Scott Lew Keeps Laughing
The film producer, writer and director finds humor even in the midst of fighting ALS.

By James Klein, Editor

The funny thing about Scott Lew is how funny he is. It is clear from watching Living with Lew, a recent documentary film about him, that someone who is as naturally funny as Scott doesn’t suddenly lose their humor when they are diagnosed with ALS. They rely on it, in fact.

“I think funny is just a great way to jiu-jitsu reality,” Scott says in the film. He also espoused the benefits of humor during a recent interview with the Chapter. “When you’re facing a disease like ALS, you want to keep your sense of humor,” he says. “You want to have a positive attitude, and the best way to do that is to look on the bright side. Plus, you can use the darkest part of humor. With ALS, it's true, we also have a dark humor to fall back on.”

Scott also describes how paradoxically ALS has in some ways given him a more positive view of life: “I'm sure you've heard other people with ALS say this. We've got this special view of the positive side of other people. The less you can do for yourself, the more you're amazed how other people step-up to help you. That’s something you appreciate when you have ALS.”

Living with Lew’s director, Adam Bardach, does not avoid the realities of ALS, as several experts are interviewed about the disease, and the medical and assistive equipment and procedures Scott requires are explored in detail, but Bardach artfully balances more sobering moments with equal measures of Scott’s indomitable humor, personality, and life force.

“You’re faced with a choice,” Scott says in the film. “You can be miserable, or you can just live your life as fully as you possibly can…”

The documentary in part follows Scott Lew through the making of the first feature film he directed, which he also wrote, Bickford Shmeckler’s Cool Ideas, a wildly funny and smart film about an eccentric college student’s theories of the universe. A writer for the Austin Chronicle describes Bickford Shmeckler’s Cool Ideas as, "An old-school campus comedy with an earnest be-yourself vibe, Bickford is an assured first feature for former Beacon Pictures exec Lew, with a winning cast and an infectious spirit."

Director Adam Bardach filming Scott Lew for Living with Lew

Through interviews with Scott and others involved in the process, the film exposes the difficulties of any filmmaking enterprise, which are only compounded by Scott’s medical condition. While it appears many times as if the project will not be financed, or cast, or shot, or finished, the actors and crew (as well as the producers, financiers, and executives) pull together to finish the movie.

Despite its humor, there are times during Living with Lew when even Scott can’t stop the tears, including a moving scene in which he describes his recent success getting Bickford Shmeckler’s Cool Ideas produced while combating Lou Gehrig’s disease.

“It takes you maybe having a tragedy to realize that if you focus your energies just a little bit more you can really accomplish all these amazing things,” says Scott. “A lot of it is being able to depend on the people around you. I think you walk around trying to be really self-reliant, and then when something happens and you’re falling apart, you can’t be. It’s just amazing that everybody really comes through for you.”

Adam Bardach and Scott Lew with Bickford Shmeckler's Cool Ideas stars Olivia Wilde and Patrick Fugit (l to r) at Living with Lew's Los Angeles premiere

Scott goes on to explain how the diagnosis came at one of the most difficult times in his life: “It had been about six months and I hadn’t had a writing job. Ann and I were going through this thing where we were going to buy a house and then we didn’t buy a house. We had a miscarriage…and I noticed I started to have this twitching that was up here in my shoulders and down my arms a little bit.” Subsequent visits with doctors and specialists confirmed the diagnosis of ALS.

Scott’s wife, Ann Lew, recalls the day in 2003 when they received a definitive diagnosis from a physician in San Francisco. “Scott and I knew a lot about what was going to happen to us, in the way that we damn well better enjoy everything we have now. It became a different set of eyes all of a sudden in the same life, we were suddenly very different.”

In an interview with the Chapter, Ann says of living with someone who has ALS, “The greatest challenge is, I guess you think that because the illness is progressive, you're never done. You have a routine. You think you've got things figured out, and the next month it’s something else.”

Scott Lew directs Olivia Wilde for Bickford Shmeckler's Cool Ideas

She also explains why Scott is not just a great writer, but also a great friend: “I think that's why I've always admired my husband…if he got time with a great writer who had a great talent or just was really interesting, he would come home and he'd talk about how exciting it was to read what they wrote that day. He maintained the friendships with these people who later on are involved with his life…and he never had any envy. He just had more of a celebration about how great it was to be a part of what they were doing.”

“Ann is a tremendous help,” Scott says in Living with Lew. “It’s like she has ALS because I have it and we’re married. And the way she deals with it is remarkable. Ann has absolutely been my whole existence. She always was my better half. Now she’s my better half with the muscles. She’s being two people. She is using her body for two people. That’s just incredible. I’m so lucky.”

Scott and Ann Lew

In another scene, Scott’s mother shares the pain of learning her son’s diagnosis. “You start screaming ‘Why!?’ because you see your hopes and dreams going down the toilet, all that you wish for, all that you work for, the sweetness of life. The material things as much as they’re wonderful, you think in an instant your life is rearranged and nothing is important. All that can come out of your mouth is ‘Why?’” 

One of the experts interviewed in Living with Lew stresses the importance of families in the support of ALS patients: “The disease is too great to be suffered alone, and for patients who have family, especially if the family is loving and supportive, the disease seems to be able to be tolerated with joy. That’s because everyone in that family is carrying part of the burden.”

Scott also credits the Chapter and its Case Manager, Martha Mowatt, with helping him during the illness. “She's really been helpful,” says Scott. His nephew, Dillon Plageman, competed in this summer’s baseball tournament, the CytRx Strike Out Lou Gehrig’s Disease All Star Invitational Tournament, which raises money to fight ALS, and accompanied the Chapter’s President, Fred Fisher, for the check ceremony on the field of Dodger’s Stadium.

After graduating in 1993 from USC’s Peter Stark Producing Program, Scott worked in various industry positions, including a five-year stint as Director of Development for Beacon Pictures. While there, he worked on many films, including Spy Game, Air Force One, and Bring it On. He went on to produce and direct documentaries, including Fan Club, for VH-1, and Welcome Sinners! The Velvet Hammer Burlesque, which won top awards at the 2001 Silver Lake Film Festival and the 2002 Cinekink Festival in New York. Lew currently has three series pilots at ABC: Floral Drive, with Jinks/Cohen producing; Camp Sunnyside, with Matt Gross producing; and Shermer Point, with J.J. Abrams and Tom Sherman producing. He is working on a book about his experiences in the film industry called Scott Lew: Hollywood Deadly.  

Living with Lew had its world premiere at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival 2007, and went on that year to win the Special Jury Prize at the Bermuda International Film Festival 2007 and Best Documentary at the Spudfest Family Film Festival 2007.

The producers of Bickford Shmeckler's Cool Ideas took no fees in the making of the film and are donating their entire share of revenues to ALS charities. The production company behind the film, Vulcan Productions, is also donating a sizable share of all revenues generated by the film to ALS charities.

“Luckily, I chose a type of work that allows me to keep going,” Scott told the Chapter. “As long as you can interact with your computer, you can be a scriptwriter. Or any type of writer, for that matter…but I encourage anybody with ALS or any kind of muscular disease, to find something creative to express themselves. You can find ways to do it, whether it's writing or something else.”