It shows how out of it I was in trying to be in it, acknowledging that I was out of it to myself, and then thinking, “Okay, how do I stop being out of it? Well, I get some legitimate illogical narrative ideas” — some novel, you know?
So I decided on three writers that I might be able to option their material and get some producer, or myself as producer, and then get some writer to do a screenplay on it, and maybe make a movie.
And so the three projects were “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” “Naked Lunch” and a collection of Bukowski. Which, in 1975, forget it — I mean, that was nuts. Hollywood would not touch any of that, but I was looking for something commercial, and I thought that all of these things were coming.
There would be no Blade Runner if there was no Ray Bradbury. I couldn’t find Philip K. Dick. His agent didn’t even know where he was. And so I gave up.
I was walking down the street and I ran into Bradbury — he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” — and I’d forgot who he was.
So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging — I was with her at that moment — she said, “Talk to him! That guy really wants to talk to you,” and I said “No, fuck him,” and keep walking.
But then I did, and then I realized who it was, and I thought, “Wait, he’s in that realm, maybe he knows Philip K. Dick.” I said, “You know a guy named—” “Yeah, sure — you want his phone number?”
My friend paid my rent for a year while I wrote, because it turned out we couldn’t get a writer. My friends kept on me about, well, if you can’t get a writer, then you write.”
~ Hampton Fancher
“That was the most disappointing thing to me in how this thing was played. Is that I’m on the phone with you now, after all that’s been said, and the fundamental distinction between what James is dealing with in these other cases is not actually brought to the fore. The fundamental difference is that James Franco didn’t seek to use his position to have sex with anyone. There’s not a case of that. He wasn’t using his position or status to try to solicit a sexual favor from anyone. If he had — if that were what the accusation involved — the show would not have gone on. We would have folded up shop and we would have not completed the show. Because then it would have been the same as Harvey Weinstein, or Les Moonves, or any of these cases that are fundamental to this new paradigm. Did you not notice that? Why did you not notice that? Is that not something notable to say, journalistically? Because nobody could find the voice to say it. I’m not just being rhetorical. Why is it that you and the other critics, none of you could find the voice to say, “You know, it’s not this, it’s that”? Because — let me go on and speak further to this. If you go back to the L.A. Times piece, that’s what it lacked. That’s what they were not able to deliver. The one example in the five that involved an issue of a sexual act was between James and a woman he was dating, who he was not working with. There was no professional dynamic in any capacity.
~ David Simon
we don’t need no stinkin west coasters
While I don’t claim to have any insider knowledge anymore, I was heavily involved in IFP West ten years ago and can surmise from where some of the current issues have arisen. Back then, I could see that the most powerful person in the whole office was not necessarily the office’s director, Dawn Hudson, but rather the head of development/fundraising. It was clear even then that fundraising – most particularly around the Independent Spirit Awards – took precedence over anything else going on around the office year-round. The heart-and-soul functions that constitute IFP’s real mission took a seat WAY in the back.
Its office at the time was a dump on the second floor of a West Los Angeles walk-up building. It was fittingly grungy, and I don’t recall anybody there ever seriously complaining about the creature comforts. Now, almost heretically, the organization seems to be far more luxuriously ensconced on Wilshire Blvd. in Beverly Hills, some of the most primo real estate in the country. I can’t say that I’ve been to their current offices, and for all I know the place may be a condemned tenement. But the address alone speaks volumes.
Then as now, independent film leaders and aficionados often argued about what qualifies as an independent film. At the same time, IFP West was trying to define its own place within those parameters. Just as the waters have been muddied further over the past decade by corporate takeovers of the indies, it often seems that IFP West has lost its aura of independence as well.
By all appearances, the organization seems to be a little too satisfied with its celebrity donor list, annual super-hot-ticket status, and all-too-comfortable berth in Beverly Hills. I hope it at least still provides free parking there for those members who are struggling against the odds to produce their cinematic visions and find their places in the film business. You know, the ones who can’t afford a ticket to the Spirit Awards.
no on rambles incoherently like our chester the molestor. u have to give him credit
Seemed pretty coherent to me…
Thanks, Dave. One last thing about my experiences at IFP West. I always found Dawn Hudson to be a very personable, reasonably intelligent person. But having sat through many a group meeting with her, I found that, no matter the audience, she never once was the smartest person in the room. Not even close. While she was always a very good listener, she was never an impressive, forceful talker (which may explain why she’s avoided you, Dave). I think those characteristics probably served her well over all these years because they enabled her to project a moderate sensibility. But I believe that sensibility has also resulted in the kind of stunted personal leadership and vision I associate with her tenure.
Nothing to see here people. Let’s move on to new
pastures. WOO TO THE HOO people! WOO TO THE HOO!