Some Inspiration for You

I rediscover the very first draft of K-9 and I’m reminded of this singular truth: Good things CAN happen!

My brother Sam is now officially retired. Trying to find something to preoccupy himself, he’s been going through old files. This week, he texted me a photo which stopped me in my tracks.

It was the cover page of the script to K-9.

Evidently back in 1986 when I had finished typing the script and shipped it off to my only contact in Hollywood, I also sent a copy to my brother.

This week, Sam mailed that copy of the script to me.

The thing is, I had not kept a copy of that original script. Somewhere amidst several movies, it had vanished. So, holding the script in my hands — from 38 years ago! — generated a tsunami of memories.

In late summer 1986, my writing partner Steve and I broke the story for K-9. [Note: Up to this point, I had only written 2 scripts.] At the time, my sole source of income was an entertainment act which could charitably be called ‘standup comedy.’ Every two weeks or so, I’d drive up and down Interstate 5 between gigs in Southern and Northern California. My mode of transportation: A 1978 Ford Fairmont with 100k+ miles on it, a balky clutch, and no air conditioning.

As I sweated my way up through Central California, I used a handheld cassette recorder to brainstorm ideas and develop characters for K-9.

That fall, I would work for two weeks, then take a week off to return to the place I was renting in Berkeley. I’d snare a yellow legal pad and pen, then transcribe what I had “written” on my cassette tapes. Then I would hunker down in my upstairs “office” and pound out script pages on my wife Rebecca’s Apple IIc computer.

The computer used 5 1/4 inch floppy discs for storage. It was attached to a dot matrix printer.

The printer was so slow, I would start printing, go out for a half-hour jog, return home, and it would still be printing.

At that time, there were no screenwriting software programs, so I had to manually tab and space bar every single element in the script.

I’d write a draft, carry it with me to Southern California, and between comedy gigs, meet up with Steve in Ventura where we’d discuss revisions.

By December 16, 1986, the script was ready. I mailed a copy to Steve accompanied by a letter in which I said, “If Hollywood doesn’t buy this, I will be shocked.”

Oh, how little I knew about the movie business!

But ignorance can supplement hope. And so it was one month later, K-9 went into the 20th Century Fox weekend read.

Steve, who was an assistant to a junior exec at Fox, told me we would know something on Monday (January 19).

As it happened, I left that morning to drive to Southern California to begin a week-long string of comedy gigs in Ventura, Simi Valley, and Thousand Oaks.

Let me shift the setting to the morning of January 19, 1986 as if it’s happening now in the present tense.

I went out the previous night with Rebecca for a drink at our local watering hole down the street from our house. There I tell her, “I think the script is going to sell. I just have this feeling.” She smiles and nods like a good mate is supposed to.

The next morning, I’m crawling through Bay Area traffic. Steve says we should know something by 11:30 or so after the studio’s creative group Monday morning meeting. I am targeting the Shell gas station off the 101 in King City. There’s a pay phone there. I’ll call to see what the word is.

Which means I have a90 minute drive from Berkeley to King City. As I rattle along in my Ford, I process my thoughts and feelings. I know that in the short time I’ve discovered screenwriting, it is something I love. It encompasses everything I’m about — a lifelong passion for movies, creativity, writing, and telling stories. There is a part of me that wants this screenwriting thing to happen very, very much. This is what I want to do.

But I also understand my fate is out of my hands. I have done everything I can. I did a ton of research by meeting with and observing the Ventura County K-9 cops as they trained their German Shepherds. I read and re-read Syd Fields to try and grasp the basic concepts of screenplay structure and the mystery of “plot points.” I analyzed the only three screenplays I could lay my hands on: Witness, Back to the Future, and Breaking Away. I carried K-9 with me in my mind as I drove up and down California, as I climbed on stage to perform every night, everywhere I went, the story went with me. And I wrote whenever I could, usually well into the night, one stint for 36 hours without sleep.

Now it is out of my hands. As much as I want this whole screenwriting thing to happen, I am at peace. Those 90 minutes in the car feel like an almost sacred experience.

Whatever happens will happen. Give it up. Let it go.

When I pull into the Shell station in King City, instead of racing to make a phone call, I calmly fill my car with gas, use the restroom, and only then head over to the pay phones.

I drop in a quarter, dial my Steve’s number, and get his answering machine.

“Hey, this is me. Just checking in to see if you’ve heard anything.”

Click.

I turn away to leave, then a thought occurs to me: If Steve had found out something, perhaps he would have called Rebecca. So I plunk another quarter into the pay phone and dial home.

“Hello?”
“Hey, it’s — “
“They want your script.”
“What — “
“Steve called. Fox wants to buy your script.”

And that’s the phone call… that changed my life.

In a convoluted series of events, Universal made preemptive offer for the script to the tune of $750k. That’s how I broke into Hollywood.

So here I am in 2024, sitting at my desk with the original draft of the K-9 script right there directly in my line of sight.

It’s easy for writers to lose hope. Ours is a lonely sojourn through a never-ending sea of No’s.

But logically speaking, none of us can deny that someone could say Yes … that good things can happen.

As the saying goes, “If you follow your bliss, the universe will create doors where there once were walls.”

The door to a career as a Hollywood screenwriter and teacher began with a passion for movies and storytelling. When given the opportunity to write a screenplay, I jumped at the chance, even though I had no idea what I was doing. I made that decision very much in the spirit of the spec: Don’t hesitate. Just do it. Then put it out there.

So, if you need inspiration, consider my story. Did not study at a film school. Had only one connection in Hollywood. Basically, a complete outsider to the business.

But I wrote K-9. It sold. Spawned two sequels. And so far, I’ve written 30+ projects for every major Hollywood studio and almost every broadcast network.

Good things can happen. You just need to do the work … keep your feet on the ground … and your head in the clouds.

Onward!