Heat.
How a crap script ends up selling for five million dollars without having been read.
How Joe Esterhaus could walk into a studio president's office with a sentence written on a napkin and walk out with two million dollars.
In fact, if you think about it. If you're a writer, it could be the only tool you have.
The most important tool of negotiation in Hollywood.
Funny thing is...
Everyone out there knows that nine out of ten guys with this so called "heat" on them is totally bullshit.
But they all buy into it and they all pay.
Because God forbid they passed on that one thing that wasn't bullshit.
Fortune and Glory, A True Hollywood Comic Book Story, was a three part autobiographical comic book written and drawn by Brian Michael Bendis. It was released from December 1999 to April 2000, and was published by Oni Press. The series was later collected into a trade paperback that retails for 14.95 USD.
The story follows Brian Michael Bendis as he describes his venture into the great unknown of Hollywood showbusiness. Bendis is an indie comic book writer, who mainly writes crime fiction. When his comic book Jinx received an article in Spin Magazine he begun to attract attention. For many people who work for studios in Hollywood have the simple job of combing through magazines and taking options for films off the market. That's only the beginning to Bendis's mission to get his comic book Goldfish to be made into a film. He talks about the many strange ways that Hollywood works, and also changes targets as he also pitches another one of his comic books to different studios.
I think that this should probably be a mandatory reading for those people who strive to become screenwriters. It's a great source of odd comedy, and you get to learn many things about Hollywood. It's rather easy reading, with a cartoony style art. I believe that it can be an enjoyable read for anyone.
Also, I have recently learned that this series has been made into a play by writer Grant Watson, and director Kristie Stevens. The play was performed by Bedlam Theatre Company.
Sources:
http://wwwbedlam.murdoch.edu.au/fortuneandglory.html