He began in the entertainment industry working on international legal affairs at the independent studio Embassy Pictures.
Columbia Pictures purchased a speculative script he had written while at Embassy, and soon thereafter he was hired by United Artists under a two-picture writing deal.
Carolco Pictures later hired him under a unique,[citation needed] two-year "in-house screenwriter" arrangement, where he worked on a number of their projects.
He has written original screenplays, adaptations or rewrites for Fox, Disney, Paramount, Columbia, Universal, HBO Films and many independent companies.
At Art Center, he brought in a number of notable filmmakers as part-time instructors, including the cinematographer Affonso Beato, ASC, the storyboard artist Tim Burgard, the director/producer Jeremiah Chechik, the cinematographer Allen Daviau, ASC, the screenwriter Doug Eboch, the director David Kellogg, the composer Dennis McCarthy, the title designer Dan Perri, the director/producer Richard Pearce, the entertainment attorney Lee Rosenbaum, the writer/director Bobby Roth, the director/actor Mark Rydell, the producer/director John Suits, the director Ron Underwood and the editor Billy Weber.