My travels as an author, screenwriter, and feature magazine article writer have allowed me to visit some very exotic places all over the world, and it all started in The Bronx.

I attended a Hollywood film school and graduated with honors. I also have a degree in Mechanical Engineering, and I am a Six Sigma Master Black Belt. I guess you could say it was a unique education. But I learned a lot of things that they don’t teach in film school. And I’m still learning. Screenwriting can be a lonely vocation, but it doesn’t have to be.

In years past, we screenwriters were very protective of our work, and for good reason. But there is no reason to worry nowadays. You can copyright your work, register with the WGA, and enter contests. And best of all, you have STAGE 32. My best advice for this blog to anyone aspiring to be a successful screenwriter, director, DP, or any other position in the entertainment business is to practice the following:

1. Write, Write, Write. Pitch, Pitch, Pitch.
2. Attend classes on creative writing. (I did. Now I teach them)
3. Read, Read, Read.
4. Try to get involved with local filmmakers. Always listen and be willing to lend a helping hand.
5. Don’t get your panties in a wad if someone passes on your script. You never know when that one person who hears your pitch will be captivated by it and ask for more.
6. Explore other avenues for submission.
7. Take advantage of as many of the STAGE 32 opportunities as you can. Join the WRITER’S ROOM and never stop learning.
8. Join in the multitude of lounges on STAGE 32 and make connections.

My strange and mysterious tale began in New York City circa 1961. A television production company named Biograph Studios, located on 175th street in the Bronx was five blocks from my house. It was the start of the filming of an outrageous comedy about New York City cops. It was called “Car 54 Where Are You?” They would film scenes all over the Bronx, and of course, I dreamt I was an imaginary descendant of Cecil B. DeMille and Dalton Trumbo. I had to get involved.

I followed them all over the place whenever they were filming in the neighborhood. After several months of sneaking around the periphery of the film sets, I guess they got used to me. My uncle Sam was a New York City Cop who provided security for the production company. I told him that one day I wanted to write and make movies and the best way to learn was to get involved. So, I asked him if he could get me on the set. He said he would try. And he did. Al De Caprio, the director, had seen me sneaking around the set a few times and asked my uncle to bring me around. One week later, he did.

Alphabet Soup For Filmmakers – It Starts With PA

I was just a young wise guy who was big for my age. My uncle took me over to Mr. De Caprio in an area where food was being served to the cast and crew. Mr. De Caprio asked if I knew what the big silver cylinder was, and I said, “Sure, it’s a 12-cup coffee pot.” He looked at my uncle and said, “Smart kid. Make a pot of coffee for the crew.” So, I did. That was how I became a Production Assistant (PA) on my first TV show. I made coffee for Fred Gwynn, Joe Ross, Al Lewis, Paul Reed, Nipsy Russell, Charlotte Rae, and others. I worked for free (and tips under the table), watched, and learned. I came by after school as often as I could (and quite a few times before school began). I sat in the back of the writer’s room and watched how a comedy is born from the minds of creatives. I sat in on table reads with the cast. It was all so fascinating to see a show go from the printed page to the TV screen. It was official. I was a PA in training.

It started me on the road to a first-class education in movie-making. I started checking out books from the library and studying the art of filmmaking. I knew what I wanted to be. My uncle Jack, a mailman whose route was the Broadway theater district, gave me a glorious birthday present. An 8mm Bell & Howell movie camera and two rolls of film. I began writing scripts and shooting short films all over the city.

I think we invented the term “SHOOT and SCOOT.” We were just a bunch of kids having fun. I was the EP (executive producer), producer, director, first and second AD, gaffer, continuity, DP, and of course, head writer. I learned how to do whatever it took to make a short film. We were amateur movie filmmakers. On one occasion, we were shooting a gangster film in Manhattan in the alleyway of the Peppermint Lounge nightclub. While there, we noticed stacks of 5-cent deposit beer bottle cases filled with bottles. So, I thought, why not?

We decided to heist the bottles for the cash deposit. We were loading the bottles in a grocery cart when the stage door opened, and this guy came out and grabbed me from behind. My friends were stunned, as was I. He noticed the camera I was holding and the flashlights taped to a broomstick. He asked what we were doing. I said we were making a movie called the “Peppermint Heist,” and he laughed his head off. He was filming the movie “Hey Let’s Twist” inside the club. He then proceeded to give us a lecture on the virtues of being good guys, staying in school, and some good tips on filming. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a Fender guitar pick, and handed it to me. He said, “Here. Come and see me in twenty years.” The guy was Joe Pesci, a guitar player in the Joey Dee and the Starliters band. This really happened. Twenty years later, I was walking down the street in West Palm Beach, Florida, and who came walking towards me, yep, Joe Pesci with his mom on their way to an ice cream parlor. I said hello, and at first, he didn’t recognize me. I pulled the guitar pick out of my wallet, and he remembered. Who could have predicted that?

The Director Yelled, “CUT!”: My Next Lesson In TV Production

Pete Gagliano, Sr. My best friend’s father, who I called “Uncle Pete,” owned all the vending machines in the ABC building on 6th Avenue in New York. Often, he would ask if I would help him and Pete Jr. fill up the machines. So, it was on a Thursday evening that we were in the building filling the machines when Pete, Sr. asked if we wanted to be in the audience of a new rock & roll kids' show they were taping called “Go-Go.” The guest stars that evening included Tommy Roe (Little Sheila), The Ronettes (Be My Baby), and The Four Seasons (Sherry). I was super excited. We sat right in the center of the front row. This was my first visit to a real rock & roll show, and I wanted to watch everything they did. After all, this was part of my ongoing education in filmmaking.

So, we sat there front and center, and first up was the Four Seasons with Frankie Valle right there in front of me. The show’s hosts were two of the most famous radio disc jockeys in New York. Scott Muni and Bruce, “Cousin Brucie,” Morrow. So, the music started, and so did the singing. To my utter amazement, it wasn’t coming from the band. It was coming from speakers. I was shocked. They weren’t really singing or playing their instruments. I stood up and shouted, “Hey, this is Baloney!”

The director up in the booth yelled out, “CUT!” Frankie Valle, Cousin Brucie, Scott Muni, and a stagehand ran up to me and yelled out, “Whose kid is this?” I was shaking in my boots. Pete, Sr. standing in the wings, said, “He’s with me.” He walked over and motioned for Mr. Valle to come over and explain “Lip Synching” to the kids. I listened intently, as did everyone else. Uncle Pete looked up to the booth and said one word. “FUGGETABOUTIT!” A few minutes later, the show went on without a hitch.

As a result of my pretentious outburst. I was invited into the booth and received a grand tour of the workings of the studio. It was fascinating. I asked a million questions and learned a great deal. Even though the technology of TV production has advanced light years since then, I took in what I learned and was able to apply that knowledge for years to come. My advice to filmmakers young and old, you never know where your journey for more knowledge will come from or take you. Get involved in productions in your hometown. Do your research and learn whatever and wherever you can. Steven Spielberg didn’t become a genius overnight. He was born with a gift for filmmaking, no doubt. But he had to cultivate it by doing. So can you.

Extra, Extra, Extra

A few years later, I was in the crowd of extras as they filmed the street scene of King Kong in front of the World Trade Center. Filming took seven months of twelve-hour days from January to August 1976. The New York City climax was filmed in June 1976, with a casting call for 5,000 extras. Over 30,000 people showed up and were gladly used. That was an experience I will never forget. Someone was always filming something in New York. If you wanted to be an extra, all you had to do was show up. So, whenever I was in town, I was there.

I mostly wanted to watch how they set up the shots. It was amazing how the crew handled all those people. They handled it magnificently, and I learned a lot. The setup of the cameras, the lighting, and sound. It was a real learning experience to watch. There is always something being filmed somewhere. Check the trades and find out. Try and get on a production as a PA. Check out Casting Frontier and see who’s doing what. Sign up and apply. The best way to learn how to make a movie is to help make one. I had another chance to be a street extra, and that was in the film, “Ghostbusters II.” It was an education in filmmaking, for sure, and a lot of fun. Click here to see. I am the Con Edison guy in the hard hat behind Dan Aykroyd.

So, You Want To Be A Screenwriter: Screenwriting 101

By 1996, I finished my first sci-fi novel, Voice in the Mirror. It was a best-seller full of controversy. I pulled off the BIGGEST UFO HOAX in world history. At the same time, I was submitting articles to a host of magazines. Sci-Fi & Fantasy Movie Magazine, a very popular rag published in the UK, liked my stuff and asked if I would submit a story on Forrest Ackerman.

He was very well known in Hollywood and invited me to interview him at the “Ackermansion.”

His home was a veritable museum of movie props and memorabilia. I spent the whole day there, and “Forre,” as he liked to be called, was a most gracious host. I took over 300 photos of his collection. He was also the editor of Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine. My story was a front-page hit. As a result, it opened the door to so many other front-page stories. I found myself being invited to movie sets all over the world. I have thousands of photos behind the scenes from some of the biggest sci-fi films ever produced. Talk about education in filmmaking.

In 1997 I was contacted by Sir Richard Attenborough, who invited me to contribute four chapters on the history of science fiction in cinema for his collectible book, “100 Years of Moving Pictures.” The best part was an interview with directors Brad Silberling, Steven Spielberg, and George Lucas. The book sold out worldwide over one million copies. Nowadays, you can only find a copy on eBay.

We all work hard as writers, always trying to improve our storytelling prowess and often while working entirely on our own cloistered away in our fortress of solitude. Screenwriting is the art of painting with words. The best way to understand how to become a visual artist using a keyboard as your palette is to experience the ART of FILMMAKING firsthand. The best way to get that experience is to see it unfold right in front of you. Getting that on-set experience is the best way to understand how those little blobs of ink you set to paper translate into the visual medium we call MOVIES. Now writers, hands on the keyboard and, “START YOUR COMPUTERS.”

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