Taglines: 30 days, $1100, For an Ordinary Guy to Get a Date with Drew Barrymore.
My Date With Drew was shot entirely for $1,100 that Brian Herzlinger won on a game show. The production used a camera purchased on credit from Circuit City, and then returned under the store’s 30-day refund policy.
On his journey to woo Drew, Herzlinger consults a psychic for love advice, hires a Drew look-alike to practice his date etiquette and crashes the world premiere of “Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle” simply to steal a glance at his dream girl.
Supporting Herzlinger’s quest with anecdotes and advice are several Hollywood insiders who appear as themselves including Eric Roberts, Corey Feldman and “Charlie’s Angels” screenwriter John August.
Ever since the second grade when he first saw her in E.T. The Extraterrestrial, Brian Herzlinger has had a crush on Drew Barrymore. Now, 20 years later he’s decided to try to fulfill his lifelong dream by asking her for a date. There’s one small problem: She’s Drew Barrymore and he’s, well, Brian Herzlinger, a broke 27-year-old aspiring filmmaker from New Jersey.
But that doesn’t stop Brian and his film school pals from doing everything they can think of to convince Barrymore to go out with him – and documenting their quest along the way. Equipped with a video camera they have to return to Circuit City in 30 days and the $1,100 Brian won on a game show (where the winning answer was, prophetically, “Drew Barrymore”), they’ve got one month to accomplish their mission. To succeed, they’ll need to negotiate an army of publicists, agents, producers and assistants who surround the star so Brian can pop the question.
Synopsis
“If you don’t take risks, you’ll have a wasted soul.” – Drew Barrymore
Ever since the second grade when he first saw her in E.T. The Extraterrestrial, Brian Herzlinger has had a crush on Drew Barrymore. Now, 20 years later he’s decided to try to fulfill his lifelong dream by asking her for a date. There’s one small problem: She’s Drew Barrymore and he’s, well, Brian Herzlinger, a broke 27-year-old aspiring filmmaker from New Jersey. But that doesn’t stop Brian and his film school pals from doing everything they can think of to convince Barrymore to go out with him – and documenting their quest along the way.
Equipped with a video camera they have to return to Circuit City in 30 days and the $1,100 Brian won on a game show (where the winning answer was, prophetically, “Drew Barrymore”), they’ve got one month to accomplish their mission. To succeed, they’ll need to negotiate an army of publicists, agents, producers and assistants who surround the star so Brian can pop the question.
My Date with Drew is the award-winning, inspirational story of an ordinary guy who, despite incredibly long odds, puts everything on the line to pursue his lifelong dream. It’s also an astute and often hilarious look at contemporary dating rituals, the culture of celebrity and the power of passion.
The Set-Up
After graduating from Ithaca College Film School, Brian Herzlinger, Jon Gunn and Brett Winn came to Los Angeles with one goal in mind: making movies. But like many aspiring filmmakers, they often found themselves working at less glamorous industry jobs to pay their bills while struggling to shepherd film projects through “development hell” at various studios. So when Brian won $1,100 on a game show pilot, he decided that rather than blowing it on something frivolous – like paying his rent – he would use it to finance an independent film.
Winn recalls the moment the idea for My Date with Drew was born. “Brian and I were sitting together at Hamburger Hamlet on Van Nuys Blvd. having dinner. We were thinking, ‘Why aren’t we making feature films?’ The answer was simple: We don’t have millions of dollars. We had seen these ads for Circuit City that said they had a no-hassle, 30-day return policy. I figured if we got a digital video camera from Circuit City that would give us 30 days to shoot before we had to give it back. So we decided to make a movie.”
Winn, who works during the day editing movie trailers, had recently finished working on the campaign for Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle, starring Cameron Diaz, Lucy Liu and Drew Barrymore. “I said to Brian, ‘You’ve had a lifelong crush on Drew, why don’t we see if you could get a date with her?’ The more we talked about it, the more it seemed like a good idea. The best case scenario was Brian would get a date, the worst case was it would be a great chance for us all to work together.”
Winn was sure Brian’s self-effacing humor and good-natured charm would win over Barrymore. “Brian is so likeable,” says Winn. “Whenever Jon and I introduce him to our friends, the one comment we always hear from them the next day is, ‘That guy Brian, he’s so cute, he’s so nice. We love Brian.’ I was very confident if we got him in front of Drew she would feel the same way.”
Herzlinger and Winn called Gunn to see if he would join them in their impromptu adventure. After a little coaxing, he agreed to come onboard. “It seemed like just a fun project to do with your buddies,” recalls Gunn. “We never had any idea it would turn into something so big.”
The three decided to share responsibility for directing, producing and editing the film. Gunn then enlisted the help of Kerry David, his partner in the production company Lucky Crow Films and the Executive Producer of Agent Cody Banks 1 & 2, who agreed to come on as producer.
While a 30-day shoot is short by Hollywood standards, it meant Winn, Gunn, and David would essentially have to put the rest of their lives on hold for a month. “It sounds easy,” laughs Herzlinger, “but try telling your boss you’re going to spend the next 30 days videotaping a guy trying to get a date with Drew Barrymore.”
Nonetheless, three days after they agreed to “greenlight” the movie, the camera had been purchased, production had begun and the clock was ticking.
The filmmakers’ initial plan was to use the “six degrees of separation” approach to reach Barrymore. In other words, they would find someone who knew someone who knew someone who – well, you get the idea – and have that person pitch her on the idea of a date with Brian. Since all four members of the “Drew Crew,” as they came to be known, worked in the entertainment industry in various capacities, they figured it would be relatively easy to at least get a “yes” or “no” answer.
Much of their optimism was based on Barrymore’s reputation as a down-to-earth, fun-loving woman with a great sense of humor. “So many people we met with and interviewed, whether they were industry types or people on the street, said ‘Drew’s totally the kind of person who would go for this; she’s so normal and so sweet,’” says Gunn.
But after their initial attempts to reach Barrymore failed to bear fruit, the enormity of the task began to sink in for the Drew Crew. Gunn recalls: “Going to the Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle premiere and seeing the thousands of people around her and all the security was a reminder of how famous and inaccessible she really is. Even though she may seem really cute and normal on Jay Leno, that doesn’t mean that anybody can call her up and say ‘Hey, let’s go to dinner.’ There’s a fortress around her.”While continuing their efforts to open a line of communication with Barrymore and her Flower Films production company through friends of friends, the filmmakers interviewed Brian’s family, his ex-boss and even complete strangers to get their thoughts and advice on his mission. These on-camera conversations form the heart of My Date with Drew.
For instance, hard-body actor Eric Roberts suggests that the key to Herzlinger impressing the object of his affection is to work out and add muscle mass. Meanwhile, Herzlinger’s mom, who has never met Barrymore but is an avid supermarket tabloid reader, is convinced the actress is not right for her son and suggests he find a “real person” to date instead. And Brian’s ex-girlfriend flies into a jealous rage at the thought of Brian running off with Drew – despite his assurances that his chances of forming a romantic relationship with the star are slim to none.
“Everybody in my life is a character,” Herzlinger acknowledges. “The best part is that every reaction we got was totally real.”
Nonetheless, Herzlinger takes some of the advice he receives to heart, including Roberts’ fitness recommendations. “It was a case of me just being worried about myself; not wanting to look like an idiot or sound like an idiot,” he says. “I figured it couldn’t hurt to do some push-ups, get a facial and get a haircut.”
Gunn believes Herzlinger’s obviously genuine self-doubt is one of the main reasons audiences connect with him and with the film. “We all have insecurities and Brian really wears his on his sleeve,” he says. “We get to live out our own dreams and passions watching him go through this. Even if a date with Drew has nothing to do with your specific passion, everyone can relate to it.”
In fact, it becomes increasingly clear that if Brian has any chance of winning over Barrymore, it will be through his own sweet-natured charm and self-deprecating humor. “There’s no way you’re going to impress Drew Barrymore by taking her to a restaurant she’s never been to before or wearing a shirt that’s cooler than any she’s ever seen,” notes Winn.
In order to give Barrymore and her associates a sense of Brian’s personality as well as to convey the playful spirit of the project the Drew Crew shot and edited a “trailer” for the film which they used as a calling card throughout the process.
“Brian had a dream that we all embraced,” says producer Kerry David. “Our first obstacle to overcome, which was vital, was to reassure the people we were approaching and meeting with that there was absolutely nothing threatening about us or our project.”
Herzlinger concurs: “This whole project was born out of our enthusiasm and a sense of fun. The last thing we wanted to do was suggest anything any else.”
As the “six degrees of separation” strategy yielded one dead end after another, the Drew Crew decided to take a more public route to reaching Barrymore.
After securing an interview for Brian on an LA drive-time radio show, they launched a website featuring the movie trailer.
“The website was definitely the key to getting the movie out there and our attempt to get Drew to see the trailer,” says Herzlinger. “What happened as a side benefit was that we received 150,000 visits from Drew fans in the first two weeks. We also got a bill that we couldn’t believe for hosting the site.”
The internet wasn’t the only 21st century technology that proved critical to the making of My Date with Drew. The advent of low-cost digital video cameras and personal computer-based editing equipment made it possible to produce the film with essentially no budget.
Winn remembers the limitations of working with film on a traditional flat-bed editing bay from his days at Ithaca College in the 1990s.
“We were always getting kicked out of the editing room at 10:00 PM when it closed. I remember always saying, ‘If there was only a way we could keep editing in our room.’ Now, 10 years later, with the advent of Final Cut Pro and other digital editing systems you can purchase at home for $1,000, we were able to make a feature film on my laptop computer.”
After a month or so holed up in Winn’s spare bedroom, the Drew Crew had whittled the 85 hours of footage they had shot down to a five-hour assemblage of their favorite scenes. They then painfully let 3.5 hours go, and began holding test screenings for friends and peers at Winn’s house for some outside perspective.
“They’d give us notes and then we’d go back and re-cut,” Winn remembers. By the time we had it cut down and ready to show, it was pretty solid; not too different from the final version.”
One of the pleasant surprises for Herzlinger was the reaction of entertainment industry professionals to the film. “The fun thing is that people who live in L.A. and work in the industry have responded as purely and positively as people from Iowa or New Jersey. I was worried that people out here would be so jaded that they wouldn’t get the ‘lifelong quest’ aspect of the movie. But the response across the board has been that people say they’ve been inspired to follow their own dreams.”
Hooking Up
If the quest for a date with Drew Barrymore was a long-shot, finding a distribution deal for the film was equally daunting. Hundreds of independent films are produced each year, and most never see the inside of a commercial movie theater. Without a big name cast or director, the film would have to sink or swim on its own merits.
Buzz about My Date With Drew began to build after the extraordinary reception at a number of notable domestic film festivals, including its premiere at the renowned HBO Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, Colorado, where it won the Audience Award over such indie hits as Supersize Me, Garden State and Napoleon Dynamite.
DEJ President Andy Reimer attended a screening on the recommendation of his director of acquisitions. “I found myself charmed,” recalls Reimer. “As most people who see the film are, I was taken with the journey Brian and his friends go on. Who hasn’t said to themselves ‘If I could only have a few minutes with the girl or guy of my dreams, I know they’d really like me!’”
According to Reimer, after the film won the Audience Award for Best Feature Film at the Gen-Art Festival in New York, DEJ acquired the film. Along with films such as Supersize Me, My Date with Drew is riding a wave of interest in a new type of highly personal documentary, one that both entertains and offers a unique viewpoint on society at large.“I think what distinguishes My Date with Drew and some of these other films is that they work as movies rather than just as documentaries,” says Reimer, who notes that audience members asked to categorize the film were twice as likely to call it a “comedy” or “romantic comedy” as opposed to a “documentary.”
“Screenwriters struggle to find ways to hit the right beats in a romantic comedy,” notes Reimer. “But those things that are difficult to do intentionally happen organically in this movie. Brian and his partners bring viewers along on a ride that is so ultimately satisfying that in the end, people love it. Without overstating it, there’s a pretty profound reaction. It’s what people go to the movies for.”
“I suspected that young women would be the key demographic for this film,” adds Reimer, “because they would find this guy sweet and romantic, and that he was trying so hard for his date. What was surprising was that young men respond strongly to the film as well. Anyone who has ever sweated and fretted about asking out a girl that they really liked can find themselves entirely identifying with Brian’s plight.
The Morning After
Herzlinger cites Steven Spielberg, whom he had the opportunity to meet briefly when he was a senior in high school, as his moviemaking idol. Not surprisingly, he lists E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (which stars a very young Barrymore) as his favorite movie and ranks Schindler’s List as the best movie of all time.So what does My Date with Drew have in common with the über-director’s action-packed thrill rides like Raiders of the Lost Ark and Jurassic Park? “Steven Spielberg takes ordinary people and puts them into extraordinary circumstances,” observes Herzlinger.
“Not that I’m comparing My Date with Drew to any Spielberg film, but there were many times during the shooting that I thought ‘I couldn’t be more ordinary and what’s happening here is pretty extraordinary.’”Of course, My Date with Drew didn’t just happen to Herzlinger and Company, they brought it into being through sheer persistence and force of will. “The one thing we’ve learned from this experience is the value of perseverance,” says Winn. “So many times people told us ‘No.’ From trying to get the date to trying to get a distribution deal to trying to get the music cleared, if we had taken no for an answer, none of this ever would have happened.”
For Gunn, what began as a fun summer project, turned into a once-in-a-lifetime experience. “It started out as a detour, a distraction, because Kerry and I have all these other movie projects we’re working on. But in the end it’s been by far the most fun project I’ve ever done. We had total freedom because there was no financing, no development process, no script approvals. And it was a movie we made with our best friends. It’s just been a great surprise every step of the way.”
Herzlinger hopes the film will inspire those who see it to follow their dreams, no matter how out of reach they may seem. “Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t do something. It doesn’t matter if you live in LA or you live in New Jersey, you should always go for your dreams.”
My Date With Drew (2005)
Directed by: Brian Herzlinger, Brett Winn, Jon Gunn
Starring: Drew Barrymore, Brian Herzlinger, Jon Gunn, Sonya Dakar, Brett Winn, Kerry David, Eric Roberts, Allison Burnett, Lisa Furst, Lauren Hays, Corey Feldman
Film Editing by: Jon Gunn, Brian Herzlinger, Brett Winn
Music by: Stuart Hart, Steven M. Stern
MPAA Rating: PG for mild thematic elements and language.
Distributed by: Slow Hand Releasing
Release Date: August 5, 2005
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