Brian’s eager for me to get cracking on Prince 2.
March 4, 1991
Alan Weiss and Brian both called to encourage me to hurry up and send them a spectacular game design bible for Prince 2. Doug’s back from his travels and it seems Sony wants to do a CD-ROM version of Prince 2, and fast! I’d better get moving.
Instead, my head is full of 16mm filmmaking equipment, Thierry Pathé, Vorkapich, Robert McKee.
I should go visit Robert in New Haven and look at some games on his computer. That’ll help get me in the right frame of mind.
March 11, 1991
Arrived in New Haven Saturday night. Robert and Oscar and I went to Est! Est! Est! for calzones. Looks like our trip to Honduras this summer is on.
Spent most of Sunday brainstorming with Robert. Came up with some good ideas for Prince 2 and D-Gen. We looked at King’s Quest V and Wing Commander to see if the opening sequences are as spectacular as everyone says. Technically, they are, but artistically they leave a lot to be desired.
There’s no doubt in my mind I could do better for Prince 2 – if I were on site. As it is, all I can do is storyboard a sequence and mail it off to California and hope for the best. I’m less than sanguine about Broderbund’s ability to push the envelope on something like this with their present staff and corporate structure. The job requires a tyrant, and Broderbund has none.
Got to keep things in perspective. After two days with Robert, my temptation is to forget everything else and try – again – to create the greatest game of all time. But the reality is, after this Friday, I won’t have much time to work on it.
Prince 2 doesn’t have to be groundbreaking. It just has to be acceptable, and get done on time. If I aim too high, it could easily suck up another year of my life, and my development as a screenwriter/filmmaker/human being would be the only casualty. I’ve got to remember that, and resist my tendency to expand it into some grandiose, technically ambitious folly.
What everybody expects is Prince 1 in new clothes, with a flashy front end and a few new twists. That’s what the job calls for. That’s what I should deliver.
March 12, 1991
Spent most of two days with Tomi, hammering out the story line for Prince 2. We’re both rather grumpy, but it is getting done, and I must say, it’s much better than it was a few days ago.
Prince of Persia 2: Revenge of Jaffar.
Broderbund and Sierra are merging.
March 14, 1991
Met storyboard artist Karl Shefelman this morning. It turned out I knew him already, from Kevin’s film shoot. If I use anybody I’ll use him.
A pleasant dinner at John’s Pizza with Mark Netter. He found me a 19th century edition of Lane’s Arabian Nights for $25. Beautiful. He hung out here for an hour playing Prince on the Mac and another hour after dinner talking about movies. A much-needed break.
Tomorrow, McKee’s screenwriting class begins.
March 15, 1991
McKee’s course is good, really good. It’s also full of cool-looking women. I wish I had the guts to actually talk to some of them instead of just wondering who they are.
April 2, 1991
We finished shooting 6 pm Monday. I dropped the film off at TVC/Precision and went to Phebe’s to get drunk. George, Bernard, Casey and John were already well on their way when I arrived; Toby and the rest came later.
Watched the dailies today for the first time, along with the whole class. I was nervous – I’d checked my math and realized I’d underexposed some of the outdoor shots nearly a full stop – but to my relief it all came out fine.
I’ve got light-years to travel, technically and aesthetically, before I could call myself a cinematographer, let alone a good one; and quite probably I won’t travel much further down this particular road. But I chose the stock, set the lights and camera position for each shot, operated the camera, even loaded and unloaded the magazine and other AC duties, on a five-day shoot for a 16mm color sync sound film… and I didn’t fuck up. Considering that six months ago, I had only the vaguest and most general idea of what goes on a film set, this is an achievement I should be proud of.
Now begins the editing.
April 16, 1991
Spent the day hot-splicing. I got pretty proficient at it. We’re done, basically. Tomorrow morning we’ll check all the splices, run it through the synchronizer, line up the optical track, and send it to the lab.
April 20, 1991
On Friday, Thierry gave a great lecture on the business end of production (line producing). Afterward I went downtown to MacGovern’s Bar on Spring St. to meet Patrick and his actor from Alice, George, his friend Catherine, John Bruno, and Bernard. We spent a while chatting with some pretty college girls from Connecticut until their boyfriends showed up, which sort of put a damper on things.
A movie crew was shooting around the corner. It must have been the last union shoot in New York. It was some low-budget movie about “a Harvard graduate” who falls in love with “a down-to-earth girl who frequents discos.” This was explained to us by the female lead – Hallie I think her name was. She was friendly to me and Bernard although she was freezing her butt off in that short dress.
Then we all went uptown to “Name That Joint” on E 92nd St, where Toby, Casey and John P. were extremely happy to see us. Next was the Outback, a couple of doors down (too noisy and too many guys), then we took a cab across the park to the best joint of all, John Bruno’s hangout, The Dive Bar. When it closed we went to 57th St. where Patrick thought there was an after-hours speakeasy, but we couldn’t find it, so we had breakfast at a diner instead. I got home around 6 am and slept till noon.
I’m so glad I came to New York.
April 23, 1991
Last day of class. They screened our answer prints. Ours looked pretty damn good, compared to most of them. I’m relieved. For my first (and probably last) outing as D.P., it’s not too bad.
Thierry wound things up with an inspiring go-out-into-the-world pep talk. “The next time I see you, I hope it’s on a film set.” We all applauded as he left the room. If I ever get a chance – if I get interviewed by Premiere magazine or whatever – I’m going to plug this program shamelessly.
Mark Netter told me at dinner that Dick Ross hated Nick’s film, called it garbage, and gave it a daytime slot in the festival. That made me angry. Can you imagine Thierry Pathé calling one of his students’ films “garbage”? I’m glad I didn’t go to Tisch.
May 7, 1991
I so definitely did the right thing by coming to New York, it makes me shudder to think that I might have stayed in California. This is exactly, exactly what I was missing.
I’ve only been here seven months, and already I feel like I’m part of a network of people that keep meeting and crossing and cropping up in different combinations. That I can link Patrick Ladislav to Kevin Burget and Mark Netter; that Patrick and I can go to a lecture and find Mark already there and all go out for dinner together and then find John Bruno in the bar across the street; that Karl Shefelman is doing my storyboards for Prince 2 and sharing an editing space with Kevin; that I run into someone I know almost every time I step outside – these things fill me with a deep and primitive satisfaction.
In San Francisco I felt like I was in danger of falling off the edge of the world. Here, I feel like I’m part of something that’s strong enough to hold me in place. Each new link I forge makes my world stronger and more real, and as the net grows, the possibilities multiply.
Worked on the Prince 2 “bible” (and Mac Prince 1) most of the day. I hope I can get Brian something he can use by Thursday, before I leave for Cannes – but I doubt it. I’ll just have to make up for lost time with some fierce activity when I get back from Europe.
I’ve really been short-shrifting Broderbund and Prince of Persia since coming to Ne
w York. I should be careful not to blow it entirely. It’s not just my living, it’s my reputation, portfolio, creative fulfillment, everything. The only thing it isn’t is film.
Foreign Lands
May 18, 1991
[France] Party at a castle about 10 minutes’ drive from Cannes. There was a room full of laser light and smoke and I spent about an hour dancing.
Who should be there but Thierry Pathé, in his tuxedo and walking with that dapper, light-footed stagger. Thierry is the greatest guy on the face of the earth. He was happy to see me and Patrick – and surprised; this was an invitation-only bash – and dragged his producer over to talk to us. She was amused and impressed that we’d penetrated the ramparts of the castle on our first Cannes. “You’ll go far,” she predicted. She asked if we’d be coming back next year. I said I didn’t think I’d come back until I had a picture here.
“See you around the castle,” Thierry said when we parted – several steps up, subtextually, from his parting line when we ran into him a few days ago on the American Pavilion, “See you on the Croisette,” and beautifully reinforcing Patrick’s metaphor of Cannes as a royal court.
May 25, 1991
Wir sitzen in einem Gasthof in Pöcking, das kleine Dorf in dem Leni Riefenstahl wohnt, wartende auf dem gesprochene Stunde.
This town is bleak. Maybe it’s the weather (unseasonably cold and gray) and maybe it’s that we’re about to visit the director of Triumph of the Will, but it feels like the Nazi seizure of power happened yesterday.
Riefenstahl nixed the camera at the last minute, so we’re going in with only a pocket tape recorder. Too bad. I’d have loved to shoot it in 16mm.
May 28, 1991
The weather’s been spectacular since we arrived in Paris. George and Patrick and I had lunch in a brasserie near his mother’s apartment in the 9th Arr. and then I went to see Dany Boolauck.
Spent the whole afternoon with Dany, from 3 pm to 11 pm. He introduced me to the staff of Joystick (the #2 games magazine in France, which Dany and his partner are determined to make #1), then drove me back to his apartment in the 20th Arr. to interview me. I met his girlfriend Natalie and their 8-month-old daughter Kim.
Then Dany took me to Cité des Sciences, which is kind of a hulking, larger-scale Exploratorium, to see the Omnimax show. We picked up his friend, an attaché de presse from London – Christine, I think – and Dany took us to dinner at a place called Chez Pierre, by the Fontaine-something (it had a cupid with a trident). A great meal. I shudder to think what it must have cost.
Dany was appalled at the poor marketing of Prince; he feels it could have – and should have – been a huge hit. It was Dany who pushed for Prince to win the Tilt d’Or. He wants to do an exclusive “work-in-progress” article on Prince 2. He’s setting aside six pages for it in the next issue of Joystick. The fact that he would consider such an article a journalistic coup is, in itself, flattering. He and Christine agreed that I was the only remaining game designer in the U.S. doing interesting and original work, which is a ridiculous statement, but it didn’t hurt my feelings to hear them say it.
After dinner I joined Patrick and George and Patrick’s friend Jerome from Morocco at a bar called Le Violon Dingue. We ended up drinking vodka at an English pub. “Paris isn’t what it used to be,” Patrick lamented. “These places are full of French people.”
Rome is a great city; Berlin is an exciting place these days, the gateway to Eastern Europe; even Vienna is jumping since the Wall fell. Paris is… Paris.
There are good reasons to live almost anywhere. To live in Paris you don’t need one.
May 29, 1991
I’m too old for this. I don’t smoke, I don’t smoke dope, I don’t drink coffee, and last night I did all three, and washed it down with half a bottle of vodka and who knows what else, and watched the sun come up. Now I’m paying for it, and this airplane turbulance isn’t helping.
It was a great, wonderful trip. It was more than I’d hoped for. We didn’t climb the wall into Pere Lachaise and drink a bottle of wine at Jim Morrison’s grave, but I did get to practice my German, even learned some French and Italian. I got to spend time with George and Patrick – who’s become one of my best friends in a remarkably short time – and made a few new ones: Greg, Jerome, maybe Anne, maybe Tomek, Jan and Artur. I got to visit two giants of the cinema, Vittorio Storaro and Leni Riefenstahl, and was given a really privileged look at their (very different) lives. I visited three countries (Italy, Germany and Switzerland) for the first time. There was Laura. There was Cannes. I’m beat now, and ready to appreciate the restfulness of a couple of weeks in New York City.
June 15, 1991
[Back in NY] Spent the day working on Prince 2 – first honest day’s work in weeks. I’ve really got to hustle if I’m going to have something ready by the time I leave for Maine.
June 27, 1991
[San Rafael] End of my second day at Broderbund. It’s going well.
I’m very popular all of a sudden. It’s like the return of the prodigal son. I carry about me the whiff of foreign places. Cannes, Greenwich Village, it’s all very glamorous.
Prince of Persia is suddenly popular, too. The old marketing department is gone and has been replaced by a new marketing department that thinks Prince got a raw deal and deserves to be repackaged and given the royal rollout for the Mac version. Amazing. I keep waiting for someone to pinch me and wake me up.
The Game Boy version is close to finished; the Super FamiCom version is going to be awesome; Prince has won a zillion awards in Europe and Japan; it’s nothing but good news on all fronts. Knock on wood – hope it lasts!
As for Prince 2, we’ve got a programmer (Jeff Charvat); we’ve got the attention of the sound and music department (Tom), who has hand-picked a composer (Jonelle); of the graphics department (Michelle and Leila), who have chosen a couple of artists (Daniel and Marcelle); and of the sales and marketing departments, who are waiting and eager to sell and market it as soon as it’s done. And, oh yeah, design services are eager to do the package design.
It really is a different world, doing a sequel. All the people who were no help at all on the original are now overflowing with enthusiasm, because it’s familiar, it’s a proven quantity. Broderbund is a company that was born to do sequels. They’re even good at it.
I have no illusions – it’s still the same company that almost buried Prince 1 – it’s just that now, I’m on the other side of the river. And loving it.
I foresee some arm-wrestling over budget and resources, but so far, Broderbund is giving it the best they have. And the reason is, truly, because of grass-roots enthusiasm for Prince of Persia that’s seeped up through the company from the bottom (tech support, QA, field reps) and through P.D., because of people taking the game home and playing it and watching their kids play it; and because of the good working relationships I established with Lance, Leila and Tom on IBM Prince 1.
Lance, Leila and Tom have now all been promoted to the point where they’re no longer actually doing programming, graphics and sound, but supervising their respective departments; they remember Prince as a high point of their creative careers, something they did their best work on and got recognition and satisfaction from, and they’re excited at the prospect of revisiting it. I’m bragging, but so what – I’m proud of Prince, but more than that, I’m proud of having pulled together such a good and enthusiastic team. If I can do this, I can direct a feature.
Brian and I took Leila to dinner at an expensive French restaurant that used to be a brick kiln. I blew a hundred and fifty bucks, but it was worth it. Leila deserves to have something nice done for her after all the work she did on the Mac Prince graphics – which Scott has yet to get running properly.
That’s the one fly in the ointment: Mac Prince is still far from finished. It’s way, way behind schedule. It’s my fault for n
ot riding Scott harder, or for picking someone who would have done it faster.
The good news is, Scott’s taken so long that Apple has come out with a new computer (the LC) in the meantime and has sold a lot of them. As a result, the Mac market has now grown to the point where the sales department actually wants this version. So, Broderbund is going ahead and doing a new set of graphics for the LC version (i.e., small-screen but in color), and they’re paying for it themselves. A nice vote of confidence. A bit late, but nice.
July 3, 1991
It looks like we’ve got our budget. With Leila out of town, nobody had any idea what the Prince 2 graphics were going to cost – Ed Badasov estimated $17,000 – so I made my own estimate: $126,000. Brian gasped; Ed gasped; but, incredibly, Doug approved it. It’s the most graphics-intensive project in Broderbund’s history.
Dinner at Doug’s. We bought a steak, grilled it, and ate it out on the deck while getting devoured by mosquitoes. Then we sat in the living room and discussed the movie business and the software business, whether or not they’re converging, and whether there is really any overlap between the skill set required to be a filmmaker and that required to be a game designer. It occurred to me that, as of now, I’m one of the few people to have attained a reasonable proficiency at both.
July 15, 1991
[Back in NY] In the week since I left, Broderbund has once again been completely reorganized. John Baker now heads the entertainment group and Tom Marcus has been taken off licensing duty. And a horrifying piece of news: Perry Babb, Prince’s new marketing manager, who took Brian and me on a store check, has been diagnosed with terminal cancer of the esophagus. He’s going to die. Brian is pretty distressed. His own father died of brain cancer just last year.
The Making of Prince of Persia: Journals 1985-1993 Page 14