I eventually got to make movies through writing. I had to get a literary agent to sell my second novel, and his literary agency had a connection with a Hollywood talent agency that handled books as potential film "properties." I contacted that agency, wrote a screenplay to show them what I could do, and they agreed to represent me if I'd move to the West Coast for a while. I got my first assignment, rewriting a movie called Piranha for Roger Corman, at least partly because Roger's story editor, Frances Dael, read fiction for pleasure (a rarity in Hollywood) and had actually read some of mine. I got to direct Return of the Secaucus Seven because I made enough money writing screenplays for other people to finance the movie myself. The budget was so low ($60,000 out of pocket to get to a first print) that I had to back up a bit and stop thinking in pictures, as I had been able to do in writing for others, and start thinking in budget.