EXCLUSIVE:Manny Cotodied on July 9that the age of 62.
Ive been a WGA member for about four months and Manny for maybe eight.
To say we are wet behind the ears is an insult to moisture.
Brian Helgeland, left, and Manny Coto with their Ticking Clocks, circa 1990Courtesy of Brian Helgeland
As always, we are having a blast because everything we do together is fun.
Its how we have survived trying to break into show business.
Its amazing how doing something alongside your best friend never really feels daunting.
Manny Coto (and Harlan Ellison, far right) on the WGA picket line in 1988.Brian Helgeland
And Manny suddenly says, Holy shit, thats Harlan Ellison we just passed!
And every 10 minutes or so we pass him going the other way.
(I have my 35mm camera.)
The picket line stops behind him as Ellison rages at Manny, Who is Nick Counter?!
Who is Nick Counter!?
What are you doing here?
How can you not know who Nick Counter is!?
The haranguing goes on.
Manny hangs his head in shame.
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Finally, Ellison marches on, as does the line.
Nick Counter and we will never forget this is the chief negotiator for the AMPTP.
Cut to an hour later as our shift is about to end.
Always meet your heroes.
Ellison is none the wiser.
Like everything, we are laughing about it all day long.
We gave them our all as we did all things.
It was a momentous moment marked only by agreeing that, yes, we should have lunch.
I had no idea I had just met the funniest, most steadfast person I would ever know.
I was trying to enter a strange new world.
Manny was in the exact same situation.
We were beyond naive, which is why we were here in the first place.
Hollywood was just east of Timbuktu where we came from.
But it turned out we both had one enormous connection we had each other.
We realized something invaluable; we could control things with our writing.
In 1990 we both felt boxed in by our credits and the perception of us they created.
Big action films were taking over, and we were obviously not a part of that move.
We knew for a fact that would involve writing a spec.
Wed already done one together but failed at it.
The other, it may have been Manny, agreed to the challenge.
It was certainly not about the money, but the money meant it and we would get noticed.
Forty-five minutes and a lot of laughs later, Manny said, What if a nuclear bomb became sentient?
Another half-hour later he was bouncing back and forth along that phone line like a pinball.
Three months later we sold it for 1 million U.S. dollars, and our lives were changed forever.
Theres no reason why anyone reading should know whatThe Ticking Manwas other than it is part of screenwriting lore.
It was never made, but it made us.
Wed also beaten the system without even trying to beat it.
Thats what friends could do, and our friendship is front and center in the pages of that script.
Friendship is made by choice, of course; it is a love that is whimsical in a way.
No right, no dibs, no claim.
Friendship, it turns out, is unnecessary.
But freely given, it is a beautiful gift to accept and return.
The old haunt seemingly takes years off of us both as we step through the door.
Our careers had evolved in different directions, his mostly in television and mine mostly in film.
Our growing apart professionally was always informed by the fact that we started out growing side-by-side.
Our roots will always be knotted together, and they always nourished our futures.
We just needed to look at each other to know where we came from.
And whenever we drifted too far apart, we would write a script together.
Manny used to say our team efforts were written by Branny Cotland.
A talented caricaturist, Manny even drew a picture of what Branny looked like.
We were best friends after all; we wrote together to be together.
Manny was a comrade and a boon companion.
Striving with him made the impossible seem conquerable.
Because our friendship made it so much damn fun.
Ive laughed more with Manny than with anyone else Ive ever known.
Hes the godfather of my sons.
I would stand alongside Manny anywhere.
I love you, Manny Hector Coto, and I always will.
Brian Helgelandis the Oscar-winning screenwriter ofL.A.
Confidentialwhose writing credits also includePayback, Man on Fire, 42, Robin Hoodand the Oscar-nominatedMystic Riverscript.
His latest screenplay is forthe upcoming Paramount+ filmFinestkind.
