Oh boy. I'm not making this up. We had actually set up a very spectacular shoot for today. Can't tell you more. But Michael cancelled again. Another one of his young, very nice female producers called yesterday. She didn't know when and if we'd be on again. She said the "big man is on an airplane." They were all eagerly awaiting his instructions.This is what makes movie making different from the newspaper business. Journalists call, get their story, and the next day it is in the paper. Documentary makers call, sometimes show up, and sometimes your part makes it. Usually there are lots of delays.
"60 Minutes" had the longest delay. I was waiting six months for the first segment. Every weekend was something else that came up which delayed airing of the show. Eventually I almost gave up. But they did run it. You can find it here.
The second "60 Minutes" segment was sent this spring and my part ended up on the cutting room floor. At least they took my concept and did a story about growth hormone and anti-aging.
The irony of everything going on right now is that so many journalists are calling to get inside info about Pfizer and Jeff Kindler. Surely not the way Pfizer had planned things when they fired me, hoping they would somehow "take away my platform."
The company has not made the new CEO available for interviews, so everyone is scrambling. That means I have received my fair share of calls.
First the New York Times and NJ Star Ledger contacted me. Then Bloombergs and last week Medical Marketing and Media.
I had coffee with one of my favorite journalists at one of those newspapers. He made an interesting observation about my work with the media. He said, "Peter, now I have understood what you are doing. You are branding yourself."
Smart guy.
A lot smarter than Pfizer's lawyers, who recently wrote to the judge, about me, "he will publicize any information . . . for his own aggrandizement and self promotion."
Did I detect a tinge of sour grapes in those words? It's called Branding!
By the way, I'm looking forward to the last story, the one in MM&M, because they really spent a lot of time going into details. I'll let you know if anything shows up.
3 comments:
Could you BE any handsomer? Ok, so I know handsomer isn’t a word, but you were looking awfully spiffy on 60 Minutes!
I actually saw the original airing of this particular 60 Minutes but had no idea that was you. After watching it again, I have a whole new respect for you. You truly are going up against a monolith aren’t you? Do you ever feel like a guppy in an ocean full of barracudas?
You are a maverick, Doc. There are far too few mavericks in the world today. Please don’t go into politics. Politicking seems to suck the life out of mavericks. In fact, I think of you more as an anti-politician, the kind of man who makes politicians nervous.
I hope you don’t give up on Michael Moore. I think the two of you could do some serious damage in a two hour documentary!
Thank you.
And yep. You got it.
That's me. The guppy.
Wish I felt more like a shark.
If you felt more like a shark then you would most likely become one. And that would go against your true nature.
Be a proud guppy...and a fast swimmer!
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