A Valuable Deduction

 

When attorney Eric Rothenberg heard the story, he just had to get involved.

 

So Rothenberg, who has been practicing tax law for more than 30 years, became the lead investor in the mystery movie Tiny Little Lies, which was filmed in July. Though Rothenberg was able to spend only five days on the L.A. set of the thriller, he was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the production.

 

“It is very professionally done,” Rothenberg says. “I went out there expecting a low-budget project. It didn’t have all the bells and whistles, but it had great acting, great props, great directing and very high-quality people. It’s a Hitchcockian mystery in the way of Rope.”

 

Rothenberg, who has also dabbled in real estate investment and computer software development, first became involved in the project two years ago. His friend David Luz, who wrote the screenplay, knew of Rothenberg’s affinity for investing and brought him the script. After Luz came up with some of the money for the production, Rothenberg agreed to put up the rest.

 

Now Rothenberg, who is no stranger to the entertainment industry — he has been a friend of and attorney for Aerosmith’s Joey Kramer for more than 15 years — hopes to see success on the silver screen.

 

“Ideally it will be picked up by a studio or it will do well at a film festival and get picked up for distribution, whether it is television or sale of DVDs,” Rothenberg says. “You never know when the marketing and public relations can create a swell [of interest] for these things.”