Jeffrey Boam interview, Oct. 12, 1990

Jeffrey Boam

By DONALD PORTER
Standard-Examiner staff

BURBANK. Calif. -- Mel Gibson and Danny Glover are standing in the corner, alongside Dennis Quaid. A set of still photos chronicling the demolition of a house in the movie "Lethal Weapon 2" is framed on the wall next to the actors, and bears the handwritten inscription: "Jeff, we did it. Next time, go easy. Love ya, Donner."

Jeffrey Boam sits in the opposite corner of the room, which happens to be his office, ignoring Mel, Danny and Dennis because they are made out of cardboard; the life-size figures are theater lobby advertisements for two of the movies he's written. And the set of framed stills is a gift from "Lethal Weapon 2" director Richard Donner.

You wouldn't be alone if you admjtted Jeffrey Boam's name doesn't ring a bell. But if you go to movies. you've probably seen it on the screen. Boam's job is done behind the camera, off the set, in an office at his home. It's where the 41-year-old screenwriter has penned such familiar movies as "The Dead Zone," "lnnerspace," "Funny Farm," "The Lost Boys," "Lethal Weapon 2" and "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade."

John Grisham, 1995

John Grisham

By DONALD PORTER
Standard-Examiner staff

PASADENA, Calif. -- Perched atop the publishing world, author John Grisham is refreshingly candid about the relative worth -- both literary and economic -- of his novels, and perfectly willing to offer an assessment as to why "The Client" is his only book to make it to the small screen.

"Most of my books sort of end with people on the run," Grisham said at the Summer Press Tour in Pasadena, Calif. "You know, with bullets and dead bodies and that kind of stuff. This is the only one that would lend itself to an ongoing series with people who are in one place, and who are not running."

OK, that's simple enough. Then comes the real reason the novel "The Client" has become the TV series "John Grisham's The Client":

"The TV rights to 'The Client' were included in the movie deal, which happened three years ago," the author explained. "And ... these movie contracts are eight inches thick, and buried somewhere in the contract was the TV rights -- and a lot of other rights -- that I signed away when I signed the contract and took the money."