7/28/2025
Newsletter #784
The Crack of Dawn
Meanwhile, as Scott and I were rewriting Hit List, Bill Lustig shot Maniac Cop, with Bruce Campbell, Tom Atkins and Laurene Landon. My old high school friend, John Cameron, who is a big-shot Hollywood producer and director (he just directed two episodes of the new hit series, The Pitt) began his film career as an assistant director. John was the 1st AD on my film, Lunatics: A Love Story. He was also Bill Lustig’s 1st AD on a couple of films. John amusingly told me about Bill’s directorial techniques. In the morning, as Bill ate donuts and bagels, he left the cameraman to choose all the angles, and the 1st AD to run the set, and block the actors. Once he saw that everything was running smoothly, Bill would order a complete take-out Chinese dinner at 10:00 in the morning. As John described it, director’s chairs weren’t designed to fit 300-pound people. Therefore, Bill was constantly shifting his bulk from side to side, trying to find a comfortable position that didn’t exist, and all the while groaning. Bill would then eat the big Chinese dinner and promptly fall asleep. John would wake him at lunchtime. Bill would then go eat lunch with the cast and crew.
When Maniac Cop finished shooting, Bill moved on to Hit List, that was set up at a company called Cinetel. Scott’s and my first rewrite took it from its characterless, non-motivated, haunted hairpiece, state as Hell to Pay, to being Hit List, with no hit list. As I mentioned, Bill hated our rewrite. He specifically hated everything we’d added for character and motivation. Despite that, we were kept onboard and asked to write the next draft of the script. However, there was a provision—Bill would now personally supervise Scott and I to make sure he got exactly what he wanted. It didn’t sound like a good idea, but as long as they were paying, we were happy to do whatever they wanted.
Now Scott and I had to drive from Hollywood to halfway down Topanga Canyon Road, where the Manson Family lived for a while. Topanga Canyon is the remotest spot within Los Angeles. There is only one twisting, turning road running through it, Highway-1, and it’s frequently jammed.
Bill lived in a cool, modern, wood-sided house, located way into the canyon. He had all the most modern gadgets of 1988. He had the biggest TV available at that time, which was a curved 80” screen with some kind of weird projection system that warped the picture out at the edges. This was the short-lived period of laserdiscs. I never owned a laserdisc, but they looked and sounded way better than VHS tapes. Bill had a hundred of them.
1988 was also the very beginning of PCs. I was at the cutting edge of technology, bringing along my Apple IIC, which was Apple’s first PC.
I set up my computer in Bill’s spacious modern kitchen. Once the computer was up and running, I said something like, “Okay, we’re all set up. We’re ready to go.”
Bill said, “Who feels like some pasta? I make great pasta.” At that time, Scott and I were living on crackers in a tiny bungalow in Hollywood, along with another guy. We were both hungry. Pasta sounded great, but what about this rewrite. The pasta was great. Scott and I voraciously gobbled it up, as did Bill.
Now that we were all feeling drowsy, having just eaten a big meal, I said something like, “All right then. How about we get to work on this script.”
Bill said, “Who wants to watch Ben Hur on laserdisc? I have this great new projection TV. It looks and sounds great.”
Still stuffing himself with pasta, Scott said, “Sure.”
I said to Bill, “Ben Hur is three hours long.”
Bill said, “Yeah? So, what?”
Script-wise, nothing was accomplished. This madness actually went on for a week. We would drive that long awful drive to Topanga Canyon, I’d set up the computer, Bill would say, “How about some Chateau Briand?” I thought, steak at 10:00 in the morning? Sure, why not? After we’d eat, Bill would say, “So, who wants to watch The Right Stuff?” Scott would always say, “Sure.” I would say, “But that’s a three-hour film, too. What about the script?”
Yes, what about the script? It apparently meant nothing to Bill.
It was incredibly hot in L.A. at the time. We had a script meeting at the house of the head of Cinetel Films, Paul Hertzberg. He had a terrific house in the hills above Studio City, and he had a pool. Paul graciously invited us to go swimming during the script meeting. Scott and I brought our bathing suits. Bill didn’t bring his. In fact, he wore long pants and a windbreaker. Between dips in the pool, Paul, Scott and I discussed the script, and he liked what we were doing. Bill meanwhile lay on a chaise lounge in the bright sunlight, sweating, uncomfortably shifting his weight, drinking bottles of water, and groaning.
At my insistence, we stopped going to Bill’s house, where absolutely no work had gotten done. Cinetel wanted a finished script so they could begin production. Scott and I rewrote the script again, adding more character and motivation, and once again Bill hated it. But had us rewrite it again. We wrote three drafts. We only got paid for two. We got screwed out of the third payment. That’s part of the reason why I’m being so mean to Bill. But it’s only part. There’s more to come.
After draft three we parted ways. Bill had hated everything Scott and I wrote. He was very happy to tell us so in his Bronx, tough-guy way. “This is fuckin’ shit! I wouldn’t wipe my ass with this garbage!” So we didn’t mind moving on.
The upshot of this tale was when Scott and I finally saw the finished film on a VHS tape we rented at the store. Surprisingly, they had shot our third draft. Everything that Scott and I added, that Bill vehemently hated, made it into the film—carpenter, Vietnam vet, 6 becomes 9, but best of all, we put in a violence gag of the bad guy getting stuck under the good guy’s car, then dragged over the Do Not Backup spikes. Scott and I didn’t get credit on the film. C’est la vie. It wasn’t much of a movie, and no one saw it, so we didn’t really care.
Bill and I would cross paths again about ten years later. That’s when he got a chance to screw me again.
I feel no resentment toward Bill, and I hold no grudges. That’s just how it goes in Hollywood. Scott and I were happy to get the job. The fact that we got the first two payments was a miracle. Getting the third payment was too much to ask. It was Hollywood, after all; someone had to be screwed.
Greetings from ridiculously hot and humid Detroit.
Saw Hit List ages ago, sounds like everything I liked was what you and Scott added.
What a pleasure to read your words. Have a nice day 😊