Last weekend my wife couldn’t sleep so she started watching television…and landed on the Biography Channel, which was just beginning to air a bio on Jennifer Aniston. In that show, they showed clips from my movie Camp Cucamonga, which starred Jennifer and several other television stars, and they noted how important this movie was for Jennifer’s career. I remember this time well. Jennifer wasn’t a star yet. She had just appeared in a failed sitcom. Brandon Tartikoff, NBC’s then network president, recommended Jennifer. We met her, and fell in love with her, for the role of the camp owner’s daughter. We tried casting Matthew Perry too, who also was coming off a failed sitcom and was not yet a big star. Matthew came into our production offices three times, but Brandon would not approve him. Brandon said, “Matthew will never be on a lunchbox.� Obviously Brandon changed his mind because Matthew was cast in Friends. Jennifer was wonderful to be with on our set. We got along great. I always believed that Camp Cucamonga was the turning point for Jennifer because her performance in our movie gave the network hope that she could be a series television star, but it was never confirmed. I have not spoken to Jennifer in years, but it was really nice to hear she felt that Camp Cucamonga was important for her too.

Tags: Brandon Tartikoff, Camp Cucamonga, Jennifer Aniston, NBC, Rich Melcombe

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