This is the introduction to my upcoming manual Skipping Hollywood: Screenwriting and Filmmaking Without Gatekeepers. Which I plan to release in the next week and a half.
It provides the truth about the Hollywood film industry.
Introduction
After having spent over twenty-five years in Hollywood—the first ten as a working stuntman and the subsequent years as a struggling screenwriter—I see an alarming amount of information online about selling a screenplay in Hollywood that contradicts how I know the industry actually works.
These online platforms profit off of dreams and ignorance.
So I want to tell you the truth in the pages of this manual.
The first screenplay I ever wrote was heavily plagiarized by a producer I had given it to read. A year and a half later, it became a film franchise. I hadn’t copyrighted it. The first TV pilot I ever wrote was packaged by one of the three biggest talent agencies in the world. They paired me with an Emmy award-winning showrunner, we pitched it, and it was picked up for development. My attorney had to fight for a creator credit for me on a show I created.
There were some highlights. I sold a script to a large indie company that became an HBO World Premiere movie. Remember those? Of course, my euphoria was short-lived. The company rewrote my script so that it was unrecognizable. And not for the better. When the star of the film, who loved my original script, showed up on set and read the new draft, he refused to perform. After two weeks, his agent changed his mind. He was getting two million after all. So there was that.
I stopped pursuing Hollywood years ago. I left not only L.A. but America. I’ve spent the last six years traipsing across Europe. A self-imposed exile. During the first half of those six years, I worked with a producer in the UK to put together a Hindi action film. She assured me the Indian arms of companies like Amazon and Netflix were easier to deal with. They weren’t. We chased talent, investors, and companies. To no avail. I tried to put together a Hong Kong film with some Southeast Asian producers. Once again, we chased talent, investors, and companies. During that time, I was also hired to write and direct a proof-of-concept for a movie and got to shoot at Manchester Cathedral. Which was pretty cool.
At the end of those first three years, I reflected. Despite having worked extremely hard on these projects, I had absolutely nothing to show for it. It was as bad as taking meetings in Hollywood. So, I moved away from that and focused on novel writing.
I also decided to rethink my approach to filmmaking and mapped out a new plan. Which is what I have been focused on for the past few years. Only I decided this time I was going to try it my way. I wasn’t going to pitch studio hotshots anymore; I also wasn’t going to chase indie investors (which can be just as big a waste of energy). This time around, no gatekeepers.
While regrouping and figuring things out, I wrote the graphic novel The Curse of Monte Cristo, which—to my surprise—was picked up by an uptown Manhattan agent and sold to Andrews McMeel Syndication. It came out April 2025 through Simon & Schuster. I then started my entertainment company Exile Circus. I’m coming out with two novels, Diary of a Girl at the End of the World and Mindbender: From Harlem With Love, at the end of July 2026. I’m currently working on my second graphic novel, The Last Manchurian, and planning an animated film version of it.
I’ve also been quietly watching the recent changes in the film industry, the world, and in emerging technologies. More on that later.
This is an instructional manual that will arm you with practical advice on how to succeed with your screenwriting and filmmaking ambitions. It also contains anecdotal accounts and a fair amount of self-deprecating humor.
To put my money where my mouth is, I’m chronicling my triumphs and failures in real time on Substack and my fledgling YouTube channel.
I guess, win or lose, I’m going to walk the walk.
By reading this manual, you won’t have to make the same mistakes I did.
And if you do decide to attempt Hollywood, the advice in these pages will ensure that you have a better chance of success than I did.
Coming soon!
I look forward to getting a copy!