Like most struggling writers trying to get their scripts commissioned, I had to do something odd to pay the rent. So, aged 21, I started up my own small cheesecake company in Philadelphia.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
So when it was my turn to start developing projects, I knew the writers I wanted to work with, and I had met every head of studio, every executive and a lot of producers. I started finding things, little crumbs off other people's tables that I would make my own.
I worked from 12 to 17, six years in a bakery. I was a pastry cook.
I have written a bunch of scripts that have not gotten produced, much more so early in my career than later.
I went to film school, worked as an assistant, and wrote several scripts that haven't gotten made.
I came to write after several mini careers. I did live theatre, managed a cosmetics store and was a local television personality.
When I was 23, I went to work for Jack Nicholson reading scripts. Later, I was married to a production designer named Richard Sylbert. So I lived in Los Angeles for ten years.
Old age treats freelance writers pretty gently.
I live in L.A., where every coffee shop is filled with scriptwriters, producers and directors.
Writing was my first occupation, begun at age 23.
I was hired as a sous-chef at a restaurant on the Upper East Side. The chef liked to drink - some mornings we would find him sleeping. Two weeks after its opening, I became the chef. I was 20 years old, and way over my head. I had to hire the cooks and do the menus.