Stage 30: The Unbelievable True Story

By James A. Rice

STAGE 30 is the TRUE STORY about how I lived inside two major movie studios undetected for THREE YEARS in pursuit of a show biz dream. I was a film and journalism student at California State University, Long Beach but after being kicked out of college for failing a class, I leave Long Beach behind for a dream and find myself on the streets of Hollywood for ten days, growing more and more desperate. A freak occurrence led me to walking into Sunset Gower Studios through an open door of the sound stage where they filmed the TV show Moesha. Once inside the movie studio, I would live high atop the catwalks of STAGE 1 for a few months, getting an audition from Keith Wolfe a casting agent on the lot, placing one of my screenplays on a production office desk of Big Ticket Television and trying to make connections for work. Inside STAGE 1, after hours I used the bathrooms to wash clothes and clean up, but a couple months later after being chased off the lot by armed guards, perplexed on what to do next, I still didn't want to give up. So I did what anyone with a passionate dream would do, I jumped the fence of Paramount Studios later that night. I would end up living inside Paramount for the next THREE YEARS hidden in plain sight, acting like I belonged in this world of actors, but acting not for a paycheck or fame, but to merely survive another day to keep this dream alive. The dream was to finish three screenplays, edited in an office cubicle on the lot and hand them to a few famous movie producers.

During this once in a lifetime trek, I ate from the craft service tables of various TV shows like: Becker, Roswell, Judging Amy, The Amanda Show, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Frasier and the movie, Fifteen Minutes, to name a few. At first, I slept on an elevated outdoor ivy-covered catwalk at the very back of the back lot, one that was attached to Star Trek: Voyager. A year later, I was found out by landscapers trimming the ivy around this perch. As they went to get security, I made STAGE 30, where they film the TV show Soul Train my home, as well as the back lot where they shot The Godfather, Laverne and Shirley, and Little House on The Prairie to name a few.

Inside Paramount Studios offices I took up a desk of an employee named Bob Stanton and worked on my scripts before hours on his computer. I would get there a few hours before the start of the 9 a.m. workday and leave just before the rush of employees filled the office. I took on many jobs as a volunteer, but to the security staff and many other Paramount Employees I came into contact every day, it became a juggling act to keep these perceived "roles" in the air. To some, like a security guard named Tom, I was the promotions guy named Bob Stanton, to others on the set of Becker, I was an assistant editor for Judge Judy, and yet to others...a professional extra, a reporter for Newsweek on the movie Fifteen Minutes, a young up and coming actor, an intern, a grip, and young screenwriter to name a few. STAGE 30 is about being young and going for the dream no matter the cost. Imagine being thrust into a world of movie stars, Hollywood icons, and millionaire moguls, yet no one knows you are homeless? This is quite simply a story that has never happened before and one that will likely never happen again.

These are just some of the highlights that took place during a most electric time, a time of comeuppance and a time I will never, ever forget. It truly changed my life.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0HD26DV3B
• ISBN13: 9798191029771
• Release Date: August 2026
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 246 Pages
• Weight: 0.54 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.1" x 7.8"