David Seth Cohen is a writer, producer, director, and actor.
One night, during a vivid dream, David found himself traveling to California to try and find Adam. Although no one he ran into would help him, somehow, David found him. He and Adam immediately clicked and began walking and talking until suddenly David awoke with a jolt. Driven by his dream, David knew he would never stop wondering “what if?” unless he did something about it.
Armed with a video camera, some money from his family, and a few friends acting as crew, David quit his job at the TV station and risked everything to recapture that very moment he had regretted for so long – an opportunity to hang out and share a drink with his hero – laughing, sharing stories, discussing dreams, becoming life long friends and who knows?
While traveling across the country with his crew, they weaved through a maze of makeshift contacts and never took no for an answer. David’s charisma and persuasiveness earned him support from many celebrities – Billy Joel, Emeril Lagasse, Mick Foley, Carmen Electra, Dee Snider, Paul Schaffer, and Radioman – who all felt David’s passion and kept his spirits up.
Enduring unexpected twists and turns along the way, this documentary film represents an at times chaotic, yet always charming quest by one man determined to work his way into the inner circle of one of the most successful entertainers of our time.
Will David find Adam Sandler? Will they have that drink? Will it live up to his expectations?
David, Ever since you were a kid, you loved to entertain people. Did anyone influence your decision to go into filmmaking?
There have been so many influences in my life. I’ve always loved movies, TV, and Broadway because when you are watching any kind of show, they take you out of your world and into another. When I was in elementary school I would trick my parents into thinking I was sick so I could stay home and watch movies. I was the original Ferris Bueller except instead of a day on the town, it was a day laying on the couch watching Superman 1 & 2, Star Wars and the Empire Strikes Back.
Then, when I was around 10 years old my cousin Jonathan, who is 2 years older than me, would write scripts. From those scripts, he and I would create short films and live shows with our sisters which we’d screen and perform for our family. It was so much fun and I loved it even though looking back watching those videos is even more excruciating than waiting on line at HomeGoods. Still, to this day Jonathan still believes he should have won an academy award! Go figure.
All kidding aside, the biggest influence for me was my close friend, Brad Stoll. From an early age, Brad wanted to be an actor and he constantly auditioned for films, TV, and Broadway. When he was 14, he landed a leading role on the movie “Lost in Yonkers”. It was written by the legendary Neil Simon and based on his Pulitzer Prize winning play of the same name. The film starred Richard Dreyfuss and Mercedes Ruehl. By getting that job, Brad showed me that with hard work, determination and remaining persistent, achieving a dream was possible.
Share a pivotal moment in your life.
During first semester of my junior year at college I had to declare a major, and picked pre-law. I made the choice mostly because everyone always told me I was good at arguing and because it pleased my parents.
Along with that major came some government classes, but to graduate I also needed to take some electives to fill in the gaps. So, during my 2nd semester, I took an intro to film class.
After creating my first short film, I fell in love with the process again, just like when I was a kid. But my family really wanted me to stick with law because it was “safe,” and I begrudgingly agreed. A few months later, my friend Brad passed away, and I decided life was too short and I wanted to do what I loved. So, to the dismay of my parents, I switched my major from Pre-Law to mass communications with a concentration in film and television. From that point on, I have gone full full force at following my heart and dream of becoming a filmmaker.
What are the key ingredients to a successful film?
Although I love films, I don’t consider myself to be a know-it-all when it comes to them. Since everyone defines success differently, my ingredients may not be the same as others. In fact, someone like Gordon Ramsey might yell at me if he gets to see Finding Sandler!
To me a successful film is one that makes people think and talk about it. Films that I love always have similar elements – comedy, drama, adventure, and a lesson. Usually I’m hooked by laughing, but that’s just me. If you can make me smile, you’ve gained a fan.
“Everyone has moments in their lives when they wish they could hit the rewind button.” Tell us about your inspiration for your film, Finding Sandler.
Life works in crazy ways. I never pictured myself to be a documentary filmmaker. In fact, 99.9 percent of the films I love are narratives and mostly comedy films or superhero movies, yet my first film is a documentary. Who woulda thought?
The story of Finding Sandler starts in 1998 not too long after I graduated college when I landed a job as a costume PA on one of my my favorite films, Big Daddy. As most know, it stars Adam Sandler, someone I have looked up to since I was in college.
Not only was I so excited to have a chance to work on a studio movie, but to potentially meet one of my heroes, Adam Sandler was huge.
During filming, I would run into Adam on set and would say “Hey”. He always responded politely and said “hello” which I thought was really cool, but I never actually had a chance to hang or have a real conversation with the guy until one day fate came knocking – literally.
It was November 4, 1998 and Adam wanted to wear clothing from the set of Big Daddy to the NYC premiere of The Waterboy that night. My boss specifically directed me to deliver clothing to the doorman at Adam’s apartment building, then to drive home this lady Autumn, who was the accounting PA in my department. After that, I was told to drop the car off at the office and head home for the night. So I pulled up to Adam’s building, double parked the car, and told Autumn I’d be right back. What started out as a meaningless task turned into a night I’d never forget.
As directed, I gave the clothes to the doorman, but he handed them back to me and told me to “bring the clothes up to Adam.” So I went up to Adam’s floor, knocked on the door, and from behind the door I heard someone yelling at me “Who is it? What do you want?” At that point, I knew it was Adam because he was screaming like he does in all of my favorite movies he’s in.
Then, he opened the door with a huge smile on his face and said “Hey man, you wanna come in and have a drink?” At that point I froze and everything happened in slow motion. It was like one of those angel / devil moments. The devil jumped in and said “Do it man, he’s one of your heroes, just do it!” Then the angel said “You can’t. You’re double parked with Autumn in the car and your boss will fire you!”
Keep in mind this was 1998. I was a poor college grad with no cell phone so I couldn’t even contact my co-worker Autumn. So, at that moment, the angel won and I told Adam that I couldn’t stay because I had Autumn waiting in the car and had to drive her home. It was a moment that I’ve always regretted because having a drink with Adam was a chance for me to talk with my hero. Who knows what advice Adam could have given me, the stories he could have told that may have influenced me and inspired me, and the laughs we could have shared together. I always wondered “what if!” after that. To me it was like someone in the tech world passing up an opportunity to sit down and chat with Steve Jobs or a boxer not hanging with Mohammed Ali.
Anyway, the story continues as we fast forward to 2006. I turned 30 in January and all of a sudden, for months, I started having sleepless nights thinking about the opportunity I passed up.
At that time, I was living in my grandmother’s basement with my girlfriend and two dogs. For work, I was a producer at a Catholic TV station which I was so grateful for, but which was a little unorthodox considering I was Jewish. I just wasn’t where I pictured myself to be at age 30.
Then one night, I had a very vivid dream where I went to California to look for Adam Sandler. In the dream, I ran into people from the set of Big Daddy and asked them to help me find him, but nobody would. Then, all of a sudden I was in my vision of his production company and was seated in a lunch room talking to someone directly across from me. Adam was diagonally across from me, and just started to talk to me.
Next, we were walking together and talking, and I abruptly woke up. It was at that moment that I decided to make a movie. It was going to be called Finding Sandler and I would go on a quest to find Adam and try to have the drink I regretted passing up in 1998. And so the journey began…
Why is Adam Sandler your hero?
Growing up as a Jewish kid in the late 1970’s through the early 1990’s there were never any Chanukah songs on the radio during the holiday season. So, like many other Jewish kids, I always felt left out until Adam created the Chanukah song. The song won me over because it was like he was speaking to me from line 1, when he said, “I wrote a song for all those nice little Jewish kids who never get to hear any Chanukah songs” – that was me…a nice little Jewish kid who never got to hear any Chanukah songs. Also, when my grandfather got sick and I played the song for him, the Dinah Shore line always brought the biggest smile to his face.
On top of that, from Saturday night live to Billy Madison and Happy Gilmore, Adam cracked me up. And the fact that he co-wrote a bunch of the scripts, made the films with his friends, and started his own production company was something I always wanted to do – so I really admired him.
Take us through the creative process when doing your documentary, Finding Sandler.
Finding Sandler has been in the works for over 15 years. I’m not a woman so I don’t know what it’s like to give birth to a child, but this process has had as many ups and downs. Hopefully my baby, Finding Sandler, brings the joy that a child does to a mother in the end!
This film started with the dream. After that, I told a bunch of friends and any people I knew in the business about it. Some thought I was crazy and said not to do it, but others loved the concept of following a dream and offered to help in anyway they could. So, I created a team.
Once I had my team in place it was time to start planning. In order to free up time to do everything involved in making a feature film, I decided to resign from my job as a TV a producer to concentrate on Finding Sandler.
So now without a job and money being super tight, I realized there was no way I could fund the film on my own. I started reaching out to people to help with financing. I got a lot of no’s at first, but then my grandma and my uncle Mitch said they’d invest and that was enough money to get us started.
From there the team and I traveled to New Hampshire (where Adam grew up) and to California and shot as much footage as we could!
Then, editing began. From that point on we had a lot of obstacles, but I’m happy to say that we never gave up and have a really cool independent film that will be ready for distribution in 2022.
Would you recommend for others to hit the rewind button and to follow their dreams even with risk involved?
Life beats a lot of people down because they are unhappy with where they are whether it be in their personal lives or at work. The way I look at it is, you only live once. Why live a life where you’re unhappy when you have a choice to make a change. Why not go on an adventure? Why not roll the dice and follow your heart and your dreams? If you fail, at least you tried and I guarantee that you will learn some valuable lessons along the way. So my answer is yes, I recommend it…and who knows, maybe after Finding Sandler a network will hire me to create a TV show where I can help people follow their dreams and “What If” moments. That’d be a lot of fun and then people won’t have to do it on their own.
Are you planning on writing a book after this?
It’s funny because this isn’t the first time I’ve been asked that question. I guess the answer is that it’s under strong consideration except I’m not sure I have the patience to write it myself because I can’t wait another 15 years to release something. Let’s see how people react to the movie and if a writer or book publisher likes it and approaches me about it, we can take it from there.
When can we expect to see the film?
We have sent the film out to festivals around the world and are waiting to see which one picks it up and premieres it. I’m assuming that will happen in early 2022 and once it does, the next step will be full distribution that same year. So in 2022 people will finally get to see Finding Sandler.