My First job in the business was working for the incomparable John Solberg in PR at FX. The first show for the network was a little pilot then called “Rampart” starring the guy from “The Commish” from a writer who had never created or run a show before named Shawn Ryan.
I was 24, stony broke, with no change to pay for a parking meter
One day Solberg told me that “Chikley (as he is affectionately called by friends) was signing Shield posters at a local radio station in LA,” and I need to bring him the posters. I got in my Honda and sped across town.
I got to Hollywood where the radio station where the interview was taking place but there was nowhere to park. The lot across the street was charging ten bucks. I was 24, stony broke, with no change to pay for a parking meter (this was before meters took credit cards). I had all the posters for him to sign in my trunk. After circling the block looking for a space i was going to be late. So, realizing you can’t make it in showbusiness without taking some risks I pulled into a red zone.
I wrote the words “delivery” on a piece of paper, put it on my dash, got the posters from my trunk and ran inside to the radio station where Chiklis was just finishing up his interview and was ready to sign some posters.
I got there in the nick of time. The kicker: I didn’t get a parking ticket. Must have been my “Rampart” connection 😉. That wasn’t even the best part. The best was that there was one extra poster left over and Chiklis signed it for me. Great man. Great actor. Hope this is a big successs.
Oh, and I still have the poster.
#hollywood #hollywoodlife #showbiz #startingout #publicity #TheShield #FXNetwork #memories #drivinginLA #parkingmeters