Upon arriving in L.A. thirty+ years ago and taking women to theater in Hollywood, I'd presumed that everyone had a sensational script in their desk, and there weren't enough talented people to make things come to life. But it was the other way around: Fresh armies of gifted performers were stepping off the bus from Kansas every afternoon, finding no interesting stories to depict.

Anybody remember Harry Reasoner? Can't remember where I read it, but someone wrote "The first work of a novelist is always autobiographical," and that Reasoner's was especially transparent in that respect. Never having had a deep taste for the fiction, that was all it took to squelch any impulse to try and make stuff up… I'll keep my secrets to m'self, thankyouverymuch. (Spy Magazine said Jay McIreney had pissed off all his friends by putting their best anecdotes into his scripts, but not always to flattering effect. [p. 67])

So that might be part of what's going on in Hollywood, along with a general dearth of daring & innovation… People desperate to make it big in showbiz aren't necessarily leading very stimulating lives.

• Interesting thought about Uncle Joe, but I didn't follow the link yet.

• Similar quickie, convincing at first glance.

Trashing the TPP may prove to be the biggest self-own in US foreign policy since Viet Nam; nonetheless, at this point, it feels like it's Trump's to lose: This could even bring him some votes from all those terrified people in academe, though of course they'll never admit it.

People desperate to make it big in showbiz aren't necessarily leading very stimulating lives. ~ Crid at September 9, 2020 1:49 AM

There was a time when writers cultivated experience - their own or someone else's. There was a time when good writing reflected the experiences the author was able to gather.

Does anyone read James Patterson, or any modern novelist, and think that he or she must have lived a full life before becoming an author?

Some wag said a few years ago that the reason television has surpassed the movies in quality is that television still respects the writer, whereas the movies consider the writer to be little more than a typist for the director.

Which brings to mind a fictional scene that I've been trying to identify for years:

A big-time director/producer yells: "I'm under arrest for shooting a WRITER?!"

Well, if it's a trivial tale brilliantly told, I'm in.

Otherwise sign me up for the Vogon poetry reading.

> I've been trying to identify

The Player, Altman, circa '91?

(Two-and-a-half stars, by the way, unless you happen to have arrived in Hollywood just a couple of years earlier and are making a good go of it on the tech side just as you're doing the most fulfilling dating of a lifetime… If which case you'll think it's a better film than it actually is. You'll always remember the woman you saw it with, who was shaped like a brick house, danced like a mink and worked at Paramount.)

(And the full moon over Century City the night you took her to see it there, and how her next boyfriend borrowed ten grand from her and then ditched her, even though she was already in credit card trouble anyway, and you'll always wonder if she got into law school the way she wanted to.)

Ball's a-clangin', Cali-style.

Vid.

> Does anyone read James Patterson,
> or any modern novelist, and think

Patterson especially. I picked up a book of his at a distant vacation spot years ago, asking only that maybe 17 to 24 synapses be tickled before the next outing, and he wasn't up to it. Not being a fiction guy, it was a complete surprise that someone with so little skill could be so successful. I remember holding that pulp in my hand and thinking, This is as bad as television! Worse!… There isn't even lousy music! Like Thomas Kincaid with paint, like Yanni with music, like Bill Clinton with politics… Producing something for people who want to say they have a favorite in the field, but don't want to have to think about it very much.

Crid, others have suggested that, so I should watch it again. However, the list of quotations for The Player -

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105151/quotes?ref_=tt_ql_trv_4

- doesn't include that, for what it's worth.

Btw, Conan, I'd say there are other factors too. Since TV had a pretty bad reputation, at least half the time, compared to the movies for its first four decades or more, it would have made sense for TV producers to be very grateful for any really good writers they could get. Plus, psychologists will tell you that our actions determine our attitudes more often than the other way around. So, when we pay all that money to go to a movie, even when it turns out to be worse than expected, we tend to ignore that, since we already paid for it. (Hence, the proliferation of Will Ferrell comedies.) So, movie producers came to think that audiences would pay for anything - and of writing as something anyone could do. But of course, as the movies got worse and worse, audiences eventually got fed up and started demanding alternatives.

And, since 2000 or so, people have been saying "TV is better than the movies these days."

"Patterson ... wasn't up to it. "

I saw an interesting interview with Patterson. He just sketches out the plots and hands them off to ghost writers. He's got several in play at any given time. It's a factory of sorts.