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 It’s been over a year since we lost Kip. As time goes by it gets easier to deal with his loss. I try and focus on the fun we had together and not dwell on the tragic circumstances that overcame his life and ultimately took him from us. 13 years just isn’t enough for anyone. Kip deserved a better life, but doing hard drugs is like playing Russian roulette – one wrong hit and you’re gone. After months of haggling with his mother, I finally received the proceeds from the life insurance policy we took out on Kip six months before he passed. I will mostly likely use a portion of that money to help build Kip a proper gravestone. In addition, I will be talking with one of the local universities about establishing a “Kip Wilson Educational Grant.” This will help other less fortunate kids’ see their dreams come true and also keep Kip’s memory alive for years to come.
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Like I said, hard drugs are bad news. They don’t only affect the poor – they can even hurt people who have everything to live for, even people in Hollywood. Case in point, Lillo ,Brancato Jr. – a young actor who appeared in dozen of movies, including “A Bronx Tale” with Robert De Niro and most recently in an recurring role on the HBO drama series, “The Sopranos.” Unlike myself, Hollywood came after him – not the other way around. Dumb as a bag of forks, Lillo was lucky enough to be discovered by a talent scout at Jones Beach when he was sixteen. Things haven’t gone well. As I type this, Lillo is in the hospital in serious condition after being shot twice during a robbery. He was part of a crime duo that killed a New York City police officer during that melee. His Hollywood career is now over. All this for drugs? As a former New York cop, I can tell you that they will not go lightly on Lillo. During the 18 months that I worked narcotics, I saw first hand what cops are up against. Part of me misses the job – the injury was a blessing. The shame is that in Lillo’s case, Lillo had a chance to escape the horrors of drugs. Hollywood was waiting for him but he chose drugs over fame. I only wish Kip would have had those some choices and opportunities…
 Had a meeting last week with Samuel Jackson to discuss a “polish” that I am doing on the screenplay for one of his upcoming films. Sam always likes to meet face to face with his writers so that there is no “misunderstandings” as to how he perceives his character. The meeting was only ten minutes long, but I was still as nervous as I was the first time I had dinner with Eric Clapton. Sam was totally cool and straight forward with me – even giving me my page drafts back with hand-written notes. He even told me that I wrote some of the character’s dialogue as “too black.” Which I thought was funny. He didn’t think it was too funny – but he also didn’t fire me. We have a second meeting after the Christmas holidays. The only downside was that during the meeting, Sam was rubbing lotion on his hands the whole time. So when he took back the pages and pointed to specific notes or dialogue, some of the ink got smeared by his moist, giant fingers. The one point he really tried to hammer home to me is now just a giant smear. His agent said he will help me out. Long story short – I didn’t screw up my first big meeting as a writer with an A-List star. The again, there’s always next week…
I’ll be moving into new production offices the first week of January. I’m sick of my current office. The new place will have a huge u-shaped black leather couch – 15 feet in each direction. There will also be a huge projection screen so that we can watch dailies and other materials relating to my production company. I’m gonna be so glad when this website goes down at the end of the month. Now that my career is taking off, many people don’t want me talking about them on my site. My new agent said he’ll fire me if I discuss our personal business here. In addition, a number of Meisner “fan” sites are starting to come out of the wood work – some nice, some not so nice… At the end of the day, I don’t need anymore attention – it’s getting hard enough to walk down the street or have a simple meal in a restaurant without having people point at me and stare. People don’t like to admit it, but having more money and material goods than other people is a true sign of success. When I go out for a meal I like to talk real loud about what I have. Some people might think I’m being a blowhard or a bragger. I say maybe I’m just proud of what I achieved. If you’re afraid to spend $300 on a shirt, what else are you afraid of? If you live your life in fear, trust me, you ain’t living life at all. I only wish Kip were here to see this. But who know, maybe he’s watching…
Brett
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