Jake and Elwood page 9

 Jake and Elwood page 9 by ric gustafson

Matty Simmons, Doug Kenney, Chris Miller and Harold Ramis wrote a 114 page film treatment. It was called ' Night Of The Seven Fires'. Simmons shopped the treatment to all of the studios. Nobody wanted to read it. The only one who finally agreed to read it was Ned Tanen. Tanen was the production chief at Universal Pictures. Tanen gave Ivan Reitman two million to make the film.

The four writers spent several months working on a script. The title of the film changed to ' Animal House'. Ivan Reitman was going to direct the film. Universal balked at the choice. The LA comedy troupe the Kentucky Fried Theater Group had hired a director to direct their own film. The troupe's film was called ' The Kentucky Fried Movie'. That young director's name was John Landis.

John David Landis was born in Chicago. Then the family moved to LA. Later on, Landis worked in the mailroom at 20th Century Fox. 

When the script for ' Animal House' was finished, Sean Daniel gave Tanen the script to look at. Tanen loved it. He greenlit the film and gave permission to Landis to direct it. 

Landis flew to New York to meet the four writers. He decided to stay at the Drake Hotel.

research help: ' The Blues Brothers' by Daniel de Vise

Peace and God's blessings. Love Ric