed up and headed for Hollywood. His story is hardly one of overnight success. "I promptly found myself bagging groceries," he recalls. It was during those lean years that Gregg came up with an idea that eventually did give him success and some recognition, a book entitled Who's Who in the Motion Picture Industry. "When I first went out there, I wanted to know who the key players were. I would sneak onto the lots and look at the names on the doors and read the trade papers." Gregg published the first edition of Who's Who in 1982; it lost money. But, the next year, Columbia Pictures took out a full- page ad. The year after that, Paramount followed suit. Fourteen years later, Who's Who has become an industry standard. The book helped open the door to his next move-enrolling in the American Film Institute (AFI), considered the premier film school in the country. Knowing that admission can greatly help one's career, Gregg was persistent, applying three times for the one-year program, before being accepted in 1985. At AFI, Gregg learned what he called "the nuts and bolts" of producing, the area of filmmaking he wanted to pursue, and he got a chance to meet some Hollywood celebrities, including Barbra Streisand. The producer has one of the most nebulous roles in filmmaking, Gregg says, doing everything from raising funds to putting together the projector. "Traditionally, the producer is the guy who makes it happen," he says. The director, on the other hand, is almost exclusively concerned with the actual filming process. After graduating from AFI, Gregg worked on producing low- budget films. "It was a job and I was happy, but it wasn't big- time movie-making," he explains. Then, he established a production company, O'Hara/Gregg Films, with a friend; and, although they came close to landing a few feature films, nothing ever panned out. While working at the Showtime network as an attorney's assistant, Gregg gained valuable experience with film contracts before establishing his current company, Meridian Pictures. His writing talent then paid off, as Showtime decided to shoot one of his scripts, Prisoner of Zenda Inc., and, importantly, actor William Shatner liked the script so much that he did it for a third of his usual salary. Borrowing loosely from David O. Selznick's classic Prisoner of Zenda, the production stars Shatner as an evil uncle who has his nephew, heir to the Zenda Co.'s fortune, kidnapped, only to have him reappear as a look-alike double. Showtime also is producing Gregg's script, My Fair Lacy. This script turns on a bet made by two upper-class, jock-type, high school boys that one of them can turn Lacy, a 16-year-old girl from the wrong side of the tracks, into a gymnast. Gregg won't tell more, other than to say the film has a Hollywood "feel good" ending. Gregg is part of a UD legacy family, including his father, Rodman I. Gregg, Delaware '51, a retired engineer, brother David, Delaware '79, and sister Cheryl, who attended the University in 1973. -Rich Campbell, Delaware '86