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Bip Oct 15, 2009

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Not too long ago I was in a meeting with the president of a television network. The show I was working on at the time was on the air and successfully so. Sort of unusual for me, I guess, but it has happened in the past. Despite the impression that my four minutes here often conveys, I've had good meetings and successful exchanges and positive outcomes during my time here in Hollywood. And this was one of those meetings...

The Event Oct 08, 2009

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In the late 1980's, a huge phone company hired a top-of-the-line consultancy to make a forecast. Cell-phone usage was growing quickly, and the phone company needed to know how to plan for this new, business model transforming technology. So they paid these consultants a lot of money to answer this question: how many mobile phones will be in use in this country by the year 2000?

Plus Aimable Oct 01, 2009

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The cliché, of course, is that American television is awful. You know the saw: bad sitcoms, predictable dramas, tame dialogue, soft characters. About four years before it was even invented, people started hating television. Now, not so much – there's a lot on that very good, and television's blood rival, feature films, have become mostly movies about robots, so TV – with its Mad Men and The Wire and 30 Rock and Weeds just seems more sophisticated...

No One Wants Westerns Sep 24, 2009

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Years ago, on my first day in film school – never mind how many years ago; let's just say, enough years ago – there was a guest speaker – I honestly don't remember who, but it was someone big, someone powerful, someone with real cred in the industry...

Out of Town Sep 17, 2009

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This is hard to believe but true. Not too long ago -- and when I say "not too long ago," I'm saying it from the perspective of someone who remembers some very old things, like that there used to be a hardware store on Montana Avenue in Santa Monica, before someone invented the $80 candle...

Too Many Plates Sep 10, 2009

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Hollywood is divided into two basic groups: the first group is the one-project types, the serial types. The second, the hedgers, the plates-in-the-air guys. Writers, directors, actors are in the first group – these are the people who do one thing at a time. They tend to immerse themselves in a project, focus on it, care about it. A writer will write a script, then worry over a rewrite, then tweak it and polish it and get notes on a second draft, do that, and….then wait...

Validation Sep 03, 2009

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The rumor was all over town, and it was serious enough that my agent felt the need to call me. "It's not true," he said. "What's not true?" I asked.
"The rumor. About the valet parking fees..."

This Is Where We Keep the Writers Aug 27, 2009

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A friend of mine was working on a show once at a large studio that offered tours of its facilities to tourists. They'd gather in the morning, wilting in the Hollywood sunshine, and be led around by a young studio page who would guide them around the various studio landmarks...

Do You See the Problem? Aug 20, 2009

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A friend of mine pitched a show last week to a network, and they didn't buy it. This isn't a sad story, because another network did want it, so, you know, no tears, but for the six days between the first network saying no and the second network saying yes, he had time to sit and stew and second guess the show he was pitching...

Big Phone Aug 06, 2009

Show notes

There's an famous photograph of studio chief Jeffrey Katzenberg, back when he was running Disney, on the set of a movie, talking on a cell phone. Famous because, at the time, it was the symbol of a hard-charging, ubiquitous studio boss – always there, always on the phone, always on top of things...

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