Today I ordered my pal Scott Phillips Friday the 13th book from Amazon.com right here, this despite the fact that I have NEVER seen a Friday the 13th movie. How I came of age in the 80s and missed a large part of the slasher genre, yet write some b-horror today, may be a question with no answer.
I take that back. When I worked at WXOW-TV right out of college, one of my menial jobs (which once included washing pig feces out of the back of the production van, though it was kind of my fault) was editing commercial breaks in movie packages the station purchased. One was--I think--the flat version of the 3D Friday the 13th movie, though I would swear Jason was wearing like a feed sack or something and not a hockey mask at all, so perhaps I am mistaken.
But the young scriptwriting grasshopper who reads this blog might wonder why I would support a screenwriter who some might view as a rival to me (and by this I mean someone who has no sense of the scriptwriting food chain). The answer is, simply, because we are all in this together. And the even more truthful answer is that there is no reason for me to consider Scott or William Goldman or any scriptwriter a rival or enemy to me because they cannot help me, just like I can't help the young scriptwriting grasshopper who might--God protect him or her--try to seek help from me.
Jon McBride once told me something that I have kept near and dear to my heart ever since, and I will impart second-hand here: and that is that it takes all of your time and energy to promote your own work, and you really can't push forward someone else's career ahead of your own--but if your career takes off, you can pull people in your wake. And, consequently, other people can pull you along for the ride as well. And the magical part is that you don't know who among you will feel the tingle of that lightning strike.
Give me a yell at johnoakdalton@hotmail.com.
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