Industry tales of epic despair

I'm a screenwriter by trade, but I came to the novel about Hollywood long before I started writing screenplays. I grew up in Hollywood. My parents were both writers, and "The Day of the Locust" and "What Makes Sammy Run?" took me into my city in other times, into the city in which my parents had worked and met and fallen in love. When Marlowe visited Mavis Weld on the lot in "The Little Sister," I half expected him to run into my father. Just around the corner. Just out of reach.

By Leslie Bohem

May 21, 2006