{"componentChunkName":"component---src-templates-article-tsx","path":"/primepadoguys","result":{"data":{"primeArticle":{"slug":"prime.padoguys","excerpt":"40 years ago, an innocuous Westwood bungalow became the home of some of Hollywood’s most influential screenwriters. Step inside the \"Pad O’ Guys.\"","headline":"The Pad O' Guys","author":"Natalie Ralston","authorbio":"","authoremail":"","authortwitter":"","coverimg":"https://assets3.dailybruin.com/images/prime.padoguys/padoguys.NG_5-aa67dd999ed0048d6575c23e40176c0d.jpg","covercred":"Nicolas Greamo","coveralt":"Photo of the Pad O’ Guys.","articleType":"article","updated":"","content":[{"type":"text","value":"\"Frankly, I'm puzzled at you wanting to do a story about a 40-year-old, brief spat of screenwriting sales – a sort of temporary uptick or phenomenon – which had a bunch of nerds sitting around in a building.\""},{"type":"text","value":"I sat on a call with Shane Black, the creator of \"Lethal Weapon\" – and one of the best-paid screenwriters in Hollywood. I had tracked him down as part of my fascination with the \"Pad O’ Guys,\" an innocuous West Los Angeles bachelor pad that was allegedly once home to Hollywood’s greatest screenwriting talents. There were a few things wrong with what he just said."},{"type":"text","value":"For one, the inhabitants were far more than random film nerds. Among them were David Silverman, the original lead animator and director of \"The Simpsons,\" Fred Dekker, writer of \"Night of the Creeps,\" and Jim Herzfeld, writer of the billion-dollar \"Meet The Parents\" franchise. Throw in Dave Arnott, co-writer of \"Last Action Hero,\" and together, they’re responsible for franchises that have collectively ranked billions in box office sales, redefining the Hollywood landscape."},{"type":"text","value":"They had a few things in common beyond film clout. For one, they were all UCLA alumni, besides \"The Adventures of Ford Fairlane\" co-writer and USC stowaway James Cappe. In fact, they rented a Westwood bungalow and lived together after graduating – just as their careers were blossoming. As they began to write, they quickly turned into some of Hollywood’s most credited screenwriters. Their shared spec scripts became acclaimed films, and the antics from their lives would seep into the filmmaking culture around them. But the formative years they spent shaping their friendship at UCLA never left them. In fact, they still meet every Friday over Zoom."},{"type":"text","value":"I had to know more. And before I knew it, I was on a Zoom call – questions burning."},{"type":"pull","value":"{\"caption\":\"I had five agencies that wanted to sign just because I was with the Pad O’ Guys.\\\"\"}"},{"type":"text","value":"A sizable \"Jaws\" movie poster leaned against the corner of Dekker’s porcelain-toned bedroom. \"Demolition Man\" writer Robert Reneau twirled a pen in his mouth and adjusted his black-rimmed glasses as a \"Murder on the Orient Express\" poster loomed behind him. Ryan Rowe, co-writer of \"Charlie’s Angels,\" donned a gray UCLA crewneck while Cappe flaunted a flamboyant pink button-up."},{"type":"text","value":"They wasted no time diving into private jokes I was 40 years too late to be in on, riffing off each other like musical visionaries composing an improvised melody. The self-proclaimed \"old farts\" enthusiastically shared memories from their UCLA days, and after our two-hour conversation, I realized this seemingly quotidian group was much more influential than they let on."},{"type":"text","value":"\"I had five agencies that wanted to sign just because I was with the Pad O’ Guys,\" Cappe said. \"This was the height of crazy spec script sales. People wanted to know, ‘Are there more like you at home?’ And we all lived together, so yeah – we were the ones back at home.\""},{"type":"text","value":"It all started when Dekker and Cappe, former high school best friends, decided to move in together after attending separate colleges. Future members of the Pad performed weekly stand-up in cramped dorm rooms, bonding over their material at the UCLA Comedy Club. Others met through the UCLA film and theater departments, where they wrote student productions and produced one-act plays."},{"type":"text","value":"They graduated from UCLA with degrees in film, theater or English – except for Ed Solomon, the writer of the \"Now You See Me\" franchise and \"Men In Black,\" who was ridiculed for being an economics student. They bonded over their love of movies, spending nights feeding a rotation of action films into the VHS player. After so much time together, Rowe said they knew it was time to rent an apartment."},{"type":"text","value":"Dekker, Cappe, Reneau and Rowe were the original 1982 inhabitants of the first pad in Westwood – a cramped two-bedroom apartment that could barely contain them and their steady stream of guests. Black and Arnott lived just down the street, and other friends, like Solomon, would visit occasionally, transforming the Pad into a central hub for the group’s earliest work and ideas. In 1984, they and a few apartment regulars moved into a modest, beige Spanish-style home in West LA, which they turned into a film nerd’s paradise."},{"type":"image","value":"{\"alt\":\"Photo of a man jumping from a house.\",\"url\":\"https://assets3.dailybruin.com/images/prime.padoguys/jump-cb4dd8e90632a8d3c68fde0404b31405.jpg\",\"credit\":\"Courtesy of Cappe\",\"caption\":\"\"}"},{"type":"text","value":"Some nights were spent playing \"Pad O’ Jeopardy\" – a hot-blooded, hourslong game of trivia they invented entirely about themselves and their inside jokes. Other nights, when the filmmaking bug struck, they would write scripts for spontaneous short films and shoot on a swanky camera Cappe managed to secure – which was no easy feat in the ‘80s."},{"type":"text","value":"\"That camera was our entertainment for like eight years. We made videos before videos were a thing,\" Cappe said. \"I was always behind the camera, because I'm not as flamboyant as some of the people in our group – but with the actor friends, it was amazing.\""},{"type":"text","value":"There was always someone sleeping in the living room, scouring the fridge or reviewing each other's spec scripts. And when neighbors grew annoyed with the rowdy troupe next door, Silverman and Dekker would spin the interaction into a column they called \"Pad O’ Guys Comix\" – another piece of self-serving entertainment. Silverman used the comics he sketched in the Pad’s garage as practice for a budding career in adult animation, animating for \"The Tracey Ullman Show\" during this time and becoming one of the original lead animators and directors of \"The Simpsons.\""},{"type":"text","value":"\"I didn’t have any peers at the time who were working in animation,\" Silverman said. \"A lot of them were pretty serious about making serious films or seriously funny comedy films, but I was the animation guy.\""},{"type":"text","value":"With a packed, rowdy bunch of bachelors all under one roof, \"Criminal Minds\" actor and fellow UCLA alumnus Don O. Knowlton declared the house was a \"Pad O’ Guys\" – and the name just stuck."},{"type":"text","value":"Amid the chaos, Dekker said those in the group spent their free time reaching out to agents and placing polished scripts on directors’ desks until they landed unexpected work. Solomon said members of the Pad feverishly wrote and rewrote screenplays, and he himself would ask the others to trade scripts, knowing he could count on them for their candid feedback."},{"type":"text","value":"In those early years, the Pad never anticipated its eventual success. Solomon said he almost gave up on film entirely after an agent dropped him, convinced that his shared script – which would eventually become \"Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure\" – had no potential. But they seized whatever opportunities came their way, whether it was Cappe working as an animator on the Pillsbury Doughboy or Rowe collaborating on UCLA theater productions like \"Doggy Tom.\""},{"type":"text","value":"After a few years of constant writing and rewriting, the screenwriters started landing big breaks. At 22, Black sold \"Lethal Weapon\" for $250,000, and at 28, he sold \"The Last Boy Scout\" for $1.75 million to Warner Bros – the highest price ever paid for a screenplay at that time. Dekker sold \"Night of the Creeps\" at 27, serving as both writer and director. As for Reneau, he noted that much of the attention he received back then came simply from living at the Pad."},{"type":"text","value":"\"When I was living there, the world just came to me,\" Arnott said. \"I never had to think, ‘What am I doing tonight?’ because my social life would just show up.\""},{"type":"pull","value":"{\"caption\":\"I think show business is really lonely for a lot of people – they feel like they're in it on their own,\\\" Rowe said. \\\"There was this feeling of we were kind of all in it together.\\\"\"}"},{"type":"text","value":"Their success was also a uniquely collaborative effort. Solomon and fellow UCLA alumnus Chris Matheson co-wrote a script together based on a routine they performed at the UCLA comedy club, which would eventually become \"Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure.\" Black and Dekker created \"The Monster Squad,\" with Dekker doubling as the director. Cappe and Arnott joined forces as screenwriters on \"The Adventures of Ford Fairlane,\" and Black and Arnott co-wrote \"The Last Action Hero.\" And whenever one guy climbed up the ladder, he would roll it back down, referring friends to agents until they all reached the top together, Rowe added. The credits kept rolling, with the Pad’s fingerprints all over some of Hollywood’s biggest franchises."},{"type":"text","value":"\"I think show business is really lonely for a lot of people – they feel like they're in it on their own,\" Rowe said. \"There was this feeling of we were kind of all in it together.\""},{"type":"image","value":"{\"alt\":\"A comic strip.\",\"url\":\"https://assets3.dailybruin.com/images/prime.padoguys/pogcomic-0af143d57845284a497e17840d0b5cc4.JPEG\",\"credit\":\"Courtesy of Cappe\",\"caption\":\"\"}"},{"type":"text","value":"Before long, the Pad became a cultural touchpoint for the industry around it. David Fincher was introduced to the Pad during a summer LA film program in the ‘80s. During the press tour for his film \"The Social Network,\" he said his time with the group – observing their heated film discussions and late-night lifestyle – provided the framework for Mark Zuckerberg’s fiery debates in the movie. But instead of computer programming, it was movies."},{"type":"text","value":"And Seth Kurland, producer on \"Friends\" and a fellow UCLA film school alumnus, occasionally visited the Pad as well. Cappe said Kurland convinced the \"Friends\" team to include a trivia game in an episode inspired entirely by the \"Pad O’ Jeopardy.\" And there was also Joel Silver, producer of \"Die Hard\" and \"Project X,\" who helped launch the careers of several Pad members. The \"Pad O’ Guys\" was becoming a household name among Hollywood insiders."},{"type":"text","value":"\"When you're living it, you don't think it's anything special,\" Herzfeld said. \"It was so uncommon to find yourself in this situation. I wish I would have realized that and enjoyed it more.\""},{"type":"text","value":"But by 1991, only a few members of the Pad remained. They officially moved out, breaking up the group for the time being. Some settled into sumptuous mansions, their summer parties following massively successful Hollywood careers. Others spread across LA, building new lives with their families. Meanwhile some, like Reneau, took unexpected paths in the industry, with him eventually becoming the film program coordinator at the Academy Museum. Actors became writers, writers became directors and vice versa."},{"type":"text","value":"While some kept in touch, most moved on with their lives, leaving the Pad as a construct of the past."},{"type":"text","value":"\"There was no big fight or argument or whatever – we just geographically separated. We moved from the hub,\" Arnott said. \"Jay said that one time to me, ‘Well, now we're going to find out (who is really friends with who)’ – and we did find out. I mean, at the time, I remember thinking that was cynical of him, but he was completely correct.\""},{"type":"text","value":"The formative years they spent tirelessly crafting their futures together suddenly came to an end. All that remained were the memories that shaped them – and their unwavering love of film."},{"type":"text","value":"That was until 2020, at least."},{"type":"text","value":"During the height of the pandemic, Cappe suggested a Zoom meeting with the members of the Pad. The decades apart had seemingly done little to affect their friendship. Since then, the group has continued to meet online every Friday night from their homes across LA – with the exception of Solomon, who occasionally joins from his home in London. Their conversations range from impassioned games of What the Dub?! to reflections on life’s inevitable – but never less challenging – tragedies and triumphs over the past 40-something years."},{"type":"text","value":"\"Back then, everyone had a future and not much of a past. Now, most of our life is in the past, and so even trivia games have the weight of a lifetime of being an adult,\" Solomon said. \"Life is harder when you’ve been through a lot of it, and I think you realize how important friends are – and how important laughing with friends is – and how important sharing a past can be.\""},{"type":"image","value":"{\"alt\":\"Photo of two Pad O’ Guys members.\",\"url\":\"https://assets3.dailybruin.com/images/prime.padoguys/JayandShanePOGLivingRoom-3f9c70233c97aaa8289a73d7d31b27ec.jpg\",\"credit\":\"Courtesy of Cappe\",\"caption\":\"\"}"},{"type":"text","value":"Even Black, one of the most successful of the group, made time for these Zoom calls. As I sat with him for our interview in a bustling LA coffee shop, he recalled spending most of his childhood as a \"scared kid who lived inside books and movies.\" He studied theater and film history with a devotion that only the Pad could truly understand, he added."},{"type":"text","value":"I asked him about his contribution to redefining the action genre – optimizing the buddy-cop dynamic and infusing characters with witty dialogue, which wasn’t common in the action-comedy formula at the time. He hesitated before admitting he views his success as a \"minor miracle\" and refused to take credit for his influence. And when asked about the group’s evolution over time, Black took a deep breath and paused for a moment before answering."},{"type":"pull","value":"{\"caption\":\"Life is harder when you’ve been through a lot of it, and I think you realize how important friends are.\\\"\"}"},{"type":"text","value":"\"We had lives – some of us did. I never did. I kept doing what I was doing, and I never had a house in Sherman Oaks, or a wife and divorce or children. So it's been different for me. I just sort of pace around and haunt my own house,\" Black said. \"We would all get together on Friday nights and reconnect, and that's been fun, but it's equal parts joyful and bittersweet.\""},{"type":"text","value":"My months of research and perfectly crafted opinions seemed to crumble at my feet. A successful screenwriter and key member of one of the most influential groups of film bros was so seemingly unaware of his genre-bending influence. He grasped desperately at the looming ideas he never accomplished – dwelling on the past that had shaped his fate. Or maybe reaching that level of intangible success wasn’t as glamorous as it seemed."},{"type":"text","value":"I finally began to realize the essence of a \"Pad O’ Guy.\" They were precisely the group Black first described when talking about the Pad – scrawny nerds with nothing better to do than rolling tape."},{"type":"text","value":"\"It (the Pad O’ Guys) brought me through some of the worst times in my life – like when I’ve had clinical depression or when I had a devastating breakup, I would end up over there. And, invariably, we’d pick up a video camera and do something,\" Black said. \"I don't know that the product was any good, but we were walking around all night shooting a video, when otherwise I'd be sitting at home just absolutely torn apart.\""},{"type":"image","value":"{\"alt\":\"Photo of two Pad O’ Guys members dancing.\",\"url\":\"https://assets3.dailybruin.com/images/prime.padoguys/POG012ShaneBlackDavidSilverman-6b6d9322881f54b4373e6a278f349ee4.jpg\",\"credit\":\"Courtesy of Cappe\",\"caption\":\"\"}"},{"type":"text","value":"Forty years later, the guys were still willing to gather around a camera – this time with a Daily Bruin photographer. After much deliberation, we settled on a date, and Reneau secured us VIP tickets to the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures for a private shoot."},{"type":"text","value":"After arriving at the museum’s parking lot, I scanned the premises for an animated bunch of white-bearded men. No luck. The concrete landscape was desolate. I fiddled with the ringer on my phone, staying alert for any sign of their arrival, my head turning at every distant conversation. Had I already missed them? I began to lose hope."},{"type":"pull","value":"{\"caption\":\"It (the Pad O’ Guys) brought me through some of the worst times in my life.\\\"\"}"},{"type":"text","value":"Then, I heard the sound of laughter. My head snapped toward the towering grey parking garage, where I slowly made out a clump of fedora-clad men emerging from the shadows. Their infectious laughter grew louder as their figures began to separate, moving as if in slow motion. Squinting, I carefully pieced together the mysterious group’s features while absently fiddling with my sleeve, standing nearly half a mile away. I could almost hear \"The Weapon\" playing in the background, a dramatic explosion fizzling out behind them as they advanced – still in slow motion, of course."},{"type":"text","value":"The Pad spotted my crimson sweater and hurried in my direction. Cheerfully, they extended their hands in unison, greeting me as if I were a potential employer. Cappe, Dekker, Silverman, Rowe, Herzfeld, Reneau and Knowlton had come to life from the 40-year-old comedy specs I met through my computer screen. Cappe thanked me for my persistence in scheduling a meet-up and mentioned that this many group members hadn’t met in person for several years."},{"type":"text","value":"Realizing they were just as excited as I was to be there, I unhooked my sweater, leveled my shoulders and felt my anxieties begin to ease. I closed my eyes and tried to channel the dynamic director the group insisted I become – if only for the day."},{"type":"text","value":"\"Tell us where you want us to go, it’s your vision,\" Dekker told me."},{"type":"text","value":"Despite being some of the pioneering visionaries in the film industry, the Pad insisted I position them according to my own creative intuition. They included me in conversations filled with memories of their boundless past and wished me luck on my own work, seemingly forgetting their own stature."},{"type":"text","value":"As they posed for a photo overlooking the LA landscape, I saw the same group of friends who made swanky short films and performed zany comedy sets in dorm rooms 40 years ago – as if no time had passed."}]}},"pageContext":{"term":"winter25","slug":"prime.padoguys"}},"staticQueryHashes":[]}