How to Become an Addicted Hollywood Writer

It’s relatively easy. First you get a job as a screenwriter or TV writer. You get to deal with deadlines, rejection, and a rollercoaster of ups and downs in your career. You might encounter heartache, or agonize over where your next job is coming from. You might freak out under the pressure, or go into a depressive cycle.

On the other hand, you might just become successful, buy a house in the Hollywood Hills, drive a Lamborghini, and chase after beautiful starlets. You might have wild parties where your friends and acquaintances share drugs, or get hammered and carry on long into the night.

Whether you bottom out or become wealthy, you’ll find there’s a rich tradition around getting drunk or high while writing or hanging out with other writers.

There was a long tradition of writers drinking in Hollywood. Everyone likes tradition.

Back in the day, the infamous hard-boiled detective novelist, Raymond Chandler could be seen drinking at the Formosa. Chandler went on to write the Oscar nominated The Blue Dalia and got stuck at some point. He’s said to have gone on an eight-day bender, which helped him break through the slump.

In the 1930s, Herman Mankiewiz had the reputation as a reckless drunkard who picked fights with actors and studio executives alike. Mankiewiz would one day write such classics movies as Duck Soup, The Wizard of Oz, and—he won the Oscar for Citizen Kane.

Robert Benchley, George S. Kaufman and Robert Sherman were all known to “drink their lunch” at the Algonquin Hotel, and are now known for writing classic screenplays and Pulitzer Prize winning plays.

Once you're a writer, you’ll be surrounded by intoxicants at parties, and even at work.

I remember an Executive Producer of a certain TV show I worked on, who smoked “a pipe,” during our rewrites. One day, he dropped his “pipe tobacco” on the floor and it was clearly pot.

He finally admitted he was smoking pot all year at the rewrites. Being the boss, nobody was going to do anything about it. Interestingly, he told us that the “hide the pot in the tobacco pouch” trick was something he learned from Rodney Dangerfield. When you realize your boss is getting baked, why not join him?

When you find out how little respect you get as a writer in Hollywood, you might easily find yourself “self-medicating.”

In Hollywood, the writer is at the bottom of the totem pole. Actors are important, directors are important, they both have power to change the story, and rewrite the lines. The actor brings people into the theater. Not he writer. The director can have the last word on a film. Not the writer. Writers are not famous. They are, however, quite expendable.

After all, anybody can write. Who remembers who wrote “Casablanca?,” or “Gone With the Wind?,” or “Silence of the Lambs?,” Everyone remembers the stars, Bogart, Bergman, Clark Gable, Vivian Liegh, and Jody Foster and Anthony Hopkins.

Once you decide you can make a living by writing for tv or film, the roller-coaster ride begins. You'll live with insane deadlines, paralyzing creative blocks, out of control bosses, anxiety, resentfulness and sometimes even depression. You'll have to constantly try to reinvent yourself, stay “twenty-one” forever, prove you're still “hot,” otherwise, it’s “what have you done lately?"

These troubling emotional states all make terrific excuses to get drunk or stoned.

Being high also allows you to forget about the stress, or depression, or get over your perfectionism long enough to write a decent script.

Think about your heroes. Your role models. They did it. Consider the writers you’ve idolized since childhood; Hemmingway, Fitzgerald, Faulkner and Steinbeck, who all won Nobel Prizes, while (allegedly) drinking heavily. Steven King and Phillip K. Dick both (allegedly) used hard drugs to get through their first drafts.

And who can forget Academy Award-winning screenwriter, Aaron Sorkin, author of “A Few Good Men,” and “The Social Network,” who was (allegedly) caught with hallucinogenic mushrooms at an airport?

The way role modeling works, you watch an idol of yours, heavily reinforced for writing critically-successful original screenplays, or best-selling novels which spawn brilliant, successful films.

It’s only natural; you'll observe their behavior, witness them winning awards, (reinforcement) and follow in your idol’s famous footsteps.

There you have it. It won’t take much time, or effort, to give in, to bow to peer pressure, join the party, follow your role models and drink or get high while writing, or socially at parties.

Then, when you’re not getting high, you’ll be irritable, or sick or everything will seem less interesting, and less fun, so you’ll want to drink or do drugs all the time.

Follow these easy steps and you’ll get to enjoy a serious addiction.

If it’s serious enough, you might hit bottom. What’s hitting bottom? Everybody hits bottom in their own individual way. If you’ve got yourself a severe enough addiction, you’ll find yourself checking in and out of rehab, humiliating yourself, losing your self-esteem, your job, your family, or even find yourself homeless, or dead.

If you die because of your addiction, you’ll be remembered always in the same sentence with literary giants like Ernest Hemmingway, Edgar Allan Poe, Hunter Thompson, and the guy who wrote “A Confederacy of Dunces.” You’ll only add to your legendary status.

David Silverman, LMFT, treats anxiety and depression, especially in highly sensitive individuals in his LA practice. Having experienced the rejection, stress, creative blocks, paralyzing perfectionism, and career reversals over a 25 year career as a Film/TV writer, he’s uniquely suited to work with gifted, creative, and sensitive clients experiencing anxiety, depression, and addiction. David received training at Stanford and Antioch, is fully EMDR certified, and works with programs treating Victims of Crime and Problem Gamblers. Visit www.DavidSilvermanLMFT.com.