I'm still a great movie fan, and I guess that's the answer to your question.

So the city [Pittsburgh] was faced with that question of "What to do now?" because it can't turn back the clock and be what it once was. So thematically, it seemed like the perfect location for the movie. And then, it's a matter of how we get that feeling into the picture and make it a part of [Michael] Chabon's story.

Whereas to write, all you need is paper and an idea, so I felt that writing might be my stepping stone.

I didn't look at it as a transition so much, because I never intended to have a career as a journalist, writing about people who make movies.

We're not used to seeing movies, especially with physical action, when it isn't the man who comes in to save the day.

Roger [Corman] didn't actually hire me, though. I was hired by AIP [American International Pictures], the studio that made the picture, which was Sam Arkoff and Jim Nicholson. It was a great learning experience for me, because not only did I work on the script, but they hired me back to go on location when they were making the movie, to write new scenes and so forth.

I had the great fortune to actually become friends with Sam [Fuller] and ultimately collaborate with him on White Dog, which we wrote together.