#13 Hollywood Casting and Writing Movies

Suzanne begins with the announcement of a new “Music” category at

www.WhereHollywoodHides.com, and—while reminding us she’s sooo much

younger than Bob—lays claim to being a lifelong Beatles fan.

For his part, Bob admits that he’s just “a rock-and-roll kind of guy”

and would’ve bet the farm that I Want to Hold Your Hand would never

make the charts. So much for his musical tastes...

The episode moves on to what Bob himself describes as his “greatest

career failure” while under contract to Aaron Spelling Productions writing and

producing Dark Mansions for ABC-TV. It’s a tale of classic Hollywood

casting politics as Bob sets the record straight as to exactly why former

movie queen Loretta Young never got the part in the film that eventually

went to Oscar winner Joan Fontaine.

Bob reveals the nature of production and budgets in Spelling’s 1980s-era

Hollywood, as well as the rationale (follow the money!) for the excessive

proliferation of producer credits seen on Dark Mansions. With a tip of the hat

to the talents of Linda Purl, Michael York, Melissa Sue Anderson,

Nicollette Sheridan, and director Jerry London, Bob’s confidence in the show

never prepared him for the horrible results of an evening of sneak-preview

audience testing. It’s the story of how a “hit movie” with the promise of becoming

a network television series became an instant embarrassment for all...

as well as an immediate career bump for the fool who wrote it (that’d be Bob).

Going from “Golden Boy” to “Bob who?”, and proving the truth of

when you’re hot, your hot, and when you’re not...you’re not,

this episode is a good illustration of the pitfalls to be found on

the Hollywood career path for any writer, actor, producer, or director.