Gielgud in Los Angeles
Dan DeWeese and Daniel Quantz at Book Soup November 30th.
By Dan DeWeese
FROM 1991 to 1997, I lived in Los Angeles, California. The first four years I spent in film school at the University of Southern California. The last two I spent thrashing around post-college, working an office job at Buena Vista Film Distribution during the day, writing screenplays or, increasingly, short fiction in the evening.
Then I left, beginning a long odyssey that led, eventually, to the windowless office in downtown Portland, Oregon, in which I mark time’s passing while regretting that I was unprepared to enact the full pretentiousness of my literary persona during the years in which I lived in Southern California.
This week, I will return to Los Angeles for the first time in over twenty years in order to correct that. All Los Angelenos who would like to dispute, in person, things I said or did in the 1990s will have the opportunity on the evening of Friday, November 30th, when I will read (briefly) from Gielgud at Book Soup on Sunset Boulevard. After I read (briefly), a question and answer (or dispute and deflect) session will be moderated by Daniel Quantz, an executive in film distribution at Magnolia Pictures. I have asked Mr. Quantz to moderate the session because the main character in Gielgud is a graduate of an esteemed film school, but has wandered into a life of work as a freelance graphic designer being ground beneath the heel of the contemporary “creative economy.” Mr. Quantz was also my roommate senior year in college, and will therefore be well-positioned to dismiss as ridiculous any literary posturing I attempt to affect.
If you are a reader in Los Angeles, please, join us:
GIELGUD IN LOS ANGELES
Dan DeWeese reading followed by Q&A moderated by Daniel Quantz
7pm, Friday, November 30th
Book Soup
8818 Sunset Boulevard
West Hollywood, California 90069
DAN DEWEESE is the author of the novels Gielgud (2018) and You Don’t Love This Man (2011), and the story collection Disorder (2012). Editor-in-chief of the web magazine Propeller, he is also the publisher of Propeller Books. A graduate of the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts, he has lived in Portland, Oregon, since 2000.
DANIEL QUANTZ is Vice-President of Strategic Development and Analytics at Magnolia Pictures. He is also a regular on the podcast Alison Rosen is Your New Best Friend. When not working in film distribution or on the podcast, he writes, draws, sculpts, and parents. A graduate of the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts, he has lived in Los Angeles since 1991.
