Ticket To Hollywood Quotes

“I had never liked bullying of any sort, especially when an individual acquires his courage by becoming part of a faceless mob. I always say if you need fake courage, get it out of a bottle like I do.”
― Gary Reilly, Ticket To Hollywood

“My imagination was running amok again. Twice in one night. This never happens when I’m sitting in front of a typewriter.”
― Gary Reilly, Ticket To Hollywood

“Most of the ideas I’ve gotten for novels or screenplays have occurred to me while I was either shaving or taking a bath. A number have occurred to me while I was driving 127. I rarely get ideas when seated in front of my typewriter, which I find ironic because I have always suspected that typing somehow plays a key role in writing.”
― Gary Reilly, Ticket To Hollywood

“I expected Los Angeles to be slick and modern, but overall it had a rundown look and feel to it. Sort of like Denver. Sort of like every city in America I’ve lived in, except San Francisco, which looks cool.”
― Gary Reilly, Ticket To Hollywood

“Golf baffles me. They says it’s a sport, and I have to take their word for it, but anything that involves having fun while standing up doesn’t interest me. That includes dancing. NASCAR I can understand. In fact, anything that involves sitting down automatically has my interest...”
― Gary Reilly, Ticket To Hollywood

“I was driving pretty much the way everyone drives in LA, like elephants dancing on each others’ backs at a circus.”
― Gary Reilly, Ticket To Hollywood

“I was in the land of fakes and frauds and phonies—I felt like saying “Howdy cousin,” to everybody who walked by.”
― Gary Reilly, Ticket To Hollywood

“It’s a funny thing about writing. You get so balled up in a story idea that you lose your perspective and forget that human being might read your words someday.”
― Gary Reilly, Ticket To Hollywood

“Writers, even unpublished writers, have a tendency not to notice what’s going on around them when they are the center of attention.”
― Gary Reilly, Ticket To Hollywood

“...like I always say, “Now is as good a time as any to start not doing things.”
― Gary Reilly, Ticket To Hollywood

“I don’t know why anybody does anything in the winter. I always say, if you want to do something, move to Phoenix.”
― Gary Reilly, Ticket To Hollywood

“She looked confused. She looked off-balance. That’s a technique I employ to get dates, and it always works.”
― Gary Reilly, Ticket To Hollywood

“When I was a teenager, most fathers tended to go berserk when I asked their daughters on a date.... I discovered that all fathers go berserk when their daughters start dating. I have to assume this was because all fathers were once teenagers at some point in their lives, so they had no illusions about whether or not the boys were “up to something.”
― Gary Reilly, Ticket To Hollywood

“My big dream back then was to buy an IBM Selectric. I still have that dream. I really ought to buy a word-processor. Half the cabbies at Rocky own computers. They tell me they can write failed novels ten times faster on a PC.”
― Gary Reilly, Ticket To Hollywood

“That was how I was going to get things back to normal—by working. I never thought I would use the words “working” and “normal” in the same sentence, but I’ll try anything to avoid facing reality.”
― Gary Reilly, Ticket To Hollywood

“I wandered the sidewalk watching all the street performers doing their juggling acts, playing their musical instruments, busting their asses to avoid work. I liked that. But I wanted to tell them there were easier ways to avoid work, like cab driving.”
― Gary Reilly, Ticket To Hollywood

“My fake weekend has begun. I always take Tuesday off, unless my rent is due and I need to pick up some extra cash. I always take Thursday off, too. I have two fake weekends and one real weekend per week. Sometimes I wish there were eight days in a week just so I could squeeze in an extra weekend. But we all have our crosses to bear.”
― Gary Reilly, Ticket To Hollywood

“I don’t know why the publishers in New York don’t take a tip from Hollywood and just publish the outlines of novels rather than the completed books. Let the audience use their imaginations, as my Maw always says about radio. I would much prefer to read an outline of War and Peace than slog through eight hundred thousand words. Why do I need Tolstoy to describe snow? I can imagine snow, whether Russian snow or just regular snow. But book publishers seem to think that the authors should do all the work, and the readers should be waited on hand-and-foot like a buncha goddamn prima donnas.”
― Gary Reilly, Ticket To Hollywood

“I have completed and uncompleted screenplays, but they both fall into the category of “unsold.” I’ve seen quite a few movies where the screenplays seemed to be in the “uncompleted” category yet still got sold and made into movies, so I generally refer too all screenplays as “sold” or “unsold.” But that’s just my own filing system.”
― Gary Reilly, Ticket To Hollywood

“I hate competition. It’s one of the seven warning signs of work. I’ve spent most of my life trying to figure out ways to make money without working. I don’t know what I could do to get money besides driving a cab, except robbing banks. Both occupations have their pros and cons. For instance, bank robbery isn’t quite as dangerous as cab driving, but it pays better.”
― Gary Reilly, Ticket To Hollywood

“Now is as good a time as any to start not doing things.”
― Gary Reilly, Ticket to Hollywood

“I would highly recommend a rental costume to anybody consumed with self-loathing. It has to be cheaper than a psychiatrist.”
― Gary Reilly, Ticket to Hollywood

“I would much prefer to read an outline of War and Peace than slog through eight hundred thousand words. Why do I need Tolstoy to describe snow? I can imagine snow, whether Russian snow or just regular snow.”
― Gary Reilly, Ticket to Hollywood

“As a professional cab driver it is incumbent upon me to treat my customers the same way a doctor treats his patients: keep them alive long enough to get the money.”
― Gary Reilly, Ticket to Hollywood