Independent Film Maker Risks All to “Play The Game”
About a decade ago, Marc Fienberg uprooted his family from Boston and bought one-way tickets to Los Angeles to pursue his dream of making a movie about his grandfather.
He developed his own film company, Story Films, specializing in short films and commercials.
Then incredibly, Fienberg, a man with no feature film background or connections, was able to raise millions of dollars and convince Hollywood icon Andy Griffith to star in his film, “Play the Game.”The independent film, which Fienberg is self-distributing throughout the nation this fall, will start a limited one-week run on Friday, Oct. 9, at Movies at Midway.
The film also stars two other television legends, Doris Roberts, known for her role as Marie Barone on “Everybody Loves Raymond,” and Liz Sheridan, known for her role as Jerry Seinfeld’s mother in the hit comedy, “Seinfeld.”
Fienberg, who wrote the script 12 years ago, said the romantic comedy is based on his 89-year-old grandfather who found love again after his wife passed away.
“I was in my 20s at the time and he came to me for advice,” he said. “We were two bachelors out on the town. To be honest, at first, hearing details of his love life made me a little uncomfortable. He had the same emotions as a school kid.”
The movie follows that same story line with the widowed and lonely Andy Griffith, as Grandpa Joe, getting advice from his grandson, played by Paul Campbell as David. Fienberg said David teaches all of his dating tricks to his grandfather and in the process discovers what we all know but don’t want to admit: seniors still do it, and enjoy it.
But as fate would have it, the student becomes the teacher.
“Andy Griffith was sold on the script because he got to have a bedroom scene, and he loved that he didn’t die at the end of the movie,” Fienberg said.
“This film is all about living and living to the fullest,” he said.
Because it is a small budget, independent film, Fienberg was the writer, producer and director – all firsts for him. His wife, Eva, who was nine week’s pregnant at the time, did the casting and was on set everyday of the five-week shoot.
Eva went into false labor one day of shooting. The couple’s fourth child was born six days after the film was completed.
“She told me we’ve had three kids, but this is our first movie, so she’d meet me at the hospital,” Fienberg said.
He said one of the keys to the film’s success was hiring an experienced crew, including a top-notch director of photography, Gavin Kelly. “He made it look like a studio film,” he said.
Fienberg had been working on the film for the past five years, getting investors and fine-tuning the script.
The film won Audience Choice Awards at the Santa Fe and Fort Lauderdale film festivals. It played to rave reviews and grossed $370,000 during a three-month test run in Florida. The national run started Aug. 28.
Fienberg said as his children grow up, he will be able to look them in the eyes and tell them the sacrifices have been worth it. “I like what I do and I can tell them to always do what they are passionate about,” he said.
Fienberg said there is always the next project: He is working on three films, including The Machine, a family comedy about a teenage goat herder in a remote African village.
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