Hollywood

A few weeks ago, when I was still bartending as a summer gig, I closed the bar early and asked my manager if I could sit in on the 10:15pm showing of Wonder Woman (I bartend in a movie theater bar).
He said sure and I did.
It was my 4th time seeing the movie.
And I noticed a few things.

The first was that, on my fourth viewing, all the flaws and problems I had with the movie in my previous viewings (one being an employee screening at the theater where I fell asleep due to the late hour of the screening, and the other two times were at the drive-in, freezing from the nighttime chill) just melted away. I still see it as being the best movie of the summer and by far the best superhero film of this year (and yes, that includes Logan).
But more than that, it made me realize something: I so desperately want to be a part of that Hollywood storytelling machine.
Just recently the new Comic-Con trailer for Justice League and the trailer for Stranger Things season 2 got me galvanized to start writing and (hopefully) finish Personal Demons 2 with the two weeks of summer break I have left.
Say what you want about tent-pole, popcorn summer blockbusters, but they need us a great method of escaping that people desperately need to escape a stale or imperfect reality or just to distract themselves from their own banality for a few hours. Bottom line: movies tell us stories we wouldn't be shown otherwise and shows us places and take us to worlds we'd otherwise never know.
Every summer my Mom and I used to see all the big summer blockbusters together.
Since I've grown up and moved out, we still see some of the summer blockbusters together, but I see a lot of them either solo or with friends at the drive-in.
And I see nothing wrong with these types of movies.
I wrote in an earlier blog about how I have a list of dream projects that I'd like to write if/when I get to Hollywood.
But the truth is, if/when I land in Hollywood, I'd be honored to be a part of any project.
I'd write Transformers 6  (and love it!).
I'd write a Marvel movie (though I'd prefer DC).
I'd write a vehicle for The Rock!
It doesn't matter!
I just want to tell stories to the world and, agree with me or not, Hollywood is the place to do that.
When I went to Pitchfest in 2015 I bought, from the Marriott gift shop, the most touristy and generic of things: a magnet with a picture of the Hollywood sign on it. It's on my 'fridge as we speak (alongside magnets from other cities in my travels) and I stare at it every time I get food out of my 'fridge. And I think to myself,
"Some day I will get there..."
And I will.