Ron Peer is the screenwriter for the new movie "Goodbye, Lover"

April 15, 1999
Web posted at: 12:23 p.m. EDT (1623 GMT)

(CNN) -- In the early part of 1995, Ron Peer was working for a Phoenix, Arizona, company repairing computers at $10 an hour. In his spare time, he wrote plays for local theater. He had this screenplay he had just penned. He thought it was pretty cool.

So, figuring he had nothing to lose, he sent the script, titled "Goodbye, Lover," to the Austin Film Festival's screenwriting contest and the Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting -- two of the most visible competitions for film writers.

It was, to say the least, a good move by Peer. His screenplay didn't win either contest, but soon a producer who found his script through Austin's festival called him -- he wanted to buy Peer's script.

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Theatrical preview for "Goodbye, Lover"
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Fast-forward to now, four years later, and Peer is living the dream of every aspiring Hollywood writer. "Goodbye, Lover" is opening nationwide on Friday, directed by Roland Joffé ("The Killing Fields") with a star-studded cast that includes Patricia Arquette, Dermot Mulroney, Mary-Louise Parker, Ellen Degeneres and Don Johnson.

'The harder you try ...'

Peer is enjoying the moment. As any screenwriter-wannabe knows, it's nearly impossible to break into Hollywood without connections. But Peer did it just by sending his script to a contest in Texas.

"A lot of people say, 'You're the luckiest bastard on Earth!,'" Peer says with a laugh. "Well, maybe ... but they still have to like the script."

This sums up how Peer is handling his success. He's taking it all in stride, but he's also confident in his abilities. He's excited to be given this chance -- which has led to even more opportunities -- but he's also trying to keep everything in perspective.

"The main thing is, I didn't really expect this to happen," Peer says. "It's almost like the harder you try, the more you fail. And when you're least expecting it, that's when it happens."

CLIPS FROM "GOODBYE, LOVER"

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'Everyone in the movie is lying'

"Goodbye, Lover," an independent film created by Gotham Entertainment and distributed by Warner Bros., is set in modern L.A. and has a plot that seems to be in theme with other recent releases like "Very Bad Things" or "Your Friends and Neighbors": people committing horribly selfish acts meant to hurt or destroy.

Mulroney and Johnson play brothers, and Arquette's character plays them -- she's the wife of one, the mistress of another.

"Basically, everyone in the movie is lying to each other," Peer says. "It's basically about a setup to kill somebody to collect insurance money. And just when you think that's all there is ... then it flips around on you."

Of course, that's the story that Peer wrote on the printed page. After selling it, rewriting it, then watching other writers, executives and even Joffé add their own musings, Peer says the movie is different from what he first imagined.

"Truthfully, the first time I saw it I was kind of in shock, and I shouldn't have been. I saw all the changes on the script. There's just something about seeing it on film; it's quite different," Peer says.

That's the price the screenwriter pays for selling away his work. (Peer says he earned low-six figures for the script.) The film industry is notorious for brushing aside the writer and bringing in the opinions of those who didn't nurture the script from birth.

"You're definitely the low man on the totem pole," Peer says of his experience as a professional screenwriter. "Everybody thinks you can be replaced. It's like parts of a car or something. They'll just change you out with someone else. That can be frustrating."

'He looks like a movie star'

But Peer isn't complaining. Since quitting his computer job following the sale of "Goodbye, Lover," Peer has been able to support himself full-time as a writer. And while he's still aiming for Hollywoodland (particularly with a recently finished thriller on erotic asphyxiation), Peer has found fertile ground in Germany.

"I Love You Baby," which Peer wrote, will be released in Germany in September, starring Maximilian Schell and Mark Keller. And another German company is set to start filming Peer's "Falling Rocks" in November.

Meanwhile, Peer is enjoying his time in the spotlight, and taking note of those surreal moments when his ordinary-guy self comes into contact with Hollywood celebrity.

"This project I wrote for HBO, Diane Keaton was the producer, so I got to meet her and that was really weird to be sitting across from her," Peer says. "I remember I had a crush on her at one time.

"And she's saying things like 'I was talking to Woody the other day ...' I'm thinking, 'Woody Allen?' That was kind of surreal."

Peer only met one star from "Goodbye, Lover" -- former "Miami Vice" cop and 1980s icon Don Johnson, who apparently still shows the effects of South Florida sunshine.

"He looks like a movie star. It's really weird. I've never met anyone who really looks like a movie star. He has that movie star glow about him," Peer says.

'Keep writing'

Peer says he has no plans to move from Phoenix. He likes keeping Hollywood at a safe distance, both geographically and spiritually.

"If I eventually crap out and can't do this anymore, I can do something else. I guess it's not the end-all of my existence."

And Peer, who's become an inspiration for aspiring screenwriters, now has the voice of experience when dishing out advice.

"Keep plugging away at it, keep writing. A lot of people will write one script and spend the next five years trying to market it. People are always going for the brass ring, (but) if you think you're going to write one play and sell it for $500,000, I don't think so. You just need to keep writing and writing and writing, and that's what I try to do."