About the Book

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AUTHOR’S NOTE:

In my late teens and early twenties, I worked at a lot of historic theaters. Over the course of about five years, I worked nearly every job in the business, from janitor to usher to projectionist to manager. I loved debating movies and plays with my co-workers, and I loved exploring the buildings’ nooks and crannies. I’ll never forget the great memories and friends that I made along the way.

One of my most memorable experiences was at the Orpheum in downtown Los Angeles. I only worked there briefly, but it introduced me to L.A.’s historic theater district. I fell in love with the neighborhood, and I got to know all of the theaters in it. I couldn’t help thinking that this would be a great setting for a book.

When I first started Picture Palace, I had so many ideas– many of which were drawn from my life– that I didn’t know what to do with them all. My first draft was a huge sprawling story, much like 1871. But that draft didn’t really work; it had so many subplots and characters that the heart of the story kept getting lost.

In my later drafts, I cut as many subplots as I possibly could. The result was a much shorter book, but also a much more tightly-woven one. For whatever it’s worth, its emotional heart turned out to be exactly what I’d imagined. The book became a story that was very personal to me– as it needed to be– and it was the most autobiographical work I’d ever written.

All the same, the deleted material didn’t go to waste. A lot of it ended up in the sequel, Break a Leg, and most of the rest will end up in later books. All of that is a topic onto itself….

— P.

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