In case anybody wants to know what I'm doing, I'm in the middle of my umpteenth rewrite of Hollywood Car Wash, to make it suitable for submission next month.
Here's the synopsis....
Hollywood Car Wash, by Lori Culwell
In Hollywood you never know when you're going to get your big break....or what it'll cost you.
Amy James is an overnight celebrity, and she has no idea how it happened. One day she’s a sophomore at the University of Michigan, the next thing she knows, she’s the star of a smash-hit TV drama, adorning the cover of every tabloid known to man. That’s the good news. The bad news is the unforeseen price tag for her overnight success. Slowly but surely, Amy is forced to go through the “Hollywood carwash.” They make her change her name, without irony, to “Star.” They make her undergo contract-stipulated plastic surgery. And she’s recruited to become part of a Hollywood power couple with a media-friendly handle (“RockStar”). All of this has been carefully orchestrated by the network’s obese, conscience-free producer, “Attila,” and her fast-talking agent, Todd. It turns out things can go downhill quickly in Hollywood. Star’s fame takes a nosedive when she’s involved in a highly public car wreck with the paparazzi, who she beats up (all lovingly captured on video and uploaded to the internet). When she’s fired from her show and no one will return her calls, Star goes back to Michigan to figure out how, or whether, to ever return to Hollywood.
When the independent film she’d shot the summer before her meltdown wins Sundance, she finds that the tide shifts again, and she has the power back. Hollywood Car Wash tells the story of one girl’s overnight success, rise to fame, implosion, and eventual return to glory as she learn to play the Hollywood game on her own terms. Hollywood Car Wash is “The Devil Wears Prada,” or “The Nanny Diaries,” done Hollywood style, and is based on real stories from the “Hollywood front.” A future review of Hollywood Car Wash might read: “A witty and shockingly dishy novel about the ins and outs of Hollywood stardom, complete with a demonic network executive, a fast-talking agent, and a megastar boyfriend, Hollywood Car Wash will leave readers shocked and wondering “Who is Star?”
