26-JAN-1994 18:13 " JEFFREY" GOES TO THE MOVIES

    By Ward Morehouse III
    NEW YORK (Reuter) - In one of the fastest transitions from
theater to film in recent years, the Off-Broadway hit "Jeffrey"
has been optioned as a movie by one of its stage producers and
will begin shooting in New York in July.
    "'Jeffrey' just closed and we're shooting the film this July,
" Mitchell Maxwell, president of Workin' Man Films, co- producer
of the play and producer of the film, told Reuters.
    Workin' Man Films will produce the movie in association with
"Jeffrey" playwright Paul Rudnick, who completed the screenplay
last week, Maxwell said.
    "Because no studio would buy 'Jeffrey' we bought it and have
made a deal with Paul Rudnick to write it and have him co-produce
it with us," he said.
    "Jeffrey," a comedy about a gay man who chooses celibacy so
he won't get AIDS, closed Off-Broadway earlier this month after
running just over a year.
    But even though the play was popular with both gay and non-
gay audiences, Maxwell was unable to entice a major studio into
making it into a film.
    "The play recouped its investment in New York. It did
More?
incredible business in Los Angeles for eight weeks. But it did no
business in San Francisco, which was a big surprise," MAxwell
said.
    Maxwell said "we'll make a profit" from the movie but that it
would primarily play the art house circuit and have limited
distribution.
    Workin' Man Films is best known for producing hard-hitting
dramas Off-Broadway, including "Marvin's Room" and "Oleanna," the
David Mammet play which also closed this month.
    The company's biggest financial success was with the light-
hearted comedy, "Key Exchange," which was also subsequently made
into a movie.
    Workin' Man Films is also producing the upcoming $3.75
million Broadway revival of the 1955 musical "Damn Yankees,"
which opens at the Marriott Marquis Theatre March 3.
 Reuter/Variety