Martini Shot

I was talking to a writer the other day who has written a wonderful script. He's sort of an unknown, so he did the smart, entrepreneurial thing: he wrote it on spec. That is, he just carved out some time in his day, sat in one place and, over the course of several weeks, he eked out a funny, smart, fresh pilot script...

A friend of mine called up someone he's known for over twenty years. They had had a meeting a few weeks ago about a project my friend was working on, the guy he's known for such a long time is in the talent management business – although, when you get right down to it, everyone in the entertainment industry is in the talent management business – and the meeting went well, everyone was happy to see everyone else, everyone was excited about the project, everyone was going to follow up, so when my friend did, in fact, follow up a few days later with a phone call, he expected to get his call returned...

Working in the entertainment industry is a little like being a character in one of those magical realism novels – it's about as close to real life as you can get and still have room for unexpected plot twists and scary monsters...

In Hollywood, written -- that is to say, legally binding -- contracts are thought of as vulgar. In fact, just asking for a written contract is apt to bring out the latent mafiosi in Industry denizens. "I'm giving you my word," their pained expressions seem to say.  "What?  You don't trust me?"

I got a call recently from an agent I know – a guy who represents some wonderful writers – some of whom I've worked with, some of whom I've only wish I've worked with – and he told me that he was leaving the agency business and becoming a manager...

For the past year or so, I haven't had what you might call an assistant, on the logic that my life isn't really so complicated that I need assistance.  I can work my phone, I can use Google Maps, I can unwrap my own sandwich – I'm a functioning, reasonably organized adult who makes his uncertain way in the world unassisted...

I'm in New York right now, and I just had lunch with an old friend of mine who somehow, despite richly deserving it, has not yet been fired by the investment bank where he works in something called "structured finance"...

A few years ago, back during the Golden Age of television – and by Golden Age here I don't necessarily mean the age when television content was golden, when the shows were of a uniformly excellent quality – I honestly don't believe in that kind of designation – I think no matter when you turn it on, you can always find something on television worthwhile, interesting, and of high quality...

Everybody in Hollywood has their version of this story. You've got a show or a movie out there, and you're walking around town and maybe you run into an old friend or sit next to someone on an airplane and the conversation gets around to what you do for a living and quickly gets to the "have you ever done anything I might have heard of?" stage, and you mention your project and get this: Oh yeah. I've seen that...

There's an old rule in business that says you shouldn't have a meeting unless there's an outcome to the meeting. There's no point in getting a bunch of people together unless there's a point to it -- unless at the end of the meeting at least one person walks out of there with an actual, deliverable task to accomplish...

It's awfully hard, sometimes, in this business, to know exactly why someone is calling you. Which is odd, because there are really only two choices: they want to give you money, or they want to you to give them money...

Whenever someone feels the need to say "I am not a geek," you can count on on thing: That person is a geek. So: I am not a geek. But I do have geeky attributes...

You never really know when you're finished with something in this business. Well, that's not strictly true – I mean, when the network president calls you and uses his or her sad, regretful voice to tell you that your show is cancelled – well, then I guess you know you're finished...

Do me a favor: for the next four minutes, pretend you have a small computer mouse-shaped thing in your hand, and pretend there's a dial attached to the thing. Now, mentally, because I know a lot of you are driving, when you're enjoying what you're hearing, turn the dial up, that's clockwise. And when you're not, turn it down, counterclockwise...

When I was a kid, in the late 1970's – yeah, I said it. That's how old I am. I was a kid in the late 1970's. You want more detailed math, you're going to have to wait for my obituary. Anyway, when I was a kid in the late 1970's, one of the most popular shows on the air was Happy Days...

The test of any good writer is how well he complains. Some writers are great with dialogue, some are great with story, some can create electric, three-dimensional characters out of thin air – good writers are good at different stuff. But all writers, if they're any good, must be able to complain...

Childbirth, like producing a hit TV pilot, is painful, takes too long, requires muscle relaxants and ultimately involves more people than is strictly efficient. And also afterwards, the brain tends to forget all about the struggle. That's so you'll want to do it again...

A friend of mine tells this story about a pilot he did years ago.  It was a pretty simple premise – single dad raising a kid; kid's smart; dad's weirded out by getting into the dating world; you know, that show – and the network was pressuring him to cast a certain actor in the lead role, an actor who was really hot at that moment, who was a major star on Broadway...

The first time you drive onto a studio lot, the first time the gate lifts and you glide your car into the little fortress of money and cool and casual assurance, you feel like you've...won.

Boxee allows the user to recreate the Hulu experience on the television. And that is a sentence that would make no sense to anyone three or four years ago. Maybe even one year ago. And maybe it makes no sense to most people right now.