then i met roger corman and he said, you know, your reviews are good.ite a screenplay? i was like, okay. so i wrote a screenplay with my friend and partner, joe viola, and we gave roger corman the screenplay. this was back in 1970, something like that. roger corman says, "this is pretty good, fellas. joe, you're a good commercial director. jonathan, you're a bright guy. you could produce it. joe could direct it. why don't you guys come out to los angeles and make this movie for us? you guys can split $3,000. it'll take you about a year to do it. i'll give you $125,000 to make the movie with." we were so thrilled to be writing a screenplay, the whole idea of now making a movie, so i kicked joe under the table and said, "sure, we'll do it." so without aspiring to be a filmmaker, i wound up learning how to make films in public. we say that roger corman, back in those days, you're conducting your education in public. [laughter] tavis: that's a great story, though. he was on this show and i recall him talking about the fact that you were one of his young pro