Martini Shot

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Check Email Sep 20, 2007

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Here's what I believe: I believe that if you're a writer in Hollywood and you want to have any degree of control over your career, you can't wait around for someone to hand you a writing assignment. You can't wait around to get a studio deal. You're a writer: write yourself into the business. Write yourself into a new genre, a new form, a new career. Sit down at the computer and write. No excuses. No dithering. Just sit down, focus, and do it. That's really the only way to succeed...

The Casino Sep 13, 2007

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The chairman of a large movie studio once said that the movie and television business was a crapshoot. You make a bet, you play the (razor thin) odds and then you roll the dice...

Hack Tricks Sep 06, 2007

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When you're writing a script, sometimes you resort to a plot device that's totally implausible but necessary to the story –- a coincidental meeting of your two main characters, for instance, or, maybe, the only way you can free your hero from certain death is with a freak, unexpected earthquake that jolts the steamroller that's about to hit him -– c'mon, we've all done it. We've all resorted to these kinds of tricks, told ourselves, "hey, look, it's a buy, okay?" or "it's way deep in the third act, at this point, the audience wants an earthquake to happen," or, "it's happens on page six! It's a romantic comedy! The audience expects a certain amount of fanciful whimsy…"

Quality Control Aug 30, 2007

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I finished a book recently called Hollywood Economics by a brilliant mathematician named Arthur Devany. I say "finished" the book instead of "read" the book because it's filled with a lot of complicated graphs and tables, and words like "Gaussian curve" and "fractal" which resulted in me turning a lot of pages in eye-watering stupefaction. But I got the gist...

The Larrys Aug 23, 2007

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The professional code among comedy writers dictates that if you have a friend who is producing a pilot, you are honor-bound to volunteer your services for the pilot week...

Homeless Guy Aug 16, 2007

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So a few mornings ago, I'm walking my dog along Ocean Front Walk in Venice. It's an early weekday morning, and I'll be honest: I'm not looking my best. You know, it's in the morning. I'm walking the dog. I'm not, you know, pitching. So I have on a pair of shorts that may be tattered, and a t-shirt that may have been used, recently, to mop up some kind of spill. But I repeat – I'm just walking the dog...

Summer Sign-Up 2007 Aug 09, 2007

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I'm sort of a neat person. I try to stay organized. Not out of any creepy OCD kind of thing – I mean, I know a guy who, when he buys a new package of athletic socks, labels and numbers them with a sharpie – you know, 1L, 1R, for pair number one, left foot, pair number one, right foot. Just in case...

Running for Trains Aug 02, 2007

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A guy I know tells this story: He and a student friend are in Paris. They're going to take the Metro somewhere, and as they're going through the turn-style, they hear the train arriving and its doors opening. The guy starts to run when his friend grabs him by the arm and stops him and says, "I don't run for trains..."

Early Later Jul 26, 2007

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A few years ago, I went to cooking school, briefly, and I learned a lot. But one of the most interesting things I learned was about food safety...

Here's the Great Part Jul 19, 2007

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I went to an event a few weeks ago for the launch of a new web media company. I go to those kinds of things about once every, well these days, about once a day. There are zillions of these new web enterprises around, all with the kinds of fanciful, made-up names that create the image of young, fun-loving kids in interesting t-shirts watching web videos as they sit in some cool bar waiting for their ultimate Frisbee friends to show up or text them or meet them where their favorite band is playing...

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