Life and Death in L.A.

The line to get into The Runaways screening was a tad too long, and yours truly was left out in the cold.

In any case, Jason Reitman's growth, from Thank You For Smoking to Up In The Air is impressive.

Up In The Air somehow recalls the jouney of The Last Detail, an Ashby masterpiece.

Jason Reitman the new Billy Wilder? Maybe the new Hal Ashby instead ...

Rob Long talked on KCRW about using a kitchen timer to help write scripts in 25 minute bursts--not a bad idea.

An L.A. billboard for Citibank: ''Almost as many ATM terminals as there are unsold screenplays.'' Ouch!

I called the producer and got her assistant. The producer has had one of my scripts for a number of weeks, and I was calling in hopes of coa...