My First Hollywood Sale

Okay, let's begin again. I have to start over again after a little bit. You've wondering about my ex, we decided to end our marriage. It was quiet and we went our ways. I've left behind almost everything I have but I felt good, moving across America.

There's another part of what I'm doing and why I write,

I don't know if any of you have read Jack Kerouac. If you haven't, you should. His book turned me around as to what I want in life. Jack was part of what was a group of authors whose work and influenced American culture and politics in the post-war era. The most of their work was published and popularized. 

The Beat Generation was a literary movement started by a group of authors whose work explored and influenced American culture and politics in the post-war era. The bulk of their work was published and popularized throughout the 1950s. Along with that it was called The Beat Generation as well as San Francisco Renaissance.

I found a copy of the biggest book that ever came from them. It was called The Beat Generation. And Kerouac was their leader among others. The book took cross-country drives across America in the early 50's in crazy, mad places and the beginning of what would change writing differently. Buy one.

It slammed into me like a rock. I loved travel since I could remember. Mostly where of my father, whose gift of driving eight hours a day and then find a cheap motel for them, my younger brother and me. I had the sickness that Kerouac had, and I think I knew so was my farther.

And if you really want to see how bad I had to write about it, have a look at my book "How To Not Get Beat Up In Small Town Bar." My newest car today is a 1996 Ford Explorer with over 277,000 miles. And she looks beautiful. I now had the Camaro. Good shape.   cs

Okay, I leave Ontario where my parents and x live. I was going to Hollywood, or L.A. Most people wouldn't enjoy long rides but I love it. I even have a map of dozens of freeways, small roads, anything I could look at. 

I had driven a car from a Detroit sale and gave me 4 days to reach Seattle, bouncing up to Vancouver. But now I was going to L.A. with hopes of writing other screenplays besides Blood Games. I drove the roads that Kerouac drove with his crazy friends. I stopped outside of Amarillo I took some time to see Cadillac Ranch, a bunch of old Cadillac nose up in a field. And on the same day I stopped in "Winslow Arizona" where the Eagles rockers created the song.

So I arrived in L.A. having some Canadian friends who owned a condo. With room for me. I stayed with them for a few weeks after exploring the town and settled with an American friend in a nice area of west LA. I was there.

I had written a screenplay that was running around my head, what with now two women behind me. It's not an easy thing, but I had to have a chance to sell it. Naive as hell. I also had two friends from Canada also and I spent a lot of time with Leo. Thru the weeks I looked for an agent, having no real idea of what I need to do and why.

This was so different than Canada, it was warm for one thing, but also it was "so American". It didn't take long to tell me that I'm not going to get anywhere. I talked to some weird agents and my money was getting low. 

Then I found a woman who had an agency on Hollywood Boulevard, she was nice, friendly and smart. She liked me and I liked her and then I showed her my screenplay. It was a very odd story for me but it was something I wanted to get off.

The story was about a girl's baseball team that go into the redneck territory and when someone gets hurt, the girl's team tries to get out of town. I don't know why or how I wrote it but I thought it was something interesting because the women fought back with the rednecks and in the end... they win (the girls).

My agent liked it, sold it for about $2000 which at that time was non-guild and you take what you get. I was still realizing I had to go back because I couldn't work here and I needed some of Lionel's cheap video movies to make.

While I was hoping to sell the girls script I was more interested in Hollywood. I moved around with other Canadians but I began to realize that I needed a better script than the girls, actually I didn't even want my name on it.

So, after about eight months, I departed with the Camaro. I had car problems in New Mexico and my dad had to pay the repairs over the phone.

I still had the $2000 mostly and managed to see a lot of Kerouac country and hoped one day to write a screenplay like what Kerouac wrote. Small towns, cafes, strange parks, everything I could consume. Some day.

Finally I returned safe and sound. But the movie took a long time and there were changes by a bunch of cheap producers and a fairly good cast for that type of movie. I suppose that became Blood Games and the ballgirls win, although lots of violence. They used what they had and knew it well. I had a really good title but can't remember it.

You can see it on youtube. It's awful. The "other writers" basically made it even worse than I might have done over.

See my Christmas film. I've gotten better.

"It's a girl my lord, in a flat bed Ford..."

Winslow, Arizona