Film maker Bill Mikita Chasing 3000 has a new project "Brewer's Boys"

Yaya Diamond TV

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2058063/bio/?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm  Bill Mikita was born on November 27, 1954 in Steubenville, Ohio, USA. He is a writer and producer, known for Brewer's Boys, Chasing 3000 (2010) and Medal of Honor: American Heroes. He has been married to Pattie White Mikita since February 25, 1978. They have four children.    "Brewer's Boys" Set in 1965, this is a story of a Los Angeles High School Municipal baseball team who overcomes personal strife and the turbulence of the Watts Riots, to find teamwork and friendship. Led by their mentor and coach, Chet Brewer, a former star in the Negro Leagues, they win the City Championship. And, 8 of the 9 starters become Major League Baseball All-Stars - and the one who doesn't, becomes the biggest agent in the sport. https://podopshost.com/yayadiamond   ⚡ VidChapter AI generated these chapters, try it out https://vidchapter.com/?affiliate=yayadiamond Recommended podcast platform get 10% off: https://podopshost.com/register/?ref=yaya   Tools and Services I use: Appsumo has the best lifetime deals ever!!! I love this site.  appsumo.8odi.net/yayadiamond The easiest way to make your graphics: https://buff.ly/2RTQLn0 Best website for musicians. Try it for free on me: https://buff.ly/2GMYugG Make money with Fiverr.com: https://buff.ly/2KjTVvV   Our Amazon store: https://buff.ly/34RYNlm DISCLAIMER: Links included in this description might be affiliate links. If you purchase a product or service with the links that I provide I may receive a small commission. My affiliate links usually provide either a free trial or discount so go try them out on me! Thank you for supporting DreamChasersRadio.com  so I can continue to provide you with free content each week! Privacy Policy: https://buff.ly/2XSrflS ™Yaya Diamond Red Hot Reality Ent. LLC

Transcript

00:00Hey guys, it's me, Yaya Diamond. What's up people? How you doing? It is a great day and I'm so very

00:26excited to be here but not only that I'm excited to have a guest back on the show like coming back

00:34you know I absolutely love when I have return guests that's because I can know and I can tell

00:40you that they're actually going after their goals and their dreams and that's exactly what's

00:45happening right now. I'm excited so Mr. Bill I'm gonna I'm gonna go ahead and go to my notes make

00:51sure I got this right because you know you gotta have this right but um Mr. Bill Makita is a writer

00:56and producer known for his film Chasing 3000 and The Brewer's Voice. His recent interviews and

01:01discussions reveal several key topics and insights into his career and current projects that's what

01:06I'm getting into current projects like things that he's getting and I'm so very excited to have him

01:11back on the show thank you so much for joining me. Thank you for having me Yaya. Oh thank you thank

01:17you so we're in the studio. I love it. As you can see and I'm actually I'm actually loving loving loving

01:24having you back on the show so let's talk about for the people who have never heard your you know

01:30heard about you because I mean we've seen movies about you know about things but not not everybody

01:36like goes oh who's the director of this I want to see you you know people don't do that so tell me

01:42what is it like to be the initiator of something that sometimes you are never going to really get the

01:48proper recognition for? Well uh that's a that's a very good question um I mean it started with me um

01:58as I've told people uh it's interesting how an event can change your life but my

02:04my mother died after a short illness of a brain tumor and she was 60 years old I was half her age

02:11and I thought you know what if half of my life is over what did I really want to do and I wanted to

02:15write but I had never really expressed it to anyone so I met with a friend who had worked at

02:20Disney and he introduced me to some producers one of whom was Barry Bernardi has a lot a lot of

02:29credits and he said there's two ways to get yourself into the business bill one is to be a gopher

02:34you know start at the bottom work your way up I thought you know I'm I'm already over 30 years old

02:40and I've got a pregnant wife and two kids I hope the second option is better and he said you have

02:46something that we want and we will pay you for it hmm so I drove drove around LA that day I thought

02:52what did I have that no one else had I've had this really interesting relationship growing up with my

02:58brother I had a younger brother who had muscular dystrophy and he was a very dynamic guy even though

03:04you know he he was born with this disability and and had struggles he uh we had this very unique

03:11relationship so I at the time bought books about how to write a screenplay so I wrote a very

03:18autobiographical screenplay about a brother and me and I almost sold it it was crudely written it

03:24really wasn't that good but I almost sold it for an after-school special if you remember those

03:30yeah and um and so it gave me the confidence to keep writing so I wrote uh uh two or three

03:39additional screenplays and then I went back to my original story and I added the hook about the boys

03:46going to see Roberto Clemente their hero get his three thousandth hit and so that's where the the germ of

03:56the i the idea came for writing chasing three thousand and the initial feedback I got was that

04:02it was they liked the screenplay they liked the story but it was too small and I met a a friend of

04:09mine uh Kristen and Joe who's a a writer and an actor and he said I really like your story bill but

04:16I think it has to be bigger and what I learned was that my story wasn't it didn't have brought enough

04:22appeal and so uh uh Chris and I locked ourselves in a room on the uh Warner Warner Brothers lot over a

04:32fourth of July weekend and we rewrote chasing three thousand in that four days and we made this story

04:39bigger we made the stakes higher and the payoff uh uh you know more impactful and so uh we then you

04:50know I then pitched the story for a number of other years and it and it people never told me they

04:55didn't like the story they just for whatever reason it wasn't getting made and so as I said you know I

05:02was already 30 years old but now I'm 40 years old right now I'm even older and I got frustrated that

05:09it wasn't selling and one morning I woke up and I told my wife you know I I lived in Cincinnati Ohio and

05:14I said you know I know people with money I'm I'm going to try to raise the money myself so I so I

05:20I talked to some friends and contacts I had um who were investors and and I was able to to raise um

05:28seven hundred thousand dollars so it was going to be at the time a direct to video in the blockbuster

05:34days it's a small movie and uh my producing partner Ryan Johnson lived in Marina del Rey near

05:44uh a a manager who managed Ray Liotta and we got the script to Ray Liotta and shortly before we

05:53started filming in Pittsburgh he committed and then this the movie blew up as we say and uh with that

06:01um we got an incredible cast and we were also able to raise another uh 1.5 million dollars amazing yeah

06:10wow and and so uh this we shot for four days in Pittsburgh and about 26 days in LA doubling for

06:17this trip across country so the story is about these two brothers and set in 1972 who take off across

06:23country in a race against time to see their hero Roberto Clemente get a 3000th hit and along the way

06:30uh the brothers learned the importance of being brothers

06:33and uh we had this again an incredible cast and um you know it was uh just uh it was a a great

06:43experience and you know it took it it uh I was a I was an attorney by education and by profession and so

06:52you know I had I made this this change in my life and uh you know when I did I you know I had a number of

06:59people in Hollywood tell me I was too old to do what I was doing right yeah oh yeah that I had

07:06I had a producer tell me in real time you can't do what you think you're doing and I said but I'm

07:14sitting in your office in Beverly Hills pitching in my stories I'm doing it yeah right and he was

07:22flabbergasted but but you know I was already to many people I was already too old and

07:29uh and I didn't live in LA and uh I got feedback if you were really serious you would you would move

07:37here to LA well I couldn't do that so I had to overcome this objection so what I did is I

07:44I bought an LA cell phone and I used my cousin's address in LA and then people thought I lived in LA

07:52and so uh I tell young wait a minute stop stop stop it wait so you

08:02oh this is amazing so you bought an LA number yeah cell phone so I bought an LA cell phone

08:09and I and I got my address on my letterhead I used my cousin's address in Marina Del Rey people thought

08:16so I out illusion the illusionist I love it so there's there's oh there's more than one way

08:24to overcome objections right and so if that's an objection okay I moved to LA and um and so

08:34you know you it happens in life right you get feedback that isn't helpful and uh it's like people

08:41telling me I was too old how do I change that it's not like people are criticizing my writing or saying

08:46that you know the uh you know the protagonist needs to have a a better arc and it's you know

08:53no it was you know I you can't overcome certain things yeah but um but I I learned a lot uh you know

09:02uh I was on the set and we had this great cast uh we had uh the the it so it's told in uh in flashback

09:11so Ray Liotta uh plays uh a guy who tells the story to his kids and so in 1972 the brothers are played by

09:20uh Rory Culkin and uh and um Trevor Morgan and uh we have Lauren Holly is in the movie and uh Seymour Cassell

09:30uh um and uh M. Emmett Walsh uh Keith David who just got his star on Hollywood Boulevard uh last week

09:40and we just have a just an incredible cast and many people just wanted to be in a Ray Liotta movie

09:45and so for a small picture we we had an incredible cast we we think we made a good movie we had a small

09:52theatrical release back in 2010 and the movie you can find it on um uh on um Amazon Prime and uh

10:02the other platforms now that's amazing that is amazing I absolutely love what you did

10:09I love what you did you know what uh yeah so we're not gonna we're not gonna say anything we're just gonna

10:19leave it at that you know and that's kind of like one of those uh uh pointers for all of you people

10:25who have been told that you don't live in a certain area now you can just go ahead and do what Bill did

10:31yeah why not it worked for me I know right it did it did in the tone of over a million dollars and

10:37you know that you could actually get this done and that is amazing I'm so proud of you so okay so not

10:44only that you had um viewers boys tell me about that how did that one come about well that's another

10:52good question because the movie came out around 2010 or no I'm sorry the movie came out in 2010

11:00but around the time that Facebook yes so wait okay the uh our movie chasing 3000 came out in 2010

11:11around the time that Facebook came on the scene and people would reach out to my brother or me

11:16and you know say hey are you the Bill McKee who made this movie and one day I got a message from

11:21someone who said hey I saw your movie last night I really loved it thank you send me a friend request

11:28and he did then he sends another message to say it says I have a great idea for a movie well yeah most

11:34you know some people do but most people don't as you know and so I called him and we chatted he said

11:40I played on the greatest high school baseball team of all time and I said really yeah he said in 1965

11:50we won the LA Municipal League during the watch riots I said wait a minute so the city is burning around

11:58you yeah and you played a baseball game yeah I mean already right and so I said just out of curiosity

12:07who was on your team and he said well there was Reggie Smith Bobby Toland Bob Watson Doc Ellis whoa

12:12time out you're telling me all these future major leaguers were on your team wow yeah and Dennis

12:19Gilbert you mean the Dennis Gilbert who just tried to buy the Los Angeles Dodgers Dennis Gilbert yeah

12:26short white guy yeah so you were an integrated team yeah wow and and our and our coach was this really

12:33inspirational guy named Chet Brewer he was a pitcher in the negro leagues and he was a father figure to

12:39us and he he was a really inspirational guy wow I thought wow oh oh and he said and by the way our

12:47nine-year-old bat boy was Eddie Murray you mean the greatest switch hitting first baseman of all time

12:54yeah he was your bat boy yeah oh come on I'm a baseball guy and I've never heard this of this team so I

13:02wow in my homework they all grew up in South Central Los Angeles mm-hmm I optioned the story and I I met

13:10all these players they all these uh these guys were very gracious and they were still good friends and

13:17and the story kept getting bigger and as one of my writer friends said the story started to write

13:22itself and so right I I would I said uh so was uh uh you know was there a a team that you had trouble

13:32uh beating yeah uh who was their pitcher Raleigh fingers and um who's another hall of fame pitcher uh

13:39oh my gosh right and then and then he's they said there's this uh uh 24 year old scout for the Dodgers who

13:46came to all of our games Tommy Tommy Lasorda yeah Tommy Lasorda and it's it's it's it is an unbelievable

13:55story of this team of nine players they got nine major league contracts uh if there was a story if

14:06if in your hometown you had two boys on a high school baseball team today who got major league contracts

14:12that would be an action right but this is everybody everybody everyone got everybody yeah it's not

14:19just like one or two this is everybody yeah and and Chet Brewer is the greatest baseball guy that nobody knows

14:29Chet Brewer coached 24 future major leakers oh my gosh yeah I learned that right before the influx of all

14:38the great Latin players LA was the nexus of the baseball world anybody who was anybody came out of LA

14:47wow it's remarkable and uh yeah it's just it it it it's it's and these guys went on they they played uh in

14:58the world series Bob Watson became the first uh black GM uh uh in major league baseball

15:05uh the I mean these are men who really had an impact and I know this sounds like hyperbole

15:14but other than the Jackie Robinson story this is the greatest American baseball story it is these players

15:23coached by this uh uh former pitcher from the Negro Leagues who who who didn't have an opportunity to

15:30play in major league baseball right he inspired and his his ability to coach and his eye for talent

15:39propels all of these players to the major leagues it's incredible oh my gosh yeah so I'm looking at

15:47we're looking right now right at the card does everybody yeah my gosh yeah it's it's unbelievable

15:55the thing that I'm looking at is that they're integrated so it wasn't just black players it

16:00was a white player on there too so they didn't really care yeah no um that's great yeah no it's

16:05an incredible story in fact in fact as as hard as it is to believe for it being 1965 when I met Dennis

16:14Gilbert and I asked him how he came to play with Chet Brewer and he said I did I my high school coach

16:21wouldn't play me because I was Jewish oh so what he was considered black no he was just he was just

16:30being uh there was bias toward him uh that he understood bias just it was whether it was racial

16:38bias or that's crazy right and so and Chet Brewer didn't care he said to him I don't care as long as

16:44you can hit and so this man had who who experienced unbelievable uh uh prejudice and racism right

16:54awful racism uh had none of that in his in his character that's that's yeah that's the way it

17:01should be right the way it should be I mean it's a game and it's a game and these young men

17:07and these young men uh they and Chet Brewer he they changed baseball and so I wrote the screenplay

17:16and we're trying you know uh we've had setbacks because we had covid then we had a writer strike

17:23and we had a director strike yeah and then I had my personal setback because I lost my brother Steve

17:29he passed away yeah well thank you and so you know it's like we lost four years and we had money in

17:36place and it went away it happens in our profession and so now we're you know we we're looking we

17:43probably need about three million dollars to get the movie done uh it's a a a reasonable budget but

17:51this is a story that needs to be told about a great man not only just a great baseball man but he

18:00influenced other people yeah that he met I met a writer I met an uh uh a african-american writer uh

18:08who um wrote uh he writes uh stories and he said he when he met Chet Brewer he didn't have a computer

18:17and Chet Brewer bought a computer for him so he can run that's what kind of man he was

18:22and so it's a it's a it's just it's a it's it's a great story it is it is a great story so the fun

18:32it's still on the funding stages am I correct so it's written but it's in the funding stages once

18:37once those funds go through what happens next well uh we look for a cap we look for a director

18:44so uh we we uh hope to attach a really talented young african-american director and then you hope

18:52to get a good cast together and then um you know we have we have we've already scouted locations

18:59because we had money in place right uh and you know south central los angeles doesn't look like

19:06anything it doesn't look like it did back in 1965. however there are cities in america in the south and

19:14in the midwest that look a a lot like they did in 1965 with baseball small stadiums so we have

19:22scouted locations where hopefully in some states uh and many states are giving tax credits so you you

19:29get the money together and you and you shoot the movie and you you also try to get some distribution

19:35in place early but that's the way it's usually done i gotcha wow wow well i i do hope that this

19:44gets done because this is one of those movies that's gonna take the cake of everything i mean

19:48every single last player made it to to to the league they made it and and that is unheard of

19:56right it is unheard of and this story needs to be told yeah they were a special bunch of uh of players

20:03and um it's a great it's just it's a it's a great story it's a it's a feel-good story it's a human

20:10interest story you don't have to be a baseball fan really to appreciate you know young men succeeding

20:17right and you know we just need that in this world we just need more right we need positive stories

20:25and and one of the great things about baseball is that you know it is a great connector of people

20:31and it always has been and so uh we're we're still working on that yeah well i think that this is going

20:41to be one amazing story once it gets out there and once people realize that this is not only a great

20:50story but historically it's one that's literally how they say one for the books that is something i mean

21:00you can't you can't make this up no uh you know no if it you know uh dennis gilbert said in the

21:09championship game he was playing right field and there was so much smoke he couldn't see home plate

21:18even so if you visualize that what that that's an incredible right way to tell a story oh my gosh and

21:26uh so this violence and destruction going all around them and this this this coach uh protects these

21:35boys and gives them this safe haven uh where life doesn't you know get ugly for them yeah and it's

21:45wonderful it's beautiful i think i love the story and i love the story that it it it depicts that not only

21:52black african americans were going through a prejudice and and a resistance but it was anyone who wasn't

22:01of the caucasian race that was going through it so even a young jewish person boy who loved baseball and

22:11should have been allowed to play the game with anybody really was accepted on a black afro negro we can say

22:21negro team which was it was wonderful to me that was beautiful i mean why not i mean you know any

22:29child should be any child any person human being and dennis gilbert went on to become one of the

22:36greatest baseball agents in my gosh in baseball you know he's the he's the agent i don't know if you've

22:42ever heard of the bobby bonita uh the player who for the mets who gets 1.9 million dollars a year

22:51on july 1st every year until 2030 uh is because dennis gilbert got him this contract and and this

23:00famous contract but uh bobby bonita yeah the the irony another irony is that dennis gilbert represented

23:08barry bonz barry bonz's father bobby played for whom oh my gosh this is crazy yeah that's absolutely

23:23crazy yeah absolutely crazy yeah absolutely i mean yeah it's just all that all that it touches all of

23:31baseball chet does and these and these like i said these players including dennis gilbert who went on to

23:37become one of the greatest agents in baseball history wow really impacted the sport well we

23:44definitely need to get this out there definitely to get this out there so if people or someone knows

23:49of someone and they wanted to maybe get in contact with you how would they do that so that they can get

23:56you the funding that you possibly need well um i am on um uh linkedin uh facebook uh instagram uh x

24:08bill makita and uh on linkedin you you have my email address and my phone number and um you can

24:17reach out to me that way and and i'd i'd i'd love to talk to you about it awesome awesome well i want to

24:24thank you is there anything that we didn't discuss today that you'd like to say no uh i appreciate

24:30this time yaya and your enthusiasm and and support for me and it uh it uh it i feel some real positive

24:40energy today you know i'm i'm ready for this movie to be done and i'm i'm definitely ready for it to be

24:46done because it's a part of the history that most people don't know about right and i'm and i'm so

24:50excited that you want to get it out there and that you find it historically you know necessary for

24:57people to see it's it's it's one of those things it's like okay look people got together and they

25:06were amazing at what they did and they all made it when does this happen never never i haven't heard

25:16of this i'm no such thing ever so yeah and they stayed close it's fascinating they're they're still

25:22good friends it's almost like they were still 16 or 17 year old 16 and 17 year olds when they get

25:28together it's it they bonded for life wow these guys bonded for life well this is amazing to me this

25:36is wonderful and so bill thank you so much for bringing my attention and you guys if you need

25:42to contact him you know where he is we're going to go ahead and put as much information in the

25:46description box below as possible but you can go ahead and look him up all you have to do is just

25:51google his name bill makita and you will find him and you will find him on all the platforms um you

25:57know three million dollars is not a lot you know it's a dollar for three million people it's two

26:02dollars we can keep going we can just keep going if you want to donate um if you want to get the

26:09history out there if you want to even you know every little bit counts and every little bit goes a long

26:14way so it is what it is people and when we bond together we can do things that are deemed impossible

26:24yeah i want to thank you guys so much for tuning in don't forget to dare to be

26:27different but most of all most of all don't forget your history there's a lot of things out there

26:32that we did together as a human race that people need to know about and this is one of them i want

26:39to thank you guys so much for tuning in and until next time guys bye bye thank you

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended