DISCLAIMER: It is not my intention to suggest that Lauren and I single handedly made the following happen. In fact, there is a pretty good chance our efforts were just a small ingredient in a very big recipe. I am writing this NOT because I need a pat on the back - and honestly, I could just keep this to myself, but I think we all need to be reminded once in a while that amongst big business and corporate America, humanity is alive and well and that the "kindness of strangers" is real. Moreover, in the words of Lauren's friend, "I'm always so grateful and touched when 'Hollywood' behaves the way I imagined it as a child." That dreams really do come true.
It's been 72 hours (and 83 emails sent and received) since I got the phone call. Her first words were "there is this 8 year old boy at Dell Children's Medical who has brain cancer and doctors have given him a week or less to live..." Somehow, whatever the next words were, it didn't matter. In my head I was thinking "ok, you have my attention."
His name is Max. He is 8. He has metastic hepablastoma. He is going to die. And ALL he has asked for was to be able to see the movie Epic, which opens this weekend in the theater - a place Max will not be able to visit ever again.
So, the question being posed was do I know anyone who would be able to help get a copy of Epic to Austin for Max to see a week before its official release, before the cancer takes his life? The words "let me see what I can do," slipped out before I even thought about what my first step would be or that we were going into a weekend or that this seemed like something highly improbable. I produce television commercials. Lauren had been in the studio system, but that was many years ago. It's not like we had our finger on the direct pulse of Hollywood. But, then I thought - we do know people who know people. What is the harm in at least trying?
In my first email exchange with the coordinator for the Children's Miracle Network, she informed me that they had already approached Fox Studios. They were running into a bit of a hurdle because a copy of the film wasn't available. Well, I know enough to realize that's code for "we have a copy of the film, but we can't send it because the movie would get copied and put out on the interwebs prior to its release." Understandable, but, I thought, solvable. And perhaps what was needed, were some solutions and some momentum.
By Saturday morning, 10am, we had emails or phone calls out to: a casting director at Fox, a managing director for a company I work with to see about a possible link to Blue Sky Studios, a former director of the Austin Film Festival for a possible link to the Exec Producer of the film and a friend who had a link to the director's VP of production, meanwhile, Children's Miracle Network was concurrently pushing at the studio. From where we were sitting, we felt like we had our wagons circled around this thing. Oh, wait, it's a weekend. Riiiight.
First to chime in was a producer at Blue Sky who responded to my friend's email within two hours. She promised to throw it up the food chain to see what she could do. As the day continued, endless emails were sent between me, lauren and the Children's Miracle Network rep - each one more hopeful than the next that something would happen. But, the day didn't yield much more in the way of info.
Sunday, Lauren received a call from her film festival friend, who'd just spoken with the Executive Producer of the movie. He said the DVD would be in Max's room no later than Tuesday. Simultaneously, Children's Miracle Network was on the phone with their Utah headquarters who had been talking to Fox Studios about getting the DVD. Simultaneously, the director of Epic cc'd me on an email that he was aware of this and that it was getting done. The word was out. Max's story made it all the way to the top levels. And he was going to get his wish.
At 11:30am this morning, a representative who worked on the film stepped off a plane and was taken straight to the hospital with the screener.
Child Life Specialists transformed the Child Life play room into a screening room for Max and his family, replete with a popcorn machine, popsicles, and pizza.
And at 1:30pm, the screening began.
It bears mentioning that at the time leading up to the screening, Max was not speaking all that much. He had been asleep the better part of the last day. He has a patch over one eye and had not opened his other eye completely. There is a better than average chance he wasn't fully aware of what was happening. But, Lauren and I learned earlier in the day that your hearing is the last sense to go before death, so I chose to believe that he could hear everything and I was sticking to that belief. And just this evening I learned the father said that during various high or exciting points in the movie, Max made reactionary sounds. Bottom line is a memory was made for Max's family - and that was the only thing that mattered. I was told that the producers were so moved by his story that they had even asked if they could call and speak to the family directly.
So, where is this all going? It is not my belief that Lauren and I made this happen. It is my belief that Lauren and I were a part of a human experiment. Could we, combined with Dell Children's Medical Center, Children's Miracle Network and the other individuals we contacted, get enough traction for one of the largest film studios in the world to make this possible? And, from all accounts, the answer is an emphatic yes.
For three hours, in a hospital room in Austin, Texas, Hollywood (Fox Studios and Blue Sky) took a break from thinking about box office and found a workaround to the issue of piracy so that one family could take a break from their constant worry and pain. Hollywood took a wish and made it come true. Hollywood magic, pure and simple.
I will never meet Max. I will never meet his parents. In fact, the one opportunity I had, I declined. His family deserves their privacy and their time with their son. This isn't about me and their time left with him is a precious commodity. It was simply enough to be witness to this from afar.
It is starting to sink in that next week, Lauren and I might be speaking about Max in the past tense. But for now, there is nothing as exciting as what is happening in the present.
As much as I was trying to help Max, I think he also helped me. Trite though it may sound, I think I will take less for granted. I am regaining a strong sense that we, as a people, are capable of doing small things that can generate a big impact if we work together and seek answers and information that help turn a "no" or a "maybe" into a "yes."
I've said this so many times in the past two days, that it's probably sounding less and less sincere, but my most heartfelt thank you to Kip, Kim, Marcie, Miranda, Danny, Liz, Maya, Jim, Aditi, Ed, Chris, Brett, and of course, Lauren. In one way or the other, you were all part of my personal journey to "see what I could do." You were all ingredients in this amazing recipe.
To Max - I hope you find peace soon, away from the pain that is stealing your life. I am in awe of your strength and bravery - and I am glad your wish so perfectly mirrors this entire process. It truly was EPIC.
- david
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