Being a product of the 60’s in San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury and graduating Berkeley in the early 70’s, I had fantasies of becoming a great criminal defense lawyer handling the hot political cases of the day.

Instead, I ended up representing the indigent adults in San Francisco’s largest ghetto, an extraordinary community, although my clients were far from politicos. But not before being rejected outright from law school, a seeming failure I had to overcome and a harbinger of what awaited me in LA (yes, every single film is a failure many times over before it becomes a success… more on that another time).

I quickly realized the harsh day-to-day reality of legal defense was not well-suited to my temperament, so I ran away to Los Angeles just as I was entering my 30s, to the fantasy world of storytelling and film. Norman Mailer had described filmmaking as “a combination circus, military campaign, nightmare, orgy and a high” and that sounded right up my alley.

So I arrived, knowing nothing and nobody, proceeded to rent offices and launch a literary management firm, with zero clients. I went to every screening, gathering, party, joined every organization I could find. And played tennis. Turns out that was my best strategy. In the middle of the afternoon, LA’s tennis courts were filled with writers. Who else would be playing at that hour ?

Ignorance does turn out to be bliss, so long as it’s accompanied by a very stubborn streak and a daily regimen of persistence.