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But Budd had a dark secret. He LOVED "Creepy" and "Eerie"
and "Vampirella" magazines. On a whim, he wrote a story and sent it in to Warren
Publishing Company, unsolicited. A check for $50.00 came in return mail. Bill DuBay called
him and asked who the Hell he was. Budd said, "Nobody." But DuBay had plans to
turn this nobody into a somebody and picked him as his lead writer. DuBay moved Budd to New
York and they ran rampant for years.
Alas, all good things come to an end and one day Budd packed his car and drove to California. The only English words Budd could understand on the Los Angeles freeway signs were, "Disneyland Exit". (The other words were street names like "Sepulveda", "Cahuenga" and "Tijunga". Who the Hell knows what they mean?) He took a cheap motel room across from Disneyland, walked into the park and the whole world changed. He ran into a guy who happened to know "Budd Lewis" from the Warren magazines and asked Budd why he moved to California. Budd said, "To work." Well, it turned out the guy was connected to some people who made movies. The next morning, the motel room phone rang and it was one of Roger Corman’s producers who invited Budd to come over and "…help us on a movie we’re making." He did. And continued doing movie work (and animation) for the next twenty years. BUT, not as a writer. He was burned out on words and since special effects was the hottest thing in the industry (Thank you, Mr. Lucas), he designed special effects and then production design and storyboards.
When Budd moved to Los Angeles, he got to meet a lot of his personal heroes and saw a lot more. It was an everyday thing, meeting movie stars. The first day he was at Universal, Budd almost got hit by Alfred Hitchcock in a car and then turned around and ran right into Cary Grant. Then, it was just one after another, Mel Gibson, John Travolta, Bill Shatner, Dee Kelly "Bones" McCoy: ST), John Boy Walton, "Jeannie" from "I Dream Of..", John Rhys-Davies ("Salah" from "Raiders of the Lost Ark", Vernon Wells ("Wez" from "The Road Warrior") and on and on and on. Hung around a bunch of them, partied and played, worked and toiled together. Most of them good, solid people. The Hollywood working class.
He made some great friends during those crazy days. Like, Jim Cameron (who hired me to work on "Terminator") and John Bruno (a brilliant special effects artist and a great director "Virus"), Bob and Dennis Skotak (special effects team for "Aliens") among jillions of others. Great days. Then, one day, twenty years later, the movie and animation design work dried up in L.A. and Budd suddenly had a strong desire to start writing again.
Today, he is coming up with more and more concepts and projects for film, animation and publishing. He recorded a CD of a few of his favorite old Warren stories, with music and sound effects. He will make it available on this page, one of these days. Nothing like sitting around by candlelight listening to a storyteller spinning dark, scary tales. We think you'll dig the CD. Next...
