Warm sunlight streamed in through wood paneled windows as arguably two of the most powerful men in all of corporate America: the CEO and the potential COO played a game of chess.
“Life is one big chess game,” Roger, the CEO said. “In the end, it’s about protecting the king. We don’t give a s— about the average man.”
This quick glimpse into the “Window of Opportunity,” a film written and directed by English professor, Samuel Joseph, is also a quick glimpse into his creative mind.
Joseph’s inspiration for “Window of Opportunity” sprung from the Enron scandals in the early 2000s and the corrupt ties between politicians and large corporations. Joseph wrote the stage play version in 2003 and it premiered at the MET theater in Los Angeles in 2006.
“Window of Opportunity” is a “suspenseful dark comedy/thriller about greed and the corporate world.”
Character Roger Sizemore (Oliver Muirhead), the CEO of a Fortune 500 company, and Carl Everett (Phil Proctor), his CFO, invite executive Peter Miller (Jack Maxwell) and a few porn stars to a remote cabin for some fun.
The festivities escalate into trouble when Roger is caught with a dead call girl and calls to action Carl and Peter to fix his mess.
Joseph, 61, has been writing movie scripts for over 30 years, but it proved difficult to make a living off of so he also took up teaching, something that he has “come to love.”
Joseph came across Glendale College accidentally 16 years ago when he went to his 25th annual high school reunion in New Jersey.
There, he caught up with his good friend, the late Chris McCarthy, who at the time was the Vice President of the college. McCarthy set up an interview for Joseph, who was substitute teaching at the time, and he has been teaching as an adjunct since 1998.
Joseph has written for television shows such as “Dennis the Menace,” “Batman: The Animated Series,” and “DuckTales,” not to mention writing original stage works such as: “Campaign,” “Two Times Two,” and “Window of Opportunity.”
“How you put together a story together is part craft and part imagination,” said Joseph.
During the production of the stage play of “Window of Opportunity,” Joseph worked closely with his friend, John Densmore, the drummer for The Doors.
“John and I share a common belief that greed is destroying the planet,” said Joseph.
Densmore encouraged the stage play onto the silver screen and in 2012 “Window of Opportunity” was produced.
Edward Davoodian, 30, a student in Joseph’s English 104 class, said that the instructor “speaks on everyone’s level and he treats everyone with respect and intelligence.”
Davoodian “loved” the movie version of “Window of Opportunity” when Joseph showed it to his students in class.
“There are a lot of vivid characters and it keeps you involved,” he said. “It teaches you about corporate greed and ethics. It’s a really good message.”
Stephen Taylor, a fellow English instructor who has known Joseph for 15 years, said that his colleague is “warm and forthcoming.”
Taylor enjoyed the stage play version of “Window of Opportunity” and thought it was a “fun and rousing political satire.”
Joseph dedicated the film to his late father, Milton Joseph.
“My father often talked about how immoral the world was,” the writer said.
The stage play received praise from the Los Angeles Times, which said that “There may not be a more up-to-the-minute play in town than “Window of Opportunity,” “a comedy-with-plot-twists that dissects the putrid moral innards of a corporate Croesus,” and praised it as “a counter-culture pedigree that’s vintage.”
The “A Critic’s Pick” section of the Los Angeles Weekly said that “Joseph’s script is intended to address – and does so, quite nicely – the pervasive amorality that seems to keep business and government humming.”
“Window of Opportunity” can be streamed on woothefilm.com. Standard quality of the film can be purchased for $2.99 and high definition quality can be purchased for $3.99 with a digital signed picture of John Densmore made out to your name.
