How Dragons Came to Hollywood

There weren't always dragons in the Valley. That’s not to say they hadn’t been there for so long most people have forgotten what life was like before. Nonetheless, there had been a time when the valley was free of dragons, a time before we humans answered to their every whim - fearing for our lives. A time when people didn’t even believe dragons existed. The poor fools. Had they known, maybe they could’ve prevented the dragons’ arrival.

In those days, the whole of Southern California was essentially run by the movie studios. Sony, Disney, Warner Brothers, Paramount, and others had lots all over LA and the Valley. They were always trying to one-up each other for the biggest blockbusters of the season, year, decade, whatever measurement they felt like using that day. The biggest tickets tended to be the superhero, fantasy, and sci fi epics that could run multiple movies in a row and draw crowds to all of them. How could a small studio compete with the effects mastery of these high budget powerhouses?

The smaller studios mostly stuck to the low budget horror, art house, and rom coms that mostly had the same basic plot but could bring in a name talent or two. Some even tried to rewrite Shakespeare for the modern audience. They created movies that didn’t cost too much to make but could still bring in enough to stay afloat.

Not everyone was happy with this situation, however. Some people wanted more. A man named Curtis Simper was one of those who dreamed of more. He dreamed of competing with the big studios in spectacle and scale. He just wasn’t sure how. He knew there had to be another way to create the quality of special effects that the big movies featured, something to grab the audience and put them on the edge of their seats.

This is the story of Simper’s search for the perfect angle to make a name for himself in Hollywood. This is the story of one man’s search for a way to compete with the mega-budgets of the film studios of the early 2020s in Southern California.

The story starts in a small guest-house-turned-studio-apartment in Encino. Curtis had worked for several of the small studios, but always left when it became clear that they wouldn’t even look at his urban fantasy script - “We just don’t have the budget for this kind of thing, you get that, right?” He took this very personally.

His little apartment was barely big enough for his bed, a desk, and a half-size fridge topped with a hotplate. Somehow he still managed to cram books upon books about folklore into the tiny space with him. Originally, he had acquired the books as research for his script but now… now he was trying to find the truth behind the stories. On the day in question, Curtis awoke from a dream that the stories were real, that there was more out there than just humanity - that elves and fairies and all sorts of mythical creatures really existed and he was bound and determined to find out if he was right. If he was right, then he could make his own movie without needing the studios help. If he was right he wouldn’t need “effects” because it would all be real. The magic would be Real.

That day, that dream, was the beginning of a strange and wonderful adventure that brought to life an epic movie… but that adventure also brought dragons to the San Fernando Valley.

This is the story of how dragons came to the Valley and never left.

Who am I to tell this tale? To remind people of a past they’ve forgotten? Who am I to boldly claim I know how it happened? I was there. I was the gangly teenager Simper hired to star in his film. I was one of the first to meet the dragons, and one of the first to voice my concern that it might not be a good idea to bring them here. My name is Gillian, but you can call me Gil.