Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession Page #3

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He said, " Let's run that

on the Z Channel."

But we couldn't find

who owned the title.

He said, " Well, I'll run it,

if you'll run it."

I said, " Well, I'll run it

if you'll run it.

So, here's the print.

Katherine! What are you talking

about, Katherine?

I love you!

You don't.

These films get lost in a hurry.

And I would get calls...

"They just played your movie

on Z Channel."

I'm naked now.

I mean, that was like

a big release for me.

If you couldn't get a studio

to release your picture...

your picture did not get seen.

One of the big things that

changed that was the Z Channel.

The Z Channel to me was the

first time I could speak French.

"Z Channel."

It was the first time you could

turn on your television...

and see something that you would

have to go to the cinema for.

What he was doing

was coming up with films...

that I had never heard of

or didn't know existed.

People saw movies that they

wouldn't have gone to see...

in a theater if they were free!

And consequently, I think it was

both a pleasurable experience...

and an educational experience...

and I think it widened

everybody's horizons.

It made, I think, even

the powers that be realize...

that there was this alternate

audience that was much larger...

than anybody knew.

Jerry found all these films...

and was able to program them

on the Z Channel.

And it sort of built

a big following.

I just think that he,

in a sense, had blinders on...

in which all he could see

through his blinders was film.

And you grew up where?

I grew up in Bakersfield.

How would you describe

Bakersfield?

In how many words?

Kind of a cross between

"American Graffiti"...

and "Two-Lane Blacktop."

Did you have

an enjoyable childhood?

No.

When Jerry came aboard,

it was also the moment...

when HBO, Showtime,

and The Movie Channel...

all showed up in L.A.

He was a formidable competitor.

And he didn't say nice things...

about people he was

competing against...

because he lived

and slept this job.

They thought they were going to

carve up the territory...

that belonged to Z Channel.

Z Channel was the only one

in town at that time.

But all the others thought...

"Well, we're gonna

roll over this guy."

And in fact a lot of people had

told Jerry to his face...

"Well, you run

a nice little channel.

"It's too bad, you know."

And he said, "Well, we'll see."

And what happened was,

of course...

that HBO and those guys really

couldn't get a toehold.

Z Channel had what was called

a zero churn rate...

which means that nobody

would cancel the service.

Jerry loved Z Channel.

He loved everything

it was about...

but he felt a lot of

pressure to perform.

He would call you in the middle

of the night...

on a Saturday night.

On a Sunday morning

at 7:
00 in the morning...

he would call you and say,

"You've got to get me this.

"The channel will go under."

It was always the sky is falling

if you don't get me this.

"I got to get this."

So he tried to take it all on,

and what he would always do...

to compensate in those

kind of situations...

is that he would self-medicate.

So he would go around with...

he'd drink, and then he'd

have No-Doze in his pocket.

He was manic, but he was

an obsessive programmer.

I want to say that that's not

a bad thing, by the way.

Basically, he would come back

from work at Z Channel...

and order pizza

and fall asleep on the floor...

because he was taking

a lot of medication.

So he wasn't really

functioning at home...

but nobody knew it at work...

because he would function

in the morning.

Met Jerry on the telephone.

He called me in London.

Woke me up

2:
30 in the morning...

because he got

all the times wrong.

His first words to me were,

"How come I don't know you?"

So I get this lunatic on the

phone at 2:
30 in the morning...

giving me this long monologue

about...

what other films have I made?

He wants to see everything.

Can I send everything

over to him?

What documentaries have I made?

And all that.

Will you have a dance

with me, please?

I don't mind if I do.

Come on, then.

In the case of "Overlord,"

you have a World War II film...

which actually incorporates

footage from World War II...

but incorporates it

so artfully...

that you can't tell the staged

footage from the actual footage.

We began a process of

developing a screenplay...

based on real material...

both documented material

and footage.

And I began to construct

a dramatized documentary...

about a young English soldier.

He said, " We'll start by having

a month of Stuart Cooper.

"We'll show all the features.

"We'll do the documentaries

later.

"We'll show all

your feature work...

"during the month,

different times.

"But the deal is, you have to

come a month ahead...

"and do one-on-one screenings

with the 4 or 5 key critics...

"and have lunch with them

or dinner...

"and talk about the work."

Gary Prebula

called me up, said...

they're showing two films

by Stuart Cooper...

who I had never heard of.

He said,

"Nobody's ever heard of him.

"Z Channel is gonna

premiere them."

I said,

"there's still a Z Channel?"

He said, "Oh, yeah."

I was debating

whether or not to go.

When I got there,

I was glad I showed up...

because I was the only one there

that I knew of.

There was this other guy named

Jerry Harvey...

who I didn't know, who I thought

might be a fellow critic.

I was fascinated by this guy

Stuart Cooper...

because I had just seen

"Overlord" for the first time...

and I was blown away by it.

But I'm sitting there

with Jerry...

and Jerry is the one

who's talking to me...

in this mild way, and I'm

getting along with him...

and we're laughing

at each other's jokes.

It was really a great

kismet moment...

because then he started doing

some reviews...

for Z Channel for Jerry.

It coincided with the period

that my mother was dying.

I got the news

of my mother's death.

And within a half-an-hour...

the phone rings,

and it's Jerry Harvey.

He's like the first call

I'm getting.

I don't know how he found out.

But he called me,

and he was consoling me.

He said, " Look...

"I've been through several

deaths in my family, and look...

"you can make it.

It doesn't have to kill you."

And I said, "It won't kill me."

I was feeling super strong.

I was not hearing

what he was saying.

Now it's unbearably poignant.

And that was the beginning

of their relationship.

And to the day Jerry died,

F.X. And he were very close.

When Jerry brought me aboard,

my concern was, as a critic...

I didn't want to be paid

to say good things...

about a movie I hated.

And Jerry liked

my style of reviewing...

because I wouldn't so much

punish the movie...

for not succeeding.

I would come from a place of,

"Well, I tried to like it."

I read "Z Magazine" religiously.

I used to write nasty letters

to F.X. Feeney.

I used to get

the angriest letters.

The angriest letters

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