Dear Diary:
It was 1997, and I was one of six graduate students in Columbia University’s theater producing program. One day, we shuffled into Gerald Schoenfeld’s ornate office above Shubert Alley.
Schoenfeld was the chairman of the Shubert Organization, probably the most powerful man on Broadway and, somehow, our professor.
He burst into the room, settled behind his desk and stared us all down.
Today, he said, I’m going to teach you how to negotiate a lead actor contract. Here’s how we’re going to do it: I’m going to call Patrick Stewart on the speakerphone. You six are going to sit there, take notes and not make a sound. Got it?
We nodded. He dialed. Stewart answered.
For the next hour, we sat perfectly still while two legends worked through the terms of Stewart appearing in “The Ride Down Mt. Morgan.”
Our pens moved furiously across our notebooks as Capt. Jean-Luc Picard’s voice filled the room. Not one of us made a sound. I don’t even think we breathed.
— Matt Olin
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