You know how you can go months without seeing someone, then suddenly, they’re everywhere? This morning as I was getting into my little Prius, screenwriter/neighbor/inconstant blogger [Josh Friedman](http://hucksblog.blogspot.com/) rolled up in the Death Star Escalade to discuss our respective children’s nap schedules in anticipation of a playdate.
Yeah, I said playdate. This is how we roll in the Southside.
Of Hancock Park.
I suspect Josh was taking his family to BLD (“Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner”), the new restaurant that took over where Red used to be, and is pretty much exactly like Red but white instead, and without those Mexican Cokes.
In typing that, I realize that I’ve now lived in L.A. long enough that I expect everyone to share my specific geo-cultural references. Or, more bluntly, I’ve now lived here long enough to stop caring when they don’t. It only takes a New Yorker six months to become this jaded. Los Angeles takes a decade.
Later today, I followed a link to the [trailer](http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/universal/theblackdahlia/) for Josh’s upcoming movie, The Black Dahlia. I don’t know how he got his name in red in the credit block, but from now on I’m putting that in my contract. I want red and a little box around it.
Upon checking the feeds this evening, I see Josh has finally posted [something new](http://hucksblog.blogspot.com/2006/07/snakes-on-motherfucking-catwalk.html) on the blog. And while I’d like to take credit for this rare occurrence, the more pressing matter is addressing some corrections/clarifications:
* My assistant does not bring me breakfast, though he often brings lunch. (However, I do not [blog about](http://www.janeespenson.com/) it.)
* In daily life, my house is light-filled like a Richard Curtis movie. However, to achieve the look of this on film for The Movie required giant lights and hard gels velcro-ed to all the doors and windows.
As Tyra knows, beauty takes work.
That’s all.
*My question concerns referencing branded objects in a screenplay. I’ve read that including name-brand references should be avoided in screenplays because you would need legal clearance in order to feature them.*