Smart Family Hires Entertainment Lawyer

CBS News ^

[Hillary's Lovely Legs]

Smart Family Hires Entertainment Lawyer

SALT LAKE CITY, April 5, 2003

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Elizabeth Smart with her father, Ed (AP/Deseret News, Tom Smart) Elizabeth with her parents Lois and Ed (AP Photo/Deseret News, Tom Smart)

(AP) Elizabeth Smart's family has hired a Los Angeles entertainment attorney to help them screen movie and book proposals about Elizabeth's abduction and remarkable return.

Kelly Crabb, who reportedly has negotiated contracts for Paul McCartney, Dave Matthews and Muhammad Ali, was hired a week ago, said Chris Thomas, the family's spokesman.

According to his firm's Web site, Crabb's areas of practice include motion picture, television and other programming production and financing; composer agreements, personal appearances and motion picture distribution.

"These kind of contracts are very specialized," Thomas said.

Crabb received bachelor's and master's degrees from Brigham Young University before earning a law degree from Columbia University in 1984. He also worked for the Salt Lake Organizing Committee.

Elizabeth, now 15, was abducted from her bedroom on the night of June 5. On March 12, she was found in a Salt Lake suburb with her alleged kidnappers.

[RnMomof7]

This is a LDS rep that will protect the church from scandel and as an after thought the girl too. That is the why of the selection.

Any movie will not mention that he sees himself as a modern day Mormon prophet..wrote his own BOM and wanted many young wives like the original LDS "prophet"

In short the real story will never be told..it will be like a temple ceremony ..holy and guarded..

[Wrigley]

Whoa, I said basically the same thing and was branded a tin-foil hat wearing conspiracy theorist.

I also said it would be used as a prostelytizing tool.

[JesseShurun]

you uglier than mom

[Wrigley]

I suppose I am.

Or are you being metaphorical?

[Stone Mountain]

Lots of people promise lots of stuff. I'll believe it when I see it happening...

[JesseShurun]

you know me..I'm being metaphysical, it's onamatapoeia

[Patriotic Bostonian]

Her parents should be flogged. There was something fishy about this from the beginning. The father is scary.

[mountaineer]

The LDS Motion Picture Studio sits hidden from the street behind a high wall. It's a bit 007. The only thing in sight is a long, thin driveway, which ends with a gate manned by a security guard.

Once past the guard, still nothing can be seen. But after winding around the road, a warehouse appears.

Why does the LDS Motion Picture Studio reside in such a guarded atmosphere? At first thought, it doesn't seem like the kind of place that needs James Bond antics.

Bill Schaefermeyer, the director of the LDS Motion Picture Studio, wouldn't comment on MPS's current projects, and he wouldn't comment on how much money each project costs. Secrecy seems to define the studio. Schaefermeyer said it's because the church needs to be careful about anything media related.

rest of story at BYU NewsNet.

[JesseShurun]

hey Eckleberry, bring your kitty cat pun over here and let it onamatapoeia

[Wrigley]

Now you're making me go get the dictionary.

[Catspaw]

It was lightstream, myneself and northernlight. All three claimed to have inside knowledge and they played Demidog like a fiddle. FormerLurker came later in the mix, I think.

Ah, memories....all these secret documents, all these brilliant legal strategies, and where are Ruth and Brian Christine now? In prison.

I wonder if their friends remember them on visiting day.

[Dr. Eckleburg]

...but then again, my knowledge is my own.

That is, perhaps, the root of your problem.

ROMANS 10:3 -- For, being ignorant of the righteousness that comes from God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness.

[Utah Girl]

And here's the rest of the article. BTW, when I was a little girl, I was even in a church produced movie. All I can remember is sitting on the side of a mountain, and waiting all day. Real exciting. Anyway...


The MPS definitely takes its role seriously.

But it probably should.

Responsible for creating a large portion of official church audio-visual material, the studio has created movies such as "The Testaments of One Fold and One Shepherd," which is shown in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building in Salt Lake City, the CES seminary videos, missionary videos, visitor center videos and even "Johnny Lingo."

"If you talk about films, this is where they're made," Schaefermeyer said.

Schaefermeyer made it clear that the LDS Motion Picture Studio operates under the direct guidance of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve.

"Obviously, President Hinckley won't be able to watch everything that we do, but it goes through approved channels," he said. "We don't just make them up and send them out."

For example, "Testaments" took about two years to make. It also took about that long just to get approval, he said.

"We would send up proposals and when they [the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve] finally saw one that they really liked, they gave us direction," he said. "Also involved in that is the correlation committee in the church that must approve concepts first, then scripts, and then the final finished video."

Cast and crew working on church films are also required to follow strict guidelines.

"There is a standard in our hiring practice, both with the actors and the crew," Schaefermeyer said. "They must be worthy Latter-day Saints, if we can find them. If we can't find the expertise within the Latter-day Saint community, then we will hire people who are not members of the church, but they must live the standards of the church while they are working with us."

He said non-members even have to sign a MPS version of the Honor Code.

But the LDS Motion Picture Studio has more in common with BYU than merely sharing the Honor Code idea.

It actually began as the BYU Motion Picture Studio in 1953. They built a make-shift building, located where the Wilkinson Center now stands, and affectionately called it "The Green Barn." Their first film: "B Y and You."

In 1991, church leaders decided to separate the studio from BYU and renamed it the LDS Motion Picture Studio. It is now run using only church funds.

Like the LDS Church in general, the MPS is run by regular people - they don't necessarily have a film or theater background.

Schaefermeyer, looking very much like a church leader with his suit and tie, was a seminary teacher before he became the director of the MPS. That's easy to believe based on his soft-spoken voice. Because the MPS makes the seminary videos, his background is helpful.

The perks of working for a Latter-day Saint affiliated motion picture studio abound, said Paul Miller, the operations manager of the studio. He has a family, home, and social sciences background.

"Here you believe in the content you're filming," Miller said. "I know a lot of people who have to work on the outside in film and provide for their families, and they end up working on stuff they don't feel comfortable working on, but to feed their families they do. I don't have to worry about that."

But even though the MPS often utilizes people unacquainted with the film industry, they still produce state-of-the-art films, Schaefermeyer said.

Its equipment and studio are of the latest technology, and it makes a conscious effort to keep its films up-to-date, he said.

"Filmmaking has progressed a great deal, and so the films that were made in the '60s, most young people don't really care to watch," he said. "They want to see the fast action, high special effects, lots of music and sound effects and stuff that are being used today; so we kind of have to keep up."

Ultimately, the aim of the MPS is to support the mission of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Schaeffermeyer said. That especially includes missionary work.

Several returned missionaries on campus expressed gratitude and enthusiasm for church-produced missionary videos.

Rich Gulbrandsen, a junior from Mesa, Ariz., majoring in finance, said he could think of "a million" incidences when missionary videos helped in conversion.

He relayed the story of a man who, upon watching "What is Real," realized the importance of being the spiritual head of his family and decided to join the church.

Gulbrandsen, who served as a branch president during part of his mission, said he also saw many instances when videos helped members of the church.

"The videos help them come together as a family unit and therefore come closer to Christ."

The LDS Motion Pictures Studio has come a long way from its days in "The Green Barn." Maybe they can call the more modern super-security facility "The Underground Lair." But their goals haven't changed.

"We'd like to think that it helps a lot in teaching the gospel and bringing people to Christ," Schaefermeyer said.

[Wrigley]

Been on a couple movies sets in Chicago. I'd rather watch paint dry. I'm always surprised when the movie turns out much more exciting.

[Dr. Eckleburg]

It doesn't make sense because it's fiction.

But that's their story (this time), and they're sticking to it (until forced to find a better one).

[my_pointy_head_is_sharp]

Elizabeth Smart's family has hired a Los Angeles entertainment attorney to help them screen movie and book proposals about Elizabeth's abduction and remarkable return.

This is very sad. Why is the father doing this to her? Why is he planning to exploit her ordeal? This is just TOO MUCH. Please let the girl just get on with her life, and move away from that horrible ordeal.

[thathamiltonwoman]

Just when I'd begun to pity the Smarts they go and do this. Movies and books are going to be made about Elizabeth whether they do a movie or not. How can you license the making of movie about your daughter's rape? Ed Smart gives me the creeps. There's just something wrong there. It could be stage fright or stage meglomania--some people change when they get front of a camera. Why not let Elizabeth try to recover in peace. What good can her family's involvement in a movie do?

[Elsie]

Adults are typically less sensitive.

That why us LDS 'adults' don't hit the abuse button!
--generic LDS dude

[Illbay]

Not nearly as scarey as those who condemn others simply because something awful happened to them.

[Elsie]

Even if a "conspiracy" is begun, it can't last indefinitely. Too many would-be Woodward-and-Bernsteins out there.

At least that's what they tell us from SLC headquarters........
--generic LDS DUDE