Friday, September 15, 2000

Labored Daze



Yesterday I went to Beverly Hills Municipal Courthouse to testify
against one of my neighbors. We've been trying to get rid of him for about a year because he has made his apartment into kind of a salon for the dregs of humanity. Their main mode of discourse involves staying up all night, getting drunk and yammering loudly and incoherently. In smaller groups, they can often be observed standing right outside my window boisterously demanding admittance, usually between the hours of 2 and 5 a.m. Sometimes you can find them passed-out in the upstairs hallway, or trying to jimmy open the back door in broad daylight. All in all, a multifaceted group of individuals.

Anyway, five of us tenants went to court to help the landlord run
his ass out of here and apparently just showing up was enough to scare him off. He agreed to a 'stipulated judgment' that says he will move out by the end of the month or face a lockout. So, I didn't get to testify after all, but I did get to miss a half day of work. So it seems that there is justice in this world after all.

Meanwhile I've been going over the option agreement for IN YOUR DREAMS, and offering a few suggestions as to how it might be reworded so as to better serve my interests. First off, I suggested they get rid of the cap on the purchase price so that if the budget should exceed five million then I will get more money. Then, I recommended that they offer me right of first refusal to write the sequel and a minimum passive royalty of 50% of the original purchase price for the rights to the sequel. Finally, I reminded them that my credit should appear second from the end and in the same size and style as the director and producer. All of these things are part of the Writer's Guild standard agreement, I just
hope the lawyer from the production company appreciates my taking the time to bring him up to speed on various items he seems to have overlooked.

For Labor Day I was a guest of Mark Bush, his wife Kate and their kids Aidan and Anabel at their home in Venice. I haven't seen Mark in a dozen years and it was very cool to have the chance to catch up with him. He is working for a cutting edge software company as some kind of director of global marketing. Of course when I ask him what that means, he doesn't seem exactly sure. Apparently he is very good at it though. Kate is a professor at USC -- I had run into her back in Brooklyn some years back at a party at Sara Garment's house. (Sara's Dad, Len, is the former counsel to Nixon who just wrote the book that purports to unmask 'Deep Throat' -- or would that be "to unsheathe Deep Throat?") Anyway, we had a cookout and played catch and watched home videos and all that fun family stuff. It was great.

And finally, I forgot to mention last time that I had seen Dave Todd in New Hampshire while I was back east. He was at this cottage where his brother Jimmy and Jimmy's then fiancee, now wife, Miranda were staying prior to their nuptials. It seems that Dave has been busy with certain family-making activities as well. More on that development as it gestates.

Well, that's it for now. Until next month.

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