Zorro’s Chiropractor
My favorite writing assignment
At the time of this writing I’m beyond excited contemplating the release of Deadpan, the first novel from a courageous new publisher, Heresy Press. When their Founder and Director, Bernard Schweizer, responded to my submission, he complimented me supremely, reporting that it flowed so smoothly and naturally, that he read it through in a single afternoon, and it appeared that I had written it the same way, in a single sitting lasting several hours.
In fact, I started working on Deadpan nearly a half century ago; the basic idea of it came to me at the time I was writing primarily for the screen.
I was at that time in the midst of my favorite screenplay assignment.
In the early summer of 1974 I got a call from an old film school pal Steven Bach who at the time happened to be the head of United Artists.
“Richie,” he said, “can you go to Rome right away?”
I asked him, “Can I first go take a leak?”
Upon graduating from the U.S.C. film school I had over several years enjoyed writing assignments for most of the major studios. After I had written the first two un-credited drafts of American Graffiti, however, for a while things had gone cold.
