'Road Trip' producers deal with DreamWorks

By SKillBot May 16, 2000 11:41 AM

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(VARIETY) -- Tom Pollock and Ivan Reitman?s Montecito Picture Co.?has signed a three-year, first-look production deal with DreamWorks.? The pact represents an expansion of the duo?s previous agreement with the studio, which was a two-picture deal.?That covered "Road Trip," director Todd Phillips? college sex comedy opening Friday, and "Wish," from helmer Reitman, still in early pre-production.? In a cost-cutting atmosphere in which most studios are shedding expensive producer deals, the agreement is a sign of DreamWorks? belief that the duo will quickly follow up on "Road Trip" with other audience-friendly fare.?
DreamWorks sneak-previewed "Road Trip" over the weekend to what the studio called "overwhelmingly positive reactions" and the pic is getting good early buzz.? Pollock is a long-time showbiz attorney and exec who headed Universal Pictures for a decade and Reitman is the director responsible for such hits as "Stripes," "Ghostbusters" and "Dave."
Their connections to DreamWorks reach far back; Pollock was at Universal when DreamWorks co-owner Steven Spielberg made "Schindler?s List" and "Jurassic Park" for the studio, and was DreamWorks? co-owner Jeffrey Katzenberg?s lawyer more than 25 years ago.?And Katzenberg, as a Paramount exec, acquired Reitman?s independently produced "Meatballs."
Said Walter Parkes, co-head of DreamWorks pictures, "Working with Ivan and Tom and the Montecito team on ?Road Trip? has been a terrific experience."
"We?re going to hit the ground running, and expect to shoot two other films this year," Pollock said.? He said the two films would likely include Phillips? follow-up, "Bad Dog School," a comedy that Phillips is rewriting with Scot Armstrong from a script by Michael Wilson, and a picture helmed by Reitman, either "Wish" or another pic.?
The company is trying to come up with a workable budget for "Wish," a "comedy with music" that mixes live action, animation and special effects.? The new three-year pact for Montecito -- the name of the Santa Barbara suburb where Pollock and Reitman keep their offices -- will cover overhead and ongoing development.? Pollock said he and Reitman have about 20 projects in development.?Much of that development slate was originally funded by Montecito?s previous deal with Polygram Filmed Entertainment -- and by the settlement Montecito received after PFE was bought by Universal and the deal fell apart.? Under the new deal DreamWorks will now get first-look at those development projects, Pollock said.

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