Ep. 747 - Who Needs Paris? | Joan Meyerson

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Episode Transcript

(00:14):
Thank you for joining us, andwelcome to another edition of Answers Network.
I'm your host, Alan Cardoza.For those of you that have been listening
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(00:35):
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(01:00):
Now, our I'm going to tellyou a little bit about our guests,
because this is a little bit differentthan many of our shows. But I
got to tell you I've been soexcited about reading reading her work. So
our guest's first novel is called WhoNeeds Paris, and it was called one

(01:23):
of the best indie books in twentytwenty three by Kirkus Reviews, a prestigious
literary magazine. Joan Myerson's career wasspent as an award winning writer, director,
and producer of documentaries and television programs, including the PBS National Memorial Day

(01:45):
Concert, for which she won twoWriters Guild of America Awards. The dynamic
accounts that she wrote about vets andmilitary families reconfirmed her belief that the best
stories came for real life, abelief she has followed in write such varied
programs as Zoo Life with Jack Hannahand Children of Japan for Disney. Now

(02:07):
having told the stories of others,she now tells one of her own in
Needs Paris, inspired by the timesthat she herself lived there now as someone
who grew up in the sixties.Although there are some my Children for Starters
that would question the term grew upin relation to me, I found this

(02:30):
novel to be sexy, fun andas much a testament to the current affairs
of life in the seventies in theUS, as well as a rich,
page turning account of Paris in thesixties and seventies. Now, I was
glad to hear that Joan is busyfinding more stories in her Valley Forge neighborhood,

(02:53):
which would be Los Angeles to thoseof you that don't live in southern
California. Welcome to Answers Network.Thank you, Alan, it's a pleasure
to be here. Oh and bythe way, it is Valley Village.
We don't we haven't quite made theforge car yet or not. You know
what, I don't know. Idon't know what I was thinking. I

(03:15):
guess I was. I was oftenanother about the valley, the San Fernando
Valley. Yes, but and Iknow Valley Village, and I know a
lot of people don't know. Andactually a dear friend, an actor,
lived there for many years and soI used to visit him there. So

(03:35):
But anyway, but before we getstarted, now, I want to share
an observation that I made about yourbook Who Needs Paris. But first,
to put in context, I haveto tell a little story about myself that
few people know. The first scriptthat I wrote, which was about fifteen
years ago, was with a writerwho had wrote for Disney in the seventies

(03:58):
and eighties. And now I sharedthe script with a friend who had produced
plays and a TV show who alsohas autism, which kind of means he
doesn't have a filter. His responsewas great concept, big problem it obviously
was written by two old white guyswho do not understand the dialogue of today's

(04:21):
young people. Wow, that hitme, but I loved it. I
was so thankful that knowing that heis incredibly truthful. But I learned something.
I learned how important that was,and I learned I needed a lot
more work on writing. But Ibring this up because I found that who

(04:45):
needs Paris to be so well writtenon so many levels, and that jumping
between multiple countries and time periods,I found the dialogue to brilliantly fit each
to a t. So I justwanted to share that with you before we
go into questions, because that wasone of my observations. Thank you,

(05:06):
thank you. It's really sweet,as you say. And I don't know
it is true that it took mea little while to get there. I
think I had to really realize twoeach chapter. You know, when you
start with the chapter and you're inwith the chapter, you want to bring
that person right back into it sothey don't get confused. I mean,

(05:28):
we would have up the top ofthe chapter what year it was, but
most a lot of readers, whenyou're reading, you know, you don't
look at that at the top.So I always tried to make sure that
the chapter before would end with alittle bit of a cliffhanger, but a
cliffhanger that would lead into what thenext chapter would be, even though it
was thirteen years later, but therewould be some kind of reference back to

(05:50):
it, and so the reader couldjust slip right back into that, back
into the old part, to theolder part. I was saying, as
a fellow baby boomer, there's terminologythat's used that I just felt at home.
I was like, yes, that'sexactly how we spoke. Then,

(06:15):
well, some things never leave you, right, you know exactly well it
was. It was a good reminder. Alwis. Yeah. Well, one
of the things that helped me,I must admit, is that I'm a
sort of a pack rat. Andit starting at the time I was very
young. I had a big box. I would get a letter from somebody,
or a postcard or a diploma,you know, from my junior high

(06:39):
school, or when I ran forelection in high school. I'd have a
blow poster, and you know,there were things was hard to throw away,
and so I would just toss itinto a box and there it would
sit for years and years and years. And so when I'm trying to go
back to nineteen sixty four and evennineteen seventy seven. I started going through
this and I found letters that Ihad written to friends and friends had written

(07:03):
to me, and various things thattook me right back to those times.
And so that really helped, wasreally helpful. So even though people say,
don't be a packwrack, I thinkthere's some benefits to it. Well,
in this case, I think itcertainly helped. So well, let's
let's talk about the book. AndI think the best way to start is,

(07:26):
you know, what was your inspirationwith doing all of the things that
you were doing that you thought,Okay, I'm now going to write a
novel, or was writing who NeedsParis? For you? Sort of a
way of maybe sorting out your ownpast. Well, you know, you've
kind of I say, could sayyou hit the nail on the head.
But there's two nails here because bothare true. Both are true. I

(07:53):
think both of those as I livethose periods in the sixties and then again
in the seventies, they were bothAt the time, it was sort of
monumental to me. They really didmake a difference in my life. And
there were journals that I had writtenabout them, a sort of diaries,
you know. That again went inthat big box, and I kept thinking

(08:15):
about how you know, it wasa good story. You know, it
was not just my life, butit was a good story, and especially
the one in the sixties before Iwent to before I did the seventies,
and I did try writing a shortstory at that time about the sixties,
but I wasn't proficient enough. Idon't think I was at that time.
I was just learning how to makedocumentaries and and it just anyway, it

(08:39):
ended up going in my drawer anddidn't really do anything about it. And
then the seventies happened, and thatwas I said, it was a monumental
time in my life too. ButI continued working in documentaries or doing other
things. I even wrote some animationfor an animated series and children's pilot called

(09:01):
The Magic Land of Zoe, whereyou don't go When you don't go to
os, you go to Zoe.And then the National Memorial Day Concert.
You know. So the more thatI was doing these things, the more
I was talking to people and gettingtheir stories. And there came a time
when I, what is it goingto be the next stage of my life,

(09:22):
and I realized that I've been tellingstories of other people and loving doing
that. I had stories of myown to tell too, And I didn't
know, though, should I doa novel. I felt like, I
want to just try a novel.I've never had done that before. But
should I Should I do the novelon the sixties or should I do the

(09:43):
novel on the seventies. Both hadinteresting things. The seventies were brighter and
lighter and sexier, maybe you mightsay, but and show busy, But
the sixties had their own, youknow, interesting time, and and also
it was a time for my characterk who had gone through a love affair

(10:07):
and then had a traumatic time andso on. But I just didn't know
which one to do. And thenthis suddenly occurred to me that one could
not happen without the other. Youknow, as Shakespeare said, the past
is prologue, and the only wayyou could really understand what happened in the
seventies is what happened in the sixties, or or what happened in the sixties

(10:30):
was so relevant to her that ithad to be dealt with in the seventies.
And so that's how I decided todo it that it was something that
I should do. And as yousaid, as time went on and I
was writing, I hadn't thought aboutit at the time. But as time
went on and I was writing allthese stories that were inspired by real life,

(10:50):
I found sometimes, you know,when there had been a crisis in
my life and I had to berealistic about hertional about it, I you
know, sometimes I just I mightmake it turn out the way I wanted
it to have turned out instead ofthe way it really did. So so
it turned out that was the therapypart, you know, where I had

(11:13):
to finally face some of the thingsthat have been difficult for me and and
find a way out of them.And it was the best there, you
know, really really was the besttherapy ever had. Well, I love
the way that you did it,and I love the jumping back and forth,
and I think if you would havedone it chronologically, I don't think

(11:35):
that it would have been as captivating. We wouldn't have still been because with
each chapter, you know, I'mnow going back into that, but because
it jumps back, I don't forgetwhat's happened in the prior one, So
it's sort of as if I'm enjoyingtwo stories at once, but I'm also
seeing how they blend, so anyway, I've enjoyed it now. One of
the questions that I had in mymind while I was reading it was the

(12:01):
the initial the beginning in the seventieswith the I guess the sex documentary that
that Kate is dealing with. Howclose is that to something that you had
to deal with? Oh? God, well, I have to admit it

(12:22):
was true. That's true. Imean, how could anyone even have thought
about that for wildest dreams? Wouldyou've ever you know, made that up?
You know, that was kind ofmy thought as I was reading it.
I'm going, you can't make thisstuff up? Yeah, yeah,

(12:46):
And I don't know, because thatwas something that really stuck in my mind.
I mean, and there was aproducer, a French French film director
that I had freelance for, youknow, and we had done lots of
different things and he uh, youknow, some things were kind of fun,
but this was this one was wenta little further out than some of

(13:09):
the other other ones. One ofthe things he had done was that we
covered the Chippendale dancers, remember them, you know, that was that was
a new thing. In the seventiesand he did that, and there was
he found a place where there wasan apartment building that was all for nudists,
you know, so the cover thatand I mean there was he that's
who he was. He was French. But what can I say, but

(13:33):
yeah, so he he he hada little more fun with that one.
But it was true, Yes,it was. It was true. And
I found myself caught up in thiswhole thing. I just thought, like
I said, I felt like Ihad fallen down the rabbit hole. You
know, how could this Well,I think we're going to find that we

(13:54):
may have crossed paths at some pointin time in real life, because as
you're talking about that, when Iwas just coming up and starting as a
as a young detective, someone whois one of my best friends in the
world to this day, but atthat time was an investigator who also was

(14:16):
working in Hollywood. He was producinga documentary on Chippendale's. So you were
there the night we were there.I was going to say, he had
a trailer there while they were shooting, and he had a lot of wild
stories about what was going on.Uh huh, Yeah, No, it's
true, it's true. It's it'sinteresting. But I also, I guess

(14:41):
I think you are too a curioussoul. I mean, I learn about
everything, and so even if it'sreally kind of strange and weird, you
know, well, whenever I'm goingto ever have a chance to really see
this again or learn about this,and so you kind of put on it.
Maybe that kind from making documentaries.I don't know, you want to

(15:01):
observe. Well, I think anotherthing that comes from making documentaries that you're
not only telling a story, butyou're also educating. And and I think
that maybe that comes from that aswell, because what I noticed was,

(15:22):
and you know that for instance,okay, and you know in the book,
you you bring to light choices thatyou made in your life and and
and how that affected you at otherparts in your life and stuff. So
so what could you tell listeners oryoung people about, you know, the

(15:45):
choices that you made when you wereyounger and how it later affected your life.
Yeah, that's a tough that's atough one. How how do you
do that? And I think thereare some people that don't think about that
much. They just just forge ahead, you know, and they make the
last decisions or something. I'm oneof those people. Unfortunately that always you

(16:08):
know, look, whatever I have, whatever choice I have, and then
try and figure out the best choice. I remember, even in college,
you know, what course am Igoing to take nixt semester? Like as
if my life depended upon it wouldbe better to take the you know,
the course of the history of theBritish Empire or modern day American history,

(16:29):
whatever it was. You know,what would what would be the worst because
somehow that was going to affect therest of my life. But then finally
you just had to make a decision, you know, And so that's the
other Then later on it's some thingswhich has fallen in my pathway and I
would know that that's the right thingto do, But when you're young,
you don't always know that, andyou have to make a decisions. So

(16:51):
nice it's you know, it works, and sometimes it's not. But then
sometimes years go by and you lookback. I look back up my life
now and I can say, youknow, all those things that happened all
together, they turned out to bethe best thing that I could have done.
You know, there was no otherchoice really that would would have been

(17:15):
better. So yeah, but whatI'm saying is is that through Kate.
I think, you, you know, by talking about the choices and then
showing how they affected in the shortterm and how they affected thirteen years later,
it provides an educational component. Soas I'm reading it, as I

(17:37):
said earlier, I'm reading it asa baby boomer and I'm feeling like,
oh, yeah, I remember thatand stuff. But I'm also seeing how
a younger reader can be reading thisand go, oh see how that now
created something else that happened thirteen yearslater. That's right, that's right.

(17:59):
So anyway, so that's what I'msaying. There's so much more and I'm
wondering if that comes from the factof having written documentaries it's about educating people
as well as entertaining or providing moreinformation. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
I think so. It is difficultto know what choice to make, and

(18:22):
sometimes you just have to go withit, and sometimes sometimes there are consequences
that you have to then resolve,you know, And I think in this
instance, that's what Kate has todo, because she makes a decision based
on some things she didn't really wantto have to make that decision, and

(18:44):
somehow she's unable to come to aresolution with it. It tries to bury
it, wants to ignore it,wants to just go on with your life
and not think about it, andyet it's still there, still festering,
and at some point she realizes thatthis is something I have to deal with
to move on. And that probablyhappens for a lot of people. I

(19:08):
would think, you know, ifit's a traumatic thing that happens. One
of my friends read the book,and she never really said about what it
was that bothered her, that wastraumatic to her, but she ended this
her review of the book was sayingthat it was better therapy than any therapist

(19:29):
she'd gone to. So so justreading about that, I think is an
interesting thing. And for young peopleto see that process that goes along and
what can happen if you bury,or if you're ashamed of it, or
if you're afraid to tell anyone else, or thinking somebody will think badly of
you, or whatever it is thatKate has to learn that she that she

(19:52):
is herself, you know, andthat's that's who she is, and she
doesn't and she doesn't have to beashamed of it, she doesn't have to
be afraid of it. She cango on with it and be positive about
her life and learn from it,you know, I think that's Has anybody
talked to you about turning it intoa screenplay? Yes, yes, I'm

(20:18):
hopeous. As I was reading it, I could see that. I mean
I could feel that. Yeah.Yeah, yeah, I've been told that
a lot, you know. Andwell, when I write, though,
I feel like I'm watching a movie, you know, I write as if
I'm watching a movie, and that'show I describe it, and I think
that's how it turned down. Yeah, so I'm hoping. I actually had

(20:38):
been told first while I was stilltrying to find publishing for it, that
I should do that it would begreat as a limited series. And so
I have a pilot already script andI have a proposal. So if anyone's
interested out there, please get intouch now. First they need to read

(20:59):
the book so that they can seewho the characters are and get a good
feel for it. And yeah,I think that would be great. I
had that same feel. So,I mean, I want to talk a
little bit about about Paris itself.And it's interesting, you know, I
saw a movie that some friends werein and I wrote about it and I

(21:25):
put it out there. I publishedit just as you know, a review
type of thing, and I referto it as it was a love letter
to Los Angeles. And what itmade me think of was this was kind
of like a love letter to Parisor a love letter of Paris in the
past. So because it seemed like, I mean, you you brought Paris

(21:51):
to life, you know, withyour descriptions. But this is Paris in
the sixties and seventies. How easywas it for you to recall these times?
Is most of your your descriptions?Is this from memory? Did you
do you have to go back andgoogle Paris in the sixties and seventies to
to to refresh your memory? Howdid this work? Well? Some of

(22:15):
some of both, I think Idid. I did google things just to
get specifics to make sure that thatwas right, Like in terms of how
much did it cost to buy ahot dog in Paris and you won't believe
it, or how much you know, what was our rent when I went
with a girlfriend at first? Youknow what did we pay the hotel?

(22:36):
She actually she had that she hadwritten to her parents and had saved that
letter, so I knew how muchyou know, it costs every night something
like that. Yeah, I knowthat was one of the things that struck
me as well, you know,you just kind of reminded me. Then
I started thinking about the inflation andeverything else. But yeah, again again

(22:59):
there's things that there were. Well, just how did I first fall somebody
asked me how did I first fallin love with Paris? And one of
the things I found in my boxof letters was a letter I'd written to
a friend, uh, and Ihad just I guess I was starting in
the summertime, summer school there,and I wrote to her that I had
just come out of the metro,come out of the metro to the Concord,

(23:22):
which is this very busy place,if you know Paris, where cars
are going every which way, andthere's all these beautiful buildings surrounding it,
and you can see the bridge andthe sind and the Eiffel Tower right next
to it. And it just hitme because at I had been wandering around
that day, I guess, notknowing what to do with myself, and

(23:45):
it just hit me. I wasin Paris. What you dream about all
your life. And if you've seenthe movie Gigi, or you've seen the
movie Reckless, or you see youknow, all these movies, you dream
about it, and all of asudden it hit me. I was there,
and it's it's it was just magical. And how to describe it as

(24:06):
difficult, but it was the carsgoing every which way, as I said,
the policemen in their little caps thatback in the sixties that they wore
with the capes and directing traffic,and uh, you know, these beautiful
buildings that had been built in thenineteenth century that all looked so harmonious.
And you can't really say specifically whatit was, but it was just captivating

(24:30):
and and but there I was,and I didn't I was there, and
I wanted to reverse myself in it. I wanted to be there. But
then how did I do that?What did I do? And then from
there you just kind of naturally beginto believe that you're actually living there.
But you know, it is Ithink there is something magical because each time
I've gone back, I get backthere and I feel that same kind of

(24:53):
little shiver, you know, andI see the Eiffel Tower and walking down
the streets or saying b the damnand missing the damn and you're gonna shop,
you know, all of those things. How do you describe it.
It's just I think maybe it ismagic. I don't know if there's something
specific or not. Well, II'm one of those I like, I

(25:17):
like coming of age type of thingsor kind of a fish out of water
type of things if I'm if I'mreading or I'm watching, And that's kind
of the feeling that I get whenyou're talking, when you're in the the
chapters that are the sixties that youknow, there's there's a coming of age
and a coming of age component andit times a little bit of a fish

(25:41):
out of water component too, youknow, So so you know for those
things, and again, as forthose of you that are listening or watching,
I think we get to a timein which we we know what we
like. And and those were thefeelings you know that I was getting.
Was Yes, this is why Ilike this because I can, you know,
I can read along and feel likeI'm there. Did you feel those

(26:06):
things that I was writing about?Yeah? Absolutely, And that's what.
That's again, it's what And youknow, since I've been doing this podcast,
a lot of my reading has shiftedfrom from reading for fun, reading
for entertainment, to reading for knowledge, you know, because I you know,

(26:30):
I would have a guest that isa you know, a world renowned
psychiatrist talking about something, or aworld renowned doctor talking about something that's going
to help us live longer. Soto me, I think why I feel
so great about this is is thatI was back to reading something that was
so enjoyable. I wasn't only goingafter knowledge. I was I was enjoying

(26:55):
I was I was able to divein and become part of it. Yeah.
But you know, that was mymy goal at the beginning. Although
and I'm so glad that you're sayingthis it's a male because I thought maybe
this novel would only be more interestingto women because it's about a woman.
I don't know, but but myand that's why I'm so glad that that

(27:18):
that it's that it reaches you know, all all genres uh that I had.
My goal was to write something thatI wanted to read, you know,
that I wanted to have fun withreading and uh and I used to
call it a smart woman's beach read. That's what I wanted. Something that
was fun, that was you know, romantic, that was humorous, that

(27:44):
uh was a little sexy, butalso and had some significance to it.
You know that all of a suddenyou are in another world and some other
things happen. You know that thatKate has to deal with and and that's
life what I wanted to write.You know, people say, well,
genre is it? They all saythat about every every script you ever write.
You know, what's your genre?Is it sci fi? Is it

(28:06):
young adult? Is it children?What is it? Is it romance?
And for me, it's really hardto classify it. Why can't you just
say it's about life, That's whatit is, so that you know that's
that's what my goal was. AndI hope you know, I think that's

(28:26):
one of the things that maybe peoplewould like. You know, you can
have fun and then you also delvea little deeper into your souls. Well,
we are speaking with award winning writerJoan Myerson and we're talking about her
first novel, Who Needs Paris.We're going to take a break. I

(28:47):
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Global Reach, Local Knowledge, andwe're back. We are talking about writing,

(29:56):
we're talking about Paris, and we'retalking about life. So John,
let's talk a little bit about aboutParis. Have you have you been other
than the two times you lived there? Have you been back just to visit?
Oh? Yes, oh yes,Well for a while, a long
while I didn't go back, Butthen you start, I started going back.

(30:22):
I had made in the seventies.I made some friends there. Actually,
actually I had also made a friendback in the sixties. I had
met her. I was with agirlfriend traveling and we were in Greece and
we were at the youth hostel andwe met this lonely French girl who was
there too. We ended up travelingwith her, and you know, forty

(30:44):
years later, however long it is, I still know we're still friends with
her, which is nice. Soi'd go visit her, and then I
visited then I visited some other andstayed with some other another French woman that
I had met in the seventies,friend and I co writer. We were
in Club Matt in Tahiti doing aproject, and that we met her.

(31:07):
I met her there, and soI would start going back in and staying
with another American friend who's a painterwho lived there. So I would go
back and stay for a couple ofweeks and with him, and really it
was really great because you just youfelt like you were actually living in Paris.
And so I did that. Andwell, while we're speaking about Paris,

(31:29):
I'm curious it would appear that thatPatrise, the character of Patrise that
Kate knows, could be patterned aftersomeone? Is it patterned after someone?
And do they know it well?And it's true I did. I when
I was making documentary, someone recommendedme to the Patrice character because he was

(31:56):
doing this series called Journal the Californian, and it was he had been a
Vietnam just as I used to havein the book. It's true he had
been a Vietnam UH correspondent during theVietnam War, even though he was French.
But but I guess maybe he wentback to when it was a French
colony, you know, you know, and he would call me, you

(32:21):
know, every few months, everymaybe every six months, maybe every month,
maybe every year. You know,you never knew when he would have
a story that he wanted to film. And it was true. He wanted
he felt that it was you know, that California was the place where all
these new things were happening in theseventies, and he wanted to show France
what was going on. And sothat's that that part was true. I

(32:46):
and and we remained friends too.I would visit him when when I went
to France, and he I did. Of course, I developed the story
a lot, you know, therewas not that was not this girlfriend,
there was not you know, otherthings, but I took parts of his

(33:07):
personality that seemed to be right andfollowed through with them. And also in
terms of his experiences in Vietnam,why he had he didn't want to do
anything about more anymore. He wantedhe wanted to leave that, you know,
he really had to disturbed that much. Well, that makes sense.

(33:30):
Now going back to Paris for abit again. You obviously love Paris,
you were falling in love with Paris. What do you think makes Paris so
special? And do you think it'smore or less special today or what it
was fifty or sixty years ago?Yes, well I get, you know,

(33:50):
especially in his own way. Ithink, you know, the sixties
really were a time when things werenot quite so free. It was really
sort of a bourgeois existence, youknow, middle class things had to be
a certain way, and this ishow you ate, this is how you
did things, and there was ayou know, it was a very strong

(34:12):
moral situation, even though even thoughit's beginning to open up. I mean,
you had you had like people likeSartre and Camu and all those intellectuals,
you know, going forward with newthoughts. But for the main people.
Most of the people were more middleclass, I guess, and we're
more afraid to go out. Andthen by nineteen sixty eight the students were

(34:37):
rebelling. In the sixty eight thatbecame a big thing, like just what
happened in the United States. SoI don't know, you know, I
guess, however, it is Parishas some kind of of an allure to
it. I think, you know, whether it's whether it's because it's it's
got students running around and police chasingthem, or or else they're they're going

(35:00):
to very fancy restaurants and eating wonderfulfood cuisine. So I think, you
know, each each each era wasdifferent. But I found the seventies a
lot more open and liberating and free, and for women especially too. I
I when I was there in theseventies, I met a lot of women

(35:23):
filmmakers, writers. I interviewed atAgnes Varda, which was a great privilege
to do in Paris. And sothat it was it was had become a
lot, a lot freer and alot more, a lot more opportunity.
And they they really had washed allthe buildings, you know, all the

(35:45):
buildings were dark in the sixties,covered with suit. And when I got
there the seventies, I actually sawthem pressure they were out there like scrubbing
all the all the dirt off ofthe buildings and they were new again.
And and I think that's heart waspart of the charm and magic in the
seventies because you had all these oldbuildings but you but you were living in

(36:07):
them, so you could kind oftransport yourself back to that time when they
were new well again. As Ihad mentioned earlier to the audience or those
that might have just just joined us. You know, Joan is also an
accomplished TV writer, and especially inthe documentary area. So now having put

(36:30):
your first novel out, which doyou prefer? Do you prefer the TV
or or is you have the fictionbug? Now? Well, you know,
I guess if you're presented, whenyou're at a restaurant and you're presented,
what do you want the uh?You know, the ice cream?

(36:52):
Where do you want? Do youwant the UH or the down cake?
You know? And what I wouldsay is can I have a little of
both? Please? So if someonecame to me with this great documentary idea
and wanted to do it, Iwould I would love to do it.
You know, but but that hasI haven't been out looking for it.

(37:15):
At the time, I think Iwas ready to do something different and new.
And there is something about creating yourown world out of your you know
that that I think I love soI would if I ever had a chance.
I mean, I've got a coupleof proposals of documentaries that almost got
made but didn't, and if Iever had a chance to, I would

(37:37):
love to do that. If itwas the h there's the one that I
wanted to do on It's about thelegacy of animals, and I think it's
getting more and more important. Isto show that they all all of their
emotions and to what it was wasto uh sort of show the humans and

(37:59):
the animals, each one going throughthe stages of life and seeing the similarities
to all of it. You know, how you raise a baby, your
little lion cub. What happens whenthe elephants become teenagers and they get drunk
now eating the tree the fruit fromthe trees, and how did they deal

(38:21):
with death? And you know theyI mean, there's so many things that
are similar and we need to knowthat. And that's why we need to
say our animals well, it lookslike a perfect fit for Animal Planet or
Discovery. That's right, That's right. So anyway, I like, you
know, I just said both,but I'll probably start with it because the

(38:42):
nice thing about writing a novel isis it just you and your computer.
As long as your computer works,then you can keep going. You like
it. Now, as I waskind of looking into you know, the
things that you've done, and Inoticed that you also served on on the
Writer's Guild board. So if youdon't mind me changing the subject for a
little bit, I think anybody whoknows anything about this industry knows that there

(39:07):
was a strike going on for quitesome time. What would you say were
the biggest obstacles in settling the recentwg A strike and the SAG strike.
Okay, you know what this soundsgoing to sound funny, but I'm going
to start with a quote that Ialways use it. So if you know,

(39:30):
in the thirties, there was aman named Irving Thalberg who was ahead
of MGM production and also I producedI think some of his own movies,
and I mean he did wonderful movies. But what he said was as I'm
trying to look at the quote becauseI want to say the right thing,
you know, let me see,I had notes here. I want to

(39:52):
say if I can say it exactly. That's some of the pieces of Potators
did this onetyes Ah. Yeah,this is his quote back in the thirties.
If it isn't for the writing,we got nothing. Writers are the
most important people in Hollywood, andwe can never let them know it.

(40:15):
So what the problem is if yousay, what is the biggest problem or
what is the biggest change or thebiggest obstacle, is to believe in yourself
and to be able to unite together. So I was on the board in
the two thousand and seven, twothousand and eight strike, and when I

(40:37):
first started, when I was firststarting on the board, that was back
in the early two thousands and evenin the nineties. I think I was
in a term I was on theboard at that time, and I think
writers were afraid. I think theybelieve some of this that they could only
get as much as they could get, and they were afraid to keep going,
and they you know, they didn'treally believe in themselves. And I

(41:00):
think then when I got on inthe two thousands, where I was with
some people who on our president Patrickgurn who were much clearer on what the
goals should be and that we neededto unite and we needed to do all
these things. This is my ownpersonal opinion. Everybody might have something different,
but I could see that as Iwas living in that that people were

(41:23):
beginning to do that. And thenand then this year when I picketed along
with them, I could see howclear everybody was on supporting what they needed.
And I think that finally, youknow, you probably heard you know,
some like the Disney head Bob Byersaying, you know, what do
these people want anyway? You know, uh, they felt that they would

(41:46):
be able to, you know,to stop it and and feel that,
you know, say that we youknow, you're asking for too much,
you're not being realistic. And meanwhilethey're making billions of dollars. And I
think, finally writers realize that weare important and we need to be treated
equally and justly. I like that, you know, one of the things

(42:10):
that was interesting me because because it'ssomething I didn't know that much about,
but AI seemed to be a hugeissue in the negotiations. What's your thoughts
on AI as we move forward?Scary? That is my thought, it's
very scary, and I don't reallyyou know, I did one quick,

(42:35):
little fun attempt at it when Iwas because the title of my book,
by the way, has had likefour different titles, and I finally ended
up with this one. And Iwas looking for a new title, and
right at the time when people werebeginning to play around with GPT chat Chat
GPT, so I thought, allright, well, let me see what

(42:55):
kind of title they could bring out. And you know, it was all
kind of a cliche titles, andthere was one or two that I thought,
well they might work, okay,as I googled them and they were
four or five books with the sametitle. So that's where AI had gotten
their intelligence, you know, theygoogled something. You know, you can

(43:16):
do that too, So luckily Icame up with my own title. But
so I think there's still there's stilla human element that they don't have and
will never have. They could bea tool, just like using Google as
a tool and our Wikipedia. Youknow, we all can get we don't
have to have so many books around. We can we can check out facts

(43:38):
that way, but when it comesdown to it and we need to have
our own, you know, ourown things, and I just think that
is scary if they were to takeover. I think it's not fair,
it's not equal, it's and it'snot and it's not even good artistically.

(44:00):
Well and again I agree with thatas well. I think my concern because
when I've discussed this with people,and a couple of times people have said,
well, there's nothing to worry about, it's just an algorithm, and
I said, but the problem thatI see is who's feeding the algorithm,

(44:21):
Because they're feeding it as it asfacts, which means that the whichever humans
are controlling it at that point,it's their fact. And we're seeing with
all of the all of the thingsgoing on around the world, there's a
pretty wide stretch of what people believeis a fact or is a truth and

(44:46):
anyway, so that's but that's myconcern. So I was curious because I
know that they kept bringing up AIas one of the big issues from yeah,
well also because because because they couldwith AI, you know, potentially
you can get rid of of almostall those people, you know, and
they're not gonna get they're not gonnathere, they're going to lose their jobs

(45:07):
and uh, and you're just gonnaend up with mediocre shows and mediocre actors
and the actors. You know,it's a big, big deal for the
actors too. That's why they stayedon strike so long. So now they
do say, you know, youhave to get their permission, you have
to pay them, you have todo this. That I hope, I
hope that's true. Well, Ijust a glance at the time, and

(45:30):
I can't believe we have blown by. We've only got about two minutes.
But without without giving too much away, what's one way Kate's journey in Paris
helps her find redemption and self discovery. What's one way? What's one way?
Uh? I think she finds shehas the freedom to realize that as

(45:58):
she's as she's wor working for thispatrise and she's like his associate producer,
that she is actually doing the work. And as she the longer she stays
in Paris, the more she feelsempowered to do what she really wants to
do and not be afraid of it. And finally, you know, after

(46:24):
some of the interviews that she doesat the Deville Film Festival, and she
tries it out and she finds outthat yeah, you know what, I
know how to do this, andI can do this, and I'm a
woman who wears our money and everyonecan read to find out what that means.

(46:45):
Yes, But also that's such agreat point because that's kind of what
I was bringing up earlier when Iwas saying that I can envision younger women,
more in particular, but most anybody, but mostly younger women reading this
and growing with it and realizing atthe same time that Kate is realizing and

(47:08):
going, you know what, Ican do this, and I can see
them being able to get some selfdiscovery, which then would lead to some
self empowerment. That's right, that'sright, you know, I think it
is all in that. Just likeas I was talking about the writers who
weren't believing in their power, womenhave to do that and even if it

(47:30):
doesn't succeed at the beginning, youknow it will. And I ran for
I just goel president and I didn'twin, and I knew I wouldn't win,
but it was important to show thata woman was running, I thought,
you know, so that's why Idid it. Well, Joan,
I got to tell you thank youso much for coming on, but also

(47:52):
thank you for writing this book.And again you know, it's sort of
it's rejuvenated me in being able toread something that it was so enjoyable on
so many different levels. So Ijust want to thank you for that.
Oh, thank you. Well,I hope other people will feel the same
way and go out and take alook at it. Yeah, I think.

(48:15):
I think it's a lot of fun. And it's also as you say,
and that's what I'm so appreciative ofthat you really saw that, you
really saw that this can help allof us, not just not just women,
but women, you know, becauselike Kate, who need to see
that they that they are worth itand they don't have to be ashamed of

(48:36):
whatever you know, or feel thatthey're not, and and and then they
can take the trip to Paris andenjoy it exactly now for everybody out there,
again in the book. You canget the book anywhere books are sold.
Jany. If anybody would like toget in touch with you, especially
that the person that's out there thatwants to finance your next project, what's

(48:58):
the best way for them to read? Well, first of all, I
have a website, so it's justJoan Myerson. But remember there's an Ean
Myerson because a lot of people don'tknow that j O A N M E
Y E R S O N dotcom. And there's a lot of UH.
There's it's a fun it's a funwebsite because it does have You can

(49:21):
click on Paris and see lots ofphotographs, and also you can see some
photographs of other jobs that I workedon. Especially the one that I am
most honored to have is UH fromthe Memorial a concert because I used to
write Colon Powell's speech every year andso this picture be with Colon Powell and

(49:42):
and then I did win an award. You can also click on this you
want to. I won an awardfrom the Writer's Guild for service and unreknownst
to me, they videotape the videotapedmy speech. You watch, you can
click on that and you can anyway. And also but if there's a little
click that says contact me, andyou just write your name and what you

(50:07):
want to say a little message andthat will come directly to me. Again,
thank you so much, thank you, it's a pleasure. You're welcome,
And for everybody out there, pleasebe with us next week when we're
joined by Lisa Barnett that she discussesher new book, Kashik Your Soul has

(50:27):
a Plan Now. If you're notfamiliar with this term, I suggest you
google it, and if you do, you won't want to miss this show.
Please visit archives of past interviews atanswers dot Network, or just subscribe
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(50:51):
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(51:12):
and be with us again next weekon Answers Now