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 "e;complex workings"e; 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.