Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

(Not the movie. Well, kind of...)

Friday was one of those days that makes me never want to leave this city.

Jason “Jinx” Jenkins and I have been friends for nearly 25 years. We met as I was leaving Cinemark Movies 10 in Ashland, Kentucky late one night after a screening. Jinx was an assistant manager, and at that moment he was up on a ladder changing out letters on the marquee. He asked me what I thought about the movie and we got into a deep discussion during which I learned two things. 1) Jinx has an encyclopedic knowledge of film, and 2) He was also an aspiring writer/filmmaker.

We’ve been friends ever since, trading material and yearly top ten lists. He’s the first person who read the script for EXTANT way back when and usually the first read of any new piece.

He recently wrote a book called Phantom Limbs, a series of in depth interviews with writers and directors about the remakes and sequels of classic horror films that never made it to the screen. (I’m biased but it’s a great read, I highly recommend it if you’re a horror fan.) This past weekend he made the trip from where he lives in Florida to LA for a signing at Dark Delicacies book store in Burbank.

Part of our early bond was a shared love of Quentin Tarantino’s movies.

A couple of weeks ago he texted to see if I wanted to catch a showing of DEATH PROOF at QT’s theater, The New Beverly. I suggested we make a whole evening of it and go to dinner at Musso and Frank before the movie, which is where Tarantino shot a couple of scenes for ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD.

Jinx also wanted to visit Pam’s Coffy, the coffee shop Tarantino opened next to The Vista theater, another theater he bought. At that point we were all in, so we decided to also go to Revenge Of, the comic book shop/pinball parlor, to play the PULP FICTION pin.

Pam’s was our first stop of the day. It’s tiny but very cool, a living tribute to Pam Grier. While we were sitting there, Jinx looked past me out the window and said, “I think Tarantino just walked by.” I turned to look and sure enough, he was on the other side of the glass. Quentin Tarantino walked right by us, then he was gone.

Before we left we decided to check out the lobby of the Vista and the man himself was standing inside. It was us, two employees, and Quentin Tarantino. He was engaged in a task so neither of us said anything. It was cool enough just to be there, seeing him in his own revival house, in his natural element. It’d be like if you made a pilgrimage to The Stone Pony in Asbury Park and saw Springsteen sitting at the bar.

I don’t really believe in the whole manifesting thing but I couldn’t help think that our two+ decades of friendship and movie fandom had somehow conjured that moment. How could we have picked that exact day at that exact time?

The cherry on top of this story (boo-yah, as Jackie would say) is that Tracie Thoms actually showed up to our screening of DEATH PROOF. I’ve always loved her performance as Kim in the movie, but watching it with her sitting a few rows behind us, with an audience that knew she was in the room, it was clear she’s the MVP.

It reminded me of one of my other trips to The New Beverly, to see THE DON IS DEAD, starring Robert Forster, who I loved because of JACKIE BROWN. While I was in line at the concession stand I heard his voice behind me and couldn’t believe he was there. At the end of the movie the audience gave him a huge ovation.

As tough as this business is, as much as it sucks sometimes to be in the trenches, slugging away, trying to push a project out of development hell, or to get anything going at all, I never lose my love for movies. I’m grateful for what they’ve given me as a fan, the memories, the decades-long friendships, the camaraderie, the inspiration.

It’s a special kind of magic.

And it’s enough to keep me chasing the dream.

Although, to be honest, at this point I’m not sure I’m built for anything else.

Quick business update: I’ve got a couple of pitches on the books for the coming weeks. Still waiting for word on the feature and the novel. Pressing ahead with the new feature in the meantime.

After I wrote last week’s bit about character I kept thinking about this poster that I see every time I go to my neighborhood YMCA:

When you look at this mashup video of QT’s movies, when you see how packed it is with memorable characters, it’s hard to disagree:

Directed by Tarantino