THE BIZ

After writing a lot of screenplays and books that were rejected, Tommy Cieski decided that “creative access in Hollywood is seriously mismanaged.” So he decided to take matters into his own hands. The 40-year-old Los Angeles native created a cooperative company, called Amuse and 9 Muses Publications Inc., which packages screenplays to resemble a glossy fashion magazine. Cieski sent out 500 comps of his first screenzine--”The Disappearing Act,” by Polly Heyman--to film- and publishing-industry heavyweights in Los Angeles and New York, but he’s not stopping there. Another 1,500 volumes are on sale at all Gelson’s Markets, Dutton’s bookstores, the Book Nook in Santa Monica, the UCLA Bookstore and Ex Libris Books in Sun Valley, Ida.

So far, he hasn’t sold “The Disappearing Act” yet. “People are interested, but they don’t like that Amuse retains the publication rights. They’ll get used to it,” he adds.

Cieski is trying to create a totally new genre. “There’s books and then there’s magazines. We’re trying to fill the void in between. Reading Amuse lets everyone be their own director.”