About The Author
About Author
Timothy Burton Anderson
Timothy Burton Anderson (Tim) is an American lawyer, still practicing full time, who resides in the state of Utah. On June 15, 1995, following the release of his Clancey – style first novel, The Reign of the Stavka, he was invited to the list of clients represented by the prestigious New York- based Scoville, Chichak, Galen Literary Agency. Among the talent on the agency’s exclusive list at the time were authors; Arthur C. Clarke; Nikolia Tolstoy; Margaret Truman; columnist, James Brady; biographer/novelist Peter Ackroyd; Actor Christopher Lloyd; and HRH Prince of Wales (now the King of England).
Timothy Anderson
Only a few years earlier, while a regular contributor to the famous DC – based syndicated columnist Jack Anderson (no relation) and during his third year of law school, he optioned to Ralph Andrews Productions at Columbia Pictures the screen rights to his unpublished novel, The Holy Mafia which he had written based upon his investigation of the Dr. Rulon Allred execution -style murder in Murray, Utah. Only hours after the killing, he had been contact by the NBC affiliate in Utah to consult on the case. His investigative work and confidential informants were used by the network in accurately reporting on the notorious case. He was represented in the option matter by Mike Hamilburg of the prominent Mitchell J. Hamilburg Agency – agent for famed Vincent Bugliosi, author of the best seller Helter Skelter about Charles Manson and the Sharon Tate murders.
Tim was primed for a serious shot at a career as a writer at the highest levels of the industry. It was an incredible opportunity. But soon it became obvious that the rigors of producing literary work to meet the expectations of his assigned agent Andrew Zack competed quite heavily with his burgeoning legal practice. It also competed very directly with time needed to attend to his family – a wife and seven young kids. In time, Tim, chose the law and family – always intending at some point to get back to writing.
As he explains it; “Writing is an insular and quite selfish undertaking. As is normally the case when trying to perfect an entertainment – oriented talent, it is mostly all about you. The law on the other hand is a hard and complex service for others, that is, if you try to do it right. And raising a family, well, even with limited success, that is mostly about them. Both have great rewards. I have no regrets about the direction I took.”
Nevertheless, during this hiatus, Tim was not totally absent from working creatively. On May 3, 1983, following meetings in late 1982 with the leadership at MGM/United Artists, including board member Art Linkletter, board chair Frank Rothman, and company president/ CEO Freddie Fields, and also following meetings in Washington DC including in the West Wing of the White House, a meeting was held with actor Sylvester Stallone at Paramount Studios in LA. In attendance and facilitating the meeting was President Reagan’s Deputy Chief of Staff Michael Deaver. The matter involved Tim’s expanded, 52-page, screenplay treatment for a Rocky IV. Things did not work out between Tim and Stallone, MGM/UA etc. as often is in the case in Hollywood. And following six years of contentious litigation (many hearings and 20+ witness depositions) the case of Anderson v. Stallone was resolved during the pendency of an appeal of the lower court’s ruling with Tim assigning all his rights to the work to Stallone and MGM/UA in exchange for an out of court confidential settlement.
Along with a career that has kept him deeply involved in public policy, government and current events, locally, nationally and internationally, Tim is also very much a student of history. He first gazed across the Berlin Wall at Checkpoint Charlie at 10 years of age. At age 12 he spent much of his summer on side wheeler tour boats and climbing among the ruins of Medieval castles on the Rhine River. He has walked battlefields from Bastogne, to Waterloo, to Little Bighorn. He claims he can give the three – hour tour at Gettysburg. His professional work has taken him to deal – making and negotiations in many of the centers of business, power, and events across the world. He recalls one of his more memorable experiences to have served as the Honorary Commander of the 388th Tactical Fighter Wing at Hill Air Force Base during the year of the Salt Lake Winter Olympic Games in 2002. This included, among other things, back seating in the command F-16 plane over the Utah Bomb and Gunnery Range. He earned the covenanted 9 – G Certificate. (Did not throw up). Also memorable was diving to classified depth in a US nuclear attack submarine out of Point Loma, San Diego while doing legal work in connection with a prominent Defense Research Projects Agency (DARPA) university lab in the western United States.
But most of all, along with the rest of the country, and in some cases, much of the world, Tim has observed the incredible drama of the insatiable quest for power at all levels of government and the competition to stay in power that is voraciously endless and without any real definition in America. The theater of it all has led to so many stories and schemes – and they keep getting weirder and wilder. Fiction and non – fiction are rapidly taking on the organics of Siamese twins. The presidential elections particularly, each time, take on a new route of chaotic discourse – so often leading to more skepticism that tends to unwind the trust and confidence that may have otherwise existed – again leading to more stories.
Now Available On
