Rex Pickett Papers
Special Collections & Archives
Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego
Copyright 2014
9500 Gilman Drive
La Jolla 92093-0175
spcoll@ucsd.edu
Descriptive Summary
Languages:
English
Contributing Institution:
Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego
9500 Gilman Drive
La Jolla 92093-0175
Title: Rex Pickett Papers
Identifier/Call Number: MSS 0750
Physical Description:
24.6 Linear feet
(38 archives boxes, 3 flat boxes, 7 card file/media boxes, 11 film reels, and 1 records box)
Date: 1940-2013 (bulk 1970-2013)
Abstract: The papers of Rex Pickett, American novelist, screenwriter, film maker and playwright best known for his novel
Sideways and his play based on the novel. The papers document Pickett's childhood through his writing career to date. The bulk of
the papers cover the period of the 1970s through 2013 and include biographical materials, correspondence, journals, manuscript
and typescript drafts of his novels, screenplays, and other writings, as well as photographic material and media.
Preferred Citation
Rex Pickett Papers, MSS 750. Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego.
Publication Rights
Publication rights are held by the creator of the collection.
Scope and Content of Collection
The Rex Pickett Papers document Pickett's professional career as a novelist, screenwriter, film maker and playwright. Materials
include biographical information, journals, correspondence, manuscript and typescript drafts of his novels, screenplays and
other writings, and photographic material. It also includes media such as reel-to-reel tapes, cassettes, VHS, and digital
media such as CDs and discs.
Arranged in five series: 1) BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIALS, 2) CORRESPONDENCE, 3) WRITINGS, 4) WRITINGS BY OTHERS and 5) MEDIA AND
RECORDINGS.
Biography
Rex Michael Pickett was born on July 9, 1952 at Castle Air Force Base in Merced County, California. Rex, the second of three
boys to Major Russell Raymond Pickett and Mrs. Anna Marie (Kuchta) Pickett, attended grade school through high school in San
Diego, graduating from Clairemont High in 1970. Pickett describes the first time he realized his potential as a writer was
with a poem he wrote for his high school annual poking fun at the principal which garnered some attention, "And I thought,
hmm, the power of words."
Pickett went on to attend the University of California, San Diego. He was a student of the American painter, writer, and film
critic Manny Farber, whom Pickett describes, along with C. G. Jung, as being his greatest influence. In Farber's classes Pickett
met fellow film student Barbara Schock. The couple would later marry and start their own film production company, Nightfilm
Production, Inc. and later, Deadwood Productions. As an undergraduate, Pickett was a founder, co-editor and contributor to
the student publication,
Crawl Out Your Window, and co-wrote and self-published a book of poetry,
If ears could see, if eyes could hear… (1973). Pickett graduated summa cum laude from UC San Diego in 1976 with a B.A as a Special Projects major, his diploma reading,
"Specializing in Contemporary Literary and Film Criticism and Creative Writing".
After UC San Diego, Pickett enrolled at the University of Southern California graduate film school. He left USC after one
year to pursue making independent feature films. Pickett and Schock worked together on two feature films during the 1980s
and early 1990s,
California Without End (1984), which was sold to Bavarian Radio Television, and
From Hollywood to Deadwood (1989), sold to Island Pictures, now part of MGM. Their most successful collaboration to date was Pickett's screenplay, directed
by Schock, entitled
My Mother Dreams the Satan's Disciples in New York (1999) for which Schock won the 2000 Academy Award for Best Live Action Short.
The early to mid '90s was primarily a period of screenwriting for Pickett. He wrote over 25 screenplays, including an uncredited
rewrite of the 20th Century Fox film
Alien III (1990);
Striking it Rich, a screen adaptation of the Craig Vetter novel (1992); and an original screenplay
The Road Back (1993), optioned to Silverfilm Productions and DePasse Productions, which later formed part of the basis for his second published
novel,
Vertical (2011). In 1996, Pickett began his first novel, a mystery entitled
La Purisima, which he hoped would be the beginning of a detective series.
La Purisima, although never published, landed him representation with the Curtis Brown Ltd. literary agency and paved the way for Pickett's
next novel,
Sideways.
As the backdrop for
Sideways, Pickett, an avid low-handicap golfer, fell in love with California's Santa Ynez Valley. The uncrowded golf courses and inexpensive
winery tasting rooms inspired the set up for the story based on his road trips out to the valley with his friend Roy Gittens
during the 1990s. Pickett describes his writing style, epitomized in
Sideways, as having a quality of "verisimilitude." Finished in 1999,
Sideways was rejected by over 100 publishers on three separate rounds of submissions. In 2000 the novel was optioned by writer/director
Alexander Payne. Payne decided to make
About Schmidt before
Sideways, and the novel was eventually published by St. Martin's Press in June of 2004. The film, adapted by Alexander Payne and his
writing partner Jim Taylor, was released in the fall of 2004.
Sideways went on to win over 350 awards including the 2005 Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay and two Golden Globe awards.
In 2006, the screenplay was voted by the Writers Guild of America as one of the 101 Greatest Screenplays of All Time.
Dissatisfied with the lack of promotion for
Sideways, Pickett went the self-publishing route for
Vertical (2011), his sequel to
Sideways, and founded his own press.
Vertical went on to win the Gold Medal for Fiction from the Independent Publisher Book Awards in 2012.
Inspired by the success and cult following of
Sideways, Pickett was approached by the Ruskin Group Theatre Company in 2011 to do a stage adaptation of his novel. The play opened
and ran for six months at Santa Monica's Ruskin Theatre under the direction of Amelia Mulkey. In late 2012, Pickett was invited
as a guest of the goverment of Chile to research and write the third installment of the
Sideways trilogy.
In 2013, Pickett brought
Sideways: The Play to the campus of his alma mater, UC San Diego, with extended performances at The La Jolla Playhouse under Tony award-winning
and La Jolla Playhouse Director Emeritus, Des McAnuff. Pickett has continued to promote the play and work on his third novel
of the
Sideways trilogy set in Chilean wine country.
Restrictions
Materials in Series 5, MEDIA AND RECORDINGS, including film reels are restricted.
Acquisition Information
Acquired 2012.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Motion picture plays
Novelists, American -- Manuscripts
Screenwriters -- United States -- Manuscripts
Pickett, Rex -- Archives
BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIALS
Scope and Content of Series
The BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIALS series contains juvenalia including Pickett's childhood and school photographs and diplomas; address
books; family photographs, portraits and Pickett's wedding album of his marriage to director, filmmaker Barbara Schock; some
realia relating to Pickett's career in the film industry, scrapbooks and other biographical materials are also included. The
materials range in date from 1943, which includes family photographs, to 2012.
Box 1, Folder 2
Birth announcement, certificate of Baptism, International Driving Permit
1952, 1953, 1971
Box 1, Folder 3
Junior High and High School certificates and memorabilia
1967-1970
Box 1, Folder 4
Little League Baseball certificate and team photo
1964 July 11
Box 1, Folder 5
Independent Publishers Book Award, for
Vertical, 2012
Box 1, Folder 6
Contracts - Agents and Lawyers
Box 1, Folder 8
Family photographs - Pickett's parents and siblings
ca. 1943-1975
Box 1, Folder 9
Grade school class pictures
1958-1964
Box 1, Folder 12
Wedding album photographs
undated
Oversize FB-525, Folder 5
Oversized photographs - Rex Pickett with Alexander Payne at Sanford Winery, Pickett on set of
California Without End
undated
Box 45
Realia - Wallet, watch, ring, personalized matchbook,
Sideways baseball cap
Box 1, Folder 14
Slides - Cheyenne, WY
1985 and undated
Oversize FB-523
Scrapbook -
Sideways Oscars, SAG Awards and Golden Globe Awards buzz
2004-2005
Oversize FB-524
Scrapbook -
From Hollywood to Deadwood,
My Mother Dreams the Satan's Disciples in New York, and
Sideways reviews, articles, invitations and other memorabilia
1988-2005
Box 1, Folder 15
UCSD Special Studies form and UCSD Bachelor of Arts diploma
1974, 1976
CORRESPONDENCE
Scope and Content of Series
The CORRESPONDENCE SERIES, arranged alphabetically by correspondent, is comprised of letters, cards, postcards and some printed
e-mail and includes personal correspondence with friends and family members as well as professional correspondence with agents,
publishing houses, film production companies and others related to the publishing and film industries. Notable correspondence
is with Pickett's publishing agents at Curtis Brown, Ltd. and include letters from publishing houses regarding his novels
La Purisima and
Sideways. The series ranges in date from 1973 to 2003.
Box 2, Folder 1
Carlson, Krista
2002 & undated
Box 2, Folder 2
Curtis Brown Ltd. (Letters from publishing houses to Pickett's agents Mitchell S. Waters and Jess Taylor)
1997-1999
Box 2, Folder 3
Freilicher, Melvyn
1973-1974
Box 2, Folder 4
Hoshen, Shiri
1996-1997 & undated
Box 2, Folder 5
Nations, Opal L.
1975 & undated
Box 2, Folder 7
Payne, Alexander and Michael London (re:
Sideways)
2000, 2003
Box 2, Folder 8
Pickett, Anna (mother)
undated
Box 2, Folder 9
Schock, Barbara (ex-wife)
1994-2003, & undated
Box 2, Folder 10
Woodard, Miriam and Ken. Mark Woodard photograph
2000 and undated
Box 38, Folder 13
Independent Feature Project, newsletter, correspondence and playbill featuring
California Without End, March-October, 1983
Box 2, Folder 11
Miscellaneous correspondence
WRITINGS
Scope and Content of Series
The WRITINGS series includes handwritten and typescript drafts of Pickett's articles, journals, novels, screenplays and plays
and includes both completed and unfinished works. The series is arranged into four subseries: A) Articles, B) Journals, C)
Novels, Screenplays, and Plays; D) Collaborations and E) Other Writings.
A) Articles contains clippings of published articles written by Pickett. This subseries is arranged alphabetically by title
and ranges in date from 2004 through 2012. Included in this subseries are the awards: North American Travel Journalists Association
Best Domestic Magazine Article, 2006 and North American Travel Journalists Association First Place Award, 2008.
B) Journals, arranged chronologically, contains Pickett's personal journals with typescript and handwritten notebook pages.
Included in this are dream journals as well as filming/project journals from Los Angeles and London. The materials range in
date from 1972 to 2013.
C) The Novels, Screenplays, and Plays subseries includes handwritten and typescript drafts of Pickett's work. Many drafts
include marginalia and edits. The series is arranged chronologically by title of work, and includes most notably drafts of
his two independent feature films
California Without End (1985) and
From Hollywood to Deadwood (1990), his short screenplay
My Mother Dreams the Satan's Disciples in New York (1999) which won the 2000 Academy Award for Best Live Action Short, his first published novel
Sideways (2004) the source material for which Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor won the 2005 Academy Award for best adapted screenplay,
and
Sideways: The Play drafts of Pickett's novel adapted to the stage. This series also contains some related professional correspondence to editors
and film production staff. The series ranges in date from 1974 to 2013.
D) Other Writings includes earlier works such as drafts of unfinished screenplays, poems, treatments, notes, short scripts,
novelettes and other works by Pickett. The files range in date from 1974 to 1984 include many undated partial works. In most
cases, the files retain Pickett's original folder titles.
E) The Collaborations subseries includes Pickett's early work on a self-published book of poems entitled
If ears could see, if eyes could hear, if hearts could be everywhere and omniscient!
which he co-wrote with Kim Vacariu, June 1973 and his collaboration on the UCSD student publication
Crawl Out Your Window from June, 1975.
Box 2, Folder 12
Blown 'Sideways' Through Life, The Biz, Premiere
2004 October
Box 2, Folder 13
Case Closed: the Guy Who Came in From the Cold, Wine Enthusiast
2004 October
Box 2, Folder 14
How I Got 'Sideways', Travel and Leisure Golf, includes North American Travel Journalists Association Best Domestic Magazine Article Award
2006 May/June
Box 2, Folder 15
La Purisima, California Golf
1992 December
Box 2, Folder 16
Looking into Golf's Future, California Golf
1993
Box 2, Folder 17
Ojai Valley Rhapsody, Travel + Leisure Golf, Includes North American Travel Journalists Association First Place Award
2008 January/February
Box 2, Folder 18
Reds, Whites and Greens: The Connoisseur's Guide to the Best of Wine and Golf, Travel + Leisure Golf
2007 March/April
Box 2, Folder 19
Take Me to the Valley, Travel + Leisure Golf
2009
Box 3, Folder 1-4
Dream journals
1971 December-1972 September, and undated
Novels, Screenplays, Plays
Box 9, Folder 1-4
Critical Mass, screenplay by Rex Pickett and Howard Cohen
1976
Box 9, Folder 5-8
a.k.a. Eric Dolan
ca. 1976
Oversize FB-525, Folder 1
Point of Decay - Poster for film by Rex Pickett, Howard Cohen and Henry Witkowski
1978
Box 11, Folder 5-8
Fashion, Flesh and Fantasy
1979
Box 11, Folder 9-11
Interior Night L.A. (1979)
Box 12, Folder 1-4
Interior Night L.A., also notes for
A Novel of Desire
Box 12, Folder 5-11
California Without End (also under title,
A Time of Uncertainty) (1985)
Box 13, Folder 1-8
California Without End (also under title,
A Time of Uncertainty) (1985)
Box 14, Folder 1-10
California Without End (also under title,
A Time of Uncertainty) (1985)
Box 15, Folder 1-9
California Without End (also under title,
A Time of Uncertainty) (1985)
Box 16, Folder 1-13
California Without End (also under title,
A Time of Uncertainty) (1985)
Box 17, Folder 1-7
California Without End (also under title,
A Time of Uncertainty) (1985)
Oversize FB-525, Folder 2
California Without End (also under title,
A Time of Uncertainty) - Director's clapboard
Box 17, Folder 8-11
Who Shot Samuel Ray? (also under title
Who Shot Sam Fuller?)
1983
Box 18, Folder 4-7
Red Wind, adapted screenplay based on novel by Raymond Chandler
1983
Box 18, Folder 8
Decoy or Man Bites Dog
1990
Box 18, Folder 9-14
From Hollywood to Deadwood (1989)
Box 19, Folder 1-20
From Hollywood to Deadwood
Box OM-1, Folder 1
From Hollywood to Deadwood - Laserdisc
Oversize FB-525, Folder 3
From Hollywood to Deadwood - Director's clapboard
1986 December 18
Box 38, Folder 11
Knife in the Heart - Contracts and related correspondence. Under original proposed title
This Little Ziggy
Box 20, Folder 1-8
The Road Back (also under title
Sheboygan, WI)
1995
Box 21, Folder 1-7
The Road Back (also under title
Sheboygan, WI)
Box 22, Folder 12
Alien III by Walter Hill/David Giler
1991
Box 24, Folder 7
Lily, an adaptation of a short story by Jane Smiley
1991
Box 25, Folder 1-4
29% Less Full, with notes by Barbara Schock
1992
Box 38, Folder 1-2
Gryphon, based on a short story by Charles Baxter
1995
Box 25, Folder 7-12
My Mother Dreams the Satan's Disciples in New York (Also under title
My Mother Dreams the Hell's Angels in New York)
1999
General
Includes typescript drafts, publicity and Academy award news and related correspondence.
Box 38, Folder 3-7
My Mother Dreams the Satan's Disciples in New York (Also under title
My Mother Dreams the Hell's Angels in New York)
various dated drafts
Box 26, Folder 1-7
La Purisima (A Raymond Savage Mystery)
1996
Box 27, Folder 1-4
La Purisima (A Raymond Savage Mystery)
Box 38, Folder 8-10
Vertical: A Novel - Proofs
2011
Box 28, Folder 1-2
Novel by Rex Pickett, under original title
Two Guys on Wine
2003
Box 30, Folder 5-6
First draft of adapted screenplay by Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor
2003
Box 31, Folder 1-4
Drafts of adapted screenplay by Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor
2003
Box 31, Folder 5
Sideways: The Play - Draft
2013
Box 31, Folder 6
Sideways: The Play - Memorabilia
2013
Oversize AB-28-E
Sideways: The Play - Poster from the La Jolla Playhouse production
2013
Box 32, Folder 1
Cartoons by John McPherson and Jeff Stahler
2005
Box 32, Folder 2
Contracts, related correspondence with Endeavor
Oversize FB-525, Folder 4
Canvas from "director's chair"
Box 32, Folder 6-8
Publicity, press kit, promotional materials and correspondence
Box 32, Folder 10
Ticket for Academy Awards and playbills
Box 32, Folder 12
Writers and Artists Agency correspondence and payments
Box 33, Folder 2
...And Then Pomeroy Drew His Knife
1974 July
Box 33, Folder 5
Hollywood Babble On!
1978-1979, 1991
Box 33, Folder 9
Out of Context
1979 January
Box 33, Folder 10
The Disco Phenomena - Article for Eros Publishing
1979 May
Box 33, Folder 11
Diary of a Screenwriter
1979 June-July
Box 33, Folder 12
The Long Goodbye
1987 November
Box 33, Folder 13
Style as Sensibility in Wim Wender's Kings of the Road
1980 February
Box 33, Folder 14
The Real Estate Broker's Anxiety at the Close of Escrow
1980 February
Box 33, Folder 15-24
2nd Raymond Savage Mystery
1983-1984
Box 34, Folder 4
The Avacado Nightmare
undated
Box 34, Folder 6
Beverly Hills Cop
undated
Box 34, Folder 7
Beyond Alcohol and Art
undated
Box 34, Folder 11
Del Mar Alexanderplatz
undated
Box 34, Folder 17-18
Fragments of a Piece
undated
Box 34, Folder 20
Herzog's 2nd Phase
undated
Box 34, Folder 21
Hitchhiking Nymphos, After-School Naughtiness, and Hot & Horny Hustlers (under pseudonym Irv N. Tons)
undated
Box 35, Folder 2
It Was One of Those Wild Free You Call Nights
undated
Box 35, Folder 4
Killer in Suburbia
undated
Box 35, Folder 6
The Leper Cowboys
undated
Box 35, Folder 7
Making It! A Series Comedy
undated
Box 35, Folder 9
Moths to the Flame "Bill Haller"
undated
Box 35, Folder 13
Queen of the Mist
undated
Box 35, Folder 14
Reconciliation Junction
undated
Box 35, Folder 15
Relief for an Advanced Case of Fear, poems and notes
undated
Box 35, Folder 19
Take Me to the End
undated
Box 35, Folder 20
This is How I Lost the Mystery in My Soul
undated
Box 36, Folder 1
The Video-tape Ritual Sex Murders
undated
Box 36, Folder 3
Wing and a Prayer
undated
Box 36, Folder 4
Cartoons - The Screenwriter's Saloon
undated
Box 36, Folder 5
Documentary Ideas
undated
Box 36, Folder 6
Early love story/notes on relationship
undated
Box 36, Folder 7
Manny Farber film notes/questions
undated
Box 36, Folder 8
Miscellaneous early writings
undated
Box 36, Folder 9
Miscellaneous notes
undated
Box 36, Folder 10
Notes for seminar
undated
Box 36, Folder 14
Shot composition notes
undated
Box 36, Folder 15
Treatments for Allison/Dart Productions (various titles, some under pseudonym Rexford G. Pickett)
undated
Box 36, Folder 16
Untitled partial script
undated
Box 36, Folder 18
If ears could see, if eyes could hear, if hearts could be everywhere and omniscient! - Rex Pickett and Kim Vacariu (two copies, enscribed to Pickett's parents; and Jocelyn, with related correspondence)
1973 June
Box 36, Folder 19
Crawl Out Your Window, UCSD student publication, various contributors, original typescript draft with photograph by Philip Steinmetz
June 1975
WRITINGS BY OTHERS
Scope and Contents of Series
The WRITINGS BY OTHERS series is arranged alphabetically by author. It contains a draft of an essay about UC San DIego film
professor Manny Farber written by Barbara Schock, and reviews.
Box 37, Folder 1
/Hough/S/0 Prove/His/Him o/So He Kep/a/1/./T1. - Howard Cohen, typescript excerpt for
Crawl Out Your Window, edited by Rex Pickett and Charles Heimer
1975 March
Box 37, Folder 2
Boowzh Out on Highway Nine, four performance compositions by Anton Czerny. Performed by The Heartaches: Howard Cohen, Melvyn
Freilicher, Rex Pickett and Adele Shaules
1975 May
Box 37, Folder 3
A Hard (Wonderful) Look at the Movies, essay on Manny Farber by Barbara Schock
undated
Box 37, Folder 4
Reviews of
From Hollywood to Deadwood
various
Box 37, Folder 5-8
Reviews of
Sideways
various
MEDIA AND RECORDINGS
Scope and Contents of Series
MEDIA AND RECORDINGS series includes reel-to-reel films on celluloid, VHS tapes, BetaMax tapes, ¾", DVD; 5 ¼" and 3 ½" floppies.
These materials are restricted for use.
Box 39
CD-ROMS - drafts of
Sideways, Repairman, The Corn Exchange, Moths to the Flame; article entitled "My Life on Spec"; and Rex Pickett interview on The David Lawrence Show
2002-2005
Conditions Governing Access
Restrictions Apply
Box 40
5 1/4" Floppy disks - Journal 1985-1989;
From Hollywood to Deadwood drafts;
Knife in the Heart draft; Letters to Barbara drafts; Word documents backup.
Conditions Governing Access
Restrictions Apply
Box 41-44
3 1/2" Diskettes - drafts of
Sideways, La Purisima, The Road Back, Striking it Rich, Alien III, Baja Hideaway, Squatter, Decoy, Lily, Desperate Measures, and other drafts of scripts, letters, email back up
Conditions Governing Access
Restrictions Apply
Box 46-49
California Without End, 4 reels
Conditions Governing Access
Restrictions Apply
Box 50
Fragments of a Piece, 1 reel
Conditions Governing Access
Restrictions Apply
Box 51-53
My Mother Dreams the Satan's Disciples in New York, 3 reels
Conditions Governing Access
Restrictions Apply
Box 54
Neon Stains, 1 reel
Conditions Governing Access
Restrictions Apply
Box 55-56
Pt. of Decay, 2 reels
Conditions Governing Access
Restrictions Apply
Box 57
University of Southern California Film School graduate school project, untitled, undated. Super 8 film, 1 reel
Conditions Governing Access
Restrictions Apply
Box 58, Folder 1
California Without End
Conditions Governing Access
Restrictions Apply
Box 58, Folder 2-6
From Hollywood to Deadwood
Conditions Governing Access
Restrictions Apply
Box 58, Folder 7
Griffin
Conditions Governing Access
Restrictions Apply
Box 58, Folder 8-10
My Mother Dreams the Satan's Disciples in New York
Conditions Governing Access
Restrictions Apply
Box 58, Folder 11-13
The Academy Awards 2000
Conditions Governing Access
Restrictions Apply
Box 58, Folder 14
Demo, untitled
Conditions Governing Access
Restrictions Apply
Box 58, Folder 15
Untitled
Conditions Governing Access
Restrictions Apply