That other kind of pitch came as Michael Jackson was making the music video for "Thriller." Such projects back then cost about $50,000. Jackson was letting his inspiration run free to the tune of $1 million. That raised the question of how he was going to pay for it. Branca had an inspiration of his own.
"He suggested we make a separate video filmed by somebody else about the making of the 'Thriller' video," Jackson recalled in his autobiography. "It seemed odd that no one had ever thought of this before."
Branca pitched the idea to
MTV and Showtime. He came back with $1.2 million in financing.
The deal still might have fallen apart because Jackson's mother was a Jehovah's Witness and some of her fellow congregants suggested he was supporting evil by appearing as a werewolf.
Jackson was reportedly poised to scratch both the video and the video about the video when Branca pitched another idea, this one to the star. Branca noted that
Bela Lugosi had resolved religious misgivings about portraying Dracula by insisting on a note at the start of the film saying he was in no way pro-vampire.
Jackson added a similar note regarding werewolves. The project went ahead, and "The Making of Thriller" video sold more than a million copies. Album sales spiked by 14 million, bringing the total to more than 40 million, the biggest of all time.
"The success of 'The Making of Thriller' was a bit of a shock to all of us," Jackson wrote. "A dream come true."
The success is credited with elevating music video production to another level, along the way indelibly imprinting images of Jackson on the national psyche.
Of course, any deal would have been worthless without Jackson's talent, but Branca did play a part in changing music history,
Read more:
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/michael_jackson/2009/07/02/2009-07-02_michael_jackson_turned_to_old_friend_and_entertainment_lawyer_john_branca_in_tim.html#ixzz0dSn4aAGd
