Dear Hollywood Diary
This journal should be read across in the following way...
The blue line states the event The Green line comments on the event
I met my girlfriend's parents We drank our asses off
My Hollywood life since leaving Chicago on March 3, 1997
Click HERE to begin the journal or pick from the table of contents below.
The journal begins with LEAVING CHICAGO, and ARRIVING IN LOS ANGELES to be a Filmmaker - ( March 1997)
My first paying film job (with Christopher Coppola) - PALMER'S PICK UP - (February 1998)
My first paying television job (as a Writer/Field Producer) - THE AQUANAUTS - (Winter 1999)
My first feature - I wrote and directed - ALIEN ABDUCTION - (Fall 2004 - Spring 2005)
My second feature - I wrote, produced, and directed - NIGHT OF THE DEAD: LEBEN TOD - (Fall 2005 - Fall 2006)
My third feature - I wrote - SNAKES ON A TRAIN - (Spring - Fall 2006)
My fourth feature - I wrote, produced, and directed - TORTURE ROOM - (Winter 2007/2007 - Fall 2007)
My Fifth feature - 30,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA, Sixth feature - MONSTER, and Seventh feature - WAR OF THE WORLDS 2 - (2007)
All Deals disappear during the WRITER'S STRIKE - I must Strike too. Then Poverty Strikes my family because of it. - (2007-2009).
No Work, Recession, Depression, Destitution, and the salvation that is GHOSTWRITING - (2008- 2009)
Back in the game and on my Eighth feature - I wrote and directed - SEX POT - (Spring 2009)
My Ninth feature - I wrote and Directed - MEGA PIRANHA - (Fall 2009 - 2010)
An Echo of the WGA Strike - I Lose my house to foreclosure followed by my Tenth feature (sort of) - MILF - (Winter 2010)
My Eleventh feature - I wrote - ALMIGHTY THOR - (2010 - Spring 2011)
We are cast on a REALITY SHOW for Lifetime - (Jan 2011 - ???)
Moving my work into other production companies - like CANNIBAL for UFO and THE GUARDIAN, EZEKIEL for WME - (2011)
LEAVING CHICAGO AT THE PEAK OF MY CAREER
I LOVE CHICAGO ----- THERE ARE LOTS OF REASONS TO STAY
I own a beautiful lakefront condo in Lincoln Park ---------- My mother, father, sister, and brother live nearby and we are all very close. ---- I have a beautiful young girlfriend, Kimmer - a talented musical writing partner, Charlie Silliman - and a funny new comedy collaborator, Eric Frederickson (Fred) ------ plus friends living all across the city
I make good money too ----- I'm a frequently produced local playwright ----- I teach improv at the Second City ----- direct plays ----- teach and perform at the Bristol Renaissance Faire ------ run the 250 person cast at Six Flag's Fright Fest ---------- choreograph shows for The Chicago Symphony --------- and my family owns Players Workshop, Chicago's oldest school of improvisation ------------ I am a professional success and local celebrity
BUT CHICAGO DOESN'T HAVE THE MOVIE INDUSTRY
SO I PLAN TO MOVE TO HOLLYWOOD
I JUST NEED TO MAKE IT HAPPEN
SPRING 1996
I live in Vienna, Austria with my girlfriend from Chicago, Mimi - we've been there all Winter, going to school I ask her to move to LA with me when we get back. She says "probably not"
SUMMER 1996
I return to Chicago to teach street theater and act at the Bristol Renaissance Faire Mimi stays in Austria to finish the term. I want to either move back to Europe in the Fall - or out to LA
Mimi returns - we talk about going to Los Angeles together She is not interested - it is too far from her family
I direct a stage show and perform Silas Brimfire at the Faire I move out of Mimi's apartment and into the Theatre Shoppe - I take over the 2nd floor as my casting office for that Halloween's Fright Fest
FALL 1996
I hire 250 people and run the cast at Fright Fest up at Six Flags Great America JPM (the sub-contractor) is happy. So I'm a big shot there.
I hook up with an actress, Kim Martin up at Fright Fest. She's 22, from Wisconsin, and adorable. She would be happy to move to LA with me - and maybe even have a brood of kidlings
"Boom Chicago", a successful improv school and cabaret in Amsterdam calls me They offer me a job, teaching and directing in the Netherlands. It is all I've longed for - to live in Europe for years and years doing theater. But what about LA. I do not give Boom an answer quite yet
I feel like I miss Chicago already - and I'm not even gone yet (my mother - my family - and even Mimi who I was with for 5 years -- I miss them all) Kim M helps he take my mind off of it
It never rains, it pours: JPM offers me a job too - down in Marietta, Georgia - running the Fright Fest casts for all the Six Flags parks east of the Mississippi After a day in Marietta and Atlanta I decide once and for all - I am not staying in Chicago another season - I AM MOVING TO LOS ANGELES
I call my pal Neil Guintoli who lives just outside of LA to see if he'll put me up for a week to check things out he says "of course I'll put you up - and bring your gal"
DECEMBER 1996
Kim M and I fly to Los Angeles in December to scope things out. We stay with my friend Neil and his wife Trish for 10 days. LA is great. Kim loves it too.
I return to Chicago and put the last of my stuff into storage Kim and I all but live together as I prep to leave. I will get settled in So Cal - then she will join me and finish college at UCLA.
My old Ren Faire pal, Eric Frederickson and I decide to write a script together He has a title: "Neighbor of the Beast" - the plot is that Satan's neighbor is given the horn of the Apocalypse by accident. - funny -- I say, thumbs up
Eric and I begin brainstorming for neighbor... We talk about sit-coms and other shows to write too. I guess I have a new writing partner. Eric & Eric. The two Erics... hmmmm
JAN. - FEB, 1997
My father goes to India with his girlfriend, Dorothy and lets me uses his apartment Kim and I live there while I yank up my last roots - it is a taste of what living with her in LA would be like: NICE - I feel young again - maybe too young
I finish the script for Neil's TV show with Eric Frederickson - (nick named "Fred" so people don't confuses us). I am ready to leave.
I see Mimi for an Indian lunch on Devon Avenue - she looks beautiful and reminds me of a woman in her prime who is ready to start a family - I'm torn - I miss her - but Mimi will not go with me - she will not leave Chicago. She wishes me well and hands me a parting gift - a cassette tape of Indian Ragas performed by Fakir Ali Khan for the drive to California. They are magical. I listen to them as I pull out of the parking space while Mimi waves goodbye - I weep as I drive away - yes - it is goodbye - to a lot of things
My old life is over - - it is time to go I know that I may never live in my beautiful Chicago again: and that as soon as I go I will be able to count the days that have left to be with my mother and my father who are both older. How many times will I ever be with them again? What about my sister and my niece, and my cousins? What about all of my old girlfriends who I still love, like Mimi, or Elizabeth Nelson, or Ellie, or Maureen my long time on-again-off-again lover, or my wonderful Kay. And what about Kimbelle up at Bristol, my enchanted magical Ren Faire - my Fright Fest - my Second City - my kids shows - my family's improv school and our beautiful life in the theater - my friends - my musical collaborator Charlie, and my mother - oh - how I will miss her - how deeply I will miss her.
IT'S TIME!
"Goodbye my beautiful Chicago - my family - my friends - my work" On March 3rd at 3pm I ditch it all - (even my cute girlfriend Kim) - leaving everything I own in storage
It's just me & my 1995 gold Saturn SL2 - packed to the brim I drive West 12 hours a day - often by way of route 66. Very Americana, especially Amarillo
I stop in Tucson to visit my pal Ralph we grill salmon, eat Pico de'gallo, and talk a lot - especially about girls - Francis Parker - and the past
I call my cousin, Barbara, also in Tucson, but she is busy Barbara is my only close family west of the Rocky Mountains - I want to reconnect with her - for my soul
After a week on the road I drive highway 10 thru the desert into Greater Los Angeles a brown dome of Smog looms ahead & Giant highway overpasses as I enter the Inland Empire.
I arrive at my friend Neil Guintoli’s house in Topanga Canyon at 4pm March 10th It is an hour west of Hollywood, up in the local mountains. I feel like Jeremiah Johnson
Neil and his wife, Trisha, put me up in a small room in their tiny guesthouse. Neil's smoky office is adjacent but I have a private door. Outside the air smells of sage and damp grasses.
.jpg)
Neil and Trisha take me for "a welcome" dinner to Gladstone's on the beach Guiliano, their 3 year old son, comes too. He calls me "Uncle Da Da". I feel like family.
That night, the world goes freezing cold and pitch black except for stars. Animals scuffle outside my door. Spiders crawl up my walls. California is more wild than Illinois.
I wake up in LA (sort of) – I must now begin my “New Life” Neil is not home much so Trisha shows me around - we grocery shopping (down the mountain) – set up my room - settle in.
I do recon missions to get the lay of the land - Rule #1: Everything is down the hill. - Rule #2: Don't run out of gas. I drive and drive and drive. One excursion: The Getty Villa. Amazing.
Neil is busy most of the time. He plays Florus on The Jeff Foxworthy Show at CBS Neil is becoming a star. He has his own trailer. He works a lot. I want to be like him.
In order to have success I must write specs, meet powerful people, and get an agent I ask Neil to read the Foxworthy spec that I wrote with Frederickson. He takes it.
Four days after I arrive - Charna Halpern opens IO West She invites me to come as her guest to the Gala event. My new life is starting out with improv. Good.
The opening IO West, at the Stella Adler in Hollywood, is great It feels like home. I know everyone: Chris Farley, Jon Favreau, and tons more. Improv is my life.
I tell Everyone at IO that I am a Writer and Director in Hollywood now they nod and smile - they've hear that one before
After IO West, I reconnect with many Chicago improv ex-patriots in LA I feel more like one of them here than I ever did in Chicago
Some of the people that I reconnect with offer to take me to lunch Steve Carell is the first. He takes me to Canter's, a deli in West Hollywood - he's struggling out here too
I join the first round of classe at IO West (finally I will learn the Harold) I ask the staff not to tell anyone who I am. I have the time of my life. And I am good at it too.
My improv expands from IO West to Jeff Michelski's Second City Alumni Jam on Santa Monica Pier I know even more people there - and they all know me. Julie Larson becomes my pal.
When I am not at improv I go to the Santa Monica promenade There - I eat curry, write in cafes, and revise Frederickson's and my '3rd Rock From The Sun' spec. It is nearly finished
Things are going so well that I can almost hear the dollars rolling in All I need to do now is submit my specs, get a job, and make it all happen
I ask Neil to help me to break in and meet people I am certain that with my credits and experience I will have a sit-com writing job in no time flat - maybe even at Foxworthy
My other high school chum, Charles Schneider offers to help me get head shots He lives in Hollywood and works for Propaganda Films writing music videos. He wants me to act and has lots of plans to put me in his future movies. I'm psyched.
Neil takes me to NBC to see a taping of the Foxworthy Show I meet Jeff Foxworthy and the show's producers. Seinfeld tapes on the stage next door. I meet some of them too.
I tell Everyone I am a Writer and Director everyone nods and smiles -- so is their granny.
A few days later Eric Frederickson moves to LA I am so excited. I take him to the IO and introduce him to Neil, Schneider, and some of my other friends.
I take Frederickson to The Foxworthy Show. We are both SOLD. We work on finishing up the 3rd Rock spec together. I ask Neil to help me get the Foxworthy spec to the write producer.
Fred introduces me to his LA friends, Lou Anders, Stephenson Crossely, and Nate Rotminz They all live in Hollywood and are trying to make it in the biz too
I tell Everyone I am a Writer and Director everyone nods and smiles - so I tell 'em again. Maybe they'll believe me this time.
Frederickson and I take our spec script to a meeting with the head writer for Foxworthy He smiles and says that he already has his writing staff - and the show looks like it's not being picked up for another season anyway so we had better write a different spec.
Fred and I start up on a 3rd Rock From The Sun spec we have joined the ranks of spec writers in LA, of which their are thousands - "Hey! I thought this was going to be easier!"
One thing I love - at the end of the day - I get to drive fast up the road to Topanga Blasting music - Enigma and Deep Forest mostly - all with my car roof open wide.
SURPRISE, New Girlfriend-Kimmer suddenly arrives in LA to stay - she's 22 Not a moment too soon. Shocked as I am - hootchy cootchy makes the world go round: at least my world
I show Kimmer around - introduce her to people - she makes a good impression - But I am too old for her I want her to finish college. I want babies. I want to focus on my career. Lots of arguments later she decides not to stay.
Kimmer is gone. I am suddenly lonely. Very Lonely. I start to long for my old-old girlfriend-Mimi - closer to my age - ready for a family - but she will never leave Chicago.
Frederickson says “it’s all for the best” we go to strip clubs and drink near-beer
Meet with Entertainment Director of Wind Dancer Productions --- he likes our 3rd Rock spec & wants to see more
See The Second City Alumni Jam, meet Julie Larson --- I feel at home. I go every week. - Between that IO and this - improv is the center of my life again. Okay by me.
Shave Beard, get head shots --- discover that I have no upper lip or chin
RETURN TO CHICAGO TO PERFORM HYDEN AT THE CSO - make money, drag it to LA
as Hyden at the Chicago Symphony, 1997
curtain call at the CSO, 1997
Back in Los Angeles - I join To The Top (meet Jay Hastings) I take on camera classes and hang out at their offices on Hollywood and Vine - its crowded and fun
I Begin my Brief LA Acting Career my father is happy - the news spreads in Chicago of my "success" - HA!
Friend, Maurice McNicholas tells Chicago pals I write for 3rd Rock I explain that it was only a spec script, then I hide
I am an extra on an infomercial I play the guy with the girl, fifty bucks
Do an under five for a non union commercial fifty bucks
I Join Cinex Casting me and five thousand others
“Chicago Hope” on NBC featured extra, one hundred bucks. Adam Arkin hates me (he does not realize that he was my baby sitter at Second City back in 1964)
knowing that Adam Arkin hates me is more than I can bare -- so I consider leaving LA I write in my journal for hours. Finally I decide, “screw him - the bastard!”
"ooops" my first California Romance: a crush on Julie L___ - it is like a movie I play the role of the dreaded male who is eventually shunned by the brilliant woman he wants
I try to patch things up with Kim No Dice
I try to patch things up with Mimi No Dice
Frederickson says “it’s all for the best” we go to strip clubs and drink near-beer
I get cast in A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM I play NICK BOTTOM - (so did my father 50 years ago - and my mom played Titania)
RETURN TO CHICAGO TO PERFORM THE REN FAIRE I play Silas Brimfire , the Puritan (M. McNicholas is my partner)
Maurice McNicholas as Ebenezer Hellstone and me as Silas Brimfire at the Bristol Ren Faire - it is the best job I've ever had
The Ren Faire saves my soul - it is a Summer of Love Back with Kim M on and off - also Kimbelle S is there for me -- and finally I hook up with the brilliant AE
Return to LA in much grand-amor with AE Letters, music tapes and telephone recordings are exchanged - mostly her sending them to me like clockwork
Frederickson and I write a Frasier spec script in between huge fights - REALLY HUGE FIGHTS!
Neil is Fed up with my antics - especially all of my girlfriends while not paying much rent I promise to be out of his guest house by the end of September
Ralph Saunders moves to LA to teach at USC We decide to get an apartment together - in West Hollywood where Lou, Fred, and Nate live
I Move from Topanga Canyon to an apt on Willoughby St in W H on September 17th, 1997 -- The landlord is a nice Jewish guy named Ed Cohen. My roommate is my old Jewish pal Ralph from High School. I am near Canter's Deli. -- And I take the big room for myself (and an upcoming visit from AE) -- I am content.
AE postpones her visit to go to Italy She writes me and calls me, weeping at the beauty of it all - I feel like I am almost there
Frederickson and I return to our old feature film script - "Neighbor of the Beast" In between even huger fights. MUCH HUGER FIGHTS!
Frederickson and I type up a script for Neil we split a thousand dollars and fight - OUCH! It's like having an evil girlfriend with a beard.
A month later than expected, AE visits me for two weeks I buy $5000 worth of furniture and take her to Mexico
AE leaves - and not in a way that says "let's have kids" maybe I should have bought more furniture
I cook a lot for Ralph in fact, we’re married (figuratively) - its the best relationship I've got at the moment ;)
Spend a lot of time with Ralph, Gabby and Anthony much fun and many calories
I abandon my partnership with Frederickson my pepto bismal bill goes down but I don’t have nearly as much fun
I join PAA (production assistants association) they help me to work for free
I get Second Assistant Director on a 35mm feature I work for free
I meet Jeff Olan at Rainbow casting He loves my mother so he wants to help me
RETURN TO CHICAGO FOR CHRISTMAS I arrive on Dec. 15th
Ann Elizabeth breaks up with me on Dec. 16th, which happens to also be my birthday
I go nuts and become a sex crazed maniac
Mimi and I begin dating again she didn’t want her parents to find out
On Dec. 30th my father is hospitalized for arterial blockage I get drunk at AE’s New Years party and make a fool of myself (Sorry AE)
My father survives his angioplasty Chicago is over for me. I ship 10 boxes to LA
RETURN TO MY APT ON WILLOUGHBY It was good to be back in West Hollywood
Had visitors: first Julie Moskel, then Patti Horvath I didn’t touch ‘em, I swear
On Jan. 18th, 1998, while walking with Patti, I run into a friend Karen Goodman, a fellow theatre director from Chicago
I am an extra in a Music Video $50
I send resumes out to student productions more free work, but this time it’s behind the camera’s
I ask Karen out on a first date lots of garlic and no kissing
I get a gig, First Assistant Director for Kuang Lee more free work but I’m learning film
I ask Karen out on a second date okay, kissing
I work hard on Kuang's movie - maybe one day he will direct a big film but what I really need is a steady girlfriend and a paying job
I ask Karen out on a third date PAY OFF
My first true
Hollywood job: Palmer's Pickup
My friend Neil Giuntoli (who works all the time) lands a large supporting role in a feature film: Palmer's Pickup It is directed by Christopher Coppola, nephew of Francis Ford, brother of Nicholas Cage - it stars Bobby Caradine and Rosanna Arquette
I ask Neil to find a paying gig for me on the crew - I tell him that I will do anything. ANYTHING! Neil brings me into the production office for an interview.
I introduce myself to the powers that be. They might have an opening for a runner (a driver/lackey) I meet Jen the production coordinator, a Viking beauty with an attitude (I think she hates me). I meet Mark Ean (I think he's the 1st AD); he snubs me and clearly hates me even more than Jen. I meet the DGA intern, Barb (she's nice thank god). Then I meet Coppola himself. He's big, tall, and baritone..
Christopher Coppola is a formidable personality - very Italian - and enamored by Americana and Kitsch. The movie he's making is filled with odd-ball B, C & D list stars who all exude an air of delightful camp. Christopher Coppola reminds me of a warrior version of John Waters - he sees the poetry in trashiness, truck stop wisdom, & hokey souvenir shop iconography - but Coppola does not have John Water's fascination with transvestites and the repulsive.
Christopher blows past me after a brief but passionate exchange and starts hollering commands to his troops. I am instantly in awe and terror. Jen says "we'll get back to you."
By day I work on Kuang's movie -- at night I stay at Karen's small apartment - waiting for news Karen lives on a street named "Stoner". It fits her personality. We mate like wild badgers - me, a 220 lb work-out nut at the tail end of a long weight loss and her, a sturdy Jewish/Italian princess who smokes, drinks, gets buzzed, and eats nothing but gourmet feasts. I join Karen in a few of her vices while awaiting a reply from the Coppola film.
After a few days I get a call from Jen at the Palmer's office -- I'm in - 50 bucks a day My first assignment is to pick up Soupy Sales the next morning (tomorrow) at 6 AM at the Doubletree Hotel in Westwood and drive him to LAX. I say "yes, thank you, I'll be there, thank you, thank you."
I am instantly worried - I may have bit off more than I can chew I'm still working on Kuang's film as first AD and we have a night shoot starting in a few hours - I hope against hope that it doesn't go too late
my shoot with Kuang goes too late - I get home at 3 AM - set my alarm for 5 and pass out I wake up at 5:55 - no alarm - just a desperate panic. I am a defeated mess weeping like a baby as I call the hotel deliriously asking to please speak with Nipsy Russel (in my sleep-deprived mind Soupy Sales and Nipsy Russel meld together).
Soupy gets the message and takes a cab I am devastated. I check the alarm - it is set for 5... PM. SHITTTTTT! Ralph wakes up and tries to calm me down. I shake and shudder. What a HUGE failure I have just become. This will never go away.
I am humiliated and nauseated from blowing my very first real job I want to leave town for good. I almost give up my Hollywood Dream - poor Neil, how I have let him down - and how can I ever face my friends in Chicago again. Maybe I'll see if that job in Amsterdam is still available. Oh, the horror - the horror.
I suck it up and go into the production office to face the pummeling I expect to get I'm shocked at how my total fuck-up is written off as "a new guy" thing. the word they use for me is "green". WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON HERE???
I do at least ten errands on my first day and do not fuck any of them up - luckily by the end of the day all is forgiven - I'm in - Coppola wants me back in the morning- in fact, they all say that I'm doing a great job. I wonder if it is an Italian thing. Thank god I'm a paisan
My first night on the job I am sent to the set with costumes where I meet Paolo Durazzo (he is a production guy) we instantly become great friends - he is pals with Coppola so I feel protected. Paolo reminds me of my cousin Martin, tall, thin, warm hearted, and very positive. He is also half Italian like me. Hey - I think I'm going to like this project.
I watch Neil in action. He's good - he is a star with his own dressing room - I'm impressed days are long and I am the lowest person on the totem. I work hard and sleep very little. The state of exhausted semi-delirium that I began with lingers because I can't catch up on my rest.
I find out that the movie only shoots in Los Angeles for another week or so. The rest is shot on the road heading to Baton Rouge the entire cast and crew ship out soon and there is little to no chance that I will be going along - damn - my first real job and it is already over
the day before the production leaves town I get the call to pack - we leave in the morning - I'm still in I sleep one last night with my new girlfriend Karen and the next day I am on a bus heading east for the road trip of my life - Mark is suddenly not going and neither is Barb - so I got shuffled into the road crew in a back room deal that I can only imagine was heavily debated. In the end I think that Paolo pushed for me. Molto Grazie.Paolo.
For the next month we travel across the south west and gulf coast states Christopher films every crazy kitschy American location he can find
I am the first on the set and the last to leave - while everyone is asleep I run around making call sheet copies I average 3 hours sleep per night
My father has open heart surgery but doesn’t tell me - not wanting to ruin my big opportunity with Coppola Meanwhile, I am key set PA doing every menial thing possible
I work my way up from PA to 2nd 2nd AD 20 hour work days, it was an ass buster - but I do a great job
I get a big crush on the costumer, Nichol But Karen is waiting back at home for me so I hold off
Mimi calls me from Chicago - she wants to give it a try and come to California I tell her that it is too late. I hope that Karen is still waiting back at home for me so I hold off
I stay in a hotel full of hookers in Baton Rouge I keep telling myself, "Karen is waiting back at home for me" so I hold off
Palmer's shoots at Mardi Gras and I get really drunk in New Orleans who doesn’t?
I return to Los Angeles on the 3rd of March Karen is waiting for me - it is the day after her birthday --- boy does she give me a "present"
I am invited to join the Directors Guild as an AD Nunzio Fazio, Christopher Coppola and Alain Silver share credit --- I JOIN as a non-QL, 2nd AD
2nd AD on a flick at AFI (its Union) I sleep with Karen every night and go to work at 6 AM
Jeff Olan gets me a day of union extra work My first SAG voucher
Stephenson Crossley becomes a manager and reps me I begin writing immediately
I write FROGZ in two weeks based on Karen’s dog, ugly, who sounds like a frog
I begin writing HIDDEN a truly inspired suspense horror
Stephenson pulls me off of Hidden and puts me on Soul Man he sets Frederickson and I up as partners again
Soul Man is cancelled Frederickson and I finish the script
OVER ONE YEAR IN LOS ANGELES total income from LA, $4000
Even though I’m broke I decide to marry Karen that should shake up the space
I write and direct the 16mm short STIMULI it is for Paolo's project, Lyconic Visions. Karen is Art Director
Actress Karen Pellant watches me as I explain a shot to Karen Goodman
Karen is pregnant, I’ll be a dad I invite her to move in with me
Ralph is furious at me for being a bad roommate I whip out the pepto bismol again
High School Reunion (left to right) Neil Giuntoli, Charles Schneider, Brian Straus & me
I return to Chicago to introduce Karen to my family The first thing my mother sees is Karen’s butt
My father has his intestines removed from his hospital bed he asks Karen to produce his new play
We attend my High School Reunion I stay drunk all day long
I propose to Karen at the Buckingham Fountain It is very Romantic
My father has more intestines removed our trip is extended from 4 days to two weeks
WE GET OUT OF DODGE AND RETURN TO LA Ralph moves out. Karen and I set up house.
Karen gets Lupus and has to quit work I flip out
Karen reveals huge debts and terrible credit I flip out more
Karen has a suspended license and a lot of tickets I am wildly flipped
I decide to sell my last asset, my condo in Chicago My mother has been living in it
We begin looking for a house Our broker is Karen’s best friend’s father in law
Paolo gets me Production Coordinator for a feature I work for a month and the project folds
We look at many houses and apartments I long to write and work on films
Karen and I get Married at the Unitarian Church on Halloween She dresses as a princess, I am Bach, her father carries a gun
Honeymoon in Paris, Denmark, Stockholm and Chicago glad I brought along a heavy coat and some credit cards
Lot’s of Forsberg’s in Scandinavia, Honeymoon 1998
I sell my condo in Chicago walk away with $100,000.00
Karen’s credit card debt is worse than we thought so is mine
Her Lupus gets worse and worse the internet describes a horrible fate
We both gain weight I go from 220 to 265 in 98
I work on Hidden but I can’t get it right I often play video games
Karen cannot travel My family comes to LA for Christmas
Christmas in Los Angeles The family from Chicago spreads cheer
The Aquanauts -
on Animal Planet - My First really big Job in LA
My first job of 1999 comes on Jan. 11th Paolo Durrazo brings me onto the Aquanauts
I'm a PA again $500 a week
I quickly work my way up from low level PA to Key PA and all around producer on the set It's still $500 a week
My seriously pregnant wife throws a big surprise birthday party for my mother On Jan. 28th - My mom is 80 but all of her friends think she is no older than 66. Everyone is shocked
My daughter is born Feb 1st - it is the greatest day of my life. Instantly I know what it means to be a father - the sense of duty and love that I feel for my child is exploding inside of me. I want to grab a cudgel and defend my new family like a cave man.
We name her Carlota Juli-Angela Forsberg - and she is an Aquarius just like my mother and my brother He middle name was supposed to be Angela, but my wife's godfather Julius Wector (a musician from the Herb Alpert band and composer of the theme song to the Dating Game) died ten minutes before out baby was born - so her middle name became Juli-Angela
Carlota Juli-Angela amazes the doctors and nurses with her stare She was born Cesarean, looking straight into the doctor's face as she came out - and she can lift her head already and follow the nurses around with her eyes. They say Carlota is intensely aware of things in a way not common for newborns. I think that she is an old soul.
I take off two days from work to be with my new family in the hospital Then it’s back to my 14 hour days coordinating SCUBA shoots - somebody's got to do it.
I am promoted to official California Coordinator It's still 500 bucks per week though -- DAMN!
Good News: My wife no longer has Lupus (it was only gestational) We seriously guzzle booze to celebrate - that aught to fix her.
I become writer and field producer and I am sent to New Zealand Up to 1000 bucks a week plus per diem - but it all happens with less than a week's notice
My mother decides to leave a few days before me. Karen is suddenly alone with the baby She is dazed and exhausted but happy that money is coming in. Last Winter she never thought for one second that in less than a year she would be sitting at home with a new born baby married to a man who was on the other side of the world. Go figure.
I work in New Zealand and Hawaii for nearly two months Our crew comes in under budget and with 15 segments - I am a hero!
In mid April I am reunited with my family We celebrate with lots of eating
I travel for 1 month in California This time my wife and child visit me on the road
Karen finds the perfect house (without a broker) She comes up to Santa Barbara and I sign the papers
We tell Tim McGovern, our friends father in law and our agent He hates us to this day
Karen loves looking for houses She decides to get her real estate license
We tackle a huge loan that takes months The house is a 4 unit in the Hollywood Hills
I return from the road and continue in the Aquanauts office I miss being with my family
I am let go from the Aquanauts after nearly six months I miss eligibility for unemployment benefits by one week
We live off of credit cards We still eat well
The loan for 2111 N. Beachwood Drive comes through It is a dream house on an historic street - we can even see the Hollywood sign
We start asking the old tenants to move - some have been there 20 years they pay one fifth the market rent and their apartments are falling apart and rotting - they need lots of work))
We start fixing up Beachwood $75,000.00
I begin teaching Players Workshop classes at To The Top It’s good to teach improv again (we live off of it)
Students at Players Workshop improvise a “Machine”
I get First AD on Bel Air, directed by Christopher Coppola I break down the script and handle all preproduction
I move to Second AD on Bel Air I work the entire union shoot as a second
my wife Karen and daughter Lola, Summer 1999
I get Second Second AD on Teachers Pet My biggest film
Promoted to First AD on the Second Unit There is a large earthquake during a night shoot
Extra work on Teachers Pet 2nd SAG voucher
I buy an XL1 digital camera boy, do I want to direct my own film
Karen gets her real estate license a two income household, yahoo
I begin writing Cannibal based on a play I wrote in 1993 to 1997
Beachwood is a show palace We entertain people and eat feasts and drink a lot
I go from 265 to 285 in 1999 (65 lbs since meeting Karen) The feasts and the debts keep piling up
Working as AD on Teacher's Pet, Summer 1999
Christmas in Chicago My mother breaks her hip. I get sick. Spend $5000.
New Years 2000 back in the hills Lame Hollywood sign special effect rings in the millennium
I meet Glenn Gainor at a DGA event he wants to do business, but on what?
First AD for Rockboy directed by Paolo Durazzo I do all preproduction. The film gets pushed. I’m out.
Head Writer for US Army Documentary Nunzio Fazio gets me the job
The Frederickson's, Lou Anders & Ginger & Mitchel move Everyone goes to San Francisco or Santa Fe
Carlota’s First birthday I pack my bags during the party for a biz trip to DC
Travel to Washington DC to research Nunzio’s partner Steve Cobb acts as field producer
I pull my father, Rolf into the Army Documentary He’s a bitch but at least he keeps all of his organs
Lola's First Christmas Card
Second City opens in Los Angeles and hires me to teach I am happy to be home
We have a big Oscar party at Beachwood Lots of my Second City Students attend
I meet Jim Wager Karen’s new favorite real estate developer buddy
Jim Wager proposes a partnership to remodel three houses We say “okay” and begin the purchase process
The Army Documentary gets me into the WGA Nunzio and my father take credit
I spend time at Fort Irwin meet a lot of top brass
Jo visits LA we all go to Mexico. I get sick again
My sister and her daughter visit for Easter they leave on Easter morning (eggs at the airport)
I work on Cannibal and The Documentary feverishly I need an agent
Ken Greenblatt at Major Clients Agency is recommended to me I pursue Greenblatt feverishly
Paolo pulls me into Sacred Journey Diaries I am to direct and DP the TV pilot in Italy
Stephenson says “let’s do a sketch show” I say, “let’s”
Sean Abley and Doug Wood recommend me to Ken I REALLY need an agent badly
Carlota is a delight - living on Beachwood Drive is a dream come true Our kitchen is cramped but boy does Karen make a lot of great food
I direct "Sacred journey Diaries" in Italy I haven’t held a camera since the Aquanauts in 1999. It feels great. I take my XL1 and my little Panasonic; they're perfect
Italy is wonderful but hot we are up in the mountains of Abruzzi shooting a spiritual retreat (walking on hot coals, sweat-lodges, leaps of faith, childhood regression therapy). It's wild
I eat a lot of pasta, smoke cloves, and drink Campari every night It is hard to sleep here - there are lots of giant centipedes and bugs. I guess the Italians ate all of their predators
I got bit by an Italian spider - possibly a brown recluse it breaks the blood vessels in my leg and makes me ill. I have a hole in my calve the size of a dime and 1/4" deep. Yuk!
I am really sick from the spider bite poison - I have a fever and am super weak I go to the Pharmacia in town and get some anti biotic. I feel better
Today I could not move for a while I was so week - but I had to shoot a scene I forced myself to splash my face with water - I coughed up blood and then I did the shoot
I feel better today - not so weak and no more coughing - But there is a bright red hole in my leg I finish shooting the pilot and head west to meet Karen in Rome
My wife and baby meet me in Rome - I am so happy we spend a week in Rome in heat wave - but we get a great deal on a penthouse suite overlooking the Pantheon
Carlota loves running around the Pantheon and eating gelato but not as much as she loves Tivoli Gardens once we get to Copenhagen - it is the trip of a lifetime
We return to America the bad news is that I am still a little sick. The good news is that Karen is pregnant again. I couldn't be happier.
I look very pale to Karen so she takes me to the doctor the spider bite was a bad one it seems - with poison that only the antibiotics kept from killing me in Italy - and it left my insides a mess
The doctors give me tons of tests - especially on my heart and organs it's my first night in a hospital since birth
Stephenson visits while I’m on Morphine (he wants a name for our comedy show) I moan the words “Violent Coffee” - he likes it
More than one diagnosis comes in I do not have any blockage - my organs were swollen a little but they are going back down - I could have died but I didn't - now I have to lose weight and live healthy and hopefully I will recover enough to live a normal lifespan. One mean bastard says that I should expect to die within from 3 to 25 years - GRRRRR - who needs to hear that - so could anyone.
I bury myself in teaching and directing I get stronger every day
My wife takes me to an organ specialist - a famous one He does more tests and is way more optimistic than the first round of doctors - already I have improved to almost normal again
Stephenson, Paolo and I work on the sketch show Paolo likes the name “Violent Coffee”
We start up “Violent Coffee”: a sketch show for the Internet I am to be Head Writer, Director & one of 3 Executive Producers
United States Army, Stahelin Productions Nunzio gives the thumbs up to write the shooting script
AT THE IMPROV, main stage Director/Instructor for six sketch improv shows
STELLA ADLER THEATRE Director for one sketch comedy revue
Karen doesn’t feel well - now both of us are on the skids we go to the doctor and he can't find the baby's heartbeat - after four months of pregnancy we lose the baby - we are so sad
The Specialist for me calls I have made a miracle recovery, there is no sign of any problem every - he says I will have a normal lifespan
Karen and I are devastated about our second child being lost. We go up to Big Bear in the mountains to mourn
We return to Los Angeles ready to dive into life again Karen & I pray every night
Karen and I walk out on the pier and say goodbye to our lost baby on Big Bear Lake we call our lost child Maxamillion - the name we had planned to give him - the mountains surround our moment with majesty - so much sadness in such a beautiful place
Karen and I return to our daily life of raising Carlota and trying to make headway in our professional plans We will have another baby one - that's what we tell each other
Good news: Deborah Gainor wants to produce FROGZ Just in the knick of time says the bank
The Jim Wager deals are going too slowly The agreement is that I buy the buildings and Jim fixes them up
Karen closes 2 real estate deals the night before we leave town Chicago is just 2000 miles away
We go to Chicago for a family reunion on Labor Day Martin is there. I tape everyone.
Derek Waters throws a huge Halloween Bash At the new Second City Main Stage off course
“Violent Coffee” is abandoned Web sites across the globe are failing
Money is getting terribly tight We take out a huge second mortgage
We decide to sell Beachwood It goes for a good price in a matter of days
We go up to San Francisco to seal the deal The Buyer’s name is Mary-Lynn
We begin packing We have to be out by March 2001
Martin Visits us one last time He is thin and pale
Karen works hard to close on the properties with Jim We finally close on a house at 5814 La Mirada
Wager refuses to fix La Mirada until we buy the other houses He is running out of money too
Glenn Chili Evans comes over on election night Bush steals the election
Martin returns to New York He will never leave it again
Head Shot, late 1990s (I shaved for the pic)
We go to Chicago for Christmas More money flying out of the window
We go to Lake Geneva to Recuperate from Chicago Spas and pools make things better
Back in Los Angeles for 2001 Back to packing
Our final weeks of Life in the Hollywood Hills We are sad and My medication debilitates me
Jo visits for a month She helps as our beautiful home goes into boxes
Martin is terribly sick in New York City It is touch and go
Jo and I visit Martin He is worse than I thought
Martin asks me to stay with him in New York to be his advocate I do not stay
Jo and I return to California We wait for news of Martin everyday
I begin many writing projects and web ideas But I can’t concentrate long enough to finish any of them
I am depressed by money, Martin and health woes I crawl inside various computer games like Civ II and Ultima Online
Carlota’s 2nd Birthday We have a lovely party in the back yard, our only one
Jo Leaves We need a clear path to finish our short life on Beachwood Drive
Martin’s condition worsens Patty tells me that he does not have long to live
I race to New York on a Jet Blue red-eye I arrive the day before Valentines day
Martin is alive and conscious He is glad to see me
Martin deMaat, my wonderful cousin dies I am there holding his hand when he goes
Jo arrives by train in the hours following Martin’s death We wrap things up in New York and leave
I return to Los Angeles alone Martin visits my dream for years
There is a memorial at Second City in Chicago I miss it
There is a memorial for Martin in Los Angeles I close the service with a speech
Dave Risofsky takes over Martin’s Job at Second City LA The sense of Martin’s work begins to evaporate
We meet Thor’s new Girl friend, Katie Lola loves her
Beachwood’s closing is in Jeopardy We are forced to carry $57,500.00 of the buyers debt
We close on the second house with Wager A duplex on Lexington, one house to go
I take Karen and Lola on a one week cruise We celebrate Karen’s Birthday on the water
We Close on the Third House with Wager It took almost a year but we got them
I now own 4 buildings with 8 units Gross value approx. $1,200,000.00
We close on Beachwood We have 30 days to get out
A company called the Asylum emerges on the scene They will play an important part in my career in the future
I offer the Asylum my scripts and treatments every spec and story idea, plus rewrites - is theirs when they want it - we'll see
We move most of our furniture and boxes into storage Anaheim Mini storage is the cheapest
Wager pulls out of the partnership He demands $7500.00 and one of the houses
We dissolve the Partnership and retain two houses Now we must learn how to fix houses
We fix the toilets and paint the walls of the biggest house It is a 2500 sq. ft. wreck on La Mirada
We move into 5814 La Mirada on April 11th. There is no heat and it’s full of rats
Our New Life in the Flats of Hollywood All of our neighbors speak Spanish
We need to fix the house’s foundations At least $30,000.00
We look for a place to live for two months At least $2500.00 per month
All of our money is tied up in a 1031 tax deferred exchange $127,000.00 in escrow, $750.00 in checking
We find an 18 unit apartment building in Boyle Heights It is a wreck but we love it
We go into escrow on 116 S. Mathews St. The loan will take over six months to come through
Mark Ean Hires me for an AD job “Fits and Starts”, a union gig
We move to North Hollywood We live in a temporary 2 bedroom condo
We go to work on La Mirada Architects, Engineers and Inspectors galore
Jo comes into town She stays with us in North Hollywood
Rolf and Dorthy come into town They stay at the Northwoods Inn in Studio City
Thor moves in with his girlfriend, Katie They live in Van Nuys
I have more than a month of living in “The Valley” More than enough for me
Rolf leaves A tense trip
Filming Saves the Day A company wants to rent our wrecked house for a movie
We return to La Mirada Just in time for the foundation to be demolished and re-poured
Return to our new Life in Hollywood Tamale carts and corn vendors pass our house daily
Alain Silver and Mark Ean Hire me as a Casting Director “Love Machine 4.0” directed by Gary Wulkow
I am a Casting Director I receive over 2000 submissions from agents and managers
We Sell the duplex on Lexington Now we have two 1031 exchanges to deal with
We take over a clients escrow on a lovely duplex on Redondo Another wreck and a half
Paolo Durazzo and Fred Parker hire me as a Casting Director “Sex, Marriage and Children”, a short
We decide to take a driving trip the coast Highway 1 passed San Simeon to San Francisco
We return to start and to finish the foundation We decided to build an addition to the house so it takes months
We move out of the house again We move into the Universal City Hilton
I set auditions for “Sex, Marriage and Children” from the hotel I work up quite a cell phone bill
Karen breaks her foot in the Hilton pool We stay an extra three weeks at the Hilton
Jo visits We rent her a room too
We return to the half finished La Mirada house It is a construction sight
We close on 116 Mathews We use hard money
We construct a Life in Hollywood Make friends with neighbors, patronize local stores
Jo returns to Chicago We should buy stock in ATA
I finish casting “Sex, Marriage and Children” I am not reimbursement for expenses (casualties of War)
I talk with Sean Ably about producing a script of his “Cannibal Beauty Queens”
We close on Redondo It’s too late to fix it and sell in 01 so we aim for early 02
I now own 3 properties with 22 units Gross Value approx. $1,350,00.00
Roger Chapman agrees to frame out the La Mirada addition He says he’ll be finished by Feb. 02
We meet Thor’s new girlfriend, Aileen She does not seem to like Lola or us very much
I see The Lord of The Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring Opening night with Thor and Schneider
We take Lola out of Ms. Huda’s day care after two good years
Karen throws a big house warming/birthday party About 100 people show up
We buy a lot of gifts and leave town We fly to Chicago
Christmas at Rolf’s house We stay at the Hilton Palmer house
New Years in Lake Geneva Snow outside, spa inside
Back to California I make many New Years Resolutions
I Go on a diet and lose 45 lbs The Lindora Diet
We enroll Lola in the Page Private School $750.00 per month
We Take Thor and his girlfriend to a Scottish Birthday Tam O Shanter’s
Carlota’s 3rd Birthday Raw fish party at Shogun Restaurant
I attend an Introduction to Flash Forward A great one day Seminar in Brentwood
Sean and I sign a partnership agreement “Cannibal Beauty Queens” is official
I create a show called “Laughing All The Way to the Bank” It’s a redo of “Violent Koffee”
I Pitch “Laughing…” to Stephenson He love’s it and we partner up
Stephenson goes out of town I move on with “Laughing…”
I Pitch “Laugh Attack” to Nate at Sokolobl He loves it and asks me to come back with more
I work on movie spec projects while Karen fixes Redondo The construction work is slow going and expensive
I breakdown and budget “Cannibal Beauty Queens” I want to do it for one hundred thousand
A full blown Flash Forward Month I organize my career and work my ass off
I meet Sheri Strain from The Asylum at Flash Forward I pitch Frogz and she asks for a script
I stir Glenn Gainor’s interest in FROGZ I rewrite it and name it CROAK
We sell Redondo We make very little money (30 K in a 1031)
Rolf visits for Memorial Day Thor is preoccupied with his demanding gal
I work a lot at Second City in LA I direct a great grad show
I meet the folks at The Asylum Sherri Strain, David Latt and David Rimawi
I pitch LAUGH ATTACK to the executives at Sokolobl Including Damon Harmon
Sokolobl wants to develop LAUGH ATTACK I am called in for pitch after pitch
I go to a UCLA lecture and meet Norman Aladgim - co-founder of Writer's & Artists We talk - his mom lives in Chicago
Norman hooks me up with a Jr. Agent at W&A, Craig Grella Craig takes and interest in CROAK - it's getting play
Glenn wants to produce CROAK - So does his wife He gives me notes - I begin rewrites fro it as a PG13 film
A Summer trip to Chicago We stay for 4th of July
The Bristol Ren Faire I am soooo much fatter than when I worked there
The Wisconsin Dells Nothing but water parks
Life in Hollywood I work as a writer and a contractor every day
Craig Grella and Deborah Gainor have an bad conversation He insists she give me some money - she freaks out
Glen Gainor drops CROAK - now I'm freaked out I tell David Latt at THE ASYLUM that Croak is available
David Latt options CROAK for The Asylum It will be WGA - I am relieved (as Glenn fades into the distance)
I pitch LAUGH ATTACK with Sokolobl at CAA to Peter Maceli CAA is a palace of intimidation
Peter Maceli recommends that Sokolobl pass on my show They Pass and Damon Harmon is pissed
I go off my diet and gain 55 lbs I also play video games (bad move)
Damon Harmon picks up the option on LAUGH ATTACK I am fat and happy
I enjoy my family every day
Life in Hollywood We decide to swallow hard and go to Europe
We leave for Chicago on Dec. 13th Uncle Harry’s funeral is the next day
My Birthday is Celebrated in Tivoli in Copenhagen We drink Aquavit and eat a Danish Jul Bord
It’s a big, family Christmas in Sweden We drink Aquavit and eat a Swedish Jul Bord
in front of our Von Estenberg family crest in the RidderHusset (noble house) in Stockholm
It’s a small family New Years in Italy We drink wine and eat the best clams and pasta
Back to Denmark in a snow storm Our Bags are Lost
It’s on to California via Seattle with much delay Our bags are still lost
We are on our way to another year of being Hilton Diamond and it only cost us &7500.00 worth of stays
Damon Harmon pitches LAUGH ATTACK all over town pass, pass, pass, pass, pass
I commission Charles Schneider to paint a triptych $2000.00
I go on a diet and lose 25 lbs New Years resolution
Jo comes into town the house feels full
Carlota’s 4th Birthday, it’s a Barbie Party face painting, snow cones. Bounce toys
Karen’s birthday party at Burt and Sunny’s
Jo leaves town the house feels empty
Craig Grella leaves Writer’s and Artists Agency Now I have no agent -- AGAIN
After three months our house is finally refinanced We almost go broke waiting
I take the family on a 3 night Mexican Cruise for Easter All you can eat, just what I need
I pitch LAUGH ATTACK with Damon at NBC We both wear the same cool shoes
Damon begins his own company, Chameleon He is splitting from Sokolobl, partly due to me
Life in Hollywood I am caught between Video games, Contracting and writing
Paul Silver’s company contracts me to write a script I become a full member of the WGA
I go off my diet and gain 35 lbs Whoops
We attend the California Ren Faire I want to work there
Rolf and Jo come into town for the big family event A full house
Lola is Baptized at St. Brendon’s Catholic Church Burt and Sunny disown us
A Family Voyage to Las Vegas Rolf is grumpy
Rolf leaves Los Angeles All in all a nice visit
As a Father’s Day gift, Karen buys me Camping Gear She promises to rough it for a week
We make reservations at Yosemite for Labor Day week I am so excited that I want to try out the equipment
We test the camping gear on a 4 day run to Big Bear My heart rate rests at 99 bpm due to elevation
Life in Hollywood It is crowded in half a house
Jo suffers from a heart problem and is Hospitalized in Glendale, CA We visit every day
Jo is stabilized and returns to Chicago What a scare
We spend the 4th of July in San Diego Karen schmoozes a producer at the pool
We rush to Chicago to be with Jo for her heart procedure Jo is terrified but the procedure is simple
The Bristol Ren Faire I am even fatter than last year
A quick trip to Door County Wisconsin We buy a great Swedish CD for Lola
Return to Los Angeles Nothing Stolen
Go into escrow on Mathews Thank God
Charles Schneider has surgery I visit almost everyday
I check into a hotel and write “Hunted” The first draft takes me 2 weeks
Pitch meeting for “Laugh Attack” with Dick Clark It’s Damon’s last shot at the show
We wash away the dust of Summer with a trip to San Francisco I revise Hunted overlooking the bay
We close on the sale of Mathews 300 K in a 1031
We fix the walls and the floors in the La Mirada addition We finally have a bedroom
I tell Karen that I need to focus on writing and directing She offers to take over all of my Contracting work
I need to unload more burdens Karen takes over all the bills and the taxes
I begin to focus on writing
my wife, Karen soaking up her new responsibilities
Looking for properties to buy in Phoenix and Tucson It is an ugly city but we have to buy something
Life in Hollywood It is a better place now that the building on Van Ness is fixed
Dick Clark passes on “Laugh Attack” Damon gives up on the project
A Little trip to Nashville A wonderful reunion with Charlie Silliman
Lou Ander’s Wedding in Alabama He marries a Chinese girl names Xin
We go into escrow on 2 apartment buildings in Phoenix Both cost around 1.5 million
My High School Reunion in Chicago Three days and two nights in Chi
A Bigger Little Trip to Paris It is my favorite city (Lola loves it too)
We close on the sale of Van Ness 20 K in a 1031
I join Flash Forward again My goal is to think of and write an entire screenplay in one month
I check into a hotel and work on “Alien Abduction” I finish it in three weeks
Jo arrives Time has been hard on her legs
Goodman family Thanksgiving reunion at our house the first of three big parties
I check into a hotel to work on “Cerebral Experiment #6” I only write 15 pages in four days
Launching the Future Karen joins me for this flash forward seminar
The first apartment building in Phoenix falls through At least we still have the second building
The second apartment building in Phoenix falls through Now we are in trouble
Karen finds a 4 unit in Hollywood that will work We open escrow in the nick of time
We only own 2 buildings with 2 units Gross worth of property: $600,000.00
Rolf Arrives I stop all work
Our Huge Holiday Party at La Mirada (200 people attend) Tarot readers, belly dancers, live music and a Magician
Linnea and Erica arrive The day after our party
My whole family is in Hollywood We all go se The Lord of the Rings at the Cineramadome
Family Christmas in California. “God Jul”! Karen cooks the best Skinka that I have ever tasted
Rolf and I have a terrible fight on Christmas Eve He insults me and threatens to leave (we think he is jealous of my success)
Jo, Rolf, Linnea & Erica leave for on the morning of Dec. 29th I am sad
Karen, Lola and I drive to Mexico for New Years Drive out of town on the afternoon of the 29th
I loose 10 lbs in the first week of the New Year Resolutions yet again
David Latt gives me a pile of rewrites on Alien Abduction If I rewrite it the The Asylum will produce it
I get a job Producing another movie for Alain Silver Christopher is Executive Producer
I loose another 10 lbs by the end of Jan. Just 155 more to go
I work on Casting Alain's film I work with David Glanzer
I work on rewriting Alien Abduction It is torture
I go to Pitchfest and meet David Freedman He becomes my new agent
We go to Catalina Island for Karen's B-Day It is soooo dull there
We shoot Alain's movie (White Nights) I meet many fine actors including Jilon Ghai
Alain writes a role for Lola in the Movie Lola wants to be an actress
The Hollywood reporter lists me and Lola We get lots of calls and invites
We get Lola an agent Jackie Lewis at Diverse
I finish all of the paper work on Alain's movie Editing it is a world away
Karen buys her first building (a 3 unit in Glendale) We now own 5 buildings (gross worth approx. 2.8 million)
We go to Hawaii Karen’s dream come true
Lola at Hunnama Bay, Hawaii, 2004
Pearl Harbor
Jo is scheduled to get a life time achievement award I want Harold Ramis to introduce her
I hire a publicist to help out She is not the watchdog I had hoped for
We go to Chicago Jo did not get Harold Ramis
I return to Los Angeles and write and write Many drafts of Alien Abduction
We put Romaine up for sale It has sat there, untouched for a year
We go to Norway,Sweden and Denmark Amazing trip
My first feature as a writer/director -
ALIEN ABDUCTION
David Latt calls me in Sweden. My movie is a go - GREENLIGHT ON ALIEN ABDUCTION
We return to the states Prep begins immediately - (and that means last minute rewrites)
Three weeks of Prep Rewrite, auditions, storyboards, crewing up, meeting people
I get my old pal Charles Schneider involved The Asylum is perfect for him - he hits it off with Latt
I ask my old pal from Chicago, Peter Saltzman to do the score He and I attempted to write an opera together in 1984
I direct Alien Abduction in 11 days Lola has a big role and Schneider does my 2nd unit
Day one of shooting sobers me up Half the cast is missing - I have no sets - I get 2 pages in the first half day - YIKES!
The shoot is a disaster - no art dept - no VFX - no nothing Schneid saves my ass by bringing a bunch of FX makeup from his house
Good cast sees me through - Jilon Ghai, Meagan Lee Ethridge, and Griff Furst to name a few also Lola and my father in law
We wrap and I get buzzed on beer with my AD For good of ill - Alien Abduction is in the can
Lola wants to have a big Halloween party to celebrate she invites the entire cast and crew to it
We have a haunted house - live music - and a gypsy fortune teller I play Peter Saltzman's score for AA to a select few
As soon as we wrap Karen takes me to Las Vegas no relaxation but I win $2000.00
We are supposed to start editing the film in a few weeks weeks turn into months. I work with Peter (who is in Chicago) on the movie score
Directing a shot on the set of ALIEN ABDUCTION
After 6 months in escrow we finally close on Romaine $35,000.00 in a 1031
Karen is invited to an Ed Debevicks reunion in Chicago we plan to go for a long weekend (editing has been postponed again)
We visit Chicago the reunion is fun. Karen finds a lump that night
Karen needs surgery Three weeks recouping in Chicago. I work with Peter Saltzman on the Alien Abduction score
We return to Los Angeles on Sat. Six days left to prep for the party
Jo arrives on Wed. Three days to prep for the party
We have a huge party with a hunted house on Sat About 75 people show up (200 do not)
We go up to Big Bear to buy a house on Sun 24 hours left on our 1031 (happy 6th anniversary)
I begin a new diet: Lindora (goal: loose 145 lbs)) I weigh 336 (116 lbs since I got together with Karen the chef)
Editing is postponed again. It is pushed two weeks and then another two and then to Jan 05.
I loose 25 lbs by Thanksgiving (I'm 311) Rolf flies in for Thanksgiving. Karen makes it a huge reunion for her family
Thanksgiving at our wonderful house on La Mirada in Hollywood
Karen throws me a wonderful birthday party We go to her father's (and Lola's) favorite restaurant
My Birthday Party at Chosan Galbee in Korea Town. It was great fun.
Lola gets some big commercials Mercedes, Ameriquest & some Cascade. (more money for college)
Borrow more money and plan for Christmas It's off to Florida to meet Jo, Linnea, Erica, Patti, Guy and Michelle
I go to Industry Xmas parties to schmooze I run into a cast member from my very first play, Mary Ann Skweres: she's a film editor now
Xmas vacation: Fun at Disney World Epcot makes us Long for Norway and China. We plan more trips.
While we are in Disney World - escrow closes on the Big Bear Property 975 Canyon Road - Fawnskin - It is our new Summer House
New Years in NEW ORLEANS, "I guarantee" Food food food, art, and architecture for a week (I'm back up to 328)
On Jan 1st I begin working out at the Hilton Gym Lola and I play racquet ball. I loose 10 pounds in three days.
We return to California broke but inspired I go to 24 hour Fitness in Hollywood,
Waiting to edit the film The Asylum won't use Mary Ann
After waiting since September we finally start editing We use Mary Ann after all
We edit the rough cut it two weeks Latt says it's the best first cut they've ever seen
Confident, Mary Ann's husband Bob adds sound (for free) I have a pretty damned good director's cut
David Rimawi loves Alien Abduction Sherri Strain does not
We cut and chop 15 minutes from the film Some of it doesn't make sense anymore but it is tighter
Sherri takes over the project. She hates me She strips out all of the sound and makes Peter rewrite the score. YIKES!!!!!
Sherri says she'll add her own sound - but she doesn't have time She does what she can but still won't let me back onto the edit
Alien Abduction is released - I see Sherri's version for the first time So much sound is missing that I cry - Welcome to the real world
Poster Art for Alien Abduction: An Eric Forsberg Film
I swear never to let this happen again to one of my movies I must write the perfect, fun, gory horror, ultra low budget movie
I begin writing a super blood bath zombie flick It's called LEBEN TOD (it means "Life Death)". David Rimawi loves it
Blockbuster is very Happy with Alien Abduction It is the 126 most popular film in the world according to IMDB
Lena and Dagmar, my relatives from Sweden come to visit Karen pulls workers off Glendale and spends our savings to fix our house
We take the Swedes to Disneyland, Las Vegas & Big Bear It is expense.
We have to start selling and refinancing properties The Big Bear refi is 40K less than expected the duplex sale is 150K less
I meet with the Asylum to get another movie Sherri Strain does not like me and says that she doesn't trust me
I beg my agent to get me some work, any work He hurts his back in a diving accident and does nothing for months
Alien Abduction gets great reviews Still I can't get a movie through the Asylum or a sale through my agent
I write my ass off Graduating Eros, Cerebral Experiment #6 and Night Walker come to life
Karen's father, Burt gets sick Karen stops working on the Glendale property and focuses on her dad.
I go with Lola to Big Bear It is like Shangri-La, away from the trials of life
We start running out of money We have no choice but high interest hard money loans. My credit is shot.
Burt dies It devastates my wife.
Everything falls apart We put all of our properties up for sale.
I go to Chicago This time I am by myself, a rare occurance
My father moves from his home of 20 years We ship 15 boxes of his films and art to California for me to store.
Hurricane Katrina Hits The market in LA tanks. Our properties are listed too high. Nothing sells.
We start getting phone calls from creditors. We lower our asking prices by $350,000.00 total.
Our 4 unit in Hollywood is bought by our lender (one step up from foreclosed on) We sell for 25,000 more than we owe or he just takes it. It was our only money making property.
My second feature as a
writer/director -
NIGHT OF THE DEAD: LEBEN TOD
David Latt from the Asylum wants Leben Tod He offers a negative pick up for 35K if we produce it ourselves.
I go to a huge Pitch Fest Eric Frederickson flies in for it. It is a big success.
Things seem to be going in a good film direction I begin writing AZTEC HUMAN SACRIFICE.
Lola's teacher gives Lola the flu. It spreads to me. I have 105 fevers and the virus goes into my innards again. Fuck!
our fireplace on Christmas in Fawnskin (Big Bear Valley) 2005
My entire family comes to spend Xmas with us Our last dollars are spent on the holiday. When they leave, we are broke.
My credit is bad & we have no cash to make the film. Selling everything a year earlier would have made us a million dollars.
Cerebral Experiment (productions) is formed It will produce Leben Tod.
A gay couple offers us 805 for our house (listed at 950) We take it. I begin to crew up the show.
Paul Silver comes on as the line producer for Leben Tod. He quits for a bigger show after two days. I take to job over.
We get a great cast and a great Location Shooting begins two weeks after we have to leave our house.
We decide to move to the Glendale property. I check it out. After 2 years of rehab it still needs a ton of work.
We throw our last resources into Glendale Toilets go in. Light fixtures. Carpets. Showers. Floors.
Tom Devlin (FX make-up) has to shoot 2 week sooner The start date is now the day after we move.
We close on 5814 La Mirada, the house that we rebuilt We move to Glendale, a house half the size. It is sad. Lola is sad.
We start shooting It goes well but a little rough with the DP.
My old pal Scott Brown comes to the shoot the second week He becomes the set photographer and does a great job. He is in the film too (not so great - tee hee)
Eleven days of shooting. Everyone gets sick but me.
A collage of photos from Night of the Leben Tod
The edit begins. Mary Ann and Bob are back on board.
Latt gives me a job to do. A Halloween movie. I write the synopsis for "Tear Down" and occult ghost film.
My Third Feature - This time as a writer only
SNAKES ON A TRAIN
Latt calls me a week later and tells me to stop writing the Halloween film He gives me a new title: "Snakes on a Train". That's it - only the name. The Asylum already sold it to the Japanese.
I begin working on Snakes on a Train while Mary Ann bins the shots from Night of the Dead Snakes starts shooting in two weeks
I must make Snakes on a Train unlike the New Line Blockbuster - Snakes on a Plane Our snake movie is set to be released three days before Snakes on a Plane - sneaky
We need cash again We lower the asking price on Glendale. It sells for 775 (originally 950).
I finish Snakes on a Plane just in time for shooting - the last thing added - the snake eats the train I write a nice big part for Lola in the film. She does great.
I return to editing on and off (with interruptions) from April to July We live in our house without unpacking a box. We know that it is just temporary.
Scott Brown moves from Long Beach into the upstairs unit in our building After 30 years we are neighbors again - and its nice to have a male friend to finally talk to
I love Glendale. The Armenian food everywhere - the downtown area - it is so close to everything and it is safe - clean and safe - I wish we could stay
We get a buyer for the Glendale house it's a 45 day escrow - then - one week after Lola is done with school - we close and move - but where
Mary Ann and I finish the first big edit on Night of the Dead It is too gory for The Asylum - Rimawi wants some of the blood out - I am shocked - the gore is what sets it apart
I start sending out preliminary versions of the movie - to festivals for the fall Night of the Dead is the best thing that I have ever done - and all for less than 40K
We decide to move up to Big Bear for the summer We own a great summer house up there and we only owe 250K on it. We can regroup up there while the market recovers.
Ralph Saunders loans me his place in LA So now I have an apartment in Marina Del Rey and a House in the Mountains.
Leben Tod is hot. Many companies want it including, New Line, Anchor Bay & the Asylum.
My Career gets hotter too. As we move the movie angels descend & good things begin to happen.
My Agent, David Freedman sends an e-mail His father died so he will close his office for two months. I need a new agent.
The Pitt group calls. They want to option Cerebral Experiment #6 and represent me as a manager.
The Asylum calls. They want to up their offer for Leben Tod
I live in LA my wife & daughter live in Big Bear I drive up and down and up and down.
Stephenson Crossly let's me live at his condo Sometimes I house sit and sometimes we are roommates. It saves my ass.
We meet David Vaughn of Kissing Violets by accident We get to talking. He wants to write a song for Leben Tod.
The Pitt group wants to develop Huzzah It is a comedy about the Ren Faire. I ask for money but they say "SPECK".
Snakes on a Train is released It's not even on IMDB, nobody can find out who wrote it
Poster for Snakes
Kissing Violets hands us "Feel the Disease": it's great Mary Ann and Bob get pissed and threaten to drop the project
I have to write but everything is in the way I owe, Huzzah, Cerebral Experiment, Cannibal, Thin Air & Leben Tod 2
My fourth feature - I'm
writer/director -
TORTURE ROOM
Scott Brown starts going around downtown LA taking pictures He comes across a small movie studio on L___ St and goes in. He meets the owner. The owner tells Scott that he wants to produce another movie soon. Scott is thrilled and tells me right away.
The Asylum's partners are swamped with work and is impossible to reach We start running low on money again. We need a deal to come through. And there's only one house left.
Spotlight Pictures sees Leben Tod on the Shriekfest site they want to buy it and offer way more than the Asylum, Yikes!
I warn David Latt to act NOW Rimawi and Latt want to meet with us: Sherri not so much
Scott Brown looks up other independent soundstages downtown he discovers Crimson Sound stages and meets the manager, Barney Dawson, Barney wants to do a movie too
Scott is excited - I start putting together pitches Crimson is mostly a studio for rent - but they were the location for some big horror hits in the 90s - I'm psyched
Chuck Simon from S Pictures wants CANNIBAL He offers 5 grand against a WGA purchase with me attached as Director - it's what I've been waiting for
I meet with Scott's new connections at Crimson The owner/manager wants me to write and direct a feature. He'll fund it. he says that he has plenty of cash. I'm sold.
After a bidding war with three companies THE ASYLUM buys LEBEN TOD The money comes in the nick of time for us - it means cash for a year (it will be released in NOV)
LEBEN TOD is in the Big Bear Film Festival The festival was so so!
Peter Green wants to do a project He offers to help me get an agent
Things are looking up... Or so it seems. Even Scott's other connect wants to do a picture. I start putting together pitches for him too.
LEBEN TOD is renamed NIGHT OF THE DEAD I hope that the Asylum knows what they're doing
NIGHT OF THE DEAD wins at Shriekfest Best Make Up Effects. But my films are always going to be sited for effects.
Lola and I go to Chicago We see family. It is her first time there in two years. We stay at Michelle's.
NIGHT OF THE DEAD wins at Chicago Horror Fest Make up again. Kudos to Tom & Gage. Hope I win for something else soon.
Karen meets us in Florida My cousin can't even see us. We go to Freak Show and Disneyworld.
My negotiations with Barney at Crimson are going great. He offers us a two year deal for multiple movies to be produced - more than a quarter million dollar budget per picture. We just need to work out the details and sign on the dotted line.
I pitch movie. Crimson Studios wants a Thriller We decide on a psychological murder mystery that is untitled to I will call it "THE THRILLER" -- Crimson gives my other assistant - Derek an office in the annex. I travel daily between projects and studios. I suddenly feel like a Hollywood guy again.
Scott's other deal is shaping up too A similar situation as Crimson.
We return to LA and jump right into preproduction I sublet a place in Korea Town. It's a whole new world.
I live in Los Angeles and Karen and Lola live in Big Bear Me no like. I hassle my wife everyday to come down.
We hire Scott Brown to help He hooked me up with Barney and the other guy so it's the least I can do.
Halloween in Big Bear. The whole village is a trick or treat party. By Nov. 1st its a ghost town.
The Pitt group wants Huzzah Lou Pitt is in my corner and wants it fast
The Asylum wants to hire me to write "Apocalypse" I will make money and get a big action feature. I want it.
Ryan Vernon/Station 12 wants Cerebral Experiment #6 I am ready to sign
Crimson Sound Stages is eager to move on The Thriller I am pulled in a lot of directions and a little overwhelmed. But I need all the work I can get. I take every deal offered.
I decide to prioritize - "money-the-bank" jobs first - spec jobs last I prioritize out Huzzah for Lou Pitt in order to focus on the Barney deal. He says we almost have a contract.
Scott's other deal at L________ is eking along a little sluggish with the details But we are encouraged and continue with that one as well as the other
At Crimson things change - Barney's wife, Willis returns after a long work trip (they turn out to be business partners). She starts questioning our deal with her husband.
Willis wants a rewrite of The Thriller - a free rewrite I decide to return to Big Bear to write. Karen will have to take over the production office at Crimson and Scott runs the other.
Karen quits her job at Help U Sell to move to LA She settles into my apartment in Korea Town - while I revise the script. We live off of the money coming in from Night of the Dead
Karen Hits it off with Willis like two girls in a pod. Barney is ready to sign The Thriller deal. Thank God. - The other exec of Scott's also wants to get that deal going.
We have auditions for The Thriller and get a great cast Other department heads come together too like art dept. props. makeup. and catering - it is going to be my best film ever
We crew up and are ready to shoot The Thriller in three weeks. Barney has his check book open. But Willis controls the pen I think.
Mark Wheeler stops by the studio to have a look-see. He tells me not to do the Barney deal I say that I have to feed my family and I can't write Huzzah yet because Barney will pay us. Mark is not happy and neither is Lou.
I tell the Asylum that I have no time to write Apocalypse because I am shooting It fills me with guilt but I can't risk losing the deal with Barney. Too bad - the Asylum deal is a money job too - and it already has distribution.
My mother has to have surgery. She wants me in Chicago I buy 3 tickets for January, after The Thriller is done shooting (but before the other guy's film goes into preproduction)
It takes me until Thanksgiving to rewrite The Thriller but I have a shooting script Karen and Barney want more time and push to January. I am horrified. Never push a project that is ready to shoot. But there is no signed contract yet so - Never shoot a movie without a signed agreement either.
My mother changes her surgery to Dec. This forces us to go right as we are getting ready for the Jan shoot. I'm screwed.
The Tension starts to ware on me I get sick in Chicago. I return to LA both sick and to bad news...
Barney postpones The Thriller at Crimson. He and Willis want to make later Now we have to pull together another film for or lose the Crimson deal all together. The other deal that Scott brought in is shaky too.
We give up our cute apartment in Korea Town Gold turns to coal over night. Welcome to Hollywood
I hurt myself pretty badly and go into the hospital Karen pitches projects to Barney Willis while I linger in a hospital bed. Crimson studios likes the one I'll call "BLOOD-CUT"
Meanwhile, Scott's other exec at L________ wants to be pitched a movie too Karen pitches him Torture Room (I can't say more)
In order to do the projects on my slate I have to pull Cerebral Experiment #6 from Station 12 After five months of negotiations. Ryan is not happy.
I ask Mark Wheeler to help me find a new backer for Hunted Mark and Lou only want Huzzah: the Barney's soundstage deal is too small for them
I turn my attention to revising "Blood-Cut" and "Torture Room" Barney and his wife are growing impatient. Me too. I've been working since October. Where's my money?
The Pitt Group is tired of waiting for Huzzah Lou Pitt & Mark Wheeler step out of the deal -- I'm not managed by The Pitt Group any more- it is the worst blow of my film career so far - but fear not - there's more to come
The Crimson accountant (Willis) informs us that our budget for "Blood Cut" has been cut in half Most of the cut will have to come from Karen's and My Salaries. Karen and I must dig deep into non-existent pockets and push forward! Damn it!
I do preliminary budgets for "Blood Cut" from my recovery bed Karen holds onto the deal with her teeth while I write.
Meanwhile, Scott's other deal at L__________ is coming together It's not going to be a money maker - but its a great script.
Back at Crimson Studios the execs have another script they want to do before mine It is a goofy sex comedy -- Fuck!
Karen and I convince Crimson to stick with us - but Barney wants the distributor locked Karen works hard to bring one in but it finally happens.
Blood Cut gets the green light Not a moment too soon. We are on fumes. Now we just need the contract signed before we start shooting.
Karen looks for a new place to live in LA She sleeps on a couch while she works in LA and I work in Big Bear - breaking down the script - scheduling, and raising Lola.
I write INFERNO for the Asylum Eric Frederickson helps so it won't conflict with Crimson or the other deal.
Willis asks for a second script right away - so do the folks as L____________. They all seem to want back to back projects. Now we're talking. We need back to back productions at Crimson and at the other place to make it financially worth while.
I write BLOOD FREAKS The distributor we show it too likes it and wants it. It is his third favorite script of mine after Torture Room and Hunted
Meanwhile, Torture Room goes into production at L__________ - that was fast We get a great cast: John Forgeham of Footballers wives walks in and we cast him. Also Lena Bookall, Barry Ratcliffe & Chad Nell are some of the great people in the cast.
My dear pal Paolo from Palmers Pick Up and The Aquanauts is the Production Manager and 2nd Unit Director. My other dear friend who usually does my 2nd Unit is hurt and angry. But Torture Room is a Union project and Paolo is DGA.
Karen moves us into an extended stay hotel in Glendale to work on "Blood Cut" I actually miss our old place in Glendale - it was on Maryland St. Once green - it is now a parking lot.
Karen, Lola, and I move back to the big city for the shoot Set designs for "Blood Cut" are coming in - and Karen works hard to make them great - we shoot adjacent to the TR project
If my problems weren't already overwhelming, another dear friend of mine threatens me because I didn't give him a job on the film I am hounded by him throughout the entire shoot - it gets scary
Suddenly, on the eve of shooting, Karen has an infection and collapses The doctors wrongly diagnose it as Appendicitis -- I think it was pressure -- this producing thing is almost a horror. Almost.
SPRING 2007
I direct Torture Room A fast shoot - some long hours - but its in the can
I feel great So I smoke and drink until I'm sick
We wrap. We are happy. It's tainted by my angry friend who now threatens to slander me in the press - I am preoccupied with sorrow and anxiety. But i must move on...
We turn our attention to "Blood Cut" - the shoot begins and it goes well We push for our second film with Crimson Studios but no green light - none with the other exec either.
Funding stalls during the Crimson shoot but we cover it with the last of our Night of the Dead money Again, welcome to Hollywood
The next movie project at Crimson (not ours) moves into our office with nest to no notice We have to get our stuff together and scram. We take the hard drives with the movie on it with us. Crimson won't own it until they pay the last installment (which we fronted) and sign an agreed upon contract. Things are getting nasty.
Meanwhile, Torture Room is plugging alone... There are issues but I am not allowed to disclose them. Suffice to say - it is progressing towards a finished film which is more than I can say for the Crimson deal
Mary Ann edits both films. She finds many tech problems and is takes weeks to fix them Our DP, Nick hated the P2 Cards so much that he sold the camera right after wrap
Luckily work keeps coming in God bless The Asylum - my Second City of the B movie world.
My fifth movie - writer
- 30,000 Leagues Under the Sea
The Asylum hires me for 30,000 Leagues Under the Sea I have tons of fun writing the first draft and agony with the next four drafts
I live alone in LA for four months editing Karen and Lola visit every two weeks to keep me sane.
We finally have a good rough mix and cut of Torture Room in early June "Blood Cut" is not so lucky. Still we get meetings with good companies of our success.
Willis and Barney say they want to make another film with us Good. but we don't really trust them any more because we are BUSTED after doing the last thing with them. Still, we pitch and pitch to them, but no bites. They might be just blowing smoke to keep up on a string.
I move towards a summer of writing my own projects Huzzah, Thin Air and others. Meanwhile some pitches to Crimson Studios are on the table. And Torture Room is going going... under the love-smacks of Mary Ann and Bob (who is doing the score)
Summer 2007
We borrow money to finish the sound on both films Torture Room has a screening at AFI on June 26th
I ask Karen to be my Manager I can't edit - create new projects - & hunt for work at the same time right now
Karen sets up great meetings for us Stacy Jade Smart at STARZ wants me to flesh out four TV show pitches
Chuck Simon wants THIN AIR My plate is getting full again - all spec scripts - shit!
Murray, the distributor calls me about "Blood Cut" He has a bunch of ideas for the edit. Jeez, where are we going to get the money for this. And more rewrites even after the fact.
The editor is very patient Ford credit is not so patient - neither is the bank that wants to refinance our house - or the credit cards that can't wait until we refinance our house
We run out of Cash for the film so we resort to having Yard Sales every week We use the yard sale money for gas and to pay the editor
We do a flash back cut of the Crimson film for Murray I must put the STARZ project and THIN AIR on hold for the Murray cut --- this is a repeating pattern that I don't like. Putting the jobs that will take me someplace big on hold for the jobs that stick in me like a splinter - and will most likely be stuck in a box. It is always about the money - and spec jobs take a back seat. Maybe they shouldn't - but they do.
We look for a new investor to buy "Blood Cut" from Crimson Studios Crimson is all for it. They want a quarter of a mil. We think that we can raise it. It's actually quite exciting to have a new beginning on things - but the money they want is more than our house can leverage so it has to come from outside - rich people - and that will take some doing.
TR makes it to the the last round at the Toronto Film Festival It means the film is good.
All the tension gives me back problems It turns to sciatica needing drugs; my Summer of working is ruined - I sit in muted agony in my easy chair for a month, dazed on Vicodin. When the pain subsides and the drugs wear off I am so pressed for time I can't focus on the STARZ project. I return to editing the final cut.
The bright note is that my heart test was good The echo shows a normal 65 ejection fraction. That's one really good thing. now I just need to lose weight so I can keep it that way.
I am accepted into the Bariatric Surgery Program at Kaiser The process leading up to surgery could take over a year - or more - maybe up to two.
Jo Spends much of the Summer with us We eat breakfast at the kitchen table every morning. It's Paradise.
Lola Starts 3rd Grade up in Big Bear (She Loves it.) I feel Isolated in the mountains. My dad had the same issue in Sierra Madre back in the 70s. But to me, Sierra Madre seems like "town".
Cash is low that we start selling real things from our house in our Yard Sales I use the money to Edit, but I foolishly sell treasures that I cannot replace - art - crafts from around the world, treasures from my youth - my musical instruments - Karen sells all of her wonderful antique collectors kitchen ware. We both cry. but at least writing jobs are starting to come in.
How timely: there is talk about a WGA strike I hope not. We have at least three big deals pending - and if they strike then I can't write anything - union or non union. I will have to strike too. And finally after years of work I am getting all union jobs coming my way. Even Torture Room is Union. Shit!
FIRE! FIRE! FIRE! We settle in for the long haul up in the mountains. Fires keep us on edge all Summer and Fall.
We are Evacuated from Fawnskin. A friend puts us up in a lovely rental cottage We sit by the lake shore every day and watch the fires approach our house. Sometimes we eat at the shelter. It is an odd time - scary - uncertain - but also filed with community, support, and hope. I have never taken help from strangers or the state. Now I have - and it felt good to be care for in times of crisis.
The Butler 2 fire at the edge of Fawnskin forced us to evacuate for a week
and
my sixth and seventh films - back to back
Fall 2007
I get a call from David Latt. It's another project I am to add 43 pages to the film TOKYO, which is in the can.
Karen gets the taxes done while I write I am longing for another movie. A real one, all my own, that pays.
Night of the Dead gets into the Big Bear Horror Fest I focus on getting some press out
Latt asks me to write War of the Worlds 2 It's a race to get it done before the WGA strike hits
I direct reshoots on Tokyo - which is later called Monster It's a knock-off of Cloverfield - but I don't get the name. Fun though - I made LA look like Tokyo
Some people are upset that I talk about them in my blog Sounds like censorship to me (but I still cut a lot out, (Sorry)
Jeff Katz calls us from 20th Century Fox He has someone who wants to do a genre deal with us
I finish the final revision of War of the Worlds 2 I had to write two scripts for it because the beat sheet that they gave me had not been approved by the director C Thomas Howell. It took place all on Mars. Howell thought it would look stupid trying to make California look like Mars (I think it would work) so I had to throw out the beat sheet and write a new story that took place on Earth. Some story elements were the same. So now I have a great script in my drawer that I can't sell because some guy I don't know wrote part of the plot synopsis. Oh - The Asylum. "sigh"
Cerebral Experiment (my wife) wants me to write 2 more scripts She can get funding. And Cerebral Ex is signatory to WGA and DGA so it is union work - that is all I dream of (and crazy island sex). I am thrilled. I start moving forward on writing
THE STRIKE BEGINS SHIT! SHIT! SHIT!
Cerebral Experiment has to put my deal on hold We don't get the deal signed before the strike so "no dice"
Other deals go on hold too STARZ, Thin Air, the Jeff Katz stuff, new projects for Crimson, things for The Asylum - everything is stopped. There will be no money coming in. NO MONEY!
I put out a press release about new projects - especially those not covered under the strike I include info about my old stage play Knat Scatt Private Eye, with Steve Carell
Knat Scatt takes off in the press - I get a few articles ad suddenly my name appears next to Steve's in a google search. I just need to upload the film to You tube
Crimson summons us. Barney wants "Blood Cut" back We need our money so we sign the contract he hands us. If we don't we will be sued. We are told by our attorneys that we would prevail and keep the picture but it would cost us tens of thousands in court. At this point - with the strike and the trouble we are having refinancing our house, we have no choice. How sad.
The money we have is spent quickly on paying the editors and other what we owe them We got into a lot of debt doing these two pictures. We learned a lot too - like - without the cash to beat back the wolves the wolves will eat you.
The TR exec demands a non-disclosure agreement the details of our deal will be kept private (so much for my online journal) --- see - money can even buy history. I saw it with The Second City taking over Players Workshops good will in the marketplace ("what Players Workshop?" the Second City students ask now - "What's that?"). You think if the Nazis had won we'd know anything about the Holocaust?
I am on strike - my movies no longer belong to me - things are rough and Torture Room is the best film that I have made to date - a truly current topic, homeland security imprisoning an American woman of Armenian descent because she had an Arab boyfriend who named her during an interrogation session. Now she is the target and her captors are empowered by the new homeland security laws that allow them to torture and brainwash her without a trial. It is a scary film. Bye Bye TR - bye bye "Blood-Cut" - bye bye movies. boo hoo hoo
I sit and watch - The snow comes to big bear After a summer of fires the snow is like a perfect sanctuary of white - at least I own a beautiful home - something that I can shelter my child in - with a fireplace and an eat in kitchen, and a big yard with rabbits and squirrels. At least there is that. Shroud me in white snow and let me rise when the world is green. Oh, the winter snow is the perfect place to lay peaceful in the ice.
snow covered trees on the mountain behind us and a picture of our house from the front
We start looking for another film deal we may have to produce a non union script, just to keep working
We prepare to go to Chicago for Christmas Again, it costs as much as a trip to Europe, but I need to see my folks
I am ready for a new project I work on things on my own, but I need to know what I am doing next for $
Karen throws a wonderful birthday party for me I am 37 years old, AGAIN!
The WGA strike drags on I turn my attentions to "A Short Magical History", my only real novel.
We leave for Chicago on the 20th It is our first real trip in over a year
Winter 2007/2008
We visit Chicago and Have a great time I gain 10 lbs. Yum!
We see a lot of great theater, finally Hunchback at Red Bone & Snow Queen at Victory Gardens are great
Christmas at my father's in Lake Forest Family tensions with my dad taints things a bit
My sister Linnea and I hit it off after years It's wonderful to have my sister back
My mom is old But she sure is feisty
Karen, Lola and I spend our last few days in Wisconsin The Kalahari water park is 85 inside and 5 degrees outside
We spend our last night with Tim Furguson, Patty and Emma Lola and Emma hit it off
We return to California on Jan 3rd I miss Chicago already
After a few days of depression I get back to work A Short Magical History is my focus until the strike ends
Monster comes out and my name is all over it Erik Estenberg is supposed to get the credit
I post a link to my rough draft of "A Short Magical History" Karen is worried because of the defamation law suit threat last year
I 'm concerned the censorship of my journal jeopardizes truth I have over 50,000 pages of diary that I fear might be censored
The strike sucks! The strike sucks!
The strike sucks! The strike sucks!
Karen works on signing the WGA interim agreement It if happens I will instantly have contracts for two scripts
The strike sucks! The strike sucks!
I miss my pal Charles I haven't seen him in over a year. Too bad we don't mesh anymore.
Now another Friend that I gave a job to wants more money He threatens my project. Its pal #2who sees me as a cash cow. Shit!
The strike sucks! The strike sucks!
The strike sucks! The strike sucks!
We are struggling to survive - the strike is hurting us We apply for the WGA loan but they don't give it to us
The strike sucks! The strike sucks!
I work hard on my occult autobiography Karen Gives me notes, which sends me back to a third rewrite
THE STRIKE IS OVER I have to move from A Short Magical History to something that pays
Lola gets a leading role in her School Play She also gets a big audition for a lead in a feature film
Karen scrapes together a lovely Luau B-Day for Lola It is her ninth. I am so happy at how many good friends she has now
I go to my first Bariatric surgery intro meeting for Q&A They'll cut out my stomach so I can only eat 700 calories a day. Yuk!
I debate about continuing with the Bariatric surgery My wife is a chef and I love food. How can I lose my ability to eat?
I am brought onto a TV show package as a producer/director It is like a living Haunted House game show - COOL
Night of the Dead wins at Gem City Film Festival! BEST HORROR FEATURE OF THE YEAR!
I need to go back to writing screenplays now I start turning my attention away from the novel
Karen works hard as my manager and producer She is good at it and gets a ton of meetings and screeners lined up
I revise Eros and begin rewriting Night Walker We have interest from Lions Gate, and 20th Century Fox
The pending SAG strike threatens Hollywood All deals are on hold until it is resolved
War of the Worlds 2 comes out My second film of 2008. I'm getting hot, just in time for Fox!
Karen gets a call from The Wyndam Corporation It is for a job she applied for a year ago
Karen takes a test, does an interview and gets the job Her training begins in May
Karen beings to study for her new job She drops managing me and dumps all of our pending deals
I need for Karen to push my deals through She says she will as soon as she finishes her training
I decide to focus on adding square footage to our house I can do it while I wait for the meetings to come through
I draw up plans and get permits for an additional 1300 sq ft I begin clearing the garage - this will add lots of value
Karen's new job is a good one It includes benefits, online college tuition, bonuses and perks
I find two workers to help me with the garage conversion I figure that some new, extra equity in the house will help
The garage conversion is a bigger job than I thought! I don't write or direct or producer. Just construct, for months
Karen lines up a construction loan (high interest/short term) A cash hit at the onset of construction, and one in the middle
Karen loves her job and puts 100% into learning it We take the construction loan and move forward
I begin bariatric surgery prep classes It's just another way for skinny people to mutilate fat people
Karen's new job is going slow It is peak season and sales are down from last summer by 75%
The Garage construction costs more and more Every penny goes into that. I just want to make movies: DAMN!
My brother Thor gets married Bachelor party in Vegas, wedding in Cambria. Expensive!
We get another construction loan but it goes quickly The project looks great even though one worker is in and out of jail
My mother goes in for surgery I can't afford to take off the time and go to Chicago
My father goes in for surgery If I stop construction and go to Chicago it will jeopardize everything
Both of my parents are dying I go to Chicago (my friend Maurice helps me out)
My mother needs constant care Lola and I stay 10 days, then Karen comes for another week
My parents live but my dad loses his house in Lake Forest He has to be out by October (his girlfriend's son-in-law says)
We return to California and everything has fallen apart The Chicago trip really kicked our butts, but we had to go
Karen's new job is in jeopardy Summer sales are down and she's the new guy who just took time off
Lola and I go to church and pray for a miracle Karen sells two big packages, her job is saved
Time for another construction loan Karen works on it during her spare time but comps are difficult
We slow construction until we have the loan We now have four mortgages and just enough equity to cover them
I can't make movies in Big Bear so I turn my attention to my novel I write more of A Short Magical History again. Its good.
The Economy Tanks Karen loses her job in Big Bear - we are in trouble
Karen has a chance to transfer to the Woodland Hills office We decided she'll move to LA, live on her mom's couch, and work
Our Lincoln breaks down and is towed off - only one car left Karen moves to LA anyway, and takes the bus to work
Karen makes zero money - I remain in Big Bear raising Lola We are stuck - slowly our bills stack up
Karen can't seem to make any money - she cries and cries I find a jobsite called ELANCE. I write web copy for $5 an hour
A Separated Family - we go for weeks and months apart We keep a smile on our face for Lola - Linnea pays for her Karate
My father is officially evicted by his girlfriend He will come to LA to start a new life at 85 years old
I meet MISTER X on Elance - he wants me to ghostwrite I begin work on a very funny screenplay - then - PAYCHECK
I prepare for my High School Reunion in Chicago It is in October (Rolf will pay my air if I help him move)
My stalker attacks again This time he targets my visit to Chicago. I cancel the trip
The Stock Market Plunges Guess it will be a while before we get our final construction loan
Separated Family - It is wearing on us hard I start working on the final construction by myself (tool belt Diva)
We must get the construction done so we can refi My friend Scott Brown helps me put in the back floor joists
Pledge of Allegiance gets distribution with Quantum Releasing They put out a decent trailer, but no substantial results otherwise
It seems like everywhere we turn is a barrier to overcome We hope that Obama will be elected and set things right
Lola and I hit rock bottom in the mountains I change bulbs to fluorescents and burn wood for heat
I seek temporary assistance with our food and utilities It feels like the great depression (I wonder about living in the car)
MISTER X sends another check. The ghost writing is working out This marks a turning point - I can feel it
Angels are watching us A notice from the state comptroller says they owe me 11k
Things begin to turn around Karen even begins to sell some time-shares. We visit her in LA
Lola at the Getty Museum next to a picture she drew
OBAMA IS ELECTED Everything is new - and not a moment too soon
My father's girlfriend ships Rolf to California, weak and confused His bandages from his last surgery are still on - it's criminal
We get put on a loan modification program with our lender We are told to stop paying our mortgage
My ghostwriting is going well - I'm ready to write more Karen's optimistic about her job too - for now, I'm stuck in Fawnskin
Karen becomes the top producer (top seller) at her office For five minutes we feel like her job will save us
Wyndam decides to close Karen's office in Woodland Hills We will lose income and health insurance at the end of January
Karen and I discuss turning our attentions back to my career Thank God! I have been out of the business for 8 months
Christmas is at Thor's and Maureen's We stay at an apt in LA for two weeks - it's great
The 11 K saves our butts We eat good food and fill the cars up with gas and life is good
MISTER X has another ghost job for me I write and get money - write and get money - it's great
Karen agrees to manage me again - at least a little I also decide to make a couple of moves myself
I contact Steve Carell (not as easy as it sounds) Steve E-mails me back right away - our dialogue has begun
I contact Ed Asner, Chuck Simon, and David Latt All respond favorably
Karen lines me up with a couple of agents They are not a good fit
Karen starts making extra money selling our things on Ebay She sells her unused clothes and shoes. I try to sell my things
offered on Ebay - my XL1 Camera the SS jacket the I bought from Josias Kumpf first editions of Oliver Twist
I contact Jeff Katz (no longer at FOX) Jeff wants to meet for coffee but it takes three months to nail him down
Our mortgage lender comes in with the modification They raise our monthly payment by $600. What the fuck!!???!!
My third feature as a
writer/director -
SEX POT
David Latt from the Asylum contacts me about a script It's for a pot/boob movie in 3 D called Sexpot. I say I want to direct.
I write a kick ass script and go in for auditions I do not know if I am directing until we shoot it
Jeff Katz finally meets with me (he is so busy with Wolverine) Jeff wants Graduating Eros. He puts it into development
The Sexpot shoot goes great - great crew - great cast I live in LA for 5 weeks during the shoot. I love it. I want to stay.
I write a great part for Lola as a 10 year old dealer She does an amazing job. I'm am her biggest fan
Lola in SEX POT
Principle photography wraps - I am a director again Everyone at the Asylum is pleased. They say - more films to come -
Eric on the set of Sex Pot
My father goes into the hospital I drive down to take him home from the hospital and stay for 3 weeks
Sleep on my dad's couch - ghost write at night, edit during day I feel like I'm a player again - except for the couch part
We go through three editors Mark Morrison, Jennifer, and Mary Ann Skweres I give notes and go write. The edit looks good
MISTER X likes the second script. he gives me a third to write My office is a cafe in Sierra Madre called "Bean Town"
Between mid March and early July I am only at home 11 nights My father's house has a basement apartment. I stay there after May 15th
Jeff Katz gives me notes on Graduating Eros (in development for him) He tells no rush --- I wish he had said "hurry up"
Just as we run out of money again I get another writing job #4 from MISTER X. I have to do it. Graduating Eros is pushed aside.
We put our house in Fawnskin up for sale - cross your fingers We are living on ghost writing and E-Bay this month
I spend more time at home with my wife and daughter I do lots of home-school with Lola. I want her to have an edge
4th of July is great - my wife's cooking is great - being with Lola is great But no houses are selling. We lower the price again and again
Sex Pot will be released soon - Now is the hour of truth My career is getting good. We must move back to LA, together. We must!
Karen gets a great private chef gig for a rich Russian fellow And I MEAN RICH! He comes to Big Bear with his son for 8 days
Between my ghost writing and Karen's cooking we pay for a trip to Chicago Lola and I visit my mother - Jo is sick the entire time
Lola and I see a lot of great theater in Chicago 1001 Arabian Knights at Lookingglass, plus museums and more
Joyce Sloane at Second City tells me she will invite us to the 50th SC turns 50 on Dec 16th - my birthday - an it is a huge event
Joyce gives me a "history of Second City" book for the 50th I am in it, under a nice picture of me and other teachers
Karen works hard, cooking for the Russian Lola and I return to Cali after ten days in Chi
Karen auditions for The Next Food Network Star Karen is happier than I have seen her in a long time -- cooking suits her
Lola goes back to school in early August I want to go to a private school - I begin applying for Buckley
I finish another ghost writing job and begin another the next day This is ghost script #4 in less than a year
My sister visits us in California as my brother and his wife have a baby the baby's name is Moira, after Thor's mother
My bariatric surgery date approaches I plan to get the lap band - but the doctor pushes hard for the sleeve, which I hate
No one even bites to buy our house We lower the price - still no bites - we lower it again - things are getting tight
I work my but off on treatments for The Asylum Al Capone, action, comedy, MILFs, Mega Piranha - all for the future
Karen works hard on the Big Bear Horror Film Festival She is one of the producers - it is a great success - but not a lot of money
Karen gets us comps to everything. I meet the fellow who started Fangoria magazine - Karen works - Lola has fun The fest plays Night of the Dead and puts me on panels
Karen helps open a little gourmet shop on main street She builds displays - helps create the store - cooks soups - loves it
My bariatric surgery is upon us - Karen gets another job cooking Her Russian again - this time in Newport Beach - she is elated
I postpone the surgery, write, and tutor Lola while Karen is away We visit her in Newport Beach for Halloween (our anniversary)
I finish ghost script #4 and begin ghost script #5 I need to rewrite Graduating Eros for Jeff Katz but I have no time
We get invited to Second City for the 50th - officially Even our airfare is taken care of - it's going to be great
Mega Piranha gets the green light from the Asylum I write it as I finish ghost script#5 due in early Dec
Too much going on to have my surgery I postpone again - maybe indefinitely - hope its not a mistake
We get good news about our house loan we are almost approved for a remodification - and it only cost thousands in lawyers fees
Things look good to go to Chicago Rich Russian is rumored to be in LA for Xmas, and ghost writer client owes a payment
Karen works at the gourmet shop day and night until we leave for Chicago she loves working there - cooking and designing displays
My fifth feature as a
writer/director -
MEGA PIRANHA
The night before we fly I get great news I'm going to direct Mega Piranha - shooting begins Jan 9th - I just have to finish the script
We fly to Chicago on an amazing trip of a life time An entire plane just for we Second City folk living in LA - it is fun
See many old friends and coworkers on the flight Jeff Michelski, Francis & Angella (Frangella), Ken Campbell, Ian Gomez, Jill Tally, Jane Morris, Nia Vardalos, Fred Kaz, Michael McCarthy, Miriam Flynn, Eric Boardman, John Michelski, Ira Miller, and more
Private hanger for champagne greeting with the Governor I am so happy that I can give this experience to my daughter
Private busses shuttle us to the posh hotel I call David Latt, buzzed off my ass, attempting to cast MILFS with my SC pals
We stay at my mothers small apartment we take her with us everywhere - she is a guest of honor - everyone is glad to see her
At Second City Jo holds court first by the red carpet then at a table Her old students stop by to greet her and hug her and talk - Harold Ramis, Bonnie Hunt, Tim Kazurinski, Peter Burns, George Wendt, Dan Castalaneta, Betty Thomas, -- it went on all night
Many days follow of parties - shows - buffets Steve Carell stops by to visit - also Dave Pasquesi and reconnect with many others that I worked with - Stephen Colbert, Amy Sederis, Aaron Freeman, David Koechner, Mick Napier --- more and more - it was amazing.
At the show on the 16th my mother and I are announced it is my birthday - Joyce was a doll to toast me in front of everyone
After ten days we return home for holidays Moira is Christened. In a few days -Jul Afton at my brother's, then Xmas
Karen's returns to the gourmet shop but they can't afford her she is heartbroken - bye bye free Serrano ham - and extra money
Finish Mega Piranha script Christmas eve I wrote all through the Chicago trip - no museums, nothing - only Second City & Piranhas
Our house remodification falls through Karen scrambles for plan B, C, & D, rolled into one - we are in a pinch
Finances are grim Ghost writer client hasn't paid - house hasn't sold - rich Russian hasn't returned to America - & no gourmet shop job
The day after Christmas I move back to LA Karen tries to fix the house issue while I do preproduction on Mega Piranha
Tiffany is set to play the female lead I am happy - our team is shaping up great - locations are not set but we're getting there
Auditions go well on new years eve I race to Big Bear after to ring in 2010 with Karen & Lola -- it's cold and isolated at 7000 ft
Happy New Year - 2010 Karen and I pray for her Russian to ride to the rescue while I'm on the film
New Years Resolution Make Movies - Make Money -- And move my wife and daughter back down to sea level
Jan 2010 offers hope All foreclosure action on our house is put on hold - we are gliding safe - I focus on my film
People begin to return from vacation Finally we can staff the show and line up locations - we shoot in a few days
To add to the success - TORTURE ROOM is released on DVD Echo Bridge Entertainment distributes it. They are HUGE! What a coupe!
I get Nikki again for my first AD on Mega Piranha - and Marisa for Production design My team is shaping up - but I need a schedule and locations
I break down the script with the help of 2nd AD Alex There are 475 slug lines - it is crazy - I have no time to focus on story boards
We have our first production meeting on Jan 7th We start shooting on the 9th -- it is a crazy scramble - still no time for boards
Our cast is not locked even as we begin shooting Writing notes still come in from the execs even as we shoot our first week
Brian Olinger is my DP - we speak for ten minutes and then shoot Not enough time - we improvise and scout fresh locals daily
We shoot our interiors first with no cover locations left for week two Week two is set for all exteriors
I have some story boards for week two but no shot lists (still no time - no sleep) Then the rains come - 5 day predicted torrential
After one day of sitting in the studio shooting nothing (we had no rain gear set up) Latt sends us to Belize We leave the next morning
Nikki comes too - this makes me happy I scout locals - do story boards - and finally get a few minutes to prepare as a director
Belize is great but our camera is broken I am happy that Anthony Fankhauser is my Producer down there - it's just like Sex Pot
Five days in Belize seems like two weeks My favorite person down there is Pulu - everybody knows Pulu - he's a fixer
Return to the States and shoot the last two days Mega Piranha was the toughest shoot I have ever done - post has already started
I live in Sierra Madre and conduct post I have been away from home since early Dec. --- almost 3 months by the time I return
my tenth movie (but no really mine because I only wrote the
1st draft of the story)
During post for Mega Piranha I write the treatments for MILF, DOUBLE DEUCE, AND ULTIMATE WARRIOR I'll only get paid when they green light the scripts - but boy do I need the money - my house is about to be swept out from under me by Deutch Bank
Still no sign of the Russian My wife and I are getting nervous - will he ever come back
Sudden shocking news - the bank wants to take our house from us We have been in good faith negotiations for a remod, with them, and the bank said it was approved. but now...
We ask around - everybody we know who is in trouble was told that a remod was coming through - then SWOOOP! The bank gets a bail out. Now, the house that I've have invested my life's earnings into, well - they get that too.
The bank gives us an offer we can't refuse Well, at least we were offered something. Grrrrr!
I need 15k to keep my house - 15 measly grand I try to keep a smile on my face in post - but what I really want is a descent salary. Oh well, at least I get to make movies.
I want out of Fawnskin - so we take the bank deal - it is a relief We will walk away with a small wad of cash - but we must move out in one month
I go back up the mountain to help pack - it is sad - my wife is sad We gave it a damned good shot -- but the economy sucks
Good news - the Russian is coming the Russian is coming This helps --- A LOT -- I am happy - things are looking up
Finally I get another job from MR. X - to ghost write That helps too - - now all I need is MILF to get the green light
I have a discount coupon for a spa hotel that I must use before we move I take my wife and Lola off on a nice weekend
It turns Spring while we are soaking in a hot tub Just a last shot of normalcy before we become gypsies (oh - or do I mean homeless)
Karen, Lola, and I continue packing the second we get home We move in five days - it will be a whole new chapter soon -- in LA
Packing like crazy - everything must go It is a much needed purge of many piles of collectables and treasures I no longer need
In between moving loads into storage I race to the Asylum The last few versions of Mega Piranha are due - the music comes in
still no word on our new apartment - if we even have one We are crossing our fingers for the Verona in Studio City
Scott Brown helps us move - everything - EVERYTHING It is all in storage accept for a few bags - in between I promote Mega Piranha
I don't know if Mega Piranha will be a hit - nobody knows The trailer is great - but late --- so is a lot of press - but word of mouth spreads
The day has come - we say goodbye to our home one room at a time THEY TOOK MUCK FUCKING HOUSE - THE MOTHER FUCKING BANK TOOK IT
WE MOVE - WE LEAVE FAWNSKIN - WE HEAD DOWN THE MOUNTAIN - FOR GOOD (I wept and kissed my home goodbye). I weep and weep.
We move into a motel in Pasadena. We have two storage lockers, two cars filled - and 3K Suddenly we are homeless
Mega Piranha gets some great pre-opening buzz - looks like people everywhere are waiting to see it I will happily take some good with the bad
We drive from the motel and enroll Lola into school in Sierra Madre (my father lives there and signs for her) Mega Piranha premiers in just 10 days
Karen leaves for Hawaii to be private chef to the rich Russian Mega Piranha premiers in just 8 days - I'm psyched - the bad seems only a distant memory
Lola and I live in my father's basement in Sierra Madre so she can go to school I write at Bean Town every day promoting Mega Piranha on the web - Lizanne Webb helps
Mega Piranha gets the front page of MTV dot com The hits on the trailer are mounting - tens of thousands see it
Mega Piranha gets the front page of Yahoo Lizanne and I build a fan site for the movie - it gets 700 fans in the first few hours
Parties start popping up all over town for the premier night Latt scoots out of town - he doesn't know what to expect
Lola loves her school - Karen loves Hawaii - I just want a place to live Mega Piranha premiers tomorrow - Why don't I have a house anymore?
Mega Piranha premiers on Syfy - April 10th I watch it at a party at Mary Ann's and Bob's -- the movie is a hoot - I am so happy
April 11th - I start getting calls congratulating me I'm shocked - even Ralph calls about the "good reviews" - I look - and there they are--- wow!
The reviews are great and the response is great Mega Piranha is a campy hit - Syfy wants more - - - (so? where's my house?)
The ratings on the premier come in - 2.2 million viewers - Syfy's biggest hit in 2010 The Hollywood report does a story on it - it doesn't mention me
Calls from agents, managers, and producers start coming in This is the beginning of whole new, wonderful chapter - I am a Hollywood filmmaker
Karen comes back into town - she has cash and a smile The apartment in Studio City comes through - a beautiful but small villa style 2 bedroom
We move in - set up - and are instantly residents of LA again Things are looking good again - now I just need to finish MILF
Working on getting the right agent, manager, and attorney My 10cc of fame is keeping the embers going - but for how long?
My head on Burt Reynolds's naked body with a Piranha eating me It's on the web - my friend sends it to me
Lizanne Webb, Bill Hooey, and Scott Brown help with publicity I send out many notes requesting referrals to The Table group and Linkedin
Lola continues school in Sierra Madre I drive her to and from Studio City every day. I write at Bean Town while she's in class
MILF notes come in - it's another big rewrite - daunting My computer completely breaks down while I work on it - the motherboard is gone
Our house is too packed - I am too busy to move things - Must Drive Lola Drive - Drive - Drive - Drive -back to LA and all I'm doing is driving!
We wake Lola every morning at 6 am - I make breakfast and drive her to school 40 minute drive - sit in Bean Town Cafe for 6 hours - Drive her back home!
Try to get my computer fixed on the cheep. Trying to get back on my feet and finish MILF Drive - Drive - Drive - back and forth to school - no time - no time.
Lots of meetings happening. Everyone wants to meet - Mega Piranha is a hit I am on the phone - or in meetings for new projects constantly!
Stephenson hooks me up with a producer pal, Ty. They want to do CROAK It's a good follow up to Mega piranha. Lots of big fun creatures.
Ty suggests I remove this interactive diary from the web - that it is too revealing Some friends want it down too - I'm torn. What if Ty is right, that I will not be taken seriously as a writer and director with all this confession going on for everyone to read. My wife and I are desperate for me to reach the next level.
Although I keep writing in it, I REMOVE THIS ONLINE DIARY from my site's public access. I feel sick to my stomach instantly. But I need to forge ahead with my career.
Linkedin pays off with some referrals - agents, managers, and producers Doug Drazin wants to create a TV show with me: it will be WGA and DGA. I'm in!
I hand in a totally rewritten MILF - very funny but it is also very late Rimawi and Bales have already left for Cannes. Rimawi is pissed.
MILF goes into limbo while I wait for more notes. I already have a 45 page script so it won't take long once its greenlighted.
My sister, Linnea comes to visit from Chicago Our new apartment feels more like a home now that we have her with us. I love having her here.
Today during a brunch of Chinese dumplings with my sis and the fam, I got a call from Latt Rimiwi is more pissed than I thought. I am out as head writer and director on MILF. It doesn't make sense. They have no one else to replace me. Mega Piranha was a hit! I'm their comedy guy. I don't get the logic. In the immortal words of Hyman Roth - "this is the business we've chosen!"
Linnea stays for less than a week - my dad throws a big party for her (she works her entire trip to prep it for him) The MILF thing is just sinking in. What a way to follow up a hit.
After Linnea leaves I turn my attention to NEW projects with other companies Still I - Drive -back and forth to Sierra Madre - all day long!
As May turns to June I find myself getting more press everyday Mega Piranha opens in England on July 16th so - lots of interviews happen
Ridiculous news comes in - Barney doesn't like the deal so he pulls the thriller from the distributor EB What a destructive #%$#%^@$%@&&^@%#!!!
Cheney wants me to introduce him and Barney to my Syfy connections to sell them T R - HAH! So they can screw up that deal too - %##^$##%^#%^#%!@#$$$@#$!!!!!!!!
On the good side, NIGHT OF THE DEAD starts playing on Chiller every weekend. One day, I swear, I am going to buy NOTD and my other movies back -. I want the Thriller back. #@##@#$@#$!!
Karen settles into her job as apartment manager and I help I need to do something for money - MILF is out the window at the exact wrong time.
I spend my days working on getting bigger future projects I take meetings with UFO, Atmosphere, Doug Drazin, Alex Robb, Jeff Katz, Norman Aladgem, Rebecca Ewing, Zack Cox, and Wali Rizanki - Lots of free work to do, lots of spec scripts requested, lots of potential jobs in an elusive future. BUT WHAT ABOUT NOW!!! I keep repeating the Hyman Roth quote.
Wali Rizaki wants to see CROAK and BLOOD FREAKS I decide to do another pass on them before handing them in. Oooppppsss!
MILF feels like a ghost limb, I know it is there, that I am working on it - in another dimension In this dimension I am on a job hunt like everyone else!
David Latt pays me and gives me story credit for MILF Four years ago I would have kissed the ground. Now I just want a union project to direct.
I work with my new assistant Gigi for a few weeks. She's helpful and we focus a lot of publicity for me - maybe if I become famous I'll get a friggin agent.
My sciatica starts up again - a minor bout but I still need pain pills Not a good thing for writing - but it goes away in two weeks.
Lola graduates from elementary school My Drive -back and forth between Studio City and Sierra Madre - is OVER!
We send Lola to Chicago to visit my mother and sister for a few weeks Karen and I have a little honeymoon week - in between me writing my TV show for Doug Drazin and her working 70 hours a week for her new property Czar, Arthur, (for which she does not get paid any money - only free rent)
Lola has the time of her life in Chicago - Pizza - Rec Faire - Museums - family I miss my girl - but it is fun to be with Karen alone - fun and rare.
Doug Draizin sets up a meeting at UTA I pitch the TV show for the first time. It goes okay. I need to clean it up before the next pitch.
Doug sets up a meeting at William Morris Endeavour I pitch the TV show again. MUCH BETTER. WME starts shopping it.
Karen O'Hara from Syfy gets me passes to San Diego Comic-Con Mega Piranha has a midnight show and it is a hoot - like Rocky Horror, people shout out lines and jump up chanting along with the film. The boys from the Asylum are there, as well as Karen and Tom from Syfy. They see it all. They congratulate me.
Meetings with Karen and Tom from Syfy go great Karen pick half a dozen of my pitches to follow up on with her. She likes me. YeeeHAAAWWW!!!!
Lola and my mother arrive in LA Boy is our little apartment crowded all of a sudden. And the tension rises.
It's great to see my mom, and Lola being back home makes me sooo happy She reads Twilight until she's cross eyed. Lola is growing up - way too fast.
I sit wrong and drive Jo around in the cramped BMW too much My sciatic nerve gets inflamed again. This time it's really bad.
Jo heads back to Chicago and I head to the hospital. The sciatica gets worse and worse.
Everything goes on hold while I get MRIs, X-rays, and pain medications I write like an opium eater - but mostly I lay on my side psyching my pain into submission.
Finally after seven weeks on and off heavy meds, my sciatica is gone. I am BEHIND ON EVERYTHING "Lucy - you got some 'splaining to do."
I was still medicated to the gills when I attended this Bene Mitzva - Lola looks like she's 17 - Yikes!
I start working on setting up meetings again - picking up where I left off I meet with Jeffery Beach at UFO, and Roma Roth, an Indy exec producer for Syfy originals.
Lola starts her new middle school - a performing arts magnet. I am a proud papa.
Getting back into the swing of writing is not as easy as it seems I still haven't found the perfect writing environment since moving back to LA. But I will.
My wonderful 2nd cousin, Dagmar Forsberg, just died in Sweden She was the center of all our contact - a true matriarch - and the last Swedish Forsberg by name. Lola spoke about her the evening that she expired. We said - "we must visit Dagmar before she dies". Then -- she unexpectedly died. It makes sciatica and all my movie troubles seem trite.
WME needs a script for the TV show I put it on the list which now includes treatments for The Asylum, UFO, Roma Roth, Atmosphere, and Syfy.
Karen starts getting paid at work Thank the mighty gonads of God!
I am back on many assignments for The Asylum Almighty Thor, Double Deuce, and Ultimate Warrior. I work on treatments for Thor first.
UFO gets the most immediate attention from me Giga Watt, and Black Hole, two disaster movies
Take off time from UFO stuff to cram a packet of treatments for Roma Roth to bring to New York Man-O-Gator, Whale'o'saur, and The Dwellers.
I finish pitch packs for UFO, Asylum, and Roma Roth In between helping Lola with her homework (she's getting As and Bs) - but she's also getting stubborn.
MILF is about to be released I get a special thanks. Erik Estenberg gets "story by...". At least there's something new out there with my name on it. Even if it is a poopasaurous rex.
Today I stare at my computer That darned TV show pilot script has to be in there somewhere.
After many interviews and seminars where people seem interested in my story, I decide to put this diary back on the web I took it off in April after some comments from producers that it might compromise me to be so truthful for all to see. But that is the beauty of it - the truth - the painful and wonderful truth. people don't reach their dreams in a vacuum, they reach their dreams in a war - a war to make our individual way through a daunting world of obstacles, a war to lay our claim, to shout out name, to fight by the sides of our brothers and sisters for the causes that we believe in including ourselves, our worth, our talent, and the impact for good that we can have in the world. So - this is something that I can offer: a little piece of my self, my experiences, and my battle strategy. God, I hope its a good one, because I am already in it up to my ass.
Mega Piranha shows in the Boobs & Blood festival It is a fun press event. I am interviewed by The Grid on IFC
Tension mounts with may daughter over --- oh --- everything I wonder if my pot smoking ass gave this much heartache to my mom and dad. Probably more. I know my wife was even worse.
We head back up the mountain for the 2nd annual Big Bear horror Film Festival It is the first time that I have been there since THE BANK TOOK OUR FUGGIN HOUSE!
October 2010
The Asylum calls - it looks like Almighty Thor is back on top I revise a paragraph and then a one pager - and I actually get paid something - whoaoooaoaoooao!
First report card in - Lola gets good grades in school - As & Bs I am a proud papa
Lola goes to her best friends Halloween costume party dressed like a hot model It ends up being all boys but her. The birthday boy gawks and Lola is blamed.
Almighty Thor is a go for the next step - beats sheets and treatments It is a long unpaid process but somebody's got to do it.
MILF gets its first review- its a good one Now all I need is to get my next directing job and a winning lottery ticket and everything will be square.
Mega Piranha still gets great press Here is a great little poster that a fan did and posted on the web (click it - it's a thumbnail)
I take David Freeman's writing course "Beyond Structure" It is good to be in a classroom again. I receive a scholarship in trade for video recording his previous class
On Nov 5th I am given the green-light to write Almighty Thor - I begin On Nov 8th I am told to change it from Iron Age Scandinavia to modern Los Angeles (That's the Asylum for ya)
Routine begins to saturate everything Wake up, make coffee, Karen takes Lola to school, I write, I pick Lola up, snack, homework, make dinner, Karen comes home, eat, sleep.
Micho is the development exec on Thor, It is Rimawi's project. I work hard - many drafts
Lola's party dress problem gets out of control at school and the boys mom causes problems We talk with the vice principle - it is an issue. Lola is confused and me too. What did she do wrong? I am angry.
My wonderful cousin Dagmar in Sweden just died My poor family - Lena - Annette - and Inger - they so loved their mother. Me too. We all did. Especially Karen. And Lola just said the other day that we should go to Sweden to see Dagmar before she dies. How I wish we could have been transported there for one last Jul Bord with her. One less Forsberg in the world now. One less Forsberg.
David Freeman offers me a free class on personality evaluation (Tone Scale) I like the way it approaches self improvement ways to measure one's progress or regress.
David Freeman becomes the book ends for my script I write Almighty Thor between his first class, "Beyond Structure" and the "Tone Scale" course. About 3 weeks.
I love my script. It is a true epic hero's story with some great action Latt steps in with the note: keep it to 100 VFX. I being the FX breakdown. I hate doing FX breakdowns.
Latt rewrites some of the action scenes and takes out key dialogue moments The script is not as rich but it is more affordable
I rewrites the script again to bring back things that were lost Rimawi calls me asking where other things went. I put them back in too. Latt's stuff is mostly in what effects can be done. Erik Estenberg types everything (tee hee) ;-)
Chris Olen Rey is set to direct. He is a good guy. Comes from a famous father. I know that story. I finish in early DEC and hand that sucker in. The check comes none too soon
I did not realize this but David Freeman's class is at The Scientology Celebrity Center I have avoided it until now. It was actually very relaxing. They gave me a free class. What the heck.
Odd News: my movie TR, which got distribution through Echo Bridge, is in a law suit the exec is suing Echo B and Quantum for not having the deal signed before is was released - so much for that movie being seen by millions
Lola's second report card comes in and it is not very good Something happened to her sparkling spirit after that problem with that boy - more crap to deal with.
Lola gets an audition/interview for a Lifetime reality show on kids weight loss and fitness She does well, I hope she gets the part - it will be three months of personal trainers and cameras everywhere
As Almighty Thor goes into production, my daughter's grades go down Meanwhile I take a class in statistics and planning for growth finances at the Celebrity Center - its good
So - now my wife thinks that I am a Scientologist because I get mail all of the time and take a class there I find the way that my class approaches things to be similar to how my mother raised me while she was becoming a facilitator for EST - but Werner Earhart and L Ron Hubbard despise each other - how could they - it all seems so alike
Karen, Lola and I spend one day and one night in San Diego. It is the first real trip we have had since Chicago in 2009 I spend the day with Lola going to museums at Balboa Park. It is wonderful. We end the night at Karen's brother's house for Hanukkah. Then hotel fun and a hot tub in the morning. I single day of fun in a spread of many months. Well - back to work.
Lola and I stop by the set of Almighty Thor on the last day of shooting She is starting to turn into a teenager - getting angry with me all the time. It's painful to watch my little girl grow so bitter.
My birthday takes place at my favorite Chinese restaurant. My brother Thor called last night to tell me that he can't come. His wife scheduled him to do a condo association meeting.
Karen invites her mom, my dad, Scott, and two friends to my party Where are all of my other friends? I have so many friends. I had hoped for a huge bash at a club with mega Piranha streaming in the background and and a red carpet. I guess that Sichuan eggplant will have to do.
My father gets a collapsed lung. I rush him to the hospital Thor wishes me a happy birthday in the emergency room as the doctors rush to give a man CPR
As Rolf recovers, Linnea and Jo fly into town for Christmas Jul Bord Karen and I are throwing a huge Swedish Christmas spread (Jul Bord) at our house. Every One is coming.
As Christmas approaches and Rolf sits at Huntington Hospital, we prep for Jul Bord. Thor calls - he and his family will not be coming. He doesn't want to upset his wife with our drama and weird food. So the the Christmas table is getting mighty small. Luckily Rolf comes straight from the hospital to sit at the head of the table. We eat leftovers two days later with, his wife Maureen, and his daughter Moira (2). Maureen is pregnant again. We have a wonderful Christmas anyway.
I email Karen O'Hara at SYFY, wishing her a happy holiday and asking if she would give me an introduction to Roger Corman. She does. Roger sets a meeting with me the day after Linnea and Jo leave. It is going to be tight for prep.
Its the day before the Corman meeting and I do not have anything put together yet I will do it tonight after we drop Linnea and Jo off at the airport.
CHICAGO IS SNOWED IN! ALL FLIGHTS ARE CANCELLED! Jo and Linnea are with us now until after New Years. I need to prep for my Corman meeting: Mapquest his address, print up a poster sheet for my movies with some quotes from reviews. Research his work again so I am educated. Meditate. INSTEAD we are going out to dinner and setting up a plan for the next few days. I will have to prep in the morning.
Corman meeting is today at 11 AM. I called his office and got location details - at his office on Wilshire and San Vicente I will drop my sister off at Farmers Market on the way - then pick her up afterwards. I wish I was better prepared.
DISASTER! I dropped my sister off and went to Wilshire and San Vicente, down near Beverly Hills but I couldn't find the street address. I called and Roger's assistant told me that it was the Wilshire and San Vicente in Brentwood near the beach. DISASTER! Roger still wanted me to come even if I was going to be late. DISASTER! I couldn't leave Linnea so I raced to farmers market and sped across town to Brentwood and dropped her off at some stores. Then I parked and raced to the meeting almost an hour late. DISASTER! Roger was pressed for time - we talked - and it was over. He told me he liked my work - I gave him the answers he needed - but FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!
I am so bummed out about the Corman meeting I try to put on a good face for my mom and sister but I am really depressed. We ring in the New Year with champagne and caviar for the first time in years - but what does it matter if I blew the biggest meeting of my recent career. FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!
Linnea and Jo are gone - January is upon us - I am going to pull myself together I start eating better to lose weight. I gained 40 lbs since moving back to LA. All of us have gained.
The Corman meeting plagues me :-(
Ugh! I wash the bad taste out of my mouth by calling Doug Draizin and getting back in touch with Griff at Active Entertainment and Jeff at UFO
The Lifetime Weight Loss Reality Show
I get an interesting call from the folks at the Lifetime reality show It looks like Lola is a front runner for the pilot - they come and meet her again in a few days - we get interviewed too - and psych evals.
Things start to perk up for me with UFO - Active Entertainment - and Doug Draizin Doug wants a cop show like Castle. I hit the ground running
I plan a birthday party for my brother, Thor at Tam O'Shanters for the Robbie Burns supper At the last minute Thor calls and says he "can't" come. We celebrate without him. Boo Hooo!
Joyce Sloane - the powerhouse of Second City and my best friend there, DIED! The will have a memorial here in LA in a few weeks. How could she be dead. The world is changed. Second City is no longer the home that it once was for me now that she is gone. It won't be that home for a lot of people.
Working hard on stuff for Doug Draizin - Cop Shows and more I have a good vampire cop show and an East meets West cop show - lots of supernatural stuff - he will send it to WME to see what they think
I pushed for another meeting with UFO and got it Also Griff at Active Entertainment wants more pitches - this time all creature hybrids with disaster. WHEN AM I EVER GOING TO GET PAID FOR PITCHES
The memorial remembering Joyce Sloane was tonight at a theater in North Hollywood It was happy not sad - and funny. Lots of old friends. I am still so out of place there - the only one of us that never tried to be in a company. I should have been in a company - I was good enough. but my mother was so against it for me. Foolish.
I saw Steve Carell at the memorial yesterday. His partner asked me to call him to set up a meeting at Carousel It never rains, it pours. Now all I have to do is fixed that Corman thing.
Lola got a small birthday this year but I threw a huge one for Karen 19 people at Little Tony's - wine - pasta - pizza - salad - and decorations. I bought her good pillows and a bathrobe that hasn't arrived. She was happy.
LOLA GOT THE JOB FOR LIFETIME! Good for her. Karen manages to convince the school to renew her work permit. Lola has to work on her grades. She promises she will. But she is always mad at me now. Always Mad.
Doug Draizin and Alec, the agent from WME pick the pitch I will have three months to write the pilot. It seems like a long time but with everything else going on I will be hard pressed to put the proper time aside. BUT I MUST!
Active Ent wants premises. I send Griff two dozen cool titles and some logs to go with them He says that his boss now wants everything written out in "mini-treatments", 3 paragraphs each. WHAT? That is a shit load of work. Griff picks 6 of my pitches for me to flesh out.
I give Jeff at UFO a pile of pitches and he likes them! He will pick one or more than one soon.
We do our final interviews for the Lifetime show and then it begins They shoot us stuffing our faces for a few days and then meeting with the diet doctor. Now we are all on an eating and exercise regiment. Lola has a personal trainer. It is not easy. The weighed us in on national television - even Karen. We are going to really be exposed on this one.
I am totally swamped with stuff from Active. It's too many pitches. I have given them over twenty-five since last October - I need to log these things
I make a master list of all of my pitches including logs and synopsis I have 178 -- one hundred and seventy-eight! JESUS!
UFO wants Cannibal - one of my favorite pet scripts. They want to fast track it. I must reread the play I wrote of it back in 1994 - and my screenplay notes from 2001.
Active Entertainment wants another round - this time full blown treatments - all on spec They want five from me. That's seventy-five hours of work - (or 20 if I am so inspired). How am I going to do this and the UFO and the Draizin project? Plus help my resistant daughter with her homework every night and her new eating and exercise regiment? Lots of "Hows".
I am hesitant to pursue Roger Corman or Carousel right now. I am way too busy. And to top it off, Karen got another private chef gig with her billionaire from Europe. She will be gone for weeks wile I manage the building, take care of Lola, and try to do my work. Again --- "HOW?"
Karen is gone - Lola is doing better with me - we eat right - we are losing a little weight - I work SYFY got the treatments from Active and wanted them combined with disaster ideas so now I have to rewrite my five from scratch to be different movies than they originally asked for. I can't get to my Draizin or my UFO project to save my life.
We visit Karen for a day in central California - it's beautiful Karen is never there because she is cooking - I write the entire time. Poor Lola.
I hand the new Active pitches in and switch to the UFO project I feel pretty good about everything so I contact Carousel about a meeting and send Roger Corman an email asking to meet again.
Karen is coming home soon. Lola needs her. I need her. My workload has tripled. Active Entertainment got notes - now they want another round of pitches because they had to shelve the last three that I did. I MUST DO IT BECAUSE THIS IS THE GAME I AM PLAYING AND I AM ALMOST THERE ---- ALMOST THERE!
I am trying to finish my first round for UFO - then I will complete the Active Entertainment pitches - then I move onto the Draizin project. I just bought my tickets for Chicago too - I leave in two weeks to deliver a paper on my mother's impact on Chicago theater at a Symposium at Columbia. I have yet to write that too.
Active Entertainment keeps changing what they want on me after I give them the pitch. It is because SYFY doesn't know what they want from Active. Everyone is just guessing.
Got my meeting set at Carousel - its right after I get back from Chicago Corman's assistant contacted me too - but getting another meeting with him may take a while.
Lola got a CARE Award today for her acting last year then we went to universal Studios -- she loved all of it -- me too - to see her so happy again
Since Karen got back all we do is eat out We need to fix this before I gain all of my weight back on national television - Our fourth weigh-in is tomorrow --- TIME FOR DIETER'S TEA!
Lola went on a hike with her trainer, Petra yesterday and she did very well I am proud of my little girl. She deserves a wii - or a game boy.
Tonight we see Thor in Imax 3D Tomorrow night my film, Almighty Thor, premieres on Syfy. And the film displays the name - Estenberg as the writer. Damn!
I talk to Griff at Active Ent - Syfy is using my film Mega Piranha as an expample of what the are looking for He tells me to send him pitches in three weeks.
I work my ass off on Cannibal but it is not an easy script I end up having to put the beat sheet on hold to do the Symposium and the Draizen project.
I must write the paper on Jo I leave for Chicago in a few days - then when I return Linnea will be with me. And I still haven't seen Thor's new baby
The Lifetime reality show has extended into July - they want to shoot heavily in June I am swamped again - it is nice to have work but I need some paying jobs that respect my time with an offering of money. I must prepare for the Steve Carell pitch - and I must hand in Cannibal - and I must write ALL of Guardian in my spare time in June with the TV show rolling.
Suddenly I am worried that it is MILFs all over again. Or worse yet - the Lou Pitt/ Huzzah debacle - this is what happens when I have too many irons in the fire and all of them are spec. I NEED A GOOD AGENT TO HELP ME FOCUS ON THE RIGHT PROJECTS! Why can't I get a fucking agent! WHY??????????????????????????????????????????????????????
I travel to Chicago to deliver the paper on Jo am up all night until 6:30 am revising. deliver paper at 11:30am - even Sheldon Patinkin says its good - I'm happy
spend 5 days in Chicago - eat surprisingly well (low cal well that is) my mother is sick the entire time - she needs oxygen - goes into the hospital the day I leave
return to LA 10 lbs lighter back to writing and dieting - I go on a big hike in between key-strokes
the next few weeks are all about eating right and trying to catch up on writing I only lose 5 more lbs in three weeks but Lola and Karen both lose a lot. Dr. Hazan loves to yell at me
Good news for Lola - she gets into St. Charles Boromeo for 7th grade it's not Buckley but it is a private Catholic school - now Lola won't need to take those terrible standardized tests
Active Entertainment seems to like my stuff and they keep asking me to do writing for them unfortunately it is all spec work just to get the ball rolling with their buyers at SyFy - but at least Karen O'Hara and some of the other SyFy execs are going to give me notes directly (the Asylum never let me see the executive's notes). Hopefully I will get a job from it.
The LIFETIME show only has a few weeks left and I still need to lose 10 lbs at least I have been doing a lot of treadmill to help - 50 minutes a day average for the past 9 days. Lola still needs to lose 5 lbs or more so she's really working hard too.
Got bad news form Chicago - my mother is not going to recover from her present state - she will deteriorate until she dies the doctor says "months, not years" - I am SO SAD
Karen and I plan to send Lola to Chicago for 3 weeks this summer to spend with her grandma I will join them at the end of her trip. This may be my last visit with my wonderful mother. I only pray that she makes it through the summer and even through Christmas. "Life is real" (Jo's favorite saying)
I took Lola and Karen to the LACMA for the Tim Burton exhibit - it was amazing Lola loved his art so much that she has been drawing pictures of his work ever since. It may have changed her life. Disney did that for me - especially when I was her age. My mom got me a book of his art - I loved it. So when Lola asked my for the Tim Burton book I got it for her. $70. It is well worth it.
Had my meeting with Charlie Hartsock and the other execs at Carousel Productions (Steve Carell's company) I gave them Mega Piranha and Sex Pot and I pitched Huzzah, Neighbor of the Beast, a modified version of Eros, and a few new ones (Bollywood, and Gauch Blammo were the big hits). They are taking the one they liked (maybe two) to Steve. I should hear back in a few weeks.
Today I try to finally finish the "Interview with a Cannibal" treatment for UFO It has been a month and a half since they requested it - but between the LIFETIME SHOW demanding many days a week, plus ACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT asking for so many things every few days, and then of course, the Symposium and my trip to Chicago, I have had next to no time to work on the UFO stuff. And now I am late starting my TV Pilot for Doug Draizin and WME. I have so much work to do - and Karen is unable to pick Lola up from school much so I pretty much have to do everything with her too once 2:30 hits. I need a super-clone
One week later I am still trying to finish the "Interview with a Cannibal" treatment for UFO It has been two months now working on it on and off. But other things keep trumping it.
More Good News - I was selected to head a panel at Comic-Con in San Diego (after much applying) It will be at 7:00 on Fri July 22nd - "Making Genre Movies from the Pen Up)
SUMMER 2011
Spent Father's Day weekend in Big Bear swimming and hiking. NICE! It was my wife's big surprise trip for me and Lola. Unfortunately I got minimal work done. But boy I sure do love being with my wonderful family :)
"GLAD MIDSOMMER" as they say in Swedish "Good Midsummer" - it is June 21st - a huge holiday in Sweden - we went to Ikea to celebrate.
Got more good news (and some so so news) Active Entertainment has sent me contracts as the screen writer for ArachnoQuake - but SyFy wants Griff's father Stephen to direct.
Lola's last day of school was yesterday - YIKES! I need to work and it is hard enough when she's gets home at 3PM - now she'll be home all day everyday - I need to find a Summer Camp (I picked her up at school yesterday and took her to Universal Studios- just an example of my desire to entertain and bond with her all summer - MUST FIGHT THE URGE!)
Now I am in trouble - I'm still working on the Treatment for UFO but NOW I HAVE OTHER THINGS DUE We are in the last 2 weeks of shooting the LIFETIME SHOW -- plus SYFY wants a revised draft of the treatment by next Tuesday - plus my TV Pilot for Doug Draizin and WME is due in a week and I have barely scratched the surface of it.
I have a plan: focus on SYFY and UFO assignment first... ... then focus 110 % on the TV Pilot - I will have to hand it in mid-July before Comic Con - late but not too late
Lola's dear friend from Big Bear, Samantha, spent 4th of July weekend with us in Studio City it was one big party: Venice Beach, swimming, movies, Reanimator the musical, Korean food...
Jo has taken a turn fro the worse so I have to get to Chicago We get Lola a ticket for right after the Lifetime show ends and me one for after Comic-Con
We do our final weigh ins (I can't reveal any details until after it airs in the fall) Dr. Hazan was pushy right up to the end - but she did a lot for my family
Lola's big on camera reveal is shooting today She's going to sing a song. She looks beautiful in her dress - just beautiful - NOTE: I am not allowed to post the Reveal Pictures!
I have a big order to fill - 3 movies and a Comic Con panel Got notes on Arachnoquake - due in a few days - must get Cannibal out first - then 100% onto Guardian for Draizin and WME
Lola gets on a plane and I get to work She will spend 4 weeks in Chicago - I hope Jo, Linnea, Air, and Lola are up for it
I miss Lola - but I am working on my stuff - uninterrupted - for the first time since Big Bear I finish Cannibal in 3 days and then onto Arachnoquake
Comic Con panel is this weekend in San Diego The Asylum press person posts a notice of their site saying the Chris Olen Ray is doing it but not me. The press person gets pissy with me when I mention it. Boy did I rub her the wrong way.
I get Arachnoquake (revised treatment with SYFY notes taken care of) into Griff 3 days early Then he gets swamped with Haunted High and communication is cut...
Got to Comic Con - me, Karen, and Scott Brown It's great - unfortunately Griff has to stay in Louisiana and misses being on the panel - I wing it and it is fine (Karen, Chris Ray, Tom Devlin, and me are on it - everyone seems to like it.)
Return home with a little of that weight I lost over the last 17 weeks back on my gut I need to go back on Hazan's program immediately - IMMEDIATELY
I have two days to put my things together and leave for Chicago Dr. Hazan was pushy right up to the end - but she did a lot for my family
down to the wire - I leave tonight at 3:30 in the morning on Spirit Air I may have to work the entire time - in between seeing my mother and taking my Lola to the theater
See family in Chicago - Lola is mad that I came - Jo is overjoyed Sweat it out for two weeks in broiling apartment in heat wave. Jo gets better every day.
Checks do not come through for anything while I am away - so no money in Chi Luckily my sisters has museum passes - but we do not see any theater - I am sorry for that - but Lola isn't
OOOPPPPSS! Our diet for the TV show goes out the window in Chicago We both gain some of our weight back but with all of the walking it isn't as bad as I had feared
While in Chicago I get notes from SyFy on Arachnoquake I spend most of my last eight days there writing in the building's party room (just like I did with Mega Piranha)
Fri Sat and Sun I spend with Tim Ferguson (Lola & Tim's daughter Emma too) We do a weekend at the Ren Faire. I play in the streets in costume. I am a little rusty but it was a great time
Tuesday August 9th we leave Chicago Goodbye Jo, Linnea, Air, Patti, Michelle, Guy, Kay, Jamie, Tim, Emma, Kimbelle and all of my loved ones. It was a great trip.
Back in LA - my last pennies were spent on a cab ride from the airport - $90 from LAX to Studio City : ( Welcome back to harsh reality - now I have to get to work on the Draizin project and hit a home run ASAP
In Los Angeles for less than 24 hours when I get the news - my mother's sister died She is my beautiful Auntie Pasty, know to most as Lee. She is my godmother. I worked side by side with her for years at Players Workshop. She was the one who trained me how to teach. My mother's baby sister dies at 77 years old.
I leave for Chicago We use the money for other things to buy the ticket. No thought can go into it or else I might not go. I have to go. I have to go!
Six days in Chicago - funeral for Lee - see family Not able to do much work - waiting for the Green Light to write the first draft of the Arach-quake screenplay.
Day five in Chi - leave mother weak and old but still kicking I arrive in LA at 11PM. There is a message on my cell phone - one more draft of the treatment for Arach-quake
Lola has a new friend that moved into out building, Dn. She goes to the same school as Lola did now Lola wants to go back to Milliken Performing Arts Academy. I think it is a mistake.
I send the new draft to Active suddenly there is silence - I start working on web pages and my mother's biography - I want them further along so she can see them.
I send emails to UFO about Cannibal I need to get another project going just in case
my contact, G, at Active is shooting another film and is incommunicado. I start obsessing and work even harder on my mother's bio. I hate being left out of the loop.
I contact Doug Dz about the pilot script for Guardian and WME the project is still alive THANK GOD! I still don't know about Cannibal for UFO yet.
Finally get a message from G at Active - "no word from SyFy - I'll contact you as soon as I hear" he says So, I'm still on the project still but things are slow - maybe it's been pushed - whatever the case I can't take on any other commitments so I can write the script when the time comes.
I work on historical family bios while I wait for news Jo is going in and out of "near-death" conditions back in Chicago. I am on the phone with her or my sister everyday.
Jo recovers enough to be out of the woods - Linnea plans to move her from the hospital into a nursing home I never expected that it would come to this and neither did Jo. As soon as she gets to the point where she is going to die I will move to Chicago and live with her for those last few weeks until the end. It is the only way that they will allow her to die at home. She must at least die at home, in her condo, with her magnificent view of the city, her own furniture, and her many books and pictures that remind her of her life - a good, long life. I miss her already.
Lola is back at Milliken - making new friends at school I am happy for her. She is singing and dancing and losing the weight she put on at the show ended. Even Petra is back doing hikes with her.
The Big Bear Horror Sci Fi Festival is coming up - Mega Piranha will show on the first day there are lots of celebrations and red carpet parties - I love it. I hook up with Christopher Coppola and he says that he is proud of me.
Up in Big Bear in the middle of the festival I get bad news form Chicago - my mother has taken a turn for the worse - it is time for me to take her home to die She has been calling all of her friends and loves to say goodbye.
We leave the festival and Karen drives me to the airport. Luckily I have enough clothes for a few days - but I am SO SAD
Active finds another writer to finish the script I can get back onto the projects I have with Active when I get back. I will get a writing credit for AQ - but no more money.
I arrive in Chicago on a red eye through Washington DC and go straight to the hospital Jo is so happy to see me but she is a little out of it - she got an infection at the nursing home and that is what is killing her - her heart is actually doing pretty well - I spend the day by her side. I begin working out a plan to bring her home. They say that it will take about 36 hours and she is mine. Linnea and I begin to set up Home Hospice. I call Karen and tell her to get on a plane. She plans to come the day after tomorrow.
I tell Jo that I am taking her home and she smiles so big saying "oh Good." She hugs me. I don't want her to go - but I know that she will soon. None of my movies matter now - nothing else matters - only her.
Jo gained some strength this evening as people came to visit. She refused to let go of her purse and she wanted to "get the hell out of that hospital" but she was also dignified and lovely to all of us she told each of us how she believed in us and said something special to each one of us - to me she said that she thought I was a genius and was capable of great things. "Go out and do great things Eric" she said to me. Then she asked my sister if she could go, that she wanted to see auntie Pasty, "I want to be with my beautiful Auntie Patsy". Linnea gave her permission. I called Karen and Lola and they told Jo that they loved her. Then people began to leave and Jo nodded off - I went home around 11pm to get her apartment ready for her hospital bed.
The next morning, October 2nd, I got a call from Karen to get to the hospital Jo was sleeping when I got there. Linnea and Air arrived soon after. We held Jo's hand but she did not wake up. A few hours later she was gone.
Sad sad sad sad sad Martin, Burt, Joyce, Dagmar, Lee, and now my mother. The people in my life are slipping into history. I am filled with grief and loneliness. I begin working on archiving all of my mother's papers and photos. Elizabeth (Chambers) helps me.
We have the funeral on Yom Kippur - as per her wishes she is placed in a purple coffin the service is kind of funky - with photos of her everywhere, a huge Italian feast upstairs - her favorite Andrew Lloyd Weber musicals playing - a purple coffin, and funeral cards that quote Shakespeare. She is placed in a crypt next to her mother around the corner from Lee (auntie Patsy) and surrounded by flowers. Then we head to Second City for a memorial.
The Memorial at The Second City is wonderful and fun - a great send off for an iconic figure in Chicago Theater Ben Hollis hosts, Will Clinger sings, Charna Halpren speaks, and Lola steals the show at the end. I close the memorial with some touching Jo stories. Then it's over. I go back to Jo's condo and stay there for two more weeks alone, working on her archives.
After two weeks in my mother's condo I am depressed and sad and surrounded by spirits boy do I miss my mom - and her archives require a lifetime of work - her mobster dad - her Sicilian heritage - her early days in Chicago's most iconic theaters, and her life as a teacher and a mentor and a star maker at Second City. I'll do what I can.
I return to Los Angeles and try to recover - but I have an issue with my stomach and I go in for surgery (I do not get the lapband) I am on a liquid diet for weeks and lose a ton of weight - when I begin eating again I do it right, Dr. Hazan style, and lose even more. I may not be making money but I am getting thin.
I am fully recovered by Christmas and being to look for work again UFO is back on and G at Active wants more movie pitches. Even Latt at the Asylum says "we have to get you back on the train" - so things look good :)
My Daughter Lola is cast in her school fall play - Macbeth - she plays Macbeth Her grandmother would have been so proud - she would have flown out to California to see it - she dies her hair black for the part
Arachnoquake shoots and wraps in December I wish I could have staid on the project and finished the script. But G wants me to come up with some more pitches for their 2012 slate. I submit Asteroid Attack, Fire Glacier, Man-O-Potamus, George Washington vs the Lycanthropes, and Santa Croc
Merry Christmas - Happy New Year may no body die in 2012 - just the 3 "M"s - meetings, movies, and money :) I start the New Year by being a guest speaker for a Rock Riddle event. Quenton Tarrentino's dad, Tony is the other guest.
Unions, Guilds and Memberships
DGA Directors Guild of America
WGA Writers Guild of America
DG Dramatists Guild New York
MENSA Member
SMUU Santa Monica Unitarian Universalist Church
SCA Society for Creative Anachronism
HUNTINGTON GARDENS Family Membership
Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) Family Membership
24 Hour Fitness Member
Last edited 01/10/2012
| Visitor Counter |
