Helen Childress
Reality Bites
"Michael Shamberg [producer of Reality Bites]
wanted
a movie of people in their 20’s. At the time I was, like,
20. I said, ‘okay, here’s what my life is like.’ I had
just been turned down for a job at Wendy’s.
I’m pretty proud of that. I had trouble
finding a job and most of my
friends did too."
[Reality Bites] was in development for about
three years.
I quit school [USC]. My Dad was pretty mad. I had to drop out.
In the third year of development [1992], that’s when
Ben [Stiller] came on as director."
"The actual release date was February 18,
1994."
"Ninety percent of the classes in school
are about screenwriting. I don’t think you can teach it.
I mean, up to a certain point, structure maybe.
You can teach yourself by watching."
"The film was so personal to me. It’s not like
I researched
anything. I honestly just wrote about myself and my experiences
and my friends’ experiences. I actually lived off my Dad’s gas
card for a couple months. It’s funny when people say it’s
so commercial. God, my life is commercial?"
(Out-takes from an interview) Copyright Q.
Johnson
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