[1] He got his start in Hollywood when he penned the 1976 TV movie Griffin and Phoenix, starring Peter Falk and Jill Clayburgh.
[2] He was also commissioned to novelize both scripts (the first appearing under the TV movie's original title, Griffin Loves Phoenix), exercising his contractual first-refusal right to do the prose adaptations himself; and years later, in personal conversation with a colleague who knew of the books, Hill confessed that he loved working on them because "they taught me how to be a novelist."
In 2007, Griffin and Phoenix would be remade as a feature film, screenplay also by Hill, starring Dermot Mulroney and Amanda Peet.
It was slated to be filmed in 1980, but was postponed when star Steve McQueen became too ill with cancer.
[3] He attained success as a writer for TV's Quantum Leap, and writer/producer of L.A. Law, for which he won an Emmy.