His first foray into television was on Propaganda's anthology program Inside Out for the Playboy Channel ("kind of like an R-rated Twilight Zone"). There, because it was not under the aegis of the Directors Guild, he was able to hire and develop relationships with up-and-coming directors like Alexander Payne (Sideways), Antoine Fuqua (Training Day), and Jeffrey Reiner (Friday Night Lights).
David Hoselton - House
House writer David Hoselton credits his friends and the lucky number 12 for his successful transition to Hollywood (I’m sure he must have had a little something to do with it too). His University of Toronto law school friend Lorne Cameron had the "crazy" idea of writing a screenplay and selling it to Hollywood, which landed the pair an agent and some film writing gigs that turned into 18 years of such films as First Knight, Brother Bear, and Over the Hedge.
Another law school classmate was House creator David Shore. "He's probably the first guy I ever wrote anything with because we took over the law school newspaper," Hoselton recalled. "It was called The Law School Newspaper when we took it over. We thought we've got to be able to do better than that. We called it Hearsay."
When Shore was the showrunner on Family Law, he called his old law school friend in to pitch some story ideas. "I came up with 12 ideas, and he liked the 12th. Maybe he was just humouring me, I don't know." In any case, Hoselton wrote up the story for the show's fourth season ... only to see it cancelled at the end of the third. "He said I owe you one," Hoselton recounted. "A couple years later he started House and said 'let's do it for real this time.' I came up with 12 ideas and he liked number 12."
Hoselton called working on House "the greatest job I've ever had, and I've had a lot of jobs. Working with David Shore is great, and he hired all people he likes and gets along with, and since I get along with him, all the writers on the staff are fantastic. It's a great job. I can't praise it enough.
"I guess the moral of that story is keep writing and in 20 years, it'll happen."
The Moral of This Story
Looking to break into Hollywood yourself? The lesson is clear. Have a dream. Or a friend with a dream. Or a Japanese literature degree. Or a pregnant girlfriend. Or …
Article comments
1 - Joanne Huspek
You make it sound so easy!