Ep. 85 - David Levien: I Just Have To

James and David Levien talk about the art and the science of writing books and screenplays, producing and directing movies, plus making this your full-time career. Eventually he teamed up with his longtime best friend Brian Koppelman (Episode 59) but the road to success was tough. Like most screenwriters, he moved to Hollywood to launch his career. He started as an assistant to a talent agent hoping to get the contacts in place when he had his script ready. But over the couple of years he was there, he read thousands of scripts which left him very little time to work on his own. He made contacts but they didn't see him as a screenwriter. His dream just wasn't happening... He was stuck, so he just quit and for the next six years he was just another obscure writer living in N.Y. He and Brian finally reunited and decided they'd join forces to try writing a screenplay together. They had no idea what they were going to write about but they just kept at it. As luck would have it, Brian was invited to The Mayfair Club for a game of poker. He immediately called David and said, "This place was amazing. We can make the movie about this." And they did... Rounders was picked up, made into the movie, and David's career took off. But success never slowed him down. He knew he had more to give. Listen here as he talks about how he wrote City of The Sunwhile he commuted every day on the train. Plus, he tells James about his new book Signature Kill. Listen today... It's a great conversation ------------What do YOU think of the show? Head to JamesAltucherShow.com/listeners and fill out a short survey that will help us better tailor the podcast to our audience!Are you interested in getting direct answers from James about your question on a podcast? Go to JamesAltucherShow.com/AskAltucher and send in your questions to be answered on the air!------------Visit Notepd.com to read our idea lists & sign up to create your own!My new book, Skip the Line, is out! Make sure you get a copy wherever books are sold!Join the You Should Run for President 2.0 Facebook Group, where we discuss why you should run for President.I write about all my podcasts! Check out the full post and learn what I learned at jamesaltuchershow.com------------Thank you so much for listening! If you like this episode, please rate, review, and subscribe to "The James Altucher Show" wherever you get your podcasts: Apple PodcastsiHeart RadioSpotifyFollow me on social media:YouTubeTwitterFacebookLinkedIn See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.