Other authors

Sorry I have been away for a while but I have been very busy with work. But now I am getting back to doing my regular job, which is as an author.

I met a television writer over the weekend. His name is Paul Guyot and he is quite funny. He worked as a stand-in for a number of movie stars, including Tommy Lee Jones (Men in Black) and Chow Yun-Fat. Then he worked his way into staff writing positions on several television shows, including lastly for "Judging Amy," where he was a producer-writer.

He gave up Hollywood up to raise a family away from "the Hollywood life."

Although he didn't intend it, he convinced me that, 1), I will virtually never get make screenplay, "Loss of Consortium," before a money person who might want to make it. And 2), I might not want to be involved with Hollywood in the first place.

He says the money if wonderful __ he still writes pilots for television dramas and makes a living at it even if the show never makes it on TV __ but I wonder about the creative freedom. While you can have a chance to write alone, because of the money involved, there will always be lots of input from others that must be taken into account. It's that muddying of the creative process that makes some movies so incredibly dreadful. (Read "The Devil's Candy," a book on the making of "Bonfire of the Vanities." What a mess that was.)

Anyway, it is always good to listen to and talk with another writer, particularly if they are successful. As is often the case when it comes to writing, I already knew a lot of what he said. And the most important things he said to being a successful writer is to both read and write, and to be persistent.

As always, I will keep that in mind.

Thanks for reading and keep writing.