As a screenwriter, I test very high on paranoia. I’m always convinced of any number of things: that my work is incompetent, that I’m about to get fired, that I’ve already been fired but don’t know yet that half a dozen closet writers are typing away in their offices, that I should be fired because I’ve failed, on and on. But all those nightmares—and on occasion they’ve all happened—are within the studio system. The producer goes to the executive and says, “Goldman can’t cut it, let’s get Bob Towne.” And then the executive calls Towne’s agent and a deal is struck and money changes hands and the
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