May 1, 2014
“A year and a half?” I gasped again. “There’s a queue,” explained Sheena, Queen of the Lost Residuals Jungle. “Qualified and pre-approved arbiters are in high […]
April 23, 2014
An old pal—let’s call him Hal—once told me the story of his first cool Hollywood car. It was over margaritas, chips, and a big bowl of […]
April 16, 2014
Much of working in showbiz is about living and existing in showbiz. Or amongst it without allowing its corrupting essence to sink beyond one’s initial layer […]
April 9, 2014
“What’s your name?” I asked the wannabe screenwriter. “Gerald,” answered the wannabe, shaking my hand. Okay, so his name wasn’t Gerald. I’ve only named him that […]
April 2, 2014
Note to reader: If you’re looking for a lesson this week, go elsewhere. Because all you’ll discover herein is, at best, amusement and a taste of […]
March 26, 2014
Simple axiom. When faced with a choice between the unfamiliar and the familiar, most people will choose the latter. At least, thus was the theory posited […]
March 19, 2014
Ever hear that old axiom, never write a letter when you’re angry? Yeah. I’d heard it too. And I wish to hell I’d remembered it. But… […]
March 12, 2014
“What the hell we gotta do to get a performance out of her?” asked the big bald one, aka Bruce Willis. “Maybe she’s intimidated,” replied the […]
March 5, 2014
I don’t recommend you make a best buddy of your agent. Then again I don’t not recommend you get bestie close with your chosen rep. That’s […]
February 26, 2014
“Did you really just say that?” I asked, pretty much stopping the meeting in its tracks. “What?” asked Miles, the over-animated producer who I’d backpacked into […]
February 19, 2014
I asked myself how many times I’d been there before. Up against or even beyond the deadline. The phone ringing with calls from either the studio […]
February 12, 2014
“I have a great idea for a film.” Sure you do, I would usually say to myself. And, adjusting for inflation, if I had a dollar […]
February 5, 2014
The deal was closed. All initial meetings in the books. There was but one obstacle that stood between me and my tapping out FADE IN on […]
January 29, 2014
There’s an old Hollywood story I’d heard about Earnest Lehman, famed screenwriter of The Sound of Music. He was asked about what exactly it was that […]
January 22, 2014
A Twitter pal asked me this question: When can I call myself a writer? My answer was pretty simple, though I qualified it as one man’s […]
January 15, 2014
“What can we do for you today?” “Thanks,” I said. “Need a couple of iPhone 5s for Christmas gifts.” It was ten a.m. straight up. The […]
January 6, 2014
Welcome to the true story of a dirt road, a dog, and the two homes that marked both the beginning and end of the half-mile stretch. […]
December 16, 2013
I’d utterly failed at my first attempt at getting in to the famed USC film school. Upon reflection, it was a horrible application—all kiss ass, full […]
December 9, 2013
“We need help,” said the director. In order to not embarrass this highly likable guy, I’ll call him Briny Sprockets. “I’ll get it,” I reassured him. […]
December 2, 2013
I was paying with a credit card. It was a basic business purchase—a thumb drive to hang on my keychain. I’d already bought eight or so […]
November 18, 2013
Yes. You know this person. The doubter. That one, not-so-well meaning person in our lives who insists it’s their personal responsibility to themselves and society to […]
November 4, 2013
It was just a gig. An all-terms upfront, uncredited production rewrite. Pack quickly, climb on a plane, fly to the location, find a quiet corner in […]
November 4, 2013
Tommy Tantrum was a dead man. On the movie I’d been hired to fix—an uncredited production rewrite—he’d found a way to exclude me from a couple […]
October 28, 2013
The assignment started like this. A meeting at the studio with a vice president of development. I was pitched a character scenario. After a week of […]
October 14, 2013
Not long ago in a post I titled ENTER THE GAUNTLET, I wrote about what it takes to get me – the grizzled veteran word merchant […]
October 7, 2013
Before Jerry Bruckheimer became the stand-alone superstar brand he is today, he was partnered in another superstar brand known as Simpson-Bruckheimer Films. The late Don Simpson […]
September 30, 2013
I was in a particularly delicate spot. You know that place. Low batteries. On the outside looking in. It felt as if I was in a […]
September 23, 2013
The conversation is a common one. Agent and writer/client. The subject concerns the delivery of a script. “The producer has some notes,” said the writer. “You […]
September 16, 2013
I have a confession. I have a prejudice against a particular minority group. And I’m being utterly unvarnished about this embarrassing fact. Upon my introduction to […]
September 9, 2013
“For God’s sake,” barked the director. “I’ve made movies for Ray, Joel, and Don. Hell if I’m gonna go through all that again with Jon Peters.” […]
August 26, 2013
Just this week I got a call from a young writer/director acquaintance. He’s a friend of a good pal and, every so often, I’m lucky to […]
August 19, 2013
Rodney Redux had, once again, balked at starring in the follow up to his biggest hit movie. Somehow, sequels didn’t live up to the tiffany image […]
August 12, 2013
Though my deal hadn’t been closed, I was already writing the studio sequel I’d sold the movie star, Rodney Redux (name obviously changed to protect the […]
August 5, 2013
The trendy bar was our starting-block for a night out in Austin. After a day of stumping my newest novel, my publicist and I met up […]
July 29, 2013
My movie was being released in about four months. That meant the new trailer for the film was landing in theaters, attached to the studio’s most […]
July 22, 2013
I loathe being late. Be it a movie, a meeting, a flight or pretty much anything. I hate it so much that I get anxious and […]
July 15, 2013
So we’ve established that I hate being late. And on my studio rewrite, I was beyond late. Like a credit card bill long past due. Excused […]
July 8, 2013
One of my screenwriting credos goes like this. Do you want it fast or do you want it good? I usually reserve this lightning bolt for […]
June 24, 2013
I have a policy. It pretty much goes as follows: Thank you for asking but I can’t read your script. Such is the nature of having […]
June 17, 2013
Here we go again. The names have been changed for the most obvious of reasons. I met Charlie A-List just inside the threshold of his Paramount […]
June 10, 2013
“Did he offer you the franchise?” asked megabucks writer Charlie A-List. As you read last week in (A Bitter Pill, Part 1) I’d just landed in […]
June 4, 2013
This isn’t a sequel as much as it is a companion piece to last week’s A Funny Thing About Homage, where I recalled the late great […]
May 27, 2013
What’s wrong with this picture? I was an unproduced screenwriter standing at the threshold to my antique, valley domicile. It was my tiny, first-timer bungalow measuring […]
May 20, 2013
It was our first morning at the location. The set, a neo-modern house the art department had dressed up into looking more like a comfortable fortress, […]
May 13, 2013
“So whaddayou do, Doug?” It’s the usual, socially interactive question. Adults, stuck in the same mini-sphere, in this particular case it’s at a Little League team […]
May 6, 2013
I’d just typed FADE OUT for the umpteenth time in my short career. The draft was neat and a tightly wound one hundred and fifteen pages […]
April 29, 2013
I think I was twenty-five years old. Pretty young to have come to the conclusion that the man who’d helped me cross over the threshold into […]
April 22, 2013
In a rare early collaboration, I co-penned a script with friend and former agent, Rick Jaffa. Though the partnership eventually collapsed under the weight of unreasonable […]