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I'm shocked by the incredibly long and in-depth and unsurvivable story and video (see below) from today's Boston Globe about David Kirkpatrick, the ex-Hollywood mogul who once upon a time was a big deal at Disney and Paramount until his 1991 firing which brought a smile to the face of a long list of enemies back then. I found him to be a prick of the first order. But I had no idea he'd come to such a miserable end in Massachusetts by dreaming big, promising big, and then failing big for a $650M "Hollywood East". According to the newspaper, he lost virtually all of his wealth over the last decade, and had been reduced to making small-time videos -- “Merry Christmas Babies’’ sold 23 copies -- and had found Jesus when his sad saga started. The Globe article begins:
David P. Kirkpatrick seemed to relish the role of big-shot Hollywood insider as he briefed state development officials about his bold plan to challenge Tinseltown at its own game.
And the former head of Paramount Motion Pictures certainly sounded like the right man to build a huge movie and TV studio in Massachusetts. He talked about how he helped bring “Forrest Gump’’ to life. He casually referred to Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston as “the kids.’’
By the time Kirkpatrick left that first meeting in August 2006, state officials were practically ready to break out the champagne, according to two people who were there. A few months later, the state dangled the prospect of more than $100 million in tax breaks and other benefits to Kirkpatrick’s team.
So began one of the most buzz-generating projects in recent state history, a $650 million plan to build 14 sound stages and a virtual entertainment city in the woods of Plymouth, making Massachusetts the production center for countless movies and TV shows. Plymouth officials have scrambled to help Plymouth Rock Studios create the 2,000 studio-related jobs the company predicts, while people mobbed job fairs to chase their dream of making it in show business.
But a look behind the breathtaking vision of Plymouth Rock Studios reveals a project marred by over-the-top claims, broken promises, legal infighting, and the chronic lack of one crucial ingredient: money.
A Globe Spotlight Team investigation has found that, despite their cultivated image of Hollywood know-how and deep pockets, Kirkpatrick and his oft-changing cast of partners never obtained nearly the resources to build one of the world’s biggest studios. Members of Kirkpatrick’s group have been sued at least 11 times in the past three years by writers, investors, consultants, and others who say they weren’t fully paid. Kirkpatrick and his various collaborators were so desperate for funds that they turned to dubious sources for help, including a convicted embezzler and an obscure Florida financier whose former business partners were recently sentenced to prison.
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When I got out of film school I met David K at Disney. Instead of asking me about film or writing he only had one question, “What does your Dad do?” Since then I’ve heard from many industry friends and colleagues of similar encounters and how he reveled in abusing and manipulating talent and executives.
One look at the ridiculously amateur “Hollywood East” promo and David K referring to film as “America’s recession proof IMport” (that would be EXport, you idiot) should have tipped Plymouth off… this man is smoke and mirrors, no substance. I believe people can change but when the Emperor has no Clothes and never had any lasting substance… not so much.
Don’t be sad for this man. He squandered opportunities and riches few ever experience. He had many chances.
I worked closely for David for more than six years during his Paramount, Weintraub Entertainment Group, Disney, and then Paramount (again!) days. He gave me, a girl who had no industry experience, no contacts in town, and no family in the biz, my first executive job and started my career. I didn’t graduate from a fancy college, nor did I have fancy parents. During that time I knew him as well as anyone who you work with 24/7 in this crazy business. I found him to be fiercely loyal to those who were loyal to him. Was he tough? Yes! But he was always fair. Many top executives and talent who are thriving in this town today, including myself, owe the start of their career to him. He was one of the few executives who believed there was a different way to make movies rather than having to be at the mercy of the few who were holding all the cards – and those moguls cut him out of the process and drove him out of town. It could happen to any of us in this fickle and backstabbing community we lovingly devote ourselves to called Hollywood.
oh yeah? I worked with david on Evening Star. He was pleasant enough. But this recent debacle has shown his true colors. I am intimately acquainted with several of the people in good news holdings. he has f-d them over ROYALLY. Things that get people thrown in jail. If you read this david, you should get down on your knees and ask forgiveness to the God you have reportedly become familiar with.
For the love of God, will someone keep the dream alive?!!
The legend of Dudleytown lives! The curse is alive and well and the truth must be told. I have info that will blow your minds. The Dark Entry Forest association is keeping a dark secret. It’s about time the real story was told.
The movie will make millions!! You know this, I know this and the hoards of kids who email me for maps of Dudleytown know this.
I’ve got proof, hard copy, tangible proof that the Dudley’s on top of that mountain were of the bloodline from England. I’ve got more than that too. Someone forward this to Kirkpatrick. If he doesn’t make this movie someone else is bound to.
I worked with David At Disney, so while he always nice to me, I wont use that as an excuse to defend him.
I found him a pleasant but odd character – but I do remember being confused about how he had ever really gotten as far as he had. He wasn’t particularly bright or creative. He was cherubic and I thought harmless, but there was a self-promoting churlishness to him. However that describes almost ALL executives — so go figure.
What to me is more telling about this story and more sad is the blind desperation of the Plymouth residents – and their lack of due diligence on the career of Kirkpatrick…
And just because one has a physical space to shoot does not mean someone will come shoot there.
“If you build it, he will come,” is dialogue from a baseball fantasy movie. It aint real life.
i’ve been privy to a number of these facilities proposals around the country since the 1980’s, so when the news started hitting the new england area about such grand, over-the-top plans it certainly raised my curiosity (and i posted some thoughts and concerns on the globe’s website). this one was long on altruism, rose-colored rhetoric, great renderings and web buzz, yet seemed shockingly short on a pragmatic approach. the truth is, massachusetts deserves a full service facility in order to complement the state’s aggressive incentives and rebates programs – and there are some great people/goods/services there! – so i hope someone will go back to the drawing board and use more common sense, less p.t. barnum.
An important lesson, kids. Be a prick, an asshole, a bitch, and karma will eventually come to fuck you over good.
Except when it doesn’t.
for any of you out there who are about to shed a tear for David Kirkpatrick and his associates, please read Anne Rice’s scathing letter to him:
http://www.boston.com/news/specials/plymouth/documents/anne_rice/
OMG… what a letter… She has him cornered by his own actions (and lack of actions)… Good on her.
A man leaves Hollywood and tries a new business, and it doesn’t work the way he or his team thought it would. At least he tried. He was the face forward in this venture, but there are many others there with him.
If you know a man’s motivation, you know him.
I believe David’s motivations were well intended. I have seen this man at the top of his game and when things were rough.
He is trying to make his way in the world, just like the rest of us.
It is hard when what you do is held up for public scorn and judgment.
And it is times like these that tests a person’s faith.
Keep the faith, David. Keep the faith.
Anita,
I agree with your point of view.
Who are we, when a man tries and fails, to judge from three thousand miles away and to gloat.
I don’t remember enough about David to know if ignominy is his due, but I know it’s not in my list of powers to provide it.
I hope when I am am trying to succeed in my 2nd, 3rd, or 4th act, the audience will whisper words of encouragement and be prepared to show kindness not derision.
Jon Shestack
Jon – no surprise you support David. I’ve been on the receiving end of your rudeness and arrogance and can only think of the old adage….lay down with dogs, arise with fleas. Would imagine you’d be kind to David. Perhaps you’ve looked back at your past lousy behavior and realized what a schmuck you’ve been.
Well said, Jon.
Kindness is what it’s all about. Right Thought, Right Action.
Thank you for having the courage to post your name.
your old Sycamore friend.
Gee that’s very comforting that you would stand up for the cheater, and even more so coming from the woman who torpedoed her own columnist.
Timing is everything. Too bad they started it in 2007 right before the financial crunch. Since then, we’ve learned that “hollywood” is not recession proof. However, things are starting to unfreeze and plymouth would be a great location since close to tech heavy boston. I wish them luck.
Nice plug by C. Affleck. Just saw him as Bob Ford via dvd last night – great performance.
What’s even more shocking, but not surprising, is that the LAT was beat on this story by the Boston Globe. I would hope that some editor at the LAT is screaming, “How did this happen?” But I doubt it. The LAT hasn’t mattered in some time.
Sounds like David is starring in a road tour of THE MUSIC MAN.
At least they didn’t wreck the golf course!
He was always a prick….of the highest order.
I have intimate knowledge of this whole process, having been one of those (underpaid/unpaid) consultants still owed money and having business relationships with many of the people who have come and gone from this. Kirkpatrick is getting the most of the blame for this whole thing because he has the biggest fall, but other people are more to blame. The various partners have been screwing each other over on this project for three or four years now, and the biggest person to blame isn’t even named in this article.
I do find it shameful that the L.A. Times has has NOTHING to do with this story at all. I don’t expect anything from The Trades, as they have not done real journalism in over a decade. (Peter Bart is not journalism, though he certainly thinks he is.)
The whole thing coasted of the allure of Hollywood on a town that really needed some development. The economics of this, and for the film industry, would have been very beneficial… if it was built 20 years ago. The fact is, facilities like this aren’t going to be needed for most film production in ten years as the new media factors take hold. Boston doesn’t need any more office space. This was built on allure and not reality.
But the people who were building it didn’t care, and they were not looking to the future. When they should have walked away over two years ago, before the economic crash, instead they decided what they needed to to force out a lot of partners and mess themselves up by doubling down and dealing with the corruption of the state gladly, people who had more to gain by saying a maybe instead of a yes.
The tragedy is that Kirpatrick didn’t plan for reality at all. But then Hollywood doesn’t really encourage that at all.
As a New England resident, I sure hope they can make it happen.
Don’t forget that Connecticut has tax incentives as well, and the CT government’s Film Industry Training Program is churning out some knowledgeable, hard-working crews. But work is scarce.
Plymouth Rock or elsewhere, a new studio will help.
Toronto is a great example of ‘build a big shiny new studio’ and they will come. They didn’t. The new Filmport facility was finally taken over by Pinewood Studios after failing miserably in its first year. Its still struggling. A great example of how building a new facility will not necessarily attract tenants (the high CDN dollar and rising wages didn’t help either)
I just sold my home in Plymouth. In seven years my taxes had trippled. Tax layers of Plymouth seem to think the this Hollywood East project was going to be a save all of Plymouth.
say la vee
Good grief — Anita Busch to the rescue? “With friends like these…” and all that. The Music Man analogy is right on point. I moved back to Boston from LA just prior to the whole “Hollywood East!!” nonsense and have become neighbors/friends with a number of local company executives drawn into DK’s web by it. I tried to explain what everyone here has already covered: it’s a sucker’s bet to build a studio ANYWHERE. If Spielberg and co. couldn’t come to terms on a gas-pocket filled, WW-II ordinance littered, likely-haunted Indian burial ground like Playa Vista (A million for a condo on top of that! Sure!!), NO WAY was a has-but-probably-should-not-have-been like Kirkpatrick gonna make it fly — unless you’re planning less phoenix, more Icarus. Anyone buying into his spiel was seeing what they wanted to believe was there, not what actually was.
If there is one thing that Hollywood has proven over the years it’s that they are completely uninterested in operating in any significant business capacity outside of LA. Hell they can barely tolerate doing anything in NY.
Sure they’ll run all over the place chasing insane tax breaks but that isn’t really a model for a permanent production infrastructure…which is too bad because frankly Hollywood turns its back on a lot of talent and hardworking people by sitting in their southern California fortress.
I’ve had the privilege of working with David Kirkpatrick for a few years and I’d have to say in all the years I have known him, he has been an inspiration to many. His vision and his insight on new project ideas is compelling. David’s drive and ambition will make this project succeed.
Good on the Boston Globe for their revelatory investigative journalism, confirming for all of us who’ve wondered, that it is difficult to finance the launch of a $550M business during one of the worst recessions in the history of this country. Hopefully their brilliant expose will put the final nail in the coffin of Plymouth Studios. Because what does Massachusetts need with a movie studio anyway, right?
And thank God people have pointed out the fact that Kirkpatrick has been arrogant in the past, because there is just NO ROOM for that kind of behavior in Hollywood.
Hopefully this experience will teach Kirkpatrick to scale down his ambitions and limit them to small and unimportant endeavors, because his failure to create an east coast studio surely makes him the definition of ineptitude. I’m sure that everyone in the daily dog pile of meanness that is the comments section of this blog, has accomplished much greater things.
What does Massachusetts need a studio for?! The same as any other state DUH!.To produce film and television. You think you can only make movies where the sun shines?! Last year there were 16 major films in Boston. Sorry thats not up to Hollywood standards (yet).
They brought in over $500,000 in revenue to the commonwealth since 2005.
Do you think David K would put himself out on such a limb if he thought it would fail? I’ve never met the guy but kudos to him for trying. Over the past couple of years they, if anything allowed a community to think outside of the box a dream a little. Maybe some of those dreamers will be inspired to dream even bigger and do great things.
What’s going to happen when the big one hits and L.A. falls into the Pacific? HMMMMM The San Andreas run right under L.A.
Maybe David is one step ahead!
Oh yeah, who says the project is dead and buried anyway?
A few thoughts:
1) The Globe has had a vendetta against “Hollywood” ever since the tax credits began. I think it is some fear of “outsiders” or something coming into their state with money and pushing them around or something. Not saying that PRS is blame free but this is clearly an article with a POV.
2) I can tell you that they were a bit chaotic over there. They do not seem to have real timelines nor truly know what they want. I am sadly not surprised that this happened as they seemed too busy and understaffed to do anything requiring actual research.
3) That being said I do think they want to do this right. I don’t think they are snake oil salesman, I truly believe they believe in their product. Whether it will fly or not is up for debate, but I do not believe they have evil intent.
4) I wonder if this will affect the International Studio Group project going on in the Southfield Development in Weymouth. http://www.southfield.com/studios.html They seem to be much more focused on new media, motion capture, greenscreen and the like…
The ISG project is just as dead.
First he tries to sell it as a Christian facility and when that either doesn’t work or they won’t bite, he goes purely commercial and appeals to the starving masses. That’s Hollywood.
If the lure of having a studio here is ultimately for the production company to take advantage of the tax advantages, then why is someone building a studio for them? If the production company’s real intent was to come here with say a Disney tv production (because it was worth their while) wouldn’t they have that offer already in an agreement prior to building…a build to suit kind of thing? To put that much money up with the hopes of luring prospective Hollywood when, with the slightest change in government the tax incentives could be a thing of the past…is more than slightly foolish. Granted, I realize there are smaller productions but has anyone done the math?
He was a transparent charmless two bit troublemaking fraud 26 years ago at Paramount. How he got as far as he did just goes to show how you can fool the likes of Katzenberg, Hoberman and all those players who helped him along the way. Payback is sweet, he’s not getting anything he doesn’t deserve. I just love when my instincts are proved right. Opps, forgot to include A-hole…
you totally have it wrong. you definitely weren’t there and don’t know who screwed who back then.
If one were to judge a creative person in Hollywood by their ups and downs, there would be no one but accountants left standing. Hollywood is a business of risk. To criticize someone for dreaming big and being willing to take those risks is a cheap shot.
The Boston Globe from the outset of this project has been hostile – as noted by one of the commenters above. This is but the latest salvo. And politics in Massachusetts is a blood sport. Which is not to say mistakes haven’t been made by the studio team.
The information “leaked” to the Globe was done so by an embittered and incompetent former colleague of David Kirkpatrick’s with an axe to grind. He blames others for his continual failures, and when a reporter relies on “anonymous” sources to slander someone, without even trying to get balancing points of view, you know the reporter(s) and editors aren’t in the journalism business anymore.
He was always nice to me.
All I remember about Kirkpatrick was when he fired me from a low level job at Paramount many years ago. He wasn’t nice to be around then and it sounds like he hasn’t changed much. As for his religious enlightenment, I’m not buying. Good to see yet another confirmation that the karmic wheel never stops turning.
Even for Hollywood, this is a pretty unbelievable tale. I like it because it’s fascinating, there are rogue-ish characters, and it shows how people can be talked into just about anything if you sell them a “dream”. I don’t think it should be considered a scandal though, because there isn’t any mention of drugs or sex.
One liner: Put a fourteen-stage facility in Plymouth, Mass. while spending $550 million, hoping someone will show up like those ghosts in “Field of Dreams”. It sounds like the story line out a spec comedy script making its way around town. No one in their right mind would spend even half that amount right here in Hollywood- where all the work is!
If the town desperately neeeds to be in the “studio” business, how about starting out with a six to eight stage operation and spending $25-50 million? See if that works at all, and then expand if necessary.
It sounds like the good folks of Plymouth have been drinking the Kool-Aid.
I am someone who had worked for David Kirkpatrick. It was less than ten years ago. And I too was burned by him. It was a rough experience. I wont bash him or attack him or delight in his failures though. I think he was someone who dreamed big and failed to do one thing: look to the future. When I heard he was heading up this ridiculous Plymouth Rock Studios idea I rolled my eyes and shook my head in amazement. Ridiculous because you need regular network tv and cable tv production to make this endeavor work. Hoping film production will fill the stages is a HUGE gamble. Most studio stage lots get consistent work out of tv production.
The economy is in the tank, banks are failing and he wants 650 mil for a East Coast Studio?!?! Who are these people that invest in David yet don’t do proper due diligence on the guy? This is yet another sad chapter in the book of David Kirkpatrick. He is someone who’s burned many bridges and it’s true that he’s a complicated and (oftentimes) frustrating person to deal with. If and when he falls, there will be no one left to pick him up because people will not care. And it makes me feel sorry for him. I wish him well and that he can pull his life together and stop using people.
I worked closely for David for more than six years during his Paramount, Weintraub Entertainment Group, Disney, and then Paramount (again!) days. He gave me, a girl who had no industry experience, no contacts in town, and no family in the biz, my first executive job and started my career. I didn’t graduate from a fancy college, nor did I have fancy parents. During that time I knew him as well as anyone that you work with 24/7 in this crazy business. I found him to be fiercely loyal to those who were loyal to him. Was he tough? Yes! But he was always fair. Many top executives and talent who are thriving in this town today, including myself, owe the start of their career to him. He was one of the few executives who believed there was a different way to make movies rather than having to be at the mercy of the few who were holding all the cards – and they cut him out of the process and drove him out of town. It could happen to any of us in this fickle and backstabbing community we call Hollywood.
Anita Busch to the rescue??? Wow, now i know this guy is a turd. Don’t know DK but I do know Anita. Possibly the worst person I have ever encountered in the entertainment biz.
Well most, not all in the entertainment field are worse than those in politics but don’t think so. I don’t think DK is the only person in entertainment trying to make a living and made poor choices in finding financing. I bet if his project was successful, most would be singing a different tune.
I knew David when he was at Paramount. I heard he could be cruel and abusive, but he was nice and even valued my thoughts on a few projects even though I was a relative peon. But of course that and $4.25 will get you a venti Latte at Starbucks.
Look, the business is such that people succeed and fail because of things they have very little to do with. David caught some lucky breaks and surfed his way to the top. When you’re not a hot writer, director, or star you have no job security. All you have is your opinion. And everyone has one of those. When you run out of people in positions of power who like you, you are done. Ask that formerly most powerful guy in the world, Mike Ovitz.
I think David couldn’t handle the crash after the high. Powerful people in Hollywood get delusions of grandeur and God complexes. It’s no wonder that David looked for meaning in his crash and found what he thought was Jeebus. I think he’s lost his mind.
I think David believes in his crazy idea, but I think he’s also deluded and taking the tiny quaint town of Plymouth for a ride.
Shit, I wish I never got into this business and did something more meaningful with my life.
I knew David when he was head of Paramount and then a producer on the Paramount lot. He was enthusiastic, creative and kind to me – someone who had just started out in the business, and he also had a wicked sense of humor that he used to good effect.
What most folks don’t remember is that the qualities that make someone successful as a studio head – exaggeration, bragging about projects that aren’t completely set, resourcefulness, pushy tactics, finding money wherever you can – are the ONLY characteristics that get movies made in Hollywood. If you don’t have at least some of these qualities you will FAIL as a Hollywood type.
Outside of the biz these traits make you a creep, but inside the biz you are a hero. David’s first failing may only have been that he was not CREEPY ENOUGH to swim with the really big sharks. They would throw their own mother under a bus to get a movie made. Those big sharks do what David did and more but they have survived, probably by being even bigger creeps than David is capable of being…
I, too, know David Kirkpatrick. Very well. Sadly, he cannot help himself. In his process of ‘being David’ he has helped a few, to be sure, but decimated so many more. Past former executives (some he still calls ‘friends’) have said the following: 1) One must never walk out on David. He will try and destroy you. You must exit backwards, bowing as you do, and hoping he will forget you exist. 2) David, having a little knowledge of legal process, but not enough, is legally dangerous. He will sue or threaten police action at the drop of a hat, without cause or moral reservation. His dishonest and immoral practice of calling the police and making false reports (of theft, for example) when annoyed is notorious. Read the Anne Rice email if you want to see what he is capable of in this respect. You will note she refers to possible ‘criminal’ behaviour on his part. Read her email carefully. She is a smart person and a gifted writer. Her email speaks volumes. Being a con-artist, Kirkpatrick is, ironically, an easy mark for other con-artists. In Hollywood he often dealt with shifty ‘investors’ just like those described in the article. Kirkpatrick is incapable of due-diligence because, it would seem, he is afraid of it being conducted on himself. For the eleven lawsuits against David referred to in the article, like the tip of an iceberg, there are likely scores contemplated but abandoned (see the comment above re avoiding Kirkpatrick and walking backwards.) Regarding his creative ‘talents’, recall Dawn Steele’s printed comments re Kirkpatrick’s ‘teflon-like’ qualities towards creative material. He simply didn’t know good from bad. His entire reputation at Paramount was based on handling Eddie Murphy. His absolute charm makes him capable for that. He utilized the same with the likes of Shirley MacLaine and Roland Joffe. The Boston Globe should interview them regarding their history (and the deception and later pain). It is similar to that experienced by Anne Rice.
David’s last 6 productions were all unreleased (including the children’s video mentioned in the article unless you want to call 23 copies sold on Amazon.com a ‘release’.) The disposition of these six productions is easily fact-checked by checking imdb.com The millions of dollars lost to investors on those projects should not be ignored. Paramount considered suing him on the Boneco fitness video based on serious misrepresentations (read ‘fraud’) by Kirkpatrick to induce them to invest in it. You will not see that product sold on any shelf, not even via informercial, it is so bad.
In short, Kirkpatrick is dangerous, dangerous, dangerous. He is also desperate, desperate, desperate. Plymouth should exit quickly and backwards before it’s too late.