Pretty Woman producer Gary W. Goldstein has plenty of advice for Hollywood hopefuls

Veteran film producer Gary W. Goldstein, whose credits include Pretty Woman and Under Siege, will be conducting an online eight-week course for Hollywood hopefuls - focusing on but not limited to screenwriters.

He said his emphasis was "more on career than craft": how to create and use networks, gain access to decision-makers and make perfect story pitches.

Goldstein was a music label A&R rep and attorney before going to Hollywood, where he set up a literary agency.

Among his clients was screenwriter Jonathan (J.F.) Lawton and, working together, Lawton and Goldstein made it to the big time.

When the 1988 writers' strike came, four weeks before Lawton and Goldstein were going to the Sundance Institute with a screenplay, the agent suggested they use the time to film one of Lawton's other scripts.

Goldstein quickly raised $200,000 and assembled a crew and Lawton directed, under a pseudonym, the comedy Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death.

The cast included Bill Maher, whom Goldstein knew from comedy clubs, and erotic thriller star Shannon Tweed.

"I was the only producer who insisted she keep her clothes on in a movie," he said.

Although they made no money from it, Goldstein said it was a good learning experience.

Lawton's Sundance screenplay, Three Thousand, a drama about a businessman and a prostitute, garnered attention.

Years, many drafts, and other writers later it became the lighter, brighter romantic comedy Pretty Woman. Disney bought it for its Touchstone subsidiary and veteran director Garry Marshall (A League of Their Own). Established star Richard Gere (who had turned down the darker version) was cast and this enabled Goldstein to push for relative newcomer Julia Roberts, whom he had loved in Mystic Pizza.

"It was one of those serendipitous moments," he said.

The film was a big hit, making Roberts a star. Lawton received sole screenplay credit and Goldstein was one of the producers.

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Other Goldstein credits include Under Siege starring Steven Seagal and The Mothman Prophecies, again with Gere. He has three films and a TV series in development.

Goldstein is a survivor in a business that has changed a lot since he started. Big corporations have swallowed up many of the studios, which "became risk averse, banking on presold titles: comic books, video games, bestselling books".

But the advent of streaming has shaken things up again.

"Now, streamers are the new indie market," Goldstein says. "There are a lot of opportunities."

It's not necessary to be located in Los Angeles to make things happen. And Goldstein's course will show people how.

To enrol in the 8 Week Roadmap to Break Into Hollywood, Sell Your Scripts & Build a Successful Career (starting on September 26) visit creativeedge.com/screencanberra.