How we cite our quotes: All quotations are from Sunset Boulevard.
Quote #1
JOE: As I drove back towards town, I took inventory of my prospects. They now added up to exactly zero. Apparently, I just didn't have what it takes, and the time had come to wrap up the whole Hollywood deal and go home. Maybe if I hocked all my junk there'd be enough for a bus ticket back to Ohio, back to that thirty-five-dollar-a-week job behind the copy desk of the Dayton Evening Post, if it was still open. Back to the smirking delight of the whole office. All right, you wise guys—why don't you go out and take a crack at Hollywood? Maybe you think you could? Oh-ho!
Joe's the classic example of someone who went out to Hollywood to make it big and ended up getting beat down. Fiction and movies seem to have lots of desperate stories like this. In the process, Joe's become more cynical—he says he just wants to make a living and cares less about the quality of his writing. At this point, he's about to give up, but fate intervenes.
Quote #2
BETTY: Perhaps the reason I hated Bases Loaded is that I knew your name. I'd always heard you had some talent.
JOE: That was last year. This year I'm trying to earn a living.
Joe doesn't think that good writing can make it in Hollywood—he's been convinced that he needs to pander to audiences in order to get well-paying work. But he's still not having any success, unfortunately. Now that we think of it, maybe the pandering is the problem?
Quote #3
NORMA: And you have written pictures, haven't you?
JOE: Sure have. The last one I wrote was about cattle rustlers. Before they were through with it, the whole thing played on a torpedo boat.
Joe's sick of having his ideas twisted around by the studios, and he's decided to just play the game and churn out hack-work. Of course, this doesn't work either, and he runs out of money—part of the predicament that's led him to Norma's mansion.