The Man Who Created Halloween

by Irwin Yablans

Overview

The Man Who Created Halloween is the fascinating story of one man's improbable journey from the tenements of Brooklyn's Williamsburg to fame and fortune in Hollywood.

It is also a chronicle of the shifting winds of change from the old studio system to the emergence of a new generation of independent producers and film makers.

Replete with first hand anecdotes we see that tumultuous era thru the eyes of famed producer and film executive Irwin Yablans.

Yablans career encompasses the entire gamut of motion picture experience from his early years at Warner Brothers to sales chief at Paramount and Orion pictures, culminating with the formation of his own company, Compass International Pictures. But his story is much more. It is a tale of how determination and perseverance enabled him to overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles in the rough and tumble motion picture industry.

Told in his own words, this candid, no holds barred autobiography finally relates the truth about how the classic film Halloween came into being. The discovery of John Carpenter, the complex relationship with Moustapha Akkad and Joseph Wolf is discussed in never before revealed detail.

Written with humor and fidelity to the truth, The Man Who Created Halloween is an essential addition to any film lore library as well as an inspirational example of the possibilities for any man who will not be denied.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781478105268
Publisher:	CreateSpace Publishing
Publication date:	08/09/2012
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.57(d)

About the Author

Producer, writer , executive and independent film maker Irwin Yablans' career has spanned more than half a century. After holding key positions at Warner Brothers, Paramount Pictures and Orion Pictures, Yablans formed his own film company, Compass International Pictures.

In 1978, he conceived, created and executively produced the seminal, classic film Halloween, directed by a then unknown John Carpenter. Budgeted at a mere $325,000 and distributed through Compass, Halloween grew into a phenomenon, becoming the most successful independent picture ever made. Yablans' innovative approach to making and selling movies blazed the trail for subsequent independents such as New Line Cinema and the Weinstein Company.

Now retired, Yablans lives with his wife Diana in Palm Desert, California, where he writes and plays golf. The Man Who Created Halloween is his first book.

Editorial Reviews

An account of Halloween creator Yablans' rise from a hardscrabble childhood in Brooklyn to the upper echelons of the studio system in Hollywood where he would help change the way movies are made. During World War II, Yablans grew up in roach-infested, cramped apartments in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, which was largely inhabited by second-generation Jews escaping the teeming ghettos of the Lower East Side. It was a close-knit community by necessity and Yablans, like so many of his background, was encouraged not to have high expectations. Working in the garment district and then in backbreaking labor at the Navy Yard, he escaped the hellish monotony by joining the army and upon discharge, took up an offer to work in sales at Warner Brothers. Yablans had a learning disability that had confounded his teachers because he was innately bright, so he dropped out of high school. Given a chance at Warner, he committed himself wholeheartedly to work. Moving through the ranks at the studio, he eventually wound up in Los Angeles with his brother, Frank, following. Frank would become president of Paramount Pictures and a golden child for a time, and Irwin would eventually shake up the studio system and forge ahead with independent films, pioneering his own studio. With Halloween, he helped launch the career of John Carpenter and created a horror classic. Yablans shows us the film industry from the business end, where the point is the bottom line and where shark-infested political dealings are routine. He paints a portrait of a cutthroat but exciting world of unimaginable wealth, struggle and movie stars where dreams are the product sold to the world at large. Although there are many poignant moments beneath the nuts-and-bolts insights into the business of movies, Yablans also can be brutally frank, noting a "bulbous nose" or character flaw, and is as much a player as anyone. When the film The Message resulted in 149 people being held as hostages by black Muslim extremists and several deaths, Yablans rode the crest by increasing the film's circulation in theaters across the country. Essentially, it is an entertaining and captivating story of a spirited man of humble roots who attained even his most unimaginable dreams, including a stint as a competitive cowboy, and helped usher in a new era of films. The fascinating memoir of a true Hollywood mogul that traces his life from Brooklyn to Warner Brothers. (27 pages of b/w photographs)

Kirkus Reviews