If You're On Someone's Shoulders, You're Not Drowning

So I was listening to a podcast today, one of the Pen On Fire interviews with writers, agents, and publicists in the publishing industry. Sometimes these can be very informative, sometimes inspiring, sometimes neither. This particular episode was looking pretty good: it was with Michael Blake, the novelist/screenwriter most famous for penning the novel and screenplay for Dances With Wolves.

It resonated with me because Blake was talking about how difficult it had been for him to launch his career. He talked about some failed projects, including a screenplay that had been stopped by the movie studio because some exec had read the script and found it "too intelligent." That was when Blake (understandably) decided that he needed to get out of the film biz. As he was feeling around for what he should do next, he had started to study some Indian history ... and you can see where this is going: embattled writer who is apparently too good for popular culture must find a way to connect with an audience when no one willgive him a chance.

Then he says this: "... And Kevin Costner was a big star, well, was becoming a big star. I went over to his house one night just to have spaghetti with him and his wife...."

Now, wait a gol'darned second! You just up and headed over to Mr. Costner's abode and invited yourself to dinner? Or perhaps you already knew him?

Yeah, you kinda lost major points in the sympathy-for-the-starving-artist game there, Mr. Blake.

Then a few minutes later, talking about a more recent book he has written, there's this: "... And Viggo Mortenson's an old friend of mine, and we were on the phone the other day...." And he goes on to explain how Viggo's publishing concern agreed to publish this new book.

So I'm trying to decide: If you're close friends with arguably two of the most bankable stars in the entertainment industry (or at least at the time of these two anecdotes, they were among the most bankable), do you really get to play the "I started at the bottom" card?