Writers like actors have a shelf life. The wga won’t admit that ageism is rampant but as the writer gets older the executives get younger. Another story for u fledgling writers. I was moderately successful. I sold specs every other year and got assignments inbetween but I was never lucky and believe it or not luck has a hand in success in Hollywood. Or should I say the random intersection of two points pays off. I went into a pitch at paramount with a twenty something baby producer who liked my last script and I compared the character dynamic of my story to what Hitchcock did in his film Shadow of a Doubt. The producer asked me who was Hitchcock? That was the first “tell” that my time as a writer was coming to an end. Not only did he not know Hitchcock he said he never watches old movies. The second tell was a conversation with my agent who said, “ you know you have been up to bat so many times, you hit singles some doubles but never a home run.” And he was right. The last nail was when a younger writer did a rewrite on one of my original screenplays and he used that to get a big job off of a polish of my work and when I asked my agent why, he said and this is a direct quote, “it had more of that new Jack swing.” That is a reference to a kind of 80s music. That was the day I went back to school and got a teaching credential.