Michael Filerman, the TV producer behind 14 seasons of “Knots Landing” as well as “Dallas,” and “Falcon Crest,” passed away on Saturday night at the age of 76.

Michael’s name was above the title on a bunch of Broadway shows as well, including Cinderella, Driving Miss Daisy, Nice Work If You Can Get It, and many more.  And he invested in countless more . . . including, Altar Boyz.

Michael was one of my first investors and, I’m not gonna lie, he was a tough one. He always kept me on my toes.  I’d pitch him a project and he’d answer me super fast and give me a zillion different reasons why it wouldn’t work, forcing me to give him even more reasons why it would.  I remember one exchange that ended with him saying, “I’m done with Broadway!  No more!”  Flash forward to two months later and there he was sitting across from me at an ad meeting for a show as a Producer.  I said, “Michael, what happened?  I thought you were done!”  He said, “So did I.  But I’m just a sucker for a great show.”

Whether he invested in a show of mine, or didn’t, he was always pulling for me . . . and for every producer out there.  He sent me a note after Godspell announced its closing saying that I should be proud that the production got so many young people to the theater.  He sent me a note when he couldn’t make it to a reading of Somewhere in Time just to say he was sorry, because he knew how long I had been working on it.

You’ll be missed, Michael.  Give ’em hell up there, will ya?

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