Finding Fritz - Documentary
As a lot of writers find out, writing a book is only the first step in getting their message out there. You have to get it in front of as many people as possible. Attract their attention. And you’re competing against everything that’s competing for attention. Television, internet news, social media.
He and Doug started brainstorming and it was obvious that the fastest and most efficient way for a story to get traction was with a movie or other dramatic vehicle. Doug knew a local movie maker who was interested in the project and he and Fritz bonded over their recovery-from-alcohol journeys—and he even wrote a script based on Adventure on a Dare. But he was involved in another project at the time, so the project never got traction.
But since the man-on-the-street reaction was so positive and so positively “this has to be a film,” it verified to Doug and Fritz that the project was probably worth more than the attention it was getting. It needed to be a film and they agreed to pursue it.
And the stars started to line up.
He met Steve Hillebrand on a fluke through mutual friends, and Steve, Doug, and Fritz met for lunch.
It was a jaw dropping experience for Doug. At that lunch, Fritz became a talking robot. He started telling parts of his story that he never talked about before in the fourteen years since they became reacquainted. As two quick examples, in one sentence he says; “Well it is just like the time when I was on To Tell The Truth, Andy got a hold of me and says, you need to get over to Sardi’s and meet Ed McMahon about the Tonight Show.”
Everyone was dumbfounded. It was like the more they talked, the more Fritz revealed. No one knew at the time how much more Fritz was harboring. So, they were able to put a deal together and started filming in mid-December 2022.
They started finding people from all parts of Fritz’s life and interviewing them. It illuminated the hidden parts of Fritz’s life. Especially the parts about his family. Everyone who knew Fritz wanted to get involved. To be part of this new adventure.
So far, the crew has done more than 15 interviews and has at least 50 hours of footage. They began staging re-enactments of key events because the scenes that our interviewees were describing were so colorful and engaging, but no one had cell phones back when the events took place and so no video exists. They were lucky to get an actor who looked like a young Fritz and the real (old) Fritz appears as a cameo in the crowd.
The editing process is continuing and updates on release dates etc. will be posted on this website.