Sheer-A-Sortium Inc.

*

"our genius is transparent"




Brent Shearer
Principal
Sheer-A-Sortium Inc.
90 Hudson St.
New York, New York 10013

6 October 2011

Dear Harry Shearer,

I have reached out as you suggested to the writer and NPR personality Ira Sher for inclusion as a charter member (Principal) in the company we are founding, Sheer-A-Sortium Plc.

I like the company motto you came up with "Our genius is transparent,” though as you noted to make it work we will have to treat Sher as if it is Shear, but I don’t think this is a problem. As for the logo, as you suggested, I have outsourced the design to an art director here in New York.

As we discussed, Sheer-A-Sortium will increase the clout and bargaining power of the founding members, yourself, me and Ira by uniting us three writer-performers under the Sheer-A-Sortium brand.

I totally agree with your point that the pooling of our artistic efforts will be a seminal moment in the history of literary guys who also work in radio, TV and film. You are right, I think, to suggest it will be like when Chaplin, D.W. Griffith and Douglass Fairbanks combined to create United Artists in 1919. That company has had a good run and I don't see why Sheer-A-Sortium won't flourish as well. I think people will pick up that the Sortium refers to consortium without having to spell it out in the marketing materials.

I doubt you need worry that our new partner to be will be touchy, as you put it, about the way that if you say the name of the company, Sheer-A-Sortium, it sounds like you are saying Shearer-Sortium. I think Ira is secure enough to deal with this.

Furthermore, I don’t have a problem with excluding any writer-performers who names start with “Sch.” Let’s see what Ira has to say about this once he comes on-board.

As the least known member of the new company, it is only fair that I should attend to the administrative details of setting it up. I have had a few things published, and more importantly for the brand identity of Sheer-A-Sortium, I did an hour-long appearance on Washington Heights radio earlier this year.

Sure, it's just one of these Web-only radio stations run out of somebody's apartment, but on the plus side I did see a new part of the neighborhood that in my previous drug buying forays, many years ago, I missed.

When Ira signs up, we can plan the road show to sell shares. I think Morgan Stanley is as good as any other bank to be the underwriter.

Until then, keep on trucking, albeit in a digital way, my Sheer-A-Sortium bro. Love that script you sent me, by the way, "Boomer 2.0: How to Keep On Trucking in A Facebook Age." Even as a Harry Shearer project I’m sure it would do well, but with the marketing clout of our new collective behind it, the sky’s the limit.

I agree that it is is important that the Sheer-A-Sortium brand come to represent the best of writer-performers. Certainly with Spinal Tap and the rest of your work, you have set the bar high for all of our artistic endeavors here at S-A-S.

It is my pleasure to be associated with the launch of this brilliant project. Although it was my idea originally, I’m gratified at how quickly an artist of your stature saw the promise and joined.

Sincerely,


Brent Shearer
Principal
Sheer-A-Sortium






Sheer-A-Sortium Inc.

*

"our methods are transparent"




Brent Shearer
Principal
Sheer-A-Sortium Inc.
90 Hudson St.
New York, New York 10013


Dear Ira Sher,

Harry Shearer and I would like to invite you to participate in our pooling of forces so that each of our bylines will gain more clout because of the Sheer-a-Sortium brand that will now accompany any publication or broadcast that any of us are involved in.

We picture the pooling of our artistic careers as a seminal moment in the history of literary guys who also work in radio, TV and film. It will rival United Artists for cultural impact and should provide decades of revenue for ourselves and our descendants.




Harry and I have discussed the wisdom of inviting other writer-performers whose last names start with something other than Sher or Shear into the group, but who might be able to show a secondary last name affinity, and, thus, have some basis for claiming eligibility for membership

He is adamantly against letting in the many Sch names with by-lines that will no doubt be clamoring for admission once we go public and list the stock. He says that any Sch members will mess up the joke of the first word of the company name. He points out that there is no such word as Scheer, although they're are probably plenty of writer-performers out there with that last name.

Of course, Harry and I are eager to get your thoughts on this subject. Perhaps we could issue some kind of second class, non voting stock for Sch members if we did decide to let them in.

Harry and I are confident that you will see the advantages of the creative synergies that joining Sheer-a-Sortium will provide. If there is a gig to be farmed out, we will think first of our two, assuming you sign on, Sheer-A-Sortium principals before using any non-Sheer-a-Sortium labor. Of course, despite the fact that we are three, multi talented individuals, there will be some jobs that we founding members of the company will not be able to accomplish in-house.

Harry was bummed to learn that I was tone-deaf and therefore would of no use, besides writing lyrics, for some of the musical projects he is working on. It is possible that there are some limits to the areas of Sheer-A-Sortium endeavor that you can contribute to. Harry says I shouldn't just assume that everyone with a Shearer or a Sher by-line and a number of production credits can juggle and do a soft-shoe routine but I can, and I'm pretty sure you can too, Ira.


Sincerely,

Brent Shearer














Sheer-A-Sortium Inc.

*

"our genius is transparent"


Brent Shearer
Principal
Sheer-A-Sortium Inc.
90 Hudson St.
New York, New York 10013

6 October 2011


Re: Religious Quotas


Dear Harry and Ira,

I don't know if you've noticed but as the only gentile among the founding members of the Sheer-A-Sortium literary and performance guild, I have been forced to write and perform all the material that is either inspired by gentile life in American or that is aimed at a gentile audience. I think we need to reassess our routing procedure because I'm having to do too much work caring for this "majority" audience, while you guys are carrying much lighter loads of attending to our Jewish audiences, which while significant, don't represent more than a small proportion of our gigs in many sectors of our business such as college shows.




I reminded Harry, and should probably mention to you, Ira, that I recently left Larry Doyle Inc. because I was tired of having to do all the gentile Larry Doyle appearances. You might say that Larry Doyle is the actual gentile Larry Doyle, but as I pointed out in my letter to his agent Sarah Burne that led to my appointment as a staff member at Larry Doyle Inc., if you do comedy writing as well as he does, it graduates you into the firmament of Jewish comedy writers, which while it is a great honor, still left me with all the “live” college shows in the Bible Belt. I have a family and don’t want my experience with Sheer-A-Sortium to resemble the barmstorming and Motel 6 existence I was forced to live for long periods of time while under the employ of Larry Doyle Inc.

While I an grateful for the increased exposure my work has garnered as a result of my membership in the S-A-S, I’m sure both of you will support my bid for equal treatment at this early stage in the creation of this performer-writer thing of ours, the S-A-S.




Sincerely,


Brent Shearer
















Sheer-A-Sortium Inc.

*

"our methods are transparent"





Brent Shearer
Principal
Sheer-A-Sortium Inc.
90 Hudson St.
New York, New York 10013

6 October 2011


Dear Harry and Ira,

I was OK with going along with your guys' inclination,to not let any author-performer with Sch instead of Sh into the Sheer-A-Shortum even as an associate member as long as there was no particular gifted Sch-named author-performer who we were excluding.
But when it comes to the great French film director, Eric Rohmer, whose real name was Jean Martin Something Scherer, I have to object to your insistence on keeping our group only for us Sh-ers.
The Rohmer Foundation has applied to have Mr. Scherer included in our group as an associate member, actually I think we should create a posthumous principal position to give this great artist his rightful recognition, and I urge you two stick in the muds to let the auteur of "My Night at Maud's" and so many other cinematic masterpieces into this thing of ours, the Sheer-A-Sortium.
You know, Harry, if you think about it, if we're going to keep people out of the Sortium on the Sch issue, somebody's going to point out that Ira's last name has no "a" and we're going to have to deal with that.


Sincerely,

Brent Shearer