Big Green in Tinseltown

Roll the credits on the latest action in Hollywood, and you'll see the reel players made their debuts in Hanover.

GREETINGS, DEAR TICKET BUYERS in the Flym over States. I'm sure you think you had a busy Christmas, but here in Hollywood we're still recovering. What with finding a good personal shopper to buy the gifts, making sure Firenzo of Brentwood was available to decorate the tree, and bribing that anorexic twit at Prodo not to sell the new cocktail dress to anyone else in my circle—well, let's just say a good two weeks at Canyon Ranch was barely enough to recover.

The red and green may have faded, but The Big Green endures here in Tinseltown, where there are as manyalums in the trenches as there are dying children in a sentimental Robin Williams movie. We may not be as well dressed as the Harvard grads (darlings, for die last time, Weejuns and Armani shouldn't appear in the same sentence much less on the same person) and we're not as well organized as the Yalies (they actually have a publication called The Yak Film News), but the Sons and Daughters of Dartmouth have infiltrated The Biz like a virus nonetheless.

Speaking of Virus, you may have caught my classmate Todd Moyer '86's new flick by the same name. It's the latest movie in a genre I call "Jamie Lee Curtis Wears a Short Dress and Screams," and all I have to say is if anthrax gave Jamie Lee those skinny thighs, I'd swap two bottles of Demerol and all my Prozac for her dose. What Todd (who co-produced The Mask, Barbed Wire, and Time Cop) is really excited about, however, is his upcoming film Wing Commander, based on the computer game. He describes the film as "Das Boot in Space," and he even formed his own CG (computer-generated graphics and effects) company as an adjunct of his production company, No Prisoners, to do the effects for the movie.

Another producer heading his own company is Bob Jaffe '89. Bob says the extent of his film education at Dartmouth was the favorite "Write a Play, Get an A," as most courses were not conducive to sports. His Jaffefilms, which made Madeline last year, is currently in production on I Dreamed of Africa with Kim Basinger, and Crossing To Safety, based on the Wallace Stegner book. No doubt Bob's most notorious L.A. moment was when he showed up in a Vanity Fair article about Heidi Fleiss, the Hollywood madam. Bob insists it was all a misunderstanding (of course we believe you, Bob), but acknowledges scores of calls from old friends who complained, "You didn't tell us you had HOOKERS over!" I didn't get a chance to talk to Kevin Jones '82, as he was jetsetting about putting his new Gwyneth Paltrow movie, Duets, into production in Canada. As I recall, this film takes place in the karaoke scene, and Kevin should know that if he wants to buy me a half dozen martinis, I'll crawl on a pool table and do my famous rendition of "These Boots Are Made for Walkin" just for the movie.

If Todd Moyer is looking for folks to work for his new No Prisoners CG, he'll find plenty within the Dartmouth family. Kyle Odermatt '87 is the CG lead at Walt Disney, which means he's in charge of the computer-animated effects on their animated films. He's working right now on Treasure Planet, a film your kids will be bugging the nanny to take them to in the near future. Kyle can actually tell what scenes in a movie were CG and which were done with a paintbrush (the wildebeest scene in Lion King is an example of the former); but he says the line between the two disciplines is breaking down every day.

Animation, for some reason, is an area where Dartmouth grads happen to dominate. Certainly our most illustrious alum is Warner Bros, muckey-muck Tom Ruegger '76, who has so many Emmys his kids can dress them up like Barbies. Tom (of Pinkieand The Brain and Animaniacs fame) is toiling on his fabulous new creation Histeria, a manic sweep of the last 3,500 years of world history. He tells me it takes 100 people working for two years to come up with the 52 half-hour shows, and that is BEFORE they even go overseas for animation. Tom did a lot of work in the film studies department under Dartmouth legend MauryRapf '35 and received a $3,500 Mayer grant his senior year to make a movie. This is the tape he showed to Hanna Barbera after graduation, and the rest is, well, Histeria. Tom was one of the people Grant Moran '78 looked up when he arrived in Hollywood after directing, producing, and dramaturging new plays back East. Grant now has a very cool job, which is essentially serving as a dramaturge for animation. In addition to producing for Warner Bros., Grant came up with a great idea for an animated feature based on The Tempest, teamed with Damon Wayons to launch waynehead, an animated series set in the 'hood, and recently created a Comedy Central show called Private Idaho, which uses cheesy old animation (like Marine Man) from the Time-Warner vaultin live-action combination with, of all things, a TV-obsessed hamster. These animation vets might have some advice for newcomers Phil Lord and Chris Miller, both '9Bs, who have seized the town by storm. They both took David Ehrlich's beginning animation class at Dartmouth, and moved out to Hollywood last summer based on one meeting they had lined up—with Disney. They swear the meeting went just like this: DISNEY EXEC: So you boys went to Dartmouth? CHRIS AND PHIL: Yes, we did. EXEC: You got a girls' hockey team? CHRIS AND PHIL: Yeah, the girls are good. EXEC: Got a ski hill? CHRIS AND PHIL: Yes, we do. EXEC: What's it called? CHRIS AND PHIL: The Dartmouth Skiway. EXEC: Very clever. I liked your film. Maybe we can work together

Off this sizzling bit of deal-making, not only are the hysterical Chris and Phil now creating prime time and late night shows for Buena Vista, they actually appear as themselves on the show Caroline in the City! Says Chris, "We have a fake of with fice on the set that was based on our real office. And we brought some of the cool stuff from our fake office to our real office. Talk about art imitating life imitating art."

Chris and Phil aren't the only recent grads who have stormed the L.A. perimeter. Stephen Wolkoff '97 and Randi Barnes '98 are aspiring writers. Owen Ross '95 is very cautiously optimistic about his script, which has been optioned by Miramax. Mike Messina '97 is a development associate for New Amsterdam Entertainment. He's also the CEO's assistant, which he says is a great place to get his hands in everywhere and learn. His classmate Jake Krueger '97 did an internship in college for Atlantis Entertainment, and luckily a boss was willing to give him a shot as a writer. He wrote a screenplay, The Tree of Life, as his senior honors thesis at Dartmouth, and he's now a story editor and writer at the recently merged Alliance Atlantis Entertainment. John Stewart '96 production-managed an indie feature last year (the person responsible for making sure everything is where it's supposed to be, when it's supposed to be) and is now working for O Entertainment, the production company founded by Steve Oedekirk, who wrote and directed Patch Adams. John is hoping to direct a short later this year. Adam Lipsius '94 is working as an assistant sound effects editor for such movies as Men in Black, Kundun, and Cop Land. He says having a Dartmouth degree can be a liability in his job, as most of his superiors didn't graduate from high school. Adam is moonlighting producing a "nobudget" feature called What a Man Wouldn't Do for a Woman. He says with no money it's slow going, but jokes, "We've already had two or three wrap parties this year." Another young'un, Jay Lavender '97, crashed with Phil Lord and Chris Miller when he moved out here; currently he's happily toiling all day as an assistant at CAA, that gold standard of talent agencies, and works on his writing all night. Jay apparently has opted out of sleep, but I must remind him that the sunken waif look is passe and I hope he's using something on those under-eye bags.

Speaking of CAA, a few other Dartmouth types make their home there. Peter McHugh '93 loves his job as an agent trainee. After working in admissions at the College for a couple of years, he's hoping to become a full-fledged agent and represent writers and directors. Tony Lipp '94 is a trainee for the agent who represents Tom Cruise, Anthony Hopkins, and Oliver Stone, and, yes, he sometimes chats with them on the phone. Tony planned on going into higher ed to study moral theory and ethics, but then thought, "What the heck, I'll become an agent." (For those of you who don't follow the humor here, imagine a guy deliberating between the priesthood and the porn industry and you'll be in the ballpark.) Greg Pulis '74 is head of business affairs for the agency, making sure all their con- tracts are on the up and up. And of course one of the biggest green fish in Hollywood is CAA partner and managing director David O'Connor '80, who represents the likes of Robert Redford, Michael Douglas, and Warren Beatty. David (known as "Doc") is widely perceived as the nicest and smartest of the Young Turks, the group who seized control of CAA in the wake of Mike Ovitz's departure to Disney a few years back and changed the business landscape of Hollywood. (Big P.S: Doc, we know you're an 'BO so perhaps it's time to change that Young Turks moniker to something more accurate, like the Slightly-Balding-But-We-Still-Work-Out Turks.) Doc tells me he took film courses at Dartmouth and came to Hollywood via public TV, which proves he's a nice guy; still, he's so powerful he could see your favorite ingenue naked if he wanted.

Another agent getting a lot of heat these days is Brant Rose '92. His client Bill Condon, who wrote and directed Gods and Monsters, is showing up on all the critics' top-ten lists, and Brant also represents the writer-directors who brought us 54 and Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss last year. Greatness was expected of Brant back in his undergrad days when he created D-TV, a cable-access channel for which he him at a trendy West Hollywood spot recently and met his girlfriend, who is way, way too good-looking for him.

Mark Stern '85 grew a huge feather in his cap when he was recently named one of the 35 top execs under age 35 by The Hollywood Reporter. Mark currently runs production for Trilogy Entertainment, the company that made Backdraft and Robin Hood, among other films. Mark worked his way up from the mailroom for the company that is now making big waves in TV with its new series TheOuter Limits and Mag Seven. Another guy who gets very good tables at restaurants is Chris Meledandri '81. After executive-producing films like Cool Runnings, Chris became head of Fox Family, the division of 20th Century Fox that is now known as Fox Animation. His company is boldly going after the animation monopoly enjoyed for many years by Walt Disney, and their first big release, Anastasia, was a success. Chris says their new sci-fi action adventure movie, Monkey Bones, looks fantastic.

Feature films isn't the only area where grads are making calls from the corner office; they're also programming your TV. I have developed a Meg Ryan-Tom Hanksish e-mail flirtation with the very funny Stephen Godchaux '81, a writer-producer on Spin City. Stephen writes, "I'm a recovering lawyer, I went to the Yale School of Drama, yet I'm writing sick jokes for Michael J. Fox." I tried to emulate Meg's famous pout as le-mailed Stephen, but ended up needing three doses of Botox to get rid of the lines. Jason Venokur '92 is a writer-producer on ThirdRock From the Sun. Jason says his job is like working at a really good cocktail party-he's surrounded by hysterically fanny people. Look for Jason's Dreamworks feature Galaxy High coming your way. Tom Ropelewski '77 is the supervising producer on Paramount TVs Seven Days. He still stays in touch with his old roommate, Tom Ruegger, and other Film Society alums. "The Film Society was like our frat," says Tom. When Ropelewski and Ruegger ran the society, it had a higher total membership than matriculated students at the College. Ted Winterer '79 remembers that Ropelewski died in a film he made with Ty Burr '80 called It Came FromOccam Pond. Ted is a screen-writer in Los Angeles.

Fellow classmate RobertFiedsteel '78 has been transitioning his long acting career into writing. I had a great chat with him recently about his days working with John Cassavetes. Robert, who has appeared in many features as well as TV shows like Party of Five, had a trippy moment recently when he ran across a picture of himself on the Internet. On the television executive front, Chris Davidson '76 is the director of current programs at CBS. He called me while donning his tax for the People's Choice awards, where CBS personalities like Roma Downey were to appear. Chris, who worked at WDCR as an undergrad announced to me that his new show Marshall Law was about to be named "Best New Program" by CBS. ChrisFahland '83 is director of development and production for the FX network. A former lawyer from New York, Chris is having a blast pushing the envelope with shows like Venn and Teller's Sun City Spectacular and Bobcat's Big Ass Show.Jim Spence '58 was a senior VP at ABC Sports, and has recently formed his own company, Sports Television International Inc. His company does everything from organizing to selling and producing everything from horse shows to Evander Holyfield fights, to the popular "Skates of Gold" events, which Jim created. Other studio folk include Doug Gleason '78, who is senior VP of worldwide licensing for MGM consumer products. He is responsible for getting his studio's brand names—like James Bond and the Pink Panther—into so-called ancillary markets, such as toys, games, and books.

Timothy O'Hair '88 has recently been promoted to junior executive status at Universal Pictures, becoming a director of development. Timothy is another Maury Rapf disciple (Maury's influence on the Dartmouth film community can't be overestimated) and is excited about this latest project, a movie called U571, starring Matthew McConaughey. Michael Oesterlin '85 is director of special projects for 20th Century Fox International Television. Mark went from being a ski bum to working at William Morris to becoming Warren Littlefield's executive assistant; now he jets between Toronto and his homes in London and Santa Monica distributing Fox programs to cable.

Pam Suchman '91 recently left Ridley Scott's production company to launch a producing career, while Holly Harter '85 was getting ready to go to Montreal to shoot her FIBO movie with Dean Cain. Hubert Smith '85 just took a break from toiling as a lawyer at 20th Century Fox to spend time with his new baby, but fellow lawyer Jamie Kershaw '89 is hard at work at Licter, Grossman, Nichols, and Adler, which represents clients such as Quentin Tarantino and Johnny Depp. We know truth is stranger than fiction, so it's no surprise that documentaries are another area where alums triumph. Joan Von Herrmann '80 is a documentary distributor for Direct Cinema, a high-end educational film and home video company. They acquire the films which are sold to schools, museum stores, and home video. "It's like all those films we used to see in school, but a lot better than Sparky the Fire Plug Teaches Safety," says Joan. Her eclectic collection includes scores of Academy Award-winning films.

And while we're on the subject of that al ways-chic accessory, the Oscar, AnneSundberg '90 associate produced One Survivor Remembers, a project Ricki Stern '87 brought to HBO. The documentary about a Holocaust survivor won both an Oscar and an Emmy, and the pair teamed again to make In My Comer, which profiles an amateur boxing community in die South Bronx. Anne is getting ready to produce her first feature film, What Happened to Tully, in the summer, butis still cooking up projects with Rickie and Will Rexer '86, who shot their documentary. Will, who was everybody's favorite film studies TA, is now: a very in-demand director of photography for cool indie and festival films. He is currendy making a special for Nickelodeon that will air all day on the first day of the year 2000. Will is traveling around the world for the project, interviewing children on what is wrong with the world and their visions for fixing it.

Another documentarian saddling up her first feature is Sara Wauters '86, who called me from the editing room where she was cutting her movie, a "girls western." Another long-time cameraman, Barry Braverman '76, made his first film with a Dartmouth Mayer grant. He spent most of his life traveling around the world shooting National Geographic Specials, but is now settled in L.A. writing screenplays. Barry also made a film for the College called The Wearers ofthe Green, about Dartmouth athletes, as part of the fundraising campaign by the same name. Chas Carner '74 also produced a film for Dartmouth's capital campaign, "Mentors." Chas and his wife, Cynthia, have both left the advertising world and are developing amazing educational multimedia entertainment for kids, including Television From Another Planet, a program consisting of messages from outer space that kids have to decode themselves.

Another documentary pair are grads Jilann Spitzmiller '89 and Hank Roeerson '89, who are hard at work on their film Homeland, which follows four members of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. Their project has garnered some high-profile support from the likes of Billy Zane and James Cameron. SteveLipscomb '84 made an amazing documentary called Battle For theMinds, which examines the effects of fundamentalism on women. His film aired on the very exclusive POV public television series and received rave reviews from everything from TheNew York Times to Norman Mailer. Steve jokes that he's glad we're catching up with "people who are saving the world and not just people who are making all the money."

Nora Jacobsen '74's new film was playing at the Nugget as we spoke on the phone recently. It's called My Mother'sEarly Lovers, and it's a fictional movie based on the discovery of her mother's diaries. Nora's first film, a documentary called Delivered Vacant, about the gentrification of Hoboken, was a smash, premiering at the New York Film Festival and screening at Sundance. Alex Madigan '84 followed up her Sundance-winning producing debut, Sunday (directed by Jonathan Nossiter'84), with the critical favorite YourFriends and Neighbors. Both projects were cast by top Tin seltown casting queen Mali Finn, Dartmouth mom of DaveFinn '84. David Story '85 produced the documetary for the All's list of 100 best films. David, who is a writer and producer for E and the Discovery Channel, is writing an animation project for Universal with classmate Chris Bird '85. Kevin Gorman '84, makes "behind the scenes" shows for Paramount, which means he essentially makes documentaries about the production. Kevin recently shot on the sets of The General's Daughter, with John Travolta, and The Rtmennty Bride, with Julia Roberts.

Chris Robinson '86 has been working as a video editor while finishing his documentary on old movie houses. One of the many people who got turned on to film because of their association with the magnificent Dartmouth Film Society, Chris is among the many grads who still work at the Telluride Film Festival, run by Dartmouth Film Society head Bill Pence every year. Chris went to Columbia grad school after graduation, and says he was "surprised to find the classes he took at Dartmouth were much more rigorous and demanding than film school."

That sentiment was dittoed by Exile Entertainment head Gary Ungar '75, who says he fell in love with French film when he crashed a class on the subject as an undergrad. He says USC film school was a waste of time after Dartmouth. "They thought I was a genius because I could write a complete sentence," he jokes. Gary manages and produces films by some of the world's top directors, including Daniel Bergman (son of Ingemar), Mattiew Kassovitz (Hate), and Guillermao DelToro. "I love finding amazing talent working outside this industry and breaking down barriers for them," says Gary, who has recently made a film called Jacob the Lion, starring Robin Williams, and is working on a new project with Martin Scorsese. William Jenkins '81 is also a manager producer who works with foreign directors. A government major in college, William represents very hot Hong Kong directors such as Ringo Lam, who made City on Fire with Jean Claude Van Damme.

Most of the famous Dartmouth bigwigs are bigger and wiggier than ever. David Picker '53 is currently head of worldwide production for Hallmark Entertainment, making those amazing television epics like Alice in Wonderland with Whoopi Goldberg and Noah's Ark with John Voight. (Tim Craig '79 recently joined the company as a VP, negotiating deals for the firm.) David outlined his company's slate of films for me, and we can look forward to Arabia?! Nights, AnnualFarm, and David Copperfield, coming soon. On behalf of all freshman English survivors, I told David he should make Paradise Lost into a miniseries so I could finally understand the damn thing (I see Billy Bob Thornton as Satan), but alas, he has his plate full. Several younger grads interviewed for this piece mentioned that David was a big help to them getting started. He is also very active in the College, serving on the boards of the Hop and the Hood. He is deservedly proud of his work with the arts alum group The Bentley Fellows, which has raised more than $100,000 in current-use funds for the Hop.

Bob Rafelson, the charming '54 who is the master director of films like FiveEasy Pieces and the Postman Always Rings Twice, told me of his recent reunion with the College. "For years I had nothing to do with it," he says. "Then Bill Pence called and wanted to make me 'Man of the Hour' or some damned thing. It was the first time I'd been to Hangover since I graduated." Not only did Bob have die nostalgia trip of going back for the first time, he got to see his own movies for the first time. "When I saw the clips I damned well freaked out. I had to be pushed on the stage. It was an emotional experience." We are eagerly awaiting the completion and production of die screenplay Bob is currently writing. If Buck Henry '52 is our master writer and Bob is our master director, certainly Michael Phillips'65 is our master producer. Michael produced movies such as The Sting,Taxi Driver, and Close Encounters and most recently released the Mira Sorvino picture The Mimic. Michael, who gave up Wall Street years ago, set up a company that could only afford to hire film school grads who, in the seventies, were not in vogue. He gave all his money to David Ward to write Steel House Blues, and that was the beginning of an amazing career. Michael says of the present, "In retrospect, this will be seen as a very cautious, conservative period in Hollywood, and for me it's not as much fun as making something daring."

Jim Goldstone '53, another longtime director, has earned the right to live in Vermont instead of Hollywood. He gets scripts sent to him there, and acknowledges most of them aren't so hot, sc Jim has been doing a lot of writing himself lately. Peter Werner '68 has been racking up Emmy and Oscar nominations in his long career. He remembers in his undergrad years there were only two film classes, but that you could get a pass "for 30 Film Society movies for five dollars...and bring a date!" Stephen Rotter '62 is another grad with an Academy Award. A top editor, Stephen's most recent film was The Parent Trap. "I have a great job because just as a lot of my contemporaries are considering retiring, I'm getting better projects and better deals," he says. "I'm trying to take more time off between projects, but I'm lucky enough to have a job that completely interests me every day."

Herb Solow '53 may have the coolest kudos of any grad. Sure, he ran MGM-TV and Desilu Studios and a bunch of other big companies, but he also developed with Gene Rodenberry a little show called Star Trek and is NOW ON HIS OWN TRADING CARD! I challenge anyone to top that. Herb and his wife, Harrison, have created an innovative new venture called Eventville.com, an Internet company that has brought some of the best designers in the world together. The idea is a virtual expedition experience where the user can do anything from fly to the moon to scale Everest.

Another grad on the outer limits of entertainment is Edgar Hirst '65. Edgar works at Illusion Entertainment, a company that creates virtual reality programming. You can ride their virtual racing car, a replica of the Indy 500 experience, at the ft Sahara in Los Vegas, and their parachute experience has just been sold to a major Hollywood studio. Peter Israelson '63 runs Epic Entertainment, which owns the Imax rights for territories such as Russia and Israel. A former senior fellow and Oxford scholar, Peter is currently developing an IMAX film on the Holy Land.

Several grads are directing their first movie this year. Shonda Rhimes'91 scored a three-picture writing and directing deal with Miramax, and is looking forward to helming her movie When Willows Touch, starring Jada Pinkett Smith and James Earl Jones, later this year. Shonda, an alumna of BUTA, says meeting Miramax head Harvey Weinstein was "a surreal experience." She says, "I wanted to pitch it to him, but I didn't say a word. He just said, 'Let's make it!' After that, I thought he was the smartest guy in the world." Shonda is also finishing a script about actress Dorothy Dandridge for Halle Berry to star in for HBO. Paul Lazarus '76, a hugely successful TV director (Mad About You, Friends) is directing his first feature, Seven Girlfriends, starring Tim Daley, this spring. Paul's classmate Mark Arnott '72 is still acting in So Cal, but remembers perfectly when his lifestyle was quite different—that would be when he lived in the janitor's closet at the Warner Bentley Theater.

Martin Spottl '87 and Brian Duncan '88 formed Highwater Films this year and are prepping their first film Across the Line, with Tom Berenger and Martin Sheen. If these first-time directors need some help crewing up, they could hire veteran first assistant director Mark Hansson '81, Millennium film editor PeterEllis '84, or story analyst Lisa Liberati '84. Lisa's drama training in college has prepped her well for her job, which she describes as "sitting around all day reading scripts." Richard Cray '88 had a great career change lately—a lawyer for Universal for years, Richard decided to give writing a try. His first script won the Nichols Fellowship (a hugely prestigious screenplay award). Richard followed that up by selling a pitch to Tom Cruise for his wife, Nicole Kidman, and writing the next big Disney extravaganza, Tarzan. Scott Smith '87 wrote the highly acclaimed A Simple Plan, which got him an Academy Award nomination. Scott, we don't want you to look silly when you walk up that red carpet, so perhaps you should call your classmate Ellen Harrington '85 to give you a tour of the academy so you can practice walking and shaking your head in disbelief at the same time. Ellen runs promotions for the MPAAS, creating and curating film programs and events.

Your humble correspondent just took a job as senior VP of production for The Shooting Gallery, the company that should be known for Slingblade but is instead known because Monica Lewinsky wears our hat everywhere. The company is also home to VP of music Barry Cole '93 and development associate ToddSteinei '94. Gwen Bethel '90 left TSG recently to become VP of music at Artisan Films. Perhaps she should get the skinny from Kevin Koloff '77, senior VP f music for Paramount. The Shooting Gallery is releasing five movies this year, which will undoubtedly be perceptively reviewed by the brilliantly Burr '80 at EntertainmentWeekly and covered amply in Premiere Magazine by editor-in-chief Jim Meigs '80, who hasn't lost his boyish good looks, and executive editor Kathy Heintzelman '76, who always amazes with her good judgment. Until then, remember, pink is the new gray, which was the new black. Don't order the sea bass unless your boss orders it first. It's endangered or whatever. And support your local movie star; it truly is difficult being them. Ta, ta.

Producer Bob Jaffe '89 set Madeline, above, in two not-so-straight lines. Fox Animation head Chris Meledandri '81 is challenging Disney's lock on animated features with films like Anastasia, below.

Adam Lipsius'94 fired up thesound effectsfor Cop Land.

Pamela Anderson gets caught up in Barb Wire, co-produced by Todd Moyer '86.

54, with Salma Hayek Comes from agent Brant Rose '92.

Michael J. Fox takes his Spin City lines from writer-producer Stephen Godchaux '81.

Nicole Kidman, here in Practical Magic, took a pitch from scriptwriter Richard Cray '78.

Director Shonda Rhimes '9l's When WillowsTouch will star Jada Pinkett Smith, seen here in Woo.

Friends owes its successful direction to Paul Lazarus '76

HOLLY SORENSEN '86 is a writer and producer in L.A.