Every now and then, I'll do a post that I'll call, From the archives, that reflects my naive, little observations of Hollywood ( before I lived here ) and bizarre L.A. stories that have actually happened to me. Luckily, I've kept good writing journals over the years...
While still in Nebraska, I'd snagged an interview for a development internship with Baltimore/Spring Creek Pictures. The timing could not have been more perfect. I was planning to visit my friend Kristen in Hawaii and I was able to get a layover in L.A. to scout out the prospects of the internship and L.A. itself. Alas, here's the first installment of From the Archives...
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My hastily scrawled directions led us to the studio gates of Warner Bros. At first, I thought, this can't be right, but we pulled up to the studio gates and sure enough, they had a drive-on pass for me. The entrance to Baltimore/Spring Creek Pictures had these huge, thick, gray doors with no windows or anything. It was just slightly intimidating.
I entered and walked down the hallway passed all these framed movie posters. Then, my interviewer led me to a conference room where I sat down at this thick, glass table. Later, he brought me a glass of water. Every time I took a sip, it would clink back on the gigantic, glass table and echo into silence until one of us spoke again.
The room also had a rather long, glass fish tank. I found it ironic: The aquarium was huge, but the fish were so tiny. Basically, everything was made of glass and everything was gigantic. I stared at the fish. I wasn't swimming with sharks yet; I hadn't even graduated to swimming with guppies. This was the first test.
At one point, my interviewer stretched his arm across the gigantic, glass table in order to hand me two scripts. I had to actually stand up to reach them. That was how big the table was -- a two-mile wide ocean of glass between me and my interviewer. I was told to do script coverage on both screenplays and submit the writing samples to them within the week. (Script coverage in a nutshell: read the script, write a logline--the plot in 2 sentences or less, write a detailed synopsis, and give it a rating of "Go" or "Pass.") I thanked my interviewer and told him I'd send the samples right away.
Then, I wandered around, trying in vain to find the "Friends" set. I found what I thought was the set of "Friends" on this studio "city street", but it turned out to be a TV movie.
Later in the week, I was in Hawaii, writing script coverage on the beach. I faxed the results back to Baltimore/Spring Creek. A month later, I was told that I got the internship. They'd been impressed, but I actually had to turn them down because I got an offer to work on another movie. Because of this, I still believe that good things happen after I return from a vacation.
I entered and walked down the hallway passed all these framed movie posters. Then, my interviewer led me to a conference room where I sat down at this thick, glass table. Later, he brought me a glass of water. Every time I took a sip, it would clink back on the gigantic, glass table and echo into silence until one of us spoke again.
The room also had a rather long, glass fish tank. I found it ironic: The aquarium was huge, but the fish were so tiny. Basically, everything was made of glass and everything was gigantic. I stared at the fish. I wasn't swimming with sharks yet; I hadn't even graduated to swimming with guppies. This was the first test.
At one point, my interviewer stretched his arm across the gigantic, glass table in order to hand me two scripts. I had to actually stand up to reach them. That was how big the table was -- a two-mile wide ocean of glass between me and my interviewer. I was told to do script coverage on both screenplays and submit the writing samples to them within the week. (Script coverage in a nutshell: read the script, write a logline--the plot in 2 sentences or less, write a detailed synopsis, and give it a rating of "Go" or "Pass.") I thanked my interviewer and told him I'd send the samples right away.
Then, I wandered around, trying in vain to find the "Friends" set. I found what I thought was the set of "Friends" on this studio "city street", but it turned out to be a TV movie.
Later in the week, I was in Hawaii, writing script coverage on the beach. I faxed the results back to Baltimore/Spring Creek. A month later, I was told that I got the internship. They'd been impressed, but I actually had to turn them down because I got an offer to work on another movie. Because of this, I still believe that good things happen after I return from a vacation.
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