Local Film Company Thinks Big Fat Chance Films To Produce Television Pilot On Hollywood

Fat Chance Films, a Spokanebased production company established to produce theatrical films, has acquired the rights to jointly produce a pilot for a television series called “Hollywood Unforgettables.”

The pilot, which will air in March, focuses on the career of Burt Lancaster. The project will be produced in Los Angeles.

Ron Bartron, chief executive officer and founder of Fat Chance Films, said the pilot has also been sold to a London firm for showings throughout Europe.

Bartron and others involved in the operation call the pilot agreement, signed last week, a critical step for the young company.

Depending upon the success of the pilot, the company could produce an additional 26 episodes. Each would focus on one of the giants of Hollywood, with interviews from other stars and old film footage.

Bartron, a film writer, chose the name Fat Chance from a comment that was a response to his decision several years ago to rearrange his life.

“When I left Hollywood years ago,” Bartron explained, “my attorney, who was the head of contracts at Columbia, said it will be a fat chance if you ever return.”

Bartron said the decision to leave Hollywood was difficult because his career was at a peak, and his wife had been offered a contract on a network series.

“But we looked at our children and said we are leaving,” Bartron explained.

His choice brought him to Spokane six years ago, where he set about achieving his goal of writing and making movies in a place he wanted to raise his family.

A few months ago, Kenneth Dalton, another Hollywood refugee, joined Fat Chance as its executive director of production. Dalton is an independent film producer whose best-known titles are probably the “Hardbodies” and “Hardbodies II” movies.

“I came to Spokane to be with my family,” Dalton said, “and to make films locally for worldwide distribution.”

Another collaborator in the venture is Billy Anders, a former executive of IBM, Key Tronic Corp. and Output Technology Corp. Anders is currently president of the Mars Hotel Corp. and runs the II Moon Cafe in downtown Spokane.

A fourth collaborator is John Lentz of Nashville, Tenn., a leading music and entertainment attorney.

“I’ve been working on this for 10 years,” Bartron said. “Fat Chance was birthed out of the exponential growth of the film and video market.”

The demand is so high and growing so rapidly for theatrical video productions “that there are not enough people to fill the need.”

Bartron and Anders said the company has contracted to do four feature films in 1995, and has signed a contract with one of the largest U.S. movie house chains to show the films. They won’t identify the company.

Bartron has been laying the foundation for Fat Chance for years. He has bought all the equipment necessary to produce films locally. But, Anders said the company really took shape last fall when Dalton joined the group.

Just a few days ago, Anders said, it took another step forward when the company’s involvement in the “Hollywood Unforgettables” pilot was formalized.

Bartron said a Fat Chance crew will go to Hollywood next week to film interviews that will include Gregory Peck, Clint Eastwood and Nick Nolte, and complete the pilot.