Me and Oprah

Hollywood does not hold a candle to my Dad the drill sergeant for ball busting toughness. If he and the grandmother I loved more than anyone on Earth, besides mom and Fred, could not stop me from being an artist, then some Hollywood gate keeper or the current rotten economic times do not have prayer of stopping my dreams.

Photo Taken 1991 - Left to right: John Lamb, Project Manager, Opah Winfery, Jeff Jacobs, President Harpo Studio, Ken Sheetz, Your Blogger and President of Overactive Imagination Pictures

The transition from one of Chicago's most successful commercial real estate pros, having built Oprah's Harpo Studios, negotiated over a billion dollars in real estate deals and built a $162 million skyscraper, to a promising Hollywood' writer, director and producer in my 7 years in Hollywood is the toughest thing I've ever done.

No one makes it alone in Hollywood. Great sacrifices have been made by my kids, my now divorced parents and my pair of new step parents, my beloved uncle, my awesome real estate pals; all support my dream. How much I love them all for this they can never know.

My dear friend and former girlfriend, Karen, who I proposed to and who rejected me, back in my glory days as a wanna be Donald Trump of Chicago, asked me last week if I was really happier making films than skyscrapers? I did not hesitate for second in saying, "I've never been happier than when I'm making movies."