So I was hit with the dreaded writer's block for a long while and had nothing to say; nothing of merit at least. I realized that most of what goes on this blog has no merit what's so ever. I'm not a recognized entity that holds any clout with the masses. Not yet anyway. As of late, I've realized that I may never live that experience which is a hard pill to swallow. It's not the fortune and fame I was after; it never was about being a celebrity. For me it was believing you could achieve anything you want in life. It was about achieving greatness. Sure it may sound like the 'cast off's' goodbye speech at the end of one of those reality shows but perhaps letting go of something you love doesn't just apply to people. Besides, the industry is often times referred to as a love affair with a cold mistress.
Back when I was courting this mistress, I took a trip out to Hollywood to see what the industry was really all about. I had done my research before hand and as anyone knows, you should go with at least a meeting set up. Well, I had a meeting half set up. Somehow through a few degrees of separation, I was able to get a fresh new script to an executive at Sony Pictures. Like a wide-eyed boy discovering what a MILF is, I arrived in Los Angeles and got my first taste of 'being a Hollywood player'. Getting off the massive freeway, I arrived at my hostel and found my way around with the confusing public transit system. Everything was real low budget, as I was a starving artist...
The locals were friendly, only because they too were foreigners. To this day I'm not sure if most of the people I met were really Californians since Hollywood & Vine is the city's tourist district. In retrospect there was one stranger from LA who was very friendly to me. He wanted me to assist him with his broken down car, which soon was able to give me a ride home ten minutes later... I often wonder which ditch I would have ended up in, had I gotten in that vehicle.
Of course when courting an older mistress, you don't tell your parents until it's time for them to know what's going on. Only a few people knew I had taken off to Los Angeles. I didn't want anyone to know what I was up to in the event that everything fell apart. I played a lot of phone tag with the executive at Sony who had my script as well as some other executives at other production companies. I was fortunate enough to talk to a lot of executive's assistants whose job it is to keep in experienced boys from bothering real professionals. The assistant to the Sony executive was very nice and I was encouraged to call back to arrange the meeting.
Success! Two days in Los Angeles, with a real Hollywood meeting! I had done the impossible. Day three rolled around and the world changed. It was September 11th 1999 and I woke up to my cell phone going off. It was my sister telling me to turn on the television. I need not go into detail about that day as my own experience is nothing compared to scores of others. However, I will say that being thousands of miles away from anyone I knew in a strange place with nothing more than $50 in my pocket was terrifying. I couldn't get money for days. Luckily the hostel I was staying at was very understanding about the situation. I had to call my parents and let them know I was in Los Angeles instead of school... that didn't go over so well.
Needless to say, my meeting with Sony never happened... and in hindsight, it's a good thing it didn't because that script was horrible.
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