“You don’t get it!” shouted Sam-I’m-the-Man-I’m-the-Man, a TV producer. “I have a track record of creating big hit shows!” “You don’t have a track record,” I […]
It’s no secret the entertainment biz is rife with personalities. Big ones. Fast-talking. Recalcitrant. And quite a significant number that could best be described as having […]
“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 […]
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 […]
“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 […]
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 […]
“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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]