Kevin Williamson's art has always imitated his life. Fifteen years after his high school English teacher told him he'd never make it as a writer, he took revenge in his first screenplay, a dark comedy called Killing Mrs. Tingle. The script got optioned, and the failing Los Angeles actor spent his windfall to repay college loans and lease an Infiniti. But Tingle languished, and by 1995 Williamson was facing the cruel truth: he was not a rising star but a 30-year-old dog walker and word-processing temp, with escalating debt and an old teacher who might have been right.
Then one night...