The Screenwriter's Path

Fade Out

The day I arrived in L.A. in 1990, I was driving in the valley and got stopped on a street because the block in front of me was roped off while they were filming part of a car chase. I can still see the yellow car that was in the chase. I was very excited. I remember telling myself that I’d have to remember this car so that when I saw it in the movie or TV show, I’d remember that I was there, that on my first day in L.A., I saw a movie being filmed. That’s who I am—and probably always will be—a wide-eyed kid from Iowa who loves the movies and all the magic that goes with them.

Needless to say, I never saw that car on a film or TV show—to this day, I look for it when I watch an old episode of The Rockford Files or any film from the ...