From marketing to movie mogul--that's the plan
BY MIKE CASSIDY
Mercury News Staff Writer

GARRETT RICE always liked writing.

He studied it in school. Got a degree in fiction writing from Duke. But like your mother might say, ``What are you going to do with a fiction writing degree?''

So, he got his MBA and went to work in high-tech marketing. Still, the writing never left him and even in Silicon Valley, he found brief pauses to noodle with narrative.

``When I wasn't working,'' says Rice, 34, who worked for Next Software Inc. and then Apple, ``I would take out my Power Book and start writing.''

The day he turned 30, he started on a screenplay. No, it wasn't the story of a guy who calls Apple's chief technologist out of the blue and begins the dance that ends with Apple buying Next for $400 million and getting Steve Jobs back in the deal.

That story is a little far-fetched. Even for a fiction writer. Even for a fiction writer like Rice, who did make that very call in 1996.

No, this was a story about romance and surprises and disillusionment.

And so Rice wrote. He wrote at Next. He wrote when Next became part of Apple. Then in 1997, the writing was going so well that he quit Apple to become a consultant and spend more time on his screenplay.

High-tech was OK, but in the end he was promoting the ideas of others. Rice wanted to create something of his own. Like a movie. So, he found actors, editors, camera experts, directors. He begged for money. For favors.

``It's not any different from what you would do if you were doing a start-up in Silicon Valley,'' he says.

You assemble the team. You work hard.

The cast and crew put in 17 or 18 hours a day during the month of filming, Rice says.

``My director and lead slept on my floor in Redwood City for three weeks when we shot.''

They made the story of a software salesman who decides to propose to his girlfriend on his 30th birthday. She, in turn, chooses the occasion to share a secret with him. No, Rice isn't going to tell you what the secret is. (He's in marketing, remember?) Let's just say she was unfaithful, and that wasn't the worst news.

Maybe the mystery will create a buzz, and Rice is counting on a buzz. He says his film, ``The Surprise Party,'' could become the next ``Blair Witch Project.'' What he means is he hopes the movie will come from nowhere to create a huge buzz and a huge box office.

He's counting on the Web for starters. The movie's site (www.thesurpriseparty.com) offers a plot tease, actor and crew bios and an online version of a truth-or-dare style game central to the film.

``The Internet basically levels the playing field,'' Rice says.

Well, not exactly level (think Miramax etc.), but at least it's something. Rice and his crew hope their real break will come next month. They recently submitted the movie to the prestigious Sundance Film Festival and expect to hear soon whether it will be shown.

Sure, it's a long shot.

Then again, maybe it's no crazier than a mid-level marketeer at a software company calling a stranger at Apple Computer and suggesting they do a deal.