Anthony, also known as Tony, began his career in the early 1980s as a club promoter in London. He financed his first short film, titled "rock-a-bye baby," by hosting an event at Le'quipe Anglaise, where all the door money went towards financing the film. The film's owner, Shariffi, showed it to producer Michael White, who was so impressed that he gave Tony a one-way ticket to Los Angeles, instructing him not to return until he had achieved success.
Tony did not return to London for eight years, during which time he established himself in the film industry. He famously met the producer of "Waxwork," Staffan Ahrenberg, after crashing into the back of his car in the motel they were both staying at on Fairfax Avenue. At the time, Tony was broke, and he offered to pay for the damage by writing a script for $3000. Staffan agreed, but only on the condition that Tony deliver the script before receiving payment. Tony wrote the script, titled "Waxwork," in just three days.
The script was subsequently rejected by every major studio, until it was finally picked up by independent film company Vestron. However, Vestron also turned it down, just two days before Christmas. It was during the holiday break that producer Mark Burg, a friend of the head of Vestron, Dan Ireland, expressed his surprise that Ireland had not fallen in love with the script. It was later discovered that Ireland had not even read the script, as it had never made it past the readers.
The next day, Mark sent the script directly to Dan Ireland, and the rest, as they say, is horror movie history.
