The Rocky Method

The key, I have decided, is to grow up brave enough and bold

enough to follow our dreams, regardless of how crazy they may seem to others.

Strong perseverance and determination will lead to the fulfillment of our

passions. Believing that, I’m always looking for stories that underscore my

philosophy. I read a story in Vanity Fairmagazine that inspired me so much that I ripped it out and kept it.

In 1975, Sylvester Stallone, an unknown actor, convinced

producers Robert Chartoff and Irwin Winkler to take a look at a movie script he

had written about a fighter. It turned out to be a great script so United

Artists offered Stallone, starving and down on his luck, $250,000 to buy the

script and star someone like Burt Reynolds, the hottest movie actor at the

time, in it.

Stallone, despite his growling stomach, stood firm. He

wanted to star in it himself and Chartoff and Winker promised him that chance.

The producers bravely guaranteed the production against a small budget, shot it

in 28 days and persuaded United Artists to release it in time for the Academy

Awards. Critics panned it and the producers, standing outside the theater on

opening day and bemoaning their luck, thought it was all over. Actor Peter Falk

of “Columbo” fame walked up and said,

“Go inside. The audience is standing and cheering.”

The public bought what the critics hated and the studio had

been wary of. Rocky went on to win Best

Picture and two other Academy awards. Stallone had refused to settle. He saw it

through to the end to get exactly what he dreamed. And that’s another thing I

believe – you get what you settle for.

I’ve known Rich Middlemas for seven or eight years now. It

is a friendship that was seeded when he contacted me about a book I had written

to inquire if the movie rights were available. He’s an important part of my

history in a couple of ways, one being that we lunched together in Los Angeles

a couple of hours before I met the man I would marry. We still laugh over that

day’s conversation when I explained that I was meeting “John Pinker” about a

movie he was writing. I had completely misunderstood his last name due to a

sinus infection that kept me from hearing well over the telephone.

Rich’s story inspires me as much as the Rocky story. He was born in Atlanta and graduated from the

University of Tennessee, another reason we connect: We’re both raised in the

South. And you know: Southerners stick together, especially in Hollywood. It’s

a necessity, really.

He loved film and the business of it. Unlike many who dream

of going to Hollywood, he didn’t want to be an actor. He wanted to produce. His

parents – bless their hearts – cheered him on. Shortly after landing there, he

was hired as the assistant to the president of MGM (now Sony). Then he was

gutsy enough to step out on his own and start looking for work he could option.

One day while online reading the high school recruiting

reports for Tennessee, he found a story about a football team in Memphis. He

has an eye for a story. So he and two buddies produced a documentary called “Undefeated.” I was watching the Academy

Awards from bed the night they won the coveted award for Best Documentary. I

jumped up and cheered, not for the victory really but for the journey.

I love dreamers who have courage. That’s even better than an

Academy Award.

Ronda Rich is the

best-selling author of There’s A Better Day A-Comin’. Visit www.rondarich.com to sign up for her weekly

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