Hell's Flurry

The smell of smoke is still in the air but has diminished quite a bit.
What's most surreal is that at a couple points this morning, it looked like a very light snow flurry outside. Outside, collected against walls and wherever the wind wants are the faint drifts of the "snow" - which of course is the ash of the trees and brush.

It's still early so the temperatures as of yet are cool. It's going to be another hot day, so the fire fighters are racing against time.
From what I understand, the fire is under control and from our house we don't see any smoke.

I've grabbed a couple pics from yahoo and put them here. I didn't take these pics, so if a copyright holder gets annoyed, let me know.



This area is near the famous old Merry Go Round



Imagine seeing this view from your house?






I described the the fires looking like a volcano in the midst of the city.
Perhaps these photos help visualize that.


It's hard to comprehend that just a couple miles away, firemen have been waging a battle on the ground and from the air that has been as intense as many a military battle. Seeing it on the news, and seeing with my own eyes, I give them my utmost respect and thanks.

The Inferno

It's not the same when you see it with your own eyes.
The fire, which got a lot worse as night fell is hard to describe. On television, the aerial shots are horrific: firefighters dragging houses, dwarfed by flames that are inhaling trees and brush.

The smell of smoke is in the air. There's no escaping it. inside, outside, it doesn't matter. It's in our clothes.
Tonight we went to a friend's place in Pasadena. Like the photo I took in the last post, the smoke is awing to behold - however, to see the flames. That brings a different level of disbelief.
As we drove along the freeway (134N) to our left, the fire - not a string, not even a wall - more accurately - fields of fire, raging deep orange flames - stretched out over not one, but several mountain and hillsides. I've never seen anything like it and I find myself grasping for words.
On the way back home, the sight was equally surreal: A ring of flames in the mountains, appearing to be perhaps a mile in diameter, the center a flickering, pulsing faint red. The best way to describe it would be that the mountains look like a volcano, the opening a mile wide, full of seething lava. In the sky, helicopters point beams of light into the smoke and flames below.

All in the middle of the city I live in.

Heating up

Here is what you never want to see... but to see it in May is very frightening.

The fire is in Griffith Park and as I write this, it is still going strong.
It's the kind of fire that could be devastating; we're basically talking the Hollywood Hills here - ablaze! There's a zoo, golf courses, museums, not to mention all the homes, the multi-million dollar homes.
With the hot, dry winds of the last couple days and with temperatures of 95, it seemed inevitable.
But it's evidently the work of an arsonist.

What keeps going through my mind is - it's only May.
We only had three inches of rain since last July, the driest season on record.
My God, this is going to be a rough summer in California.

The sound of things hitting

The stories – the LA TIMES, the LA WEEKLY and FADE IN (mine) are starting to cause a stir.

The WGA just issued a press statement in regards to what is going on.

In the interest of fairness, here is a link to it.

On the other side of the coin, here is an email the editor of FADE IN received in regards to the story.

I thought your article about the foreign levies scandal at the WGA and DGA was wonderful. But in terms of the unanswered question as to whether this is inefficiency or corruption, I can assure you as someone who served two terms on the Board of Directors of the WGA it is:

Corruption. The Guild has been deliberately stealing as much of this money and has engaged in a huge cover up. That cover up is falling apart now, but the corrupt people remain in charge.

Writers and Directors won't get their money until the people running these Guilds are exposed.

J. F. Lawton

J.F. Lawton is a pretty well respected screenwriter in addition to having been on the board. His most famous writing credit is Pretty Woman.

A little day in my life to keep you entertained.

A couple weeks ago, Marianne and I went out to enjoy a nice cool night in our Hot tub only to discover – cold water. Very cold water.

Flipping the switch to turn it on was followed by heart sinking silence.

A couple days later I was able to determine that the pump that circulates water when it is heating had died - a 160 dollar part.

Thanks to the wonders of Google, I found a warehouse in Arizona selling the pump for $65.00. I called, only to be quickly told by the very friendly woman, that if I was calling about the little pumps on the Internet, they were all sold out.

We talked for a few minutes longer before she told me to wait while she took a look on the shelves. Lo and behold, there was one pump, but it hadn't been sold for a reason. Upon opening the box, she saw the reason. It had no power cord, hence no one wanted it. She opened it up but couldn't figure out where a cord would even go. For them, a useless item collecting dust on a shelf. I asked her if I could buy it and she told me to "make an offer".

"Ten bucks?" I asked, figuring that if it couldn't be salvaged, no harm done.

Done deal… fifteen dollars with shipping.

Today, I wired it up and HA HA, it worked!

Another three dollars and change in plumbing parts, and about forty minutes to put it in, and I'm back in action.

Total cost: $18.61

The Dead Pump… and it was only twenty one years old.

The Story Has Gone Live!

Because of yesterday's double hit in the presses, the Editor of FADE IN Magazine decided to do the very rare thing of putting the story online before it even hits the streets.

So, dear reader – I submit to you –

THE ARTICLE - When The Levy Breaks

It's on the right column of the website.

Also, if you are a writer or director (or if you want to see the extent of the lists) click on the links at the end of the story.

Please leave me comments here. I'm looking forward to them.

Partial Reveal

Okay, a little bit of info. More as I receive it.

The investigative story that I've been researching and writing is going to be in this coming issue of FADE IN magazine.

What appears to be the cover. I'll let you know as soon as I have one in hand.

My story is about the foreign levies programs of the WGA and DGA.

Never heard of the words "Foreign Levies"? Didn't think so.

Sounds dull? Trust me, it's not.

Remember how I was racing against a couple other writers covering the same story? Well, they both hit the streets yesterday. However, it's not a bad thing – one was in the La Times, the other in the LA Weekly. The LA Times story is good, however the LA Weekly article is incredible. In the spirit of accepting and acknowledging Dennis McDougal's great investigative writing, here's a link to it. My story covers some of the same ground, however it is a bit more independent filmmaker oriented.

You could very well be witnessing the beginnings of a monumental scandal – a scandal you can't quite call a "Hollywood" scandal, because it involves so many people not truly associated with Hollywood.

I'm going to try to keep my blog the free form, "day in my life" thing It's been. However, be prepared to see some future entries get very industry and film specific.

Babble On, Hollywood

As part of this magazine story I've been writing (yes, it has still been in process, now two weeks beyond the original deadline), I tracked down a rather reclusive director. It was an exercise in detective work on my part because certain entities (I promise you will eventually find out what the hell I've been alluding to) said they couldn't find him. It was also because, not only do these entities owe this guy money, he is a legend. It was an excuse to take a walk on the wild side – and tell him of money owed him; certainly a good ice breaker in any situation.

After a bit of searching, I was given his address by someone who said that postal mail was the only way to communicate with him.

Because he has no telephone, this really is the only way to reach him. His mailing address rather than a P.O. box, was an actual address in Hollywood complete with suite number.

I decide to drive to the address. Perhaps I could talk to someone there.

The address led to a seedy hotel in a seedy part of Hollywood. Actually, it was a youth hostel.

The front desk told me that yes, this is where the person I was looking for lived and, after leaving my ID, explained how to find his room.

I entered a tiny elevator, the type where only two people can fit at a time, with the steel cage you close around you; and arrived at his floor with a shaky clang.

I slid the steel door open and then walked down the long, narrow, windy hallway that was painted about four different colors from start to finish until I reached his room.

I stared at the brown painted metal door with the large peephole in the center for a long while. Behind this door possibly was a legend of avant-garde cinema. Then I knocked. I heard the shuffling of feet. Then the door opened slightly and around it peered the annoyed face of the eighty year old director.

"What do you want?" he asked, staring at me with baleful eyes.

I, rather nervously, told him who I was and then, before I had a chance to tell him I had information that would lead to money for him... Kenneth Anger slammed his door in my face.

Friday Night and I'm Ready to Rock

So what am I doing? – GUESS?!! Guess starts with a ‘G’ which is also used in the “GRRRR” sound.

No fault of the editor, it would be so easy to blame dear Audrey – no, a court ruling just (as in merely hours ago) came down in regards to my story. Now, instead of it going to press - to bed, as it were, I’m back to transcribing brand new interviews and amending the story.

Take into consideration, this magazine is a quarterly that comes out on Thursday… not a freakin’ daily paper. It’s supposed to be going to press now, so that it hits the streets across the country on Thursday!

GOD DAMN.

Well, actually, she (Audrey) is amending the story. I haven’t seen it, but evidently, she’s doing quite the “polish”. I hope in “polishing” my story that it:

1. Still has balls. (not castrated)
2. Remains balanced. (balls haven’t grown too large)

Okay, no more comparisons to Bulls, or Steers, or whatever might have been conjured in your mind by my rather colorful words. Forgive me.

For the evening, I am stuck in front of the computer, or at least within the earshot distance of the sweet sounds telling me - I have new Email.

Overall, in spite of my laments and GRRR-inding of my teeth at the additional work, this is exciting. The story that I discovered, that little tidbit that I thought would be a nice informational piece for writers and directors turned out to be such a whopper, it boggles my mind.

Soon… soon, dear reader I will tell you what the hell this is all about.

For all you Sherlock types out there, this entry has probably given enough information that you could figure out the story and the magazine.

Or, just wait another couple days.

Ps – anyone know the band that sang the song with the blog title in it?

All Quiet…

The article was resubmitted in its final (at least my final) incarnation.

The emails from the editor have stopped. I think now, with the street date basically one week away, they (she and her employees) must be going crazy with fact checking, grammatical checking (I hope), illustrating, proofing, layout and all the other things I know nothing of, that go into printing a magazine.

Or perhaps she decided she hates the story and has decided not to print it. See? There's my insecurity. If you're a professional, you're supposed to do your work, hand it in, fix as required, repeat as required. Personal feelings of competency be damned.

And in the end, it is a darn good, important story… so I know she likes it.

Still, there is that child within that seeks some kind of validation – a "well done" or "good writing" or "WOW". In the end, being printed will be validation aplenty. I'm awaiting the questions from her fact checkers now. As soon as I get confirmation that it's going in the magazine, I'll tell you which magazine and the thesis statement of the article. I'll save the rest for you to read from the pages of the magazine itself.

Okay, enough doubts about writing. Time for more doubts about writing. Screen writing, that is.

still investigating

As per the editors interest on a part of the story I hadn't really focused on, I am investigating and re-writing part of the story.

Oh the tangled web some people seem to be weaving...