One July 4th weekend I was invited to join a small collection of William Morris lit agents who were planning to get independent down Texas way. […]

Here’s the scene. It was night on a cold and windswept mountaintop movie set. Writer and movie star had found shelter near the playback monitors. I […]

I was briefly partnered in a producing agreement at Columbia/Tri-Star with Gary Foster (Sleepless in Seattle, Tin Cup), a man to whom I will forever owe […]

“We don’t call our dear president Castro,” said Propaganda Tony, correcting me in front of the few assembled Communist party representatives. “We call him Fidel. Just […]

It was an early Sunday morning and our last full day in Cuba. The Viva la Revolucion revelers of Carnival de Habana had long since packed […]

Way back when The Shawshank Redemption was barely hanging on in theaters, squeaking out some pretty meager box office, and still years before it was regarded […]

I owe much to James Bond. Or to be more accurate, 007’s inventor, author Ian Fleming. I was twelve years old and not much of a […]

Just a few weeks ago I was guest-speaking to young screenwriters at an L.A. film school. It was a theater stuffed with young alert faces. The […]

I have this love/hate relationship with research. When it’s the kind of study that involves slogging through a million pages of crap to find that one […]

With your permission, let me set the scene. The place was a casual-styled conference room at a movie studio. The characters in the room were the […]

I was on my way from lunch to meeting at Paramount when my agent at the time called to inquire if I’d be interested in meeting […]

Last weekend, the movie Red Tails opened nationwide to some pretty decent business. It was a long time in the making. And I’d noticed that a […]

Saying showbiz is full of perks is like saying there are swamps full of alligators down in Florida. And by perks I’m not talking about the […]

We’d survived our death-defying, two-whiffs-then-a-bulls-eye landing aboard the naval aircraft carrier, the U.S.S. Nimitz. My comrades—former Bond Chick, saucy minx, and all around gamer, Serena Scott […]

I was in a meeting with a Dreamworks executive. Somehow we got sidetracked into the always entertaining subject of “the strangest place a writer tried to […]

I needed an ice pack. Without a warm up, I’d just tossed about what felt like a hundred fastballs to a Little League team I’d been […]

Tis the Season in Tinselville. No. Not that season. I’m talking about Awards Season. Oscars. Globes. Spirits. You might think Hollywood is obsessed with such self-congratulatory […]

It was the day we burned the Hostage set. Bruce ambled onto the soundstage and dropped a script onto my lap. The title was DIE HARD […]

It’s been wisely coined that nobody ever endeavors to make a bad movie. It’s also been said that as much or more effort goes into making […]

I can’t say this any simpler. This is about the worst script note I ever received. Was it an unfortunate situation to be in? Hardly. It […]

Having heard I play cards, this big-time talent agent at William Morris invited me to attend his invitee-only poker game. No. This is not the high […]

I’m a lying liar. I admit the lie and that I’ve been lying the lie for some years now. I feel the need to confess. So […]

Gary Ross, writer-director of films such as Seabiscuit and Pleasantville, invited me to join in a round-table luncheon with Massachusetts Rep. Ed Markey. The congressman had […]

I was actually hired to write DIE HARD 2 when the original DIE HARD was still in theaters.  Like the original, the sequel was to be […]

This is one of my favorite Hollywood true stories.  It involves mega action producer, Joel Silver.  Now, like most power players, Joel has a rep.  Some […]