Ruddy juggles multiple issues trying to get the production on track, including Puzo and Coppola taking their time on the script, continued intimidation from Colombo, studio executive Barry Lapidus interfering and insisting on multiple changes to keep the budget low, and dealing with the clashing casting ideals of the studio and Coppola. Teleplay by : Michael Tolkin & Leslie Greif and Michael Tolkin & Nikki Toscano & Kevin J. In an attempt to intimidate them to drop the project, Colombo has Ruddy and Francoise's car shot up while they are inside. He tasks Ruddy to produce, who selects Puzo to adapt, and Francis Ford Coppola to direct. call Paramount to try and convince them to sell the film rights, however Evans is able to convince Charles Bluhdorn to retain them. Due to the success of the novel, rival studios such as Warner Bros. Joe Colombo, one of the heads of the Five Families, begins a crusade to fight injustice towards Italian-Americans, founding the Italian-American Civil Rights League. However it is negatively received by the Italian-American community, in particular Frank Sinatra, as it is believed the Johnny Fontane character is based on him. In New York City, struggling author Mario Puzo's The Godfather becomes a best seller and is optioned for film by Paramount. He convinces Robert Evans, head of production at Paramount Pictures, to take him on as a film producer. Together, the pair successfully pitched the sitcom Hogan's Heroes to CBS, though Ruddy walks away from the show.
Ruddy meets and forms a bond with owner Francoise Glazer as well as encounters Sergeant Bilko actor Bernard Fein.
In 1969 at the Chateau Marmont, Rand Corporation employee Albert S.