I recall seeing Owensby on a local Cincinnati early morning talk show back in the day and thinking, "If THIS guy can be a successful movie producer anyone can do it!"
Believe it or not I worked with one of his relatives back in 1978 while in college. The guy kept telling me about an uncle of his who made movies in North Carolina. I thought he was joking at the time.
I moved to North Carolina to work in film prodution in 1992. I settled on Wilmington because Dino DeLaurentiis had recently sold his studio to Carolco, who were making fairly big movies right around that time. But I'd read about Owensby and contacted him, he indicated that after a period of not making movies he was gearing up again. I drove my crappy car to Shelby NC, four hours away and turned up at EO Productions the next morning. I waited an hour or so, but the man walked in and actually let me in to his office to chat. He was very personable. The whole time at his studios was very interesting. They were using one of the soundstages for storage, and some of his people were coming in and out of the office, and I heard them talking about a plane stored in that soundstage, and one guy walked in with a pile of soundtrack albums from Living Legend he'd been sent out there to get. I asked Earl to let me interview him for Psychotronic Video magazine, but he turned me down after thumbing through an issue. He wouldn't take a picture with a copy either. He took my resume, but I never heard back from him. I don't think he's made any movies in the meantime, so I don't feel too bad. After the visit to the studio I dropped by a local steakhouse to see the Earl Owensby Room, complete with painted portrait. A fair investment out of my meager living funds, but very worth it in the end!
My father and uncle worked for Earl Owensby in his tool industry and played as extra's in several of his movies. When I was 15 years old, my first job was taking inventory in the warehouse at Earl Owensby Studios. I remember going to bar-b-ques frequently at his private home.
I recall seeing Owensby on a local Cincinnati early morning talk show back in the day and thinking, "If THIS guy can be a successful movie producer anyone can do it!"
ReplyDeleteBelieve it or not I worked with one of his relatives back in 1978 while in college. The guy kept telling me about an uncle of his who made movies in North Carolina. I thought he was joking at the time.
ReplyDeleteI moved to North Carolina to work in film prodution in 1992. I settled on Wilmington because Dino DeLaurentiis had recently sold his studio to Carolco, who were making fairly big movies right around that time. But I'd read about Owensby and contacted him, he indicated that after a period of not making movies he was gearing up again. I drove my crappy car to Shelby NC, four hours away and turned up at EO Productions the next morning. I waited an hour or so, but the man walked in and actually let me in to his office to chat. He was very personable. The whole time at his studios was very interesting. They were using one of the soundstages for storage, and some of his people were coming in and out of the office, and I heard them talking about a plane stored in that soundstage, and one guy walked in with a pile of soundtrack albums from Living Legend he'd been sent out there to get. I asked Earl to let me interview him for Psychotronic Video magazine, but he turned me down after thumbing through an issue. He wouldn't take a picture with a copy either. He took my resume, but I never heard back from him. I don't think he's made any movies in the meantime, so I don't feel too bad. After the visit to the studio I dropped by a local steakhouse to see the Earl Owensby Room, complete with painted portrait. A fair investment out of my meager living funds, but very worth it in the end!
ReplyDeleteWorked for Earl in the late 1970's on 5 movies. Quite an experience. I visited him a couple of years ago while back in NC/
ReplyDeleteMy father and uncle worked for Earl Owensby in his tool industry and played as extra's in several of his movies. When I was 15 years old, my first job was taking inventory in the warehouse at Earl Owensby Studios. I remember going to bar-b-ques frequently at his private home.
ReplyDelete