Romeo and Juliet in L.A.

The novel ROMEO AND JULIET IN L.A. gives the story of the making of a film

called that, which is the story of street kids enacting the Romeo-and-Juliet

theme to a tragic conclusion, and the novel as it happens tells that

story--the story of Mayo, Julie, Adam, Angel, and Reno--against a background

of the complex workings of a modern professional movie production.

Included in those "complex workings" is the revival of a high school

friendship between the author of the screenplay and one of the financial

backers of the film--and this is a story of cooperation between Jew and

Gentile begun when the participants were still in high school.

So the novel has the street kids and also the movie people, from the

Producer, Sam Willavoy, to the actors and directors--and the writer, who is

responsible for it all.