2006 Nicholl Fellowship Dinner

Just got home from a fun evening with my friend Barry Dennen. He invited me to join him at the Beverly Wilshire (the Pretty Woman hotel) for the 21st Annual Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting awards banquet. This is an Academy event and not only is Barry an Academy member, he is one of the script readers for the Nicholl fellowship, the most prestigious screenwriting fellowship in the country.

We arrived in time for cocktails (I had the most delicious Belvedere vodka martini) and elegant hors d'oeuvres (my favorites were the fresh salmon sashimi and the succulent rare lamb chops -- yum!) Dinner was also spectacular: rare roast beef, baked sea bass, baked potatoes, steamed asparagus and a colorful tomato medley. Oh, and did I mention the ever-flowing Pinot Noir? The waiters left no one with an empty glass.

The food and drink were spectacular, but the highlight was the keynote speech from filmmaker Kevin Smith (Clerks, Chasing Amy, Jersey Girl, etc.). Not only did he swear like a sailor throughout his speech, he had everybody rolling with laughter. Keep in mind these Academy events tend to be populated with stuffy seniors so it was at first shocking when Smith used the f-word in the first line of his speech! But the laughs soon followed and then every speaker who followed used the f-word as well!

Smith read a list of the last six Oscar winners for Best Screenplay and then jokingly wondered why he had been asked to deliver the keynote speech considering he's never even been nominated. Every year when he watches the Oscars on TV, he said, he sees the winner delivering his acceptance speech, and the same thought comes into his head: "I'm a better fucking writer than that guy!"

Smith warned the young writers in the audience to beware of actors who want to improvise dialogue and change the script. He told a long and involved story about a scene in Chasing Amy where the film's star Ben Affleck added a line that Smith didn't write. Smith cut the take and scolded Affleck for improvising during the shot. "If you want to make up shit, write your own damn script," Smith told him. "So Affleck did write his own screenplay," Smith dead-panned, "and he won an Oscar for it." That was, of course, Good Will Hunting.

After Kevin Smith's hilarious keynote address, the Nicholl Fellowship awards were presented and several of the presenters were notable professionals in the field. One that impressed me was Daniel Petrie who wrote the Beverly Hills Cop movies, Turner and Hooch, and The Big Easy. Not a bad resume! My favorite presenter however was the lovely actress Eva Marie Saint who exclaimed she was enjoying herself despite the foul language. "My father was a Quaker," she explained.

Barry and I sneaked out before the ceremony ended so we could make it to another party at The Lot, the old Warner Hollywood studio where I saw the JCS footage a couple weeks ago. Our sound man from Superstar, Doug Mountain, was celebrating the opening of his new post-sound facility at the studio. There were just a few people left, including Jack Nakano and Joe Gunches (the Superstar producers), and Craig Barna (conductor and music director for Superstar). We also met a handsome and talented young composer who is currently writing music for the sitcom Till Death, starring comedian Brad Garrett. This young man also wrote a song which is a current hit record in Asia by the pop diva BoA. I happen to know of BoA a lot because many of my Japanese and Korean students have mentioned her before. She is a superstar in Asia, kind of like Christina Aguilera is here in North America.

All-in-all, another fun Hollywood evening!