Press

Degen Pener
The Hollywood Reporter, December 2, 2011

The Power of Eames

Charles and Ray Eames are being celebrated anew with a documentary, art shows and an ever-devoted industry following

Eames chairs are beloved by Hollywood, and the release of new versions of two of the most iconic will only further whet the appetite. This winter, Herman Miller is imparting a light note to Charles and Ray Eames’ famously comfortable lounger and ottoman, offering them in white leather upholstered ash. And Eames’ sleekly functional Executive Chair (Don Draper’s choice) can now go out on the patio — it has just become available in weather-resistant metal.

In recent years, of course, Eames has become an easy signifier of modern-design sensibility — in a recent issue of People, Simon Cowell prominently displayed a lounger in his living room. Collecting originals also has grown to almost become a competitive sport. “I’d see a pair of chairs I loved and I’d come back the next day and ask where they’d gone. ‘Oh, Brad Pitt bought those.’ I was dogged by him,” says Daniel Ostroff, a film producer (The Missing, 2012’s Of Two Minds) and noted collector.

Now three exhibits and a new documentary are offering a deeper look at the late husband-and-wife team who revolutionized modern design with furnishings that are at once utilitarian and sculptural.

The just-opened, James Franco-narrated doc Eames: The Architect and the Painter portrays a design duo who stayed true to their ideal of bringing high quality to a broad audience, especially in their innovative use of such low-cost materials as resin and plywood.

As Eames fan Ice Cube said recently: “The Eames were masters of sampling. They took existing materials, mixed them into something better and brought their designs to the people.”

A comprehensive show, Collecting Eames: The JF Chen Collection, is on view at high-end vintage showroom JF Chen (941 N. Highland Ave., through Jan. 14). The more than 425 objects include a lyrically biomorphic La Chaise chair once owned by Tim Burton. Many of the pieces were originally collected by Ostroff.

More than 1,800 objects from the couple’s Pacific Palisades home, now a museum, have been temporarily moved to LACMA, which has re-created the Eameses’ living room as the centerpiece of its show Living in a Modern Way: California Design 1930–1965 (through June 3). Across the street, the A+D Museum (6032 Wilshire Blvd., through Jan. 16) is presenting Eames Words, spotlighting the pair’s aphoristic quotes. “What works is better than what looks good,” Charles once said. He died in 1978 at age 71; Ray 10 years later to the day at 75.

They were also filmmakers, making more than 125 movies, including the well-known Powers of Ten and shorts focusing on design. And one of their celebrated pieces has a Hollywood genesis. As Ostroff tells it, their friend Billy Wilder used to love to take office naps. He asked Charles to design a chaise for him, but insisted it not be mistaken for a casting couch. The item, still in production, ended up 18 inches wide. When Wilder saw it, he exclaimed, “That would be very good if your girlfriend was built like a Giacometti.”

Patrick Sisson
Dwell, April 23, 2014

10 Things You Didn’t Know About Charles and Ray Eames

Clowns, churches, and an aquarium: Find out how far the boundless curiosity of Ray and Charles Eames stretched.

“It makes me feel guilty that anybody should have such a good time doing what they are supposed to do.” It’s easy to imagine Charles Eames laughing with joy after uttering those words, a precinct summary of the way he and his wife and collaborator Ray viewed work. Their incredible accomplishments—spirited, human-centered design unbound by medium—seem like the byproduct of a state where work is play and vice versa.

And while their work in furniture, filmmaking and exhibition design is well-documented, there’s even more to their restless creativity than you might imagine. Dwell spoke with Daniel Ostroff, film producer, design historian, and editor of the forthcoming An Eames Anthology: Articles, Film Scripts, Interviews, Letters, Notes and Speeches by Charles and Ray Eames (Yale University Press), and Eames Demetrios, artist, principal of Eames Office, and grandson of the famous couple, to uncover underappreciated and relatively unknown stories about the design icons.

1) They Wrote the India Report, Which Shaped the Future of Design

Concerned with the deterioration of the quality of consumer goods in their rapidly changing country, in 1958, the Indian government and Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru enlisted Ray and Charles Eames to formulate a plan to invigorate industry and jumpstart design. Drafted after three months of exhaustive study, the epochal India Report reads like a master textbook on user-centered design. The report’s power lies in its lack of preconceptions, the way it linked design with values, and the author’s appreciation of the subject and vernacular. The foreword quotes the Bhagavad Gita and methodology is explained via a design case study on creating a better lota (the traditional water vessel). Even more refreshing was the lack of East/West dynamics: “The medium that is producing this change is communication; not some influence of the West on the East.” The report’s suggestion to create a design school was adopted, and in 1961, the National Institute of Design opened in Ahmedabad. The Eameses would return in 1964 to help mount the exhibit “Nehru: His Life and His India,” with NID students.

2) They Were Great Friends with Billy Wilder

“Charles used to say they learned more about architecture from watching a Billy Wilder film than talking to most architects,” says Eames Demetrios. That kind of deep-seated respect formed the basis for an enduring friendship between the Eameses and the famous American director, supposedly kick-started when graphic designer Alvin Lustig introduced Charles and Billy. The director’s influence ran deep. He was the inspiration for the first Eames Lounge Chair, a replacement for the makeshift chairs Wilder napped on between takes that was deliberately designed to be narrow (so anyone falling into a deep sleep would hit the side and wake up). The Eameses, who at one point even designed a home for Wilder, also contributed to his filmography: Ray designed the typography for the opening credits of “Love in the Afternoon” (1957), while Charles shot second shift for “Spirit of St. Louis” (1957). Perhaps the most telling story was that when Billy and Audrey Wilder went to Lake Tahoe for their honeymoon trip, they invited the Eameses to tag along. Talk about a fascinating double date.

3) They Created Immersive Cinema Experiences

More than half a century before the Oculus Rift made headlines, the Eameses were dreaming up and designing immersive cinema experiences. “Glimpses of the USA” from 1959, a feel-good propaganda film that debuted inside a golden Buckminster Fuller dome in Moscow, featured quick-cut images of American domesticity flashing on seven screens and an air-to-ground zoom that presaged “Powers of Ten.” Nearly three millions Russians saw the show; supposedly the floor had to be resurfaced multiple times to keep up with the foot traffic. “House of Science” (1962), which played at Seattle’s World Fair, saturated a curved oval screen with multiple projections and pictures, a carefully choreographed blend of rhythm, perspective and speed. As scholar Beatriz Colomina noted, “The Eameses’ innovative technique did not simply present the audience with a new way of seeing things. Rather, it gave form to a new mode of perception that was already in everybody’s mind.“

4) They Turned Down a Chance to Redesign the Budweiser Label

Few stories proved the Eameses commitment to “innovate as a last resort” more than their brief dalliance with the King of Beers. When Budweiser came calling, it was to offer one of the most lucrative gigs a designer would ask for: logo redesign for a multinational corporation. The Eameses considered the opportunity for months, before replying that there wasn’t really a good enough reason to change it, so they couldn’t do the job.

5) They Designed a House in Michigan for a Herman Miller Chairman

Designed to avoid Dutch Colonial cliches, the Zeeland, Michigan home of Max De Pree—son of Herman Miller founder D.J. De Pree, and later the CEO—melded local style and history with Scandinavian cool, including a sleek vertical shape and a cedar exterior. Supposedly during a meeting to discuss the project, the client, expecting to discuss specific features, was thrown off guard when Charles’ opening question was, “Tell me about the family.”

6) They Loved and Appreciated Clowns and the Circus

Clowns supposedly engaged Charles Eames from childhood. At a party in 1953, he had Ray paint his face in a white-and-black modernist grid as part of a clown costume. Ostroff said they loved entertainment that combined great fun with great diligence and effort. Their attraction to clowns led to “Clown Face!” a 1971 training film and face-painting tutorial for students at the Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Clown College in Palmetto, Florida. Charles eventually became a school trustee.

7) They Designed a National Aquarium in Washington, D.C. That Was Never Built

It promised to be one of the most engaging museums the country had ever seen. Fresh off decades of designing forward-thinking films projects and immersive public exhibits, the Eameses were asked to create a national aquarium in Washington, D.C. Demetrios said the goal of the proposed National Fisheries Center and Aquarium was to “give people an intense visceral feel of the thrill of science.” Budget cuts in 1969, right as the Nixon administration ramped up the war in Vietnam, made sure the idea never got past the concept stage, but their ideas are preserved in the 11-minute film “Aquarium,” including living ecologies.

8) They Created the Coolest Toy House Never Built

In 1959, the Eameses prototyped what might have been the coolest of Mid-Century Modern collectible; a dollhouse done in the modern style of their own home, outfitted with miniature models of Eames furniture. The toy was never brought to market, frustrating generations of future design fans.

9) Charles Designed a Series of Churches in the ‘30s

During the depths of the Depression, before he met Ray at Cranbrook, Charles supported his family (first wife Catherine Woermann and daughter Lucia) with a series of architectural commissions, including a series of churches and homes in St. Louis and Arkansas. St. Mary’s Cathedral in Helena, Arkansas (1934), which he supposedly called one of his favorite pieces of work, blended modern and Medieval forms, from the brickwork to the brass globes with striking star-shaped cutouts. A write-up of the project impressed Eliel Saarinen enough to Contact the young architect and offer a Cranbrook fellowship.

10) They Created the Best-Selling Airport Seating in the World

Think the Eames Molded Plastic Chair is their most popular piece of furniture? If you’re measuring by widespread adoption and use, Eames Tandem Seating (ETS) wins, hands (and backsides) down. Developed in 1962 for O’Hare Airport, the seating system epitomizes rational, situation specific design. The seamless back pads and seat pads are easy to clean and interchangeable, making it easy to swap out and replace. Ostroff said they were designed to be “light enough that the airport maintenance people could pick up a row of ten and sweep under it.” There are even a few rows in the Apple Store in Santa Monica.

Richard McCoy
art:21 blog, October 3 and 4, 2011

No Preservatives

Following the Eames Legacy: A Discussion with Daniel Ostroff

While interest in the work of Charles and Ray Eames remains high, this fall it seems to be peaking: there are countless exhibitions, projects, publications, and auctions that will feature their work, or projects inspired by them. At the Indianapolis Museum of Art, I have been working with Tricia Gilson, Ball State University professor and independent researcher, to study the Eames material contained within the Eero Saarinen-designed Miller House and Garden, located in Columbus, Indiana.

Although the Miller House and Garden opened just this year, we’ve already had a lot of scholarly interest in it and its mid-century modern contents. One of the most memorable and knowledgeable visitors we’ve had recently was Daniel Ostroff, who came with some folks from Herman Miller to look at the furnishings in the house. To expand on the conversations we had with him at the Miller House, I invited Tricia to help interview Dan about his work with the Eameses.

Daniel Ostroff is a Los Angeles-based film producer, researcher, curator, and collector. He is also the producer and editor of eamesdesigns.com, a consultant for Herman Miller, and has been sitting on an Equa Chair behind an Action Office System desk for the past 10 years. Today the exhibition he curated, Collecting Eames: The JF Chen Collection, opens at JF Chen in Los Angeles. The exhibition is part of the Getty’s massive Pacific Standard Time project and consists of 450 pieces, with a corresponding 135 page catalog with a preface by Eames Demetrios and an essay by Dan (available soon on Amazon, or by e-mail here). Also, next month Dan will have an Eames-related book out and another in 2012.

Richard McCoy and Tricia Gilson:

How did you first start collecting and researching the work of Charles and Ray Eames?

Daniel Ostroff:

I am a film producer now, but I was a Hollywood agent before that. In 1987 I opened The Daniel Ostroff Agency in Los Angeles, an agency for screenwriters, directors, and books to film. While I had worked before that as an agent, I had either worked for other companies or with a partner.

With my own office I was faced with the prospect of having to furnish the place. I started with rented furniture, and then an artist friend came to visit. He pointed out that given the business that I was in, rented furniture wouldn’t do, and so I asked him what I should get. He replied with a question: “Why buy furniture that depreciates in value?” He told me about a rare Eames desk for sale in San Diego, and my journey began.

I bought that desk for a couple thousand dollars. I also made my first collector’s mistake with it: I didn’t listen to the dealer, who was experienced and knowledgeable. There was some rust on the steel frames, and I insisted that he re-chrome it. I wasn’t happy with the results; it was an early lesson in how you should appreciate antique furniture for its honest signs of age.

Eventually my collection expanded, and at one point, I had fantastic examples of designs by all of the greats, particularly from the period 1946 to 1989. My collection encompassed both post-war modernism, and post-modern designs.

I had a living room full of great vintage George Nakashima case goods, a rare Eames 3473 Sofa Compact, a Finn Juhl Chieftain Chair, an Achille Castiglioni San Luca Lounge Chair, a Ron Arad Rover Chair, and a Hans Wegner Peacock Chair. Throughout my place were classic Ettore Sottsass designs, too: lighting, case goods, ceramics and enamels.

But the more I collected and the more I learned about design and designers, the more I focused on Eames. Finally, it was only Eames designs that I couldn’t live without.

RM/TG:

And today, you’ve produced and continue to edit the fantastic web resource, eamesdesigns.com, which is a “A Virtual Encyclopedia of all things Eames.” What was the impetus behind starting this web project?

DO:

I made that site in collaboration with the Eames family (and with support from the Eames Office), who carry on the legacy of Charles and Ray Eames. The family is very active in carefully supervising the ongoing production of authentic Eames designs, but just as importantly they embody and exemplify their grandparent’s best attributes.

Charles and Ray did not believe in the “gifted few” concept. They thought that many of us could do good work, if we care about what we are doing, and are given a chance to try and try again. The Eames family first did this with me when they asked me to write the book Modern Classic: the Eames Plastic Chair. Following on that, they asked me to be their in-house vintage Eames expert, and even though Eames Demetrios very kindly called me a “scholar” when I did that first book, I wasn’t then, but they allowed me to try and learn. For the next five years I answered vintage Eames questions, and I’ve done a fair amount of trying and trying again.

I actually feel that studying Eames designs is a moral imperative. I got my first clue of this when I read something that the great graphic designer, Milton Glaser, said about Charles and Ray: he said words to the effect of, “Charles and Ray Eames showed us all that a design office could have a moral center.” And as you study what they did, what they designed, and how they went about designing it, and the depth to which they thought about not only the user of the design, but also the men and women who would be producing their designs, you really understand that Milton Glaser was understating the case.

So after answering Vintage Eames questions for five years, the Eames family felt I was ready for a standalone web site, and they paid for its architecture, by the great design studio t-Sign. By this time I no longer thought of myself as a “vintage Eames” person and I did not think a “vintage Eames” site was what the world needed.

So with support from Eames Office I made eamesdesigns.com, a virtual encyclopedia of all things Eames. I say “all things,” because another thing you learn in Eames scholarship is that, to paraphrase Charles, “The process is always the same.” The design of a film, the design of a toy, the design of a chair, they followed the same process. There’s another point to this website, it’s not that folks should only study Eames the way they study historical things: it’s that the Eames message is current and ongoing.

RM/TG:

So in what way is the study of Eames designs a moral imperative?

DO:

Charles and Ray were business people. Towards the end of their lives they liked to refer to themselves as “tradesmen.” People would come to them with problems, and pay them to solve those problems, and also pay them to design products to be manufactured for a profit. But even though they were in business, and they made money performing a service, and they made money designing goods which were sold for a profit and they got royalties, they never did this without thinking about the impact of their work on society as a whole.

They did not make designs without considering what it would be like for the worker on the assembly line. They did not work without considering every possible aspect of the user experience, and not just the user experience for the first few days after you get a product home, but what it’s like to own that product ten years later. They also lived good lives, because they only would work on projects and products that they personally enjoyed—another imperative for them.

The last cars Charles and Ray Eames drove were a Jaguar and a Mercedes. They lived a rich full life, lived in a great house with a really big yard, owned their own business, traveled all over the world, and had many friends. Is that so bad? They had five beautiful grandchildren. But they did not do it at the expense of society as a whole.

Charles and Ray Eames felt that fun is as an important part of life as just about anything is. I think the world would be a better place if business men and women considered whether they really enjoy what they are doing.

Charles and Ray Eames and their manufacturing partners made money giving folks good products that are a good value for the money. We ought to apply the Eames way of thinking to business more, instead of rewarding executives for firing employees. Herman Miller does very well selling Eames designs, and yet they are often ranked as one of the 100 best companies to work for in America.

RM/TG:

Why did you decide to put the Eames Encyclopedia online instead of as a book?

DO:

When Eames Demetrios asked me why I wanted to do this Eames encyclopedia online, instead of as a book, I told him I wanted it online as an “encyclopedia” for several reasons: Folks understand that encyclopedias get updated, and this one will and can be continuously updated. Encyclopedias have many contributors; I hope the world of scholars will participate in this ongoing project. Some might find it odd that scholarship is being done on a site presented by a for-profit business, the Eames Office, but actually, that is consistent with the work of the Eames Office when Charles and Ray were alive, and this is just one of many areas of discovery that unfolded for me when studying Eames work. I’m going to need the help of everyone in the scholarly communities: the museums, universities, collectors, and the knowledgeable dealers, to continue in the high standards of scholarship set by Charles and Ray Eames, with this scholarly site.

RM/TG:

Where did you get all of the objects that are photographed on the website?

DO:

Just as supportive as the Eames family in this project is the JF Chen family: Joel Chen, Margaret Chen, Bianca and Fiona, who bought a collection of Eames material, grew it, and subsidized my work studying the collection the way that Charles Eames said is the best way to study design: by photographing it. (The photographer for this project was Grant Taylor, who does really great work).

Actually, The JF Chen Eames Collection started out as my personal collection. Eventually it had grown to 175 Eames pieces, and my storage bills were higher than my rent. The Chens bought the collection and grew it to 400-plus pieces. As you mentioned in the introduction, this collection is the basis of the exhibition, Collecting Eames: The JF Chen Collection.

RM/TG:

Will you describe the JF Chen Eames Collection?

DO:

The JF Chen Collection is the most extraordinary Eames collection in the world because it shows great examples from every decade of Eames design production, and it is in that chronology that you can find many of the most important messages, including the moral ones.

That collection starts with the Kleinhans Chair of 1939, by Charles Eames and Eero Saarinen, and includes an amazing high back Relaxation Chair, from the landmark 1941 Organic Design competition at MoMA. The last chair in the timeline is a 1998 La Chaise.

If you go to see this exhibition, you’ll also see an earlier Eames-Saarinen design, an incredibly rare 1939 desk they designed for the Crow Island School, which is on loan to JF Chen for the duration of the exhibition.

The importance of this collection and the Chen family’s contribution to world design history can be seen on eamesdesigns.com, because they generously donated 6000 photos to the site: photos that they paid for as I studied this collection over a period of four years.

RM/TG:

In your book, Modern Classic: the Eames Plastic Chair, you write about the Eames’ desire to continue to improve on their designs. From a collector’s perspective, how do the changes in the material of the plastic chair influence notions of connoisseurship?

DO:

Let’s take for example one small aspect of an Eames chair, the shock mounts: those rubber elements that are used to attach the chair’s legs to its body. Shock mounts represent on a small scale something that Charles and Ray always did: they always looked to improve upon their past work, to make something better, and their improvements were always in favor of the consumer.

The very first shock mounts were solid rubber, and there was no screw involved (just adhesive). We see that on chairs in the famous Barclay Hotel show of 1945, and then in the MoMA exhibition of spring 1946, New Furniture Designed by Charles Eames. I once owned a rare chair that was exhibited in that MoMA show which had survived with its shock mount intact. It was a miracle that this shock mount didn’t come off!

The next iteration involved a screw, and an external metal plate. The metal plate had to be machined separately and this involved added cost, but it was necessary in order to give the screw a secure hold. In the next step, the Eameses came up with a way to make the metal bit integral to the rubber. And with this final step, they gave a better looking product, and one that would cost less to make. Charles and Ray were always about passing the savings along to their customers.

The first shock mount was interesting, but ultimately couldn’t hold up under a lot of use, but when you study Eames designs closely, you learn that there is one consistent thread, that they were designed with easily repairable, easily replaceable parts. The shock mount is a classic example of this practice. Plenty of Eames chairs from the 1940s and 1950s have survived until today with intact shock mounts. Those that need new shock mounts are relatively easy to fix. What other consumer products from 1946 still look so good, work so well, and are so easy to repair?

RM/TG:

When you visited the IMA’s Miller House & Garden this year, we looked at all of the Eames furniture in the house. Of particular note is that you described the Eames PSC-1 in a girl’s bedroom as a “marriage of chairs,” a “historic Eames chair;” “like a Japanese ceramic with staples in it.” Is this a common practice, for owners to marry different Eames chair components together?

DO:

I can’t say whether or not it is a common practice, but I am delighted when I see pieces that show signs of attention from their original owners. It means that someone valued this piece enough to modify it to suit their needs.

Now, an important distinction should be made between this practice, what the original owners did, and what some dealers do. I think when an antique dealer makes such changes in order to enhance the value of a piece, he is rendering it valueless.

I have my own collection of well-loved, well-used Eames chairs. A couple favorites come to mind: a walnut DCW that I rescued from a dealer before it was refinished; its finish is original and it is engraved overall with a couple decades of what I imagine to be school kids scratching their names into the veneer with pens and pencils.

And then I have a mid-1950s Eames LCM that was originally coated with Eames red aniline dye. But at some point, some owner decided that they needed a chair with antique white paint, and that’s what they put on it, very thickly. I remember from my childhood when “antique white” was in vogue. I think my parents painted my childhood bedroom furniture with antique white, with that streaky black stuff in it.

I think examples like these two are beautiful in and of themselves, but if you have to think something about them, think this: Eames designs look better with age, and also, you can personalize them to your own needs and they still look great.

RM/TG:

What do you think the Eameses would have thought of this practice?

DO:

They did it themselves. In the Eames House living room there’s a round George Nelson walnut tabletop on an early Eames solid cast aluminum base. In the Eames House kitchen is another Eames cast aluminum base which supports a square piece of plywood that has a TV on top.

Again, this is much different than what many dealers and collectors do now, where they marry various Eames parts to create something that they think is more desirable. I have heard that collectors in Europe are buying Eames shells and bringing them over and putting the shells on reproduction bases. I don’t know what to call those. I guess they are chairs, but they do not have any value in terms of scholarship or connoisseurship.

Charles and Ray Eames made complete designs, they did not do “mix and match” kits. If you bought an Eames design for the most part you got it and you get it now, intact, from the factory. That’s what probably has the most value: intact, all original parts, as it left the factory, Eames design. However, I think it’s just as valid to consider seriously pieces that were well-loved and well-used and sometimes well-repaired by their original owners, just like we treasure Windsor chairs that have two centuries of various over painting.

RM/TG:

So they liked their furniture to develop a certain kind of patina?

DO:

I don’t think they wanted their furniture to develop a patina, I think they wanted to give their customers products that would provide years of service and performance. However, that sometimes folks would love their Eames designs so much that they would repair them, maybe relates to sock darning. Charles often said that his ambition was to have really well-darned socks. And I think darned socks are like an Eames LTR I have, which developed a bit of a separation in the wire base, and this happened after the user used the table as a step stool for twenty years, and this separation was repaired by its original owner, who worked for ten years at the Eames Office, with a bit of coat hanger wire.

Ray was the same way. The Eames family does fantastic, historic and meaningful exhibits at the Eames Office at 850 W. Pico in Santa Monica. Once they exhibited some of Charles Eames’ shirts and some of Ray Eames’ dresses. On many you could see signs of re-weaving and darning.

Carla Hartman, the Education Director of the Eames Office, tells a wonderful story about Ray. Ray and Charles were at a party, and they rarely attended parties, they mostly worked seven days a week until eleven at night, and that is not an exaggeration. At the party Ray had her back to one woman who whispered to her companion, upon seeing a darned bit on the back of Ray’s cape, “You’d think Mr. Eames would buy his wife a new cape!” There’s a morality in that too, why throw something away that you love and enjoy and can still use, just because there’s a hole in it?

RM/TG:

Last month Jeff Jamieson spoke about how the look of Donald Judd’s furniture has evolved over time; have you found material that discusses how the Eames thought about their work changing over time?

DO:

I have found, over the years, that Charles and Ray expressed themselves very, very well with regard to their designs, and what they were thinking when they designed them. Right now I am working on an anthology of Eames speeches, letters, and interviews. In this project I have found that the Eames’ wisdom is as relevant to today’s problems, as it was to problems in the past. They did not just talk the talk, they walked the walk.

Charles and Ray noted that they thought about how something would look in ten years, in twenty years, in fifty years. Earlier this year I acquired an Eames Soft Pad Chair (EA434), in leather, that was in the Saarinen-designed bank (Irwin Union Bank and Trust) in Columbus, Indiana. I can tell from the markings and the ink stamped model number on the chair, that the bank acquired this chair in 1970. I acquired it in 2011. That means for 41 years, bankers sat on it. Well, that chair looks more beautiful in some ways, than a new Eames Soft Pad Chair does. And that happened because Charles and Ray considered that when they designed it.

There are plenty of things that we buy and sell to one another that look worse when we get them home and use them for a week. In many cases Eames products look better when they are used for a little while.

RM/TG:

As you note in your book, Modern Classic: the Eames Plastic Chair, over the past 60 years the plastic shells of Eames chairs have changed; would you talk about how or if the suppliers for the shells have had an impact on the appearance of the final product?

DO:

I suspect that it was more often that “the Eames” (Alexander Girard referred to Charles and Ray as “The Eames”) had an impact on the suppliers, than that the suppliers had an impact on them.

Starting with the general, think about anything you do in life. If you play tennis with people who are better than you, you get better at your game. And better is probably the wrong word, because as Charles Eames once said, “Genius, baloney, we just work harder.” And that was true, even in their seventies, Charles and Ray would still be at their office at ten-thirty at night, and often barely made it home in time to watch the eleven o’clock news. Charles and Ray Eames would not delegate understanding, so when they worked with a new material or on a new subject, they worked very hard to understand its properties or its qualities very well themselves.

On eamesdesigns.com there are marvelous interviews with Sol Fingerhut and Irv Green, two men who Charles and Ray impressed into service to make the first industrially-produced plastic furniture.

It would be better for people to actually go read the interviews, but I’ll quickly summarize it: World War II was over, and those two men were looking for clients. During the war they had done some work with plastics, and had worked for Corning. In the interviews they vividly describe how Charles Eames alternately grilled them about their knowledge of working with plastic, and sold them on the idea that plastic furniture was a good idea. As the relationship developed, Sol and Irv tell stories of working until midnight every night, with Charles and Ray stirring the “soup” so to speak, as Charles and Ray invented new colors for plastic, with names like Elephant Hide Grey and Sea Foam Green.

These were not cutesy names, any more than the names of their designs like DCM and DCW are cutesy names. The names that Charles and Ray gave their colors are quite descriptive and practical. Meeting Charles and Ray was the best thing that ever happened to Sol and Irv, and I understand that even after Charles died, Sol and Irv were very attentive and appreciative of Ray. I’m sure this was true of other manufacturers, although I have only begun to scratch the surface of this research. There is so much scholarship yet to be done in regard to the Eameses and manufacturers.

If people need to know some topics that need researching, drop me an e-mail or get in touch with me through the website.

RM/TG:

It’s very interesting to consider how the Eameses would have adapted their practice to the “Green Movement.” Do you think the Eameses would have seen a contradiction between the Modern sense of “Good Design” and the Green Movement?

DO:

With regard to good design and Charles and Ray Eames I will simply share with you one of my favorite quotes from Charles. That we have this quote is courtesy of the visionary CEO of Herman Miller, Hugh DePree, who cited this in his delightful book, Business as Unusual: The People and Principles at Herman Miller:

 

Once, in discussing the design of Herman Miller’s New York showroom, the words “good design” were used. Charles Eames said, “Don’t give us that good design crap. You never hear us talk about that. The real questions are: Does it solve a problem? Is it serviceable? How is it going to look in ten years?

 

This relates to green design. Let’s not forget something else that can be “green,” a product that is timeless, a product that doesn’t wear out, a product that has easily replaceable and easily repairable parts. How is a plastic spoon, made from soy milk and corn “green”? We use it once, we feel good because the plastic is made of “sustainable soy plastic” or some such, and then we throw it away? I think it’s maybe more “green” to make something that never goes out of style and always works.

I was delighted the other day to see in the Apple Store in SantaMonica, Eames airport tandem seating. You know how great Apple design is, but I think that if you go in that store you’ll agree withme, that the Eames seating, which hasn’t changed since it was firstdesigned and introduced in 1961, is the best looking stuff in the store.And it’s practical and comfortable.

Fundamental to Charles and Ray’s design of that tandem seating isthe fact that the seat and back cushions are interchangeable. It’s one ofthe greatest Eames designs ever and we take it for granted because wesee it in hundreds of airports all over the world.

There are many things I love about airport tandem seating, but hereare two. Charles and Ray thought about these two constraints, among others: that the tandem seating be sturdy enough that a weary adult businessman or woman could flop themselves down on it, with a heavybriefcase, and be supported. But light enough and “slide-y” enough,that at the end of the evening, a janitor could easily move it for mopping.

And secondly, those interchangeable pads: Imagine you are in chargeof resources for an airport. Because the back and seat pads are interchangeable, you only have to order “replacement pads.” You don’thave to send some clerk on your staff around to tell you how many “backs” you need and how many “bottoms.” The pads will last fortwenty years or more before they need replacing, and when twenty orthirty years are up, the aluminum and steel frames still look awesomeand work great.

RM/TG:

It’s almost as if many of the ideas that the Eameses were pursuing are as relevant today as they were just after the end of World War II.

DO:

To answer this question, I’d like to reference the Eames Solar Toy of1959, which is often misunderstood and misnamed the “Do Nothing Machine.” In the book I am working on now it becomes clear that Charles and Ray Eames had generous and wise hearts. When asked by Alcoa to make a “toy” out of aluminum, they demurred. Theydidn’t think the world needed an “aluminum toy” just for fun and advertising.

Many designers participated in the Alcoa Forecast Program, andvarious things were produced in aluminum, including some furniture and storage systems. When pressed by Alcoa, Charles and Ray did think that there was something the world needed. It occurred to them,in 1959, a “Mad Men” ish world of big gas guzzling cars and martini guzzling ad men, that the world needed reminding that our resources are not infinite, and they made a toy that showed the virtues of a renewable energy source: the sun.

About as far from a “Do nothing” device as there ever was, Charlesand Ray showed us, in a delightful manner, that the sun can power our devices. Here’s to much more real scholarship to come, about a very relevant design duo, who the world needs now more than ever.

Deborah Netburn
VLife, December 2003

The Art of War

Producer Daniel Ostroff has an eye for rarities

“I feel like collecting is something you are born with,” says producer Daniel Ostroff. “It’s like other inherited congenital diseases like nearsightedness and a propensity for balding.”

For the better part of the last 20 years, Ostroff, one of the producers on Ron Howard’s “The Missing,” has given into that obsession. His Hollywood home is chock-full of rare collectibles—from vintage Sony TV sets to a choice selection of midcentury furniture by the likes of George Nakishima and Charles and Ray Eames.

But if Ostroff’s interest in product design is about nuance and precision—which it is— his attraction to Afghan war rugs is more emotional. He saw his first war rug, which depict Afghan military struggles through figurative elements woven into tapestries, at a flea market in the 1980s, when Afghanistan was still at war with Russia. “I thought, that’s a narrative,” says Ostroff, pointing at a navy blue rug nailed to his wall with a green army tank woven in the center and lines of small helicopters and tanks on either side. “It’s the story of what life was like under occupation.”

A more recent acquisition depicts an almost Hollywood-style epic. “Out there you have helicopters and tanks,” says Ostroff, who has traveled to the Middle East to purchase more. “In here are the [Afghans] throwing the Russian guys out. Then below that is when the Russians are gone and [the Afghans] get to ride camels and put their children on dogs.”

Ostroff, who debuted as a co-producer of 2001 documentary “Dogtown and Z-Boys,” says he sees a strong connection between his film projects and his favorite designs. “I try to approach moviemaking the way [Charles Eames] approached furniture making. He was completely obsessed with the audience, and he focused really hard on those things that would be meaningful to the end user.”

 

The Rights Report
BPI Communications Inc, January 2000

Taking things personally Agent Daniel Ostroff on the benefits of independence

LOS ANGELES ••• Daniel Ostroff set up his literary agency 10 years ago after working at ICM and Writers & Artists Agency. He represents screen writers, producers, directors and books to film.

Ostroff’s clients have long been involved in book adaptations. Richard Friedenberg adapted A River Runs Through It by Norman Maclean, and wrote and directed the movie from the novel The Education of Little Tree by Forrest Carter and Rennard Strickland. Friedenberg is now working on the screen adaptation of I Know This Much Is True by Wally Lamb. There are, plans for him to direct his own screenplay adaptation of the novel Of Such Small Differences by Joanne Greenberg.

Ostroff’s clients Sara Parriott and Josann McGibbon have had a major success with their original screenplay for RUNAWAY BRIDE, and have just closed a writing and producing deal to adapt Tony Kenrick's novel Made for Each Other, now called FIT TO BE TIED as there have been two previous movies with the title of the book. Tony Drazan, who directed the film version of David Rabe’s Hurley Burley, will direct.

Another of Ostroff’s clients, David Fuller, is writing a movie for SHOWTIME based on his unpublished thriller Copperhead, which posits the premise "What if the South had won the Civil War and the richest people in America were black?". Wendy Schmalz of the Harold Ober Agency is handling the sale of the publishing rights.

Ostroff also handled the life rights for Holocaust survivor Betty Schimmel. New York agent David Hendin orchestrated the sale of book rights to Schimmel’s story, pairing the author with journalist Joyce Gabriel; the book was published by Dutton. Film rights have been acquired by Wendy Finerman, the Academy Award winning producer of FORREST GUMP.

“It’s an ideal situation to be able to handle publishing rights separately from film rights.” says Ostroff. “When you sell the movie rights, you have to let the filmmakers tell the story their way. You choose who you sell to very carefully, then stand back.

“In this case the movie script was written before the book, and it was based on interviews which the screenwriters did with Betty. The script has turned out very well. In the book, Betty can tell the story in her own words. David Hendin did a magnificent job shepherding the story from Betty’s own words to publication by Dutton, and by more than 14 publishers overseas. He found the right collaborator for Betty and the right editor, and he made the right deals.

“I defer to New York agents in all matters regarding publishing. If one of my clients writes a manuscript, I try to match the client with an appropriate book agent. I am also fortunate enough to have the opportunity to sell books to film on behalf of some top New York book agents, independents like myself.”

In the past year, concurrently with these developments, Ostroff placed the film rights to another life story at Warner Bros, based on a book first published 10 years ago. Producer Andrew Lazaris making CONFESSIONS OF A DANGEROUS MIND, based on the life of Chuck Barris and on Barris’ “unauthorized autobiography” of the same title published by St Martin’s Press. Mike Myers is slated to play Chuck.

On the subject of large versus small agencies Ostroff says, “I don’t think that there is only one way to be an artist’s representative; each individual artist requires a different approach. I do the same work now as I did when I was at ICM and Writers & Artists. Whether you are at a big or small agency, the artist is represented by an individual, not a company. As one of the heads of a big agency was quoted as saying, ‘My assets go home at 5 o’clock’.

“I prefer working on my own because it permits me to concentrate on what I do best, representing individuals in all of their activities. Since becoming a sole proprietor I have found that my relationships around town have grown in breadth and depth. I am free to collaborate with anyone, whatever makes sense for my clients. I like the focus that I can put on my clients, and I like the flexibility to make strategic alliances when it suits my clients. At different times in this past year I have had successful collaborations with the big three, ICM, William Morris and CAA, and with a number of the independent agencies. Thanks to smart agents engaging in thoughtful and mutually beneficial co-operation, we have projects set up at Lakeshore, Fox, Disney and Warner Bros. It might surprise your readers to know how much co-operation there is in this community.”

Ostroff has had extensive experience selling books to film as well as having clients adapt books, so he is fully conversant with the way the process works in Hollywood.

“A book implies that there is some responsible person validating a story, the publisher, who has obviously ‘endorsed’ the story by spending money to have it published.

“This validation, the process by which a book has been selected by a publisher, an author has been paid for it, and perhaps some people have bought copies and read it, is very comforting to financiers for whom there is very little certainty. There are no ‘sure things’.

“Wet behind the ears, I sold film rights to The Right Stuff. I collected 43 passes from Hollywood producers before the book was published. I came into the office on the Monday after the book hit the bestseller lists and a New York Times book review was published that weekend, and there was a note on my phone sheet asking if the rights to The Sky Is Our Domain were available. I remembered that this was the title of the review, and the producer hadn’t even checked the title, to say nothing of reading the book, because if he’d read The Right Stuff the title would have in his mind.

“A week later I had seven offers and had sold the rights to a book which I couldn’t give away in manuscript form. The New York Times review and the bestseller status signalled ‘validation’ to the Hollywood community.

“In addition, books may have a certain cachet with talent. Years ago Universal took out a two-page ad in Variety announcing that they'd bought the film rights to a book. I asked the president of Universal why he did that, and he said there was a certain movie star who he wanted to attract. It worked; they got the actor they wanted.

“When Stanley Jaffe bought the film rights to Kramer versus Kramer he gave the publisher $25,000 to promote the book because he knew that if the book’s profile was enhanced, the chances of getting casting and financing for his film project would be enhanced.

“With DANCES WITH WOLVES it was very important to Kevin Costner that there was a novel that was known to be the basis of the movie. As he shopped that project from company to company he always gave out copies of the book.

“It was a marvelous story, and it looked good that it was a published novel. He didn’t like the publisher’s original cover, so he was often giving out the book without the cover, but he still gave people that book.

“And he supported the book after the release of the film, putting his face on the book jacket, ensuring that moviegoers could readily identify it in the bookstores.”

John Evan Frook
Daily Variety, November 5, 1992
dailyvariety.com

Ostroff Rooted in ‘Tree’ Deal

Friedenberg script among key developments for agency

A deal for Richard Friedenberg to script “The Education of Little Tree” is among the key new developments for the Daniel Ostroff Agency.

The 5-year-old, one-man show has quietly gone about the business of selling the services of its 15 clients, including screenwriter Michael Blake (“Dances With Wolves”) and director Jim McBride (“The Big Easy”).

Included on the 39-year-old Ostroff’s list are plans for Friedenberg (“A River Runs Through It”) to write “Little Tree” for producers Jake Eberts and Roland Joffe and to write and direct “Jonathan Takes Enemy” for producer Jeff Wald and Columbia Pictures. Several top Hollywood writers were vying for the “Little Tree” assignment.

In addition, Warner Bros. veepee of production Tom Lassally has signed Ostroff client Ken Kaufman to write a live-action Bugs Bunny feature titled “What’s Up Bugs?” and NBC has bought Rob Hedden’s two-hour “Ironside” with Raymond Burr.

Screenplay Oscar winner Blake is in discussions with Dennis Hopper to direct his western “Slade.”

Thom Eberhardt, who directed “Captain Ron” and wrote “Honey, I Blew Up the Kid,” is attached to direct Rex McGee’s “Untying the Knot,” which will be produced by Bob Simonds. The project is being set up as an indie production.

In an unusual deal, Eberhardt is readying an episode of the CBS series “Space Rangers,” which he directed under the aegis of producers Trilogy Entertainment.

Ostroff’s screenwriter clients Dave Fuller and Rick Natkin (“Necessary Roughness”) are working with Paramount Pictures executive Don Granger on “Riptide Cay,” which is based on the motto “squealing tires, busting glass, never let a stuntman go hungry.”

Beyond “Ironside,” client Hedden is directing a sweeps episode of “The Commish” and is writer/executive producer with Michelle Brustin on Fox Broadcasting’s one-hour pilot “Guinea Pigs.”

Stu Krieger is supervising producer of the ABC series “Jack’s Place,” starring Hal Linden. On the movie side, Krieger has partnered with Goldie Hawn and Anthea Sylbert on tentatively titled romantic comedy “A Man’s Job,” which appears headed for distribution by Savoy Pictures.

Jim McBride is directing the John Lithgow/Kevin Anderson/Rosanna Arquette starrer “The Wrong Man” for Showtime. He’s also slated to direct Outlaw Prods.’ “Meet Your Match” written by Steve Brill (“Mighty Ducks”) and “History is Made at Night”–to be produced by Stephen Woolley, Mark Lipson and Kerry Boyle. The latter pic is a post-glasnost romance between two former spies.

The writing team of Josann McGibbon and Sara Parriott have completed the Interscope project “Runaway Bride” and Largo’s “Miss California,” skedded to be Jonathan Lynn’s first movie after “The Distinguished Gentleman.”

McGibbon and Parriot have been assigned to write “Still Water” for Longview Entertainment. To be produced by Alain Bernheim (“Coming to America”) and Rosalie Swedlin, “Still Water” is a romance set in Montana.

McGibbon and Parriott have also been retained as writers and exec producers on the Fox sitcom “Amazing Grace.” The Dyan Cannon-starrer shapes up as a 1993 production with Lilah McCarthy as executive producer.

“Rough Justice” is Ostroff client David O’Malley’s latest sale. The comedy about an action hero is in development with Richard and Lili Zanuck at MGM.

At a time when few are buying literary properties, Ostroff clients are. “Single White Female” executive producer Jack Baron has scooped up rights to Cynthia Voight’s “Homecoming.”

Veteran screenwriter John Kaye (“American Hot Wax”) has purchased the rights to novelist Robin Beeman’s “A Parallel Life,” which is described by Kaye as the “Carnal Knowledge” of the 1990s.

Ostroff client and producer Agi Orsi has acquired the rights to Pam Houston’s collection of short stories “Cowboys Are My Weakness.” The producer is talking to prospective television production companies.

While the productivity is heady, Ostroff said the quality of his clients is the key.

“Years ago, I read a profile in the New York Times about the world’s greatest piano salesman,” Ostroff said. “He worked long hours, played the piano, kept voluminous files … and knew everyone in the music business. … I realized the key thing was left out: Yes, he did all of those things but he also sold Steinways. Like him, I sell Steinways.”

Claudia Eller
Daily Variety, June 14, 1991

Ostroff Agency Has Deal Wheels Spinning

The Daniel Ostroff Agency is flush with new motion picture assignments for its roster of some 15 writer, director, producer and hyphenate clients.

A 4-year-old one-man show run by Dan Ostroff, the agency has projects in the works at several companies, including Paramount, Warner Bros., Columbia, MGM Pathe, Interscope Communications and Guber-Peters Entertainment.

Ostroff’s newest client, writer-director-producer Rob Hedden, is scripting a feature for Warner Bros. titled “Relay,” a whodunit to be produced by David Wolper and Bernie Sofronski. The story, about a swim-team coach who is killed, deals with performance enhancing drugs in collegiate sports.

According to Ostroff, Paramount previously purchased Hedden’s spec script “Voyeur,” which the writer currently is tailoring for Arsenio Hall to star in and produce. Story centers on a detective who is implicated as the prime suspect in a crime.

Hedden wrote and directed Paramount’s 1989 release “Friday The 13th Part VIII – Jason Takes Manhattan” as well as two episodes of the “Friday The 13th” series. He also wrote and produced the 1991 NBC telepic “Knightrider 2000” and a documentary on the making of Terry Gilliam’s “Brazil” called “What Is Brazil?”

Another new addition to the Ostroff creative stable, screenwriter Ken Kaufman, is scripting “Dead Men Tell No Tales,” a comedy thriller for Interscope Communications about the adventures of an obituary writer.

Comedy director Greg Beeman (“License To Drive,” Warner Bros.’ upcoming “Mom And Dad Save The World”) has been set to direct the previously announced feature “The Super Mario Bros.,” to be produced by Jake Eberts and Roland Joffe from a screenplay by Tom Parker and Jim Jennewein (“Stay Tuned”). Danny DeVito has agreed to star in the project, according to his publicist Stan Rosenfield.

Based on the Nintendo video­game and the NBC Saturday cartoon show, “Mario Bros.” is an action-adventure that follows two Italian plumber brothers living in Brooklyn. Eberts secured independent financing for the picture, which Beeman’s partner, Deirdre Kelly Sullivan, will coproduce with Fred Curuso.

Jack Baran, who is serving as exec producer on “Single White Female” for GPEC/Columbia this Summer, cowrote a script with Leo Garen in development at Warner Bros. titled “Don't Hold Back,” about a Jewish high school teacher in Bedford Stuyvesant who takes his all-black class to live and work on a kibbutz in Israel.

The project, to be produced by Warner-based Lee Rich, is currently out to directors.

Writer-director Thorn Eberhardt (Touchstone’s upcoming “Honey, I Blew Up The Baby”) will direct Paramount’s comedy “Home For Christmas” (aka “Home For the Holidays”) from his original screenplay about a 6-year-old girl who tells a department store Santa Claus that what she wants for Christmas is for her divorced parents to get back together.

The little girl’s 13-year-old brother takes it upon himself to deliver the gift, since he knows there’s no Santa. Mary Kay Powell will produce the film, currently being storyboarded and budgeted.

John Kaye, whose screenplay credits include “Rafferty And The Gold Dust Twins” and “Where The Buffalo Roam,” is currently penning the novel “Stars Screaming,” about the life and love of a writer living in Hollywood in the early ’60s. Atlantic Monthly Press will publish the book next year.

Writer Dan O’Malley (Tri-Star’s “Buddy Cops”) has made a new deal to script “Triple Indemnity,” a comedy for MGM-Pathe about a man who, as a cop, catches the bad guys and puts them away and, as a defense attorney, gets them off the hook. Several people want the cop dead because of his unusual insurance policy. Pathe-based partners Katie Jacobs and Pierce Gardner will produce.

Additionally, Rick Natkin and David Fuller, who penned Paramount's upcoming release “Necessary Roughness,” have been given a blind script deal by the studio based on that production, which opens this October, just 11 months after the writers delivered the first draft.

As a solo writer, Natkin contributed two of six episodes ordered by CBS for the midseason replacement series “The Human Target.”

Natkin and Fuller also penned (with David Burke) the previously reported feature “The Taking Of Beverly Hills,” due out through Columbia later this year.

Writer-director Jim McBride currently is developing with Harry and Mary Jane Ufland an original script by Larry Bishop titled “Trigger Happy,” an independently produced comedy about criminals.

McBride’s pilot “Blood Ties,” which he directed and coproduced for Fox Broadcasting Co., was just picked up as a short order series, according to Ostroff.

As recently announced, McBride (“The Big Easy,” “Great Balls Of Fire!”) will direct “Strat” for Stonebridge Prods./Columbia with Michael Douglas producing. From a script by Michael Miner and Edward Neumeier (“Robocop”), “Strat” is about a cop from a very advanced civilization in outer space who comes to earth on a mission to capture or kill renegade alien outlaws or, if he fails, to destroy the earth. The cop is sidetracked when he falls in love and discovers rock & roll.

Ostroff said that David Ward has been set as the director for “Runaway Bride,” a script by clients Josann McGibbon and Sara Parriott. “Bride” is a romantic comedy for Interscope and Paramount, which is currently casting.

McGibbon and Parriott penned and coproduced Orion’s “The Favor,” directed by Donald Petrie and produced by Lauren Shuler­Donner, which is tentatively targeted for release early next year. Ray Charles and Diana Ross wrote and perform the title song.

“Dances With Wolves” novelist and screenwriter Michael Blake, who also adapted Raymond Chandler’s “Poodle Springs” for Universal, is talking to studios about film rights to his latest book, “Airman Mortenson,” to be published by Seven Wolves Publishing, L.A., in September. The story, set in 1966, centers on a U.S. airforce airman about to be courtmartialed for insubordination when he falls in love for the first time with the camp commander’s daughter.

As reported, Blake also is rewriting “The Mick” for Kevin Costner to star in and direct and is penning “Mustangs” for Marty Bregman to produce.

Screenwriter Richard Friedenberg, whose “Dying Young” with Julia Roberts is due out through Fox next Friday, will also see his script “A River Runs Through It” go in front of the cameras Monday with Robert Redford directing and Craig Sheffer, Brad Pitt, Tom Skerritt and Emily Lloyd starring. Jake Eberts, who raised financing for the $15 million film, serves as an executive producer on the film.

Also as reported, Friedenberg is currently adapting “The Music Room” at GPEC, with Laura Ziskin producing, about a man who attempts to discover why his brother took his own life.

Ostroff said that as for future assignments, “Richard is turning his attention only to writing-directing,” as opposed to sticking strictly to screenplays.

Writer Stu Krieger, who has a slew of already announced projects in the works, including Sullivan­Bluth Prods, 1992 animated feature “A Troll in Central Park,” will write another Don Bluth film for Christmas ’93 release. It will mark their third collaboration, which began with “Land Before Time.”

Krieger’s romantic comedy “Once Upon A Marriage,” to be produced by Doug Wick at Warners, is currently out to directors.

In the TV arena, Craig Tepper is writing and will coproduce for Universal Pay TV Programming/USA Network “Privileged Relations,” a two-hour noir thriller. Jennifer Alward will serve as exec producer.

Andrea King
The Hollywood Reporter, September 24, 1990

Ostroff Agency gang ropes slate of 11 film, TV projects

After four years of building a strong stable of writers and directors, the Daniel Ostroff Agency and its clients have a corral of 11 feature film and television projects greenlighted – including, Touchstone’s “Honey I Blew Up the Baby” – with a full slate of additional projects in various stages of development.

The majority of Ostroff Agency clients are writers and directors, with a few producers or hyphenates making up the remainder.

In searching for talent, Ostroff said his first consideration is that “I love their work – and later I take care of making sure everyone else will love it, too.”

Ostroff is conservative about the number of clients he takes on because, he said, “I’d rather make 10 calls for one client than five calls each for two clients.”

Current or upcoming film and television product from the Ostroff Agency include:

•  Writer-director Thom Eberhardt (“Night of the Comet,” “Without a Clue”), who recently helmed the Fox Broadcasting Co. pilot of “Parker Lewis Can’t Lose,” has penned the script to Touchstone’s “Honey, I Blew Up the Baby” – the sequel to 1989’s summer hit “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids.” Rick Moranis will star in the feature set to begin production in February.

•  Along with Marc Stirdivant, Eberhardt co-wrote and will direct “White Cover,” a murder mystery set against the backdrop of the Los Angeles recording industry in the 1950s that deals with white cover versions of black songs. Stirdivant will produce and is currently in discussions for financing with Davis Entertainment and others.

•  Stu Krieger (who co-wrote the Ernmy Award-winning miniseries pilot of “A Year in the Life”) has penned the romantic comedy “Once Upon a Marriage,” which Doug Wick will produce for Warner Bros. In the vein of “The Thin Man” series, the feature tells the story of a married couple, she a congressional liaison and he a Washington journalist, who, due to an indiscretion on the wife’s part, must team up to solve a murder mystery.

•  Another in-the-works project for Kreiger, who is penning the Sullivan-Bluth $15 million animated feature “A Troll in Central Park,” is “Shoot the DeGroots,” in development with Interscope at Hollywood Pictures. It tells the story of a man, who, before marrying his girlfriend, must meet her wild and wacky family. Columbia Television has also signed Kreiger to an exclusive television deal.

•  Writer-director Jim McBride (“Breathless,” “The Big Easy” and “Great Balls of Fire”) will direct the pilot for FBC’s vampire drama “Blood Ties,” which Richard and Esther Shapiro will write and produce. Shooting will begin in October. The project joins the more than eight vampire features in development.

Ostroff called the script to the pilot, which now joins the more than eight vampire features in development, “the best vampire script I have ever read.”

•  McBride will direct the Walter Mitty-esque novel, “Confessions of a Dangerous Mind,” for Ed Pressman Prods., about a game-show host who moonlights as a hit man for the CIA. McBride and Jack Baran co-wrote the script. McBride also co-wrote the romantic comedy “Hitting Charlotte” with Baran for HBO Pictures.

•  Writer David O’Malley has penned “Buddy Cops” for Tri-Star and David Permut Prods. Allen Metter (“Back to School”) will direct the parody of buddy cop films.

•  Director Greg Beeman (“License To Drive”) is helming the science-fiction comedy “Mom and Dad Save the World,” in principal photography starring Jon Lovitz, Teri Garr and Eric Idle. Ostroff said, “This will do for (Beeman) what ‘Beetle-juice’ did for Tim Burton.” Beeman’s partner Deidre Kelly Sullivan will associate produce the project.

•  Sullivan is also working on a number of projects on her own, including the romantic comedy at Tri-Star, “Consolation Marriage,” a remake of the RKO film (RKO is partnering on the project); and “Ever After,” a love story between a high school teacher and one of his students that was penned by Dana Stevens with Jenny Bowen (“The Wizard of Loneliness”) to direct. Sullivan will produce with Susan Nickerson. No distributor is set.

•  Richard Friedenberg, who is writing the script for “Dying Young” for Fox, in which Julia Roberts will star and Joel Schumacher will direct, has also written the previously announced “A River Runs Through It,” which Robert Redford will direct for Carolco.

•  Friedenberg is also currently adapting “The Music Room” at Guber-Peters Entertainment Co. with Laura Ziskin producing. The film tells the story of a man who sets out to find out why his brother took his own life and meets a woman who is involved in his past. In addition, Friedenberg will pen “Citizen Tom Paine” for Ziskin at Touchstone.

•  The writing team of Josann McGibbon and Sara Parriott, who shared a writing credit on Touchstone's upcoming sequel "Three Men and a Little Lady," also wrote and will co-produce the Orion-Nelson feature "The Favor," which Lauren Schuller Donner is producing.

•  Next up for McGibbon and Parriott is “Runaway Bride,” a romantic comedy in the tradition of “It Happened One Night” – in the works through Interscope at Paramount.

•  Writers Richard Natkin (“The Boys in Company C,” “Purple Hearts”) and David Fuller, who penned the recently wrapped “The Taking of Beverly Hills,” have completed a spec script “The Spread,” a romantic story about love and gambling. Natkin has also written a backup script for the Warner Bros. midseason replacement series “The Human Target.”

•  Michael Blake, who penned the screenplay and novel of Kevin Costner’s upcoming “Dances With Wolves,” is adapting Raymond Chandler’s “Poodle Springs” for Universal, with Sydney Pollack producing and Jon Avnet directing. Following that assignment, he will do a rewrite for Costner on “The Mick.” Blake will also hit the road in October and November to read excerpts from “Dances With Wolves” at various libraries across the country.

•  Writer L.M. Kit Carson (co-writer with McBride on “Breathless” and “Paris, Texas”) will pen the HBO telefeature “Noriega Verdad,” which George Englund will produce.

•  Discovery program graduate Nancy Cooperstein also has a screenplay in development with an “ecological factor.” She is supervising a writer on the project and will direct. She is also developing a number of projects with producer Jack Brodsky.

In addition, director Richard Franklin is wrapping postproduction on “F/X2,” writer Craig Tepper is working on an apocalyptic horror film “The Late News” and Richard Dimitri has an overall writing deal at Warner Bros. Television.

Ostroff also represents Rhino Records and Vortex Comics, which the agent describes as “Vanguard companies in their respective fields.”

Ostroff formed the agency in 1987, after dissolving his partnership with the Wunch-Ostroff Agency. Before that Ostroff was with the Writers and Artists Agency, from 1980-1984. Before that he worked at International Creative Management, starting out there in 1977 in the mailroom and moving up to a reader and eventually an agent.