James L. Brooks

So I got that job I could never have gotten any other way.

You're looking at somebody who brought Edward R. Murrow coffee.

Oh, wow, wow, wow, wow.

You're like a magnet to celebrities.

I know.

When do you start writing there?

I was promoted to a news writer.

I had gotten over my fears, gotten over the hump.

For some reason, I was afraid I'd end up selling women's shoes.

I mean, I had an active fear of, you know, like you have a fear of insects or something like that.

Well, maybe.

I don't know.

It's a very tough job.

I was in love with a woman, and she and her roommate decided that they were going to move to California, and they did, and I quit.

Yeah, scary.

Somebody I had known at CBS News had left and gone to do documentaries in California, and he gave me a job.

Then I got laid off from that job after six months.

My wife was supporting me for a while, and I was out of work for about six months, and then I got my first writing job.

Is that apocryphal or the truth?

He had five shows on the air.