Martini Shot

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...