I Don't Know What My Friends Do.

Emmies, For Example, Most Of That's Bullshit. Oscars Are Even Worse. We Have A Strange, Terrible Affliction In This Town. Everybody Walks Around Bent-backed From Slapping Each Other On The Backs So Much. It Looks Like Arthritis But It Isn't. It's Hunger For Recognition. And It's Sort Of Like, Well, I'll Scratch You This Time If You'll Scratch Me Next Time. That Kind Of Thing.

But It Makes You Wonder, Doesn't It? Just How Normal Are We? Just Who Are The People We Nod Our Hellos To As We Pass On The Street? A Rather Good Question To Ask - Particularly In The Twilight Zone.

I Think The Essence Of The Argument Has Always Been, First Of All, The Guild Doesn't Want Writing On Spec. And That's Been A Major Problem Over The Years. But Obviously, To The Young Writer That's Unfair And It's Discriminatory, And It Can Be Very Hurtful To One's Career.

I'm An Affluent Screenwriter And All That - I'm A Known Screenwriter, But I'm Not In The Fraternity Of The Very, Very Major People. I Would Say A Guy Like Ernie Lehman, William Goldman, And A Few Others Are Quite A Cut Above.

When I First Went Into Freelancing, I Think There Was A Period Of About Eight Months When Nothing Happened. Everything That I Wrote Crumbled Up, And Then It Became A Self-destructive Thing - When You Begin To Doubt Yourself, When Doubt Turns Into - It's Sort Of Like Impotence. Once Impotent, You're Forever Impotent. Because You're Always Worried About Being Impotent.