Gary Fong | |
|---|---|
 Fong speaks at SWPP Convention 2009, London | |
| Born | December 6, 1960 Seattle, Washington, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation(s) | Entrepreneur, photographer, film director, producer, screenwriter |
Gary Fong (born December 6, 1960) is an American entrepreneur, author, former wedding photographer, film director, [1] producer and screenwriter. [2]
Originally a musician, while pursuing a degree in Pharmacology to appease his parents' demands to become a doctor, Fong accidentally stumbled upon a Life Magazine article featuring wedding photographer Rocky Gunn in a multi-page spread. Gunn had been a longtime friend of his mother. Feeling that this was more fate than coincidence, Fong pursued Gunn for a chance to assist and learn. It was during this time that Gunn died at age 42 of a sudden heart-attack.
Fong, left with no mentor or proper training, started a wedding photography business in a bedroom of his parents' apartment, and offered his services for $150/no time limit. While this entry price severely undermined the pricing standards, he was able to present comprehensive designs that were far more costly than the standard photography package. He would go on to photograph such people as, Sylvester Stallone, Ronald Reagan, Sidney Sheldon, Lee Remick, Paul McCartney, Peter Criss, Bruce Lee, Todd Rundgren, Priscilla Presley, Pia Zadora, Michael Landon, Florence Henderson, Shelly Fabares, among others. [3]
While watching an on-location filming of Charlie's Angels , Fong saw for the first time an on-set Storyboard and reasoned that wedding photography albums should use a similar format to depict a wedding story. So, using sequential photo layouts rather than static, posed images, Fong introduced the "Storybook Concept". This style of wedding albums remains popular to this day. [4]
Here Comes the Guide, a respected "bible" of wedding planning has said, "Every once in a while someone comes along to revolutionize an art form; for wedding photography, that someone Is Gary Fong. [5] "
Fong was selected in the telecast, Weddings 2000 as one of the top ten wedding photographers in the world. [6] This live simulcast was broadcast to movie theaters internationally, and was a first of its kind.
Discouraged by the look of flash photography because of the flashlight-shaped light source, Fong found the answer in the soft lighting of a lampshade in a hotel room. This led to the invention and patenting of the Lightsphere, [7] a dome-shaped light diffuser, which was introduced in late 2004 and by 2011 had sold more than 400,000 units worldwide. [8]
In 2019, during President Donald Trump’s visit with the Royal Family in the U.K., Prince Charles picked a Gary Fong Lightsphere and commented that it “looked like an ice cream.” [9] [10] [11]
With the advent of digital, Fong knew that online presentation of images would be best matched to an instant print delivery service. So, joining up with Pictage's online presence, Fong brought his own personal print lab into Pictage's headquarters, and installed it in the kitchen. [12] Joining the Board of Directors and Senior Management team, Pictage started with seven employees in a small office, and within years the employee count would top 150, making Pictage the largest dedicated online digital/web solution anywhere in the United States. Apax Partners invested $29 million to acquire Pictage in 2006. [13]
In 2009, Fong began focusing on a style of management called vertical integration. Because the scale of his photographic accessories company had reached a sufficient scale, Fong's Canadian Holding Company began acquiring companies in the Midwestern United States to produce and distribute his products, including a fulfillment facility in Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin, and a rapid prototyping and plastics injection molding company adopting use of polylactic acid. [14]
In 2009, Fong published his memoirs, The Accidental Millionaire - How To Succeed In Life Without Really Trying with BenBella Books. "Accidental Millionaire" has been described as "a humorous, poignant memoir of the man said to have revolutionized wedding photography". [15]
In the book, Fong claims that his entire life changed when, during an emotional meltdown, he nearly rear-ended a car that had a bumper sticker that said, "Since I Gave Up Hope, I feel Much Better". [16] From that point, Fong gave up trying to meet or achieve goals, and dropped out of society. It was during this period when he went to Club Med in the Bahamas to vanish, that his greatest inspiration came in the form of maintaining emptiness in not only his schedule but in his aspirations.
This began an awareness of a mindset which Fong calls, "The Law Of Repulsion". In the book and interviews, he theorizes that much of what sabotages a person from success is trying "too hard" to achieve a narrowly focused goal. He lists among the examples of the "Power Of Repulsion", couples who want badly to have children that have better luck becoming pregnant after adopting, or how a salesman with a quota in mind can become more repulsive to closing a sale than if the goal was not so heavily focused upon. [17]
One review described that Fong's approach caused his wealth "to grow only after he stopped focusing on a set goal for success". Fong's seemingly random path to a diversified portfolio of business interests came as he "cast his fate to the wind to free himself and let life lead his path". [18]
In May 2015, Fong wrote his first screenplay and was discovered by entertainment attorney Shelley Surpin and literary agent Matt Leipzig. [19] [20] He secretly filmed in Canada and Los Angeles the trailer for Best F(r)iends, starring writer/director Tommy Wiseau playing the role of a mortician who recruits actor Greg Sestero’s character to join him in an unexplained criminal enterprise. [21]
Rocky V is a 1990 American sports drama film directed by John G. Avildsen and written by and starring Sylvester Stallone. It is the sequel to Rocky IV (1985) and the fifth installment in the Rocky film series. It also stars Talia Shire, Burt Young, Sage Stallone, Tommy Morrison, and Burgess Meredith. In the film, a financially struggling Rocky Balboa (Stallone) agrees to train protégé Tommy Gunn (Morrison) at the gym once owned by Balboa's trainer, Mickey Goldmill (Meredith).
Apax Partners LLP is a British private equity firm, headquartered in London, England. The company also operates out of six other offices in New York, Hong Kong, Mumbai, Tel Aviv, Munich and Shanghai. As of December 2017, the firm, including its various predecessors, have raised approximately $65 billion (USD) since 1981. Apax Partners is one of the oldest and largest private equity firms operating on an international basis, ranked the fifteenth largest private equity firm globally.
"War Zone" is episode 20 of season 1 in the television show Angel. Written by Gary Campbell and directed by David Straiton, it was originally broadcast on May 9, 2000 on the WB network. In War Zone, Angel helps software millionaire David Nabbit track down a blackmailer, ending up in the middle of a gang war between a group of street kids - led by amateur vampire hunter Charles Gunn - and a vampire gang who have settled in his South-Central neighborhood. Angel offers to assist Gunn in tracking down the vampires who abducted and killed Gunn's sister.
"The House Always Wins" is episode 3 of season 4 in the television show Angel. Written by David Fury and directed by Marita Grabiak, it was originally broadcast on October 20, 2002 on the WB television network.
Thomas Pierre Wiseau is a Polish-American actor and filmmaker. He is known for writing, producing, directing, and starring in the 2003 film The Room, which has been described by many critics as one of the worst films ever made and has gained cult status. He also co-directed the 2004 documentary Homeless in America and created the 2015 sitcom The Neighbors.
The Room is a 2003 American independent romantic drama film starring, written, directed, produced, and executive produced by Tommy Wiseau, who co-stars with Juliette Danielle and Greg Sestero. Set in San Francisco, the film is centred around a melodramatic love triangle between amiable banker Johnny (Wiseau), his deceptive fiancée Lisa (Danielle) and his conflicted best friend Mark (Sestero). A significant portion of the film is dedicated to a series of unrelated subplots, most of which involve at least one supporting character and are left unresolved due to the film's inconsistent narrative structure. The work was reportedly intended to be semi-autobiographical in nature; according to Wiseau, the title alludes to the potential of a room to be the site of both good and bad events. The stage play from which the film is derived was called so due to its events taking place entirely in a single room.
David John Franco is an American actor and filmmaker. He began his career with small roles in films such as Superbad (2007) and Charlie St. Cloud (2010). Following a starring role in the ninth season of the comedy series Scrubs, Franco had his film breakthrough as a supporting role in the buddy comedy film 21 Jump Street (2012).
Gregory Sestero is an American actor, filmmaker, model and author, best known for his role as Mark in the 2003 cult film The Room, as well as for his well-received memoir The Disaster Artist, detailing his experiences making The Room, which itself was later adapted into a 2017 film.
Juliette Danielle Worden is an American actress best known for portraying Lisa, the love interest of Johnny in the 2003 film The Room.
The Room Tribute is a point-and-click adventure game released on September 3, 2010, that serves as an unofficial adaptation of the 2003 film The Room directed by Tommy Wiseau. It was programmed by Newgrounds founder Tom Fulp, with artwork by Newgrounds staff member Jeff "JohnnyUtah" Bandelin, and music by animator Chris "OneyNG" O'Neill. The game was designed in the style of 16-bit graphics, much like similar games based on the films Tremors and The Hunger Games for Newgrounds' own 2010 and 2012 April Fools jokes.
The Disaster Artist: My Life Inside The Room, the Greatest Bad Movie Ever Made is a 2013 non-fiction book written by Greg Sestero and Tom Bissell. Sestero details the troubled development and production of the 2003 cult film The Room, his own struggles as a young actor, and his relationship with The Room director Tommy Wiseau.
The Neighbors is a sitcom created, written, directed, produced by and starring Tommy Wiseau. In Wiseau's first project since his 2003 cult film The Room, The Neighbors follows the assorted tenants of an apartment building and their interactions with the "manager", Charlie, played by Wiseau. Four episodes were released on Hulu on March 14, 2015. Two additional episodes were released on May 26, 2015.
The Disaster Artist is a 2017 American biographical comedy-drama film starring, co-produced and directed by James Franco. It was written by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, based on Greg Sestero and Tom Bissell's 2013 non-fiction book of the same title. The film chronicles an unlikely friendship between aspiring actors Tommy Wiseau and Sestero that results in the production of Wiseau's 2003 film The Room, widely considered one of the worst films ever made. The Disaster Artist stars brothers James and Dave Franco as Wiseau and Sestero, respectively, alongside a supporting cast featuring Alison Brie, Ari Graynor, Josh Hutcherson, Jacki Weaver, and Seth Rogen.
Samurai Gunn is a 2D action video game developed by Beau Blyth and Doseone and originally published by Maxistentialism. The game was released for Microsoft Windows in 2013, OS X in 2015, and a planned PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita version were announced but never released due to creator Beau Blyth working on Hyper Light Drifter. A sequel, Samurai Gunn 2, was released in early access via Steam on 20 July 2021, and is currently in development for Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, and PlayStation 5.
Best F(r)iends is a 2017 American dark comedy thriller film starring Tommy Wiseau and Greg Sestero. Written and produced by Sestero in two parts, it marks the reunion of Wiseau and Sestero 15 years after making the cult classic The Room. The plot follows a homeless drifter in Los Angeles who begins working at a morgue, only to realize his boss is hiding a mysterious past.
Daniel Armen Janjigian is an Armenian-American former bobsledder, former actor, and political candidate. He competed at the 2002 Winter Olympics, representing Armenia. He earned 33rd place in the two-man bobsleigh event with Yorgo Alexandrou. As an actor, he portrayed Chris-R in the 2003 cult film The Room. He ran as a candidate for Texas's 31st congressional district in the 2020 elections.
Big Shark is a 2023 American horror film written, directed and produced by Tommy Wiseau, and starring Wiseau, Isaiah LaBorde and Mark Valeriano as three firefighters who must save New Orleans from a killer shark.
Room Full of Spoons is a 2016 Canadian documentary film directed by Rick Harper about the 2003 cult film The Room.
The Room remake is an upcoming American drama film produced and directed by Brando Crawford. Starring Bob Odenkirk, Bella Heathcote, Greg Sestero, Kate Siegel, and horror film director Mike Flanagan, the film is a remake of Tommy Wiseau's The Room (2003).
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
