Tim
Kazurinsky is the funniest person we'd ever seen on stage at Chicago's
Second City Theater. Considering its long history of famous alumni, we
know we take a pretty bold stand with that statement, but we hold
firm. We wouldn't do right by Tim to just list his impressive
accomplishments. You'd be getting only 1/100th of what he's about. We
could go on to tell you about his successful run of shows at Second
City, his stint on SNL as performer, then head writer and performer.
We could enumerate all his success as a screenwriter with such hits as,
"For Keeps", "About Last Night", "The Cherokee Kid" and his numerous TV
writing credits. His work as an actor in movies like "My Body Guard",
"About Last Night", "Neighbors", "Continental Divide", "I Want Someone
To Eat Cheese With" and as Sweetchuck in the smash hit franchise
"Police Academy" movies. And we didn't even mention his TV appearances
on "Curb Your Enthusiasm", "Still Standing", "According to Jim" and
many, many more. Sure we could do that but we have a personal story to
tell about Tim instead.
Steve and I met shortly after SNL made
its ground breaking premier and the world became aware that a fair
share of the players on the show were from The Second City, an comedy
improv theater in our hometown, Chicago. Naturally we were both drawn
to take classes there. If Second City was the Mecca of comedy, then
Tim Kazurinsky was its current messiah. The late night improv sets
were free and we would sneak in as often as we could. Tim would
consistently tear the crowd apart with laughter. Fast, funny, quirky,
his characters would often get laughs before he'd even open his mouth.
He dominated that stage like no other.
You don't just go up to
living legends, not even to ask for autographs, let alone ask for
advice. We only knew Tim's friend's friends and we only knew them as
passing acquaintances. We were tired of being on the road, as we were
starting families, and so we began writing plays. That kept us home
but they barely paid the bills; we knew there was some serious money to
be made in screenplays. Tim had written three at the time. We had
written a spec script in our Evanston office and wanted some feedback.
We
called Tim out of the blue and he agreed to meet with us. He was
accessible. We couldn't believe it, and kept waiting for the other
shoe to drop. But the shoe never did drop and meet with us he did.
He
asked for the script in advance, which we delivered promptly. He lived
in one of those cool Lake Shore Drive high rises, the ones where the
elevator opened up in your living room. We thought that was the
greatest place on earth. We were very polite, appreciative and
respectful of his time. He recommended several books that helped him
and then sat us down to discuss our screenplay. He couldn't have been
more supportive and encouraging. We were ready to learn. In short, he
gave us a very intensive one-hour seminar on the dos and don'ts of
screenwriting. He started by telling us about outlining, character
breakdowns, re-writing, editing... we had to stop him. We really
needed to start at the beginning. We were very green. "Where do you
want to start?" Tim asked us. A bit embarrassed we said, "Uh, how far
in do we indent the character name?" Tim was very patient. After
going over the basics, we got down to the nitty gritty. We were club
comics so if we had an idea we just did it on stage that night. If it
worked, it stayed in the show; if it didn't, out with the trash.
That's what we knew about writing. Tim taught us how to think like a
screenwriter.
The script that Tim helped us with was called
"Such a Clatter." Years later, when we landed in Los Angeles we sold
that script to Disney and renamed it, "The Santa Clause." It started
our career as working screenwriters. We've had the good fortune of
working steadily for the next eighteen years. Occasionally we're
asked to speak at screenwriter's seminars or WGA sponsored events. We
always start out our talks with a review on how far in the character
margins should be. We also have many friends who've written or are
thinking of writing screenplays and they ask to pick our brains or ask
for advice. We always say yes, always. We do so because Tim once said
yes to us.
It's rare, but it's also nice when one of your
idols turns out to be a great guy and eventually a friend. Through the
years we've become close to Tim, his wife Marcia and his kids, Pete and
Zoe. Tim not only taught us how to structure a screenplay, he showed
us that you could succeed in show business and still retain some sense
of normalcy. We don't know how he did it but we're glad he did. And
most importantly, most of the time, he still returns our calls.
Steve and Leo
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