he farce show
‘I COULD FEEL MY SANITY SLIDE AWAY FROM ME'
When TV writer Jane Bussmann sought her fortune in LA, she ended up falling in love with a peacekeeper in Uganda. Anna Millar hears a tale of libel and kidnapping
‘ ou know you’ve arrived when Britney =
Spears snubs you and Nicole Richie congratulates you.” Journalist and comedy writer Jane Bussmann is smiling as she peruses the LA stomping ground. which so mercilessly provides fodder for her memoir. The Worst Date liver. The premise for the book — subtitled ‘War Crimes. Hollywood Heart-throbs and Other Abominations: A Lying. Cheating. Stealing Quest for Love‘ — is simple. A Brit journalist (Bussmann) journeys to Hollywood to change the world. develops a crush on a high profile peacekeeper and heads to Uganda in search of love. There. she inadvertently becomes a force for good. uncovering a war crime in the process. Were it not for Bussmann‘s gregarious ability to
spin a yarn with such honest. self-deprecating ' verbosity. it would be easy to believe her tome was
little more than a work of fiction. ‘I hear what you’re saying.’ laughs Bussmann, ‘but the joy of LA La Land. is that there‘s never any need to make it up: it does the work for you.‘ Uninspired by the ‘reality’
jobs she was getting in Britain following successful
stints writing for The Fast Show. Smaek the Party and .
Brass Eye. Bussmann foraged across the pond. in
early 2000. in search of enlightenment. ‘It was the
age of reality TV in Britain and the idea was that it
was the future for us all. The jobs just kept getting
worse and worse. so I nohly got on a plane to Hollywood thinking I could change it all.‘
The road to ‘grown-up’ journalism was. she admits. a little sketchy. From an accidentally libelous frisson with Ashton Kutcher to constructing pages of lifestyle
32 THE LIST 25 Jun—9 Jul 2009
pap about LA’s elite. Bussmann’s raison d’étre became filing puff pieces. which she describes with 3 reckless abandon. She merrily balks at the memories.
‘lt felt like the only job I could get was interviewing the likes of Britney Spears for women‘s magazines. I
could feel my sanity slide away from me.’
Then fate intervened. While flicking through a copy Q
of Vanity Fair she spotted a story about renegade
peacekeeper. John Prendergast. It was ‘love’ at first sight. ‘I saw this man — the most handsome man I had : ever seen — and I thought, “I‘m going to make you 3
famous and then I‘m going to make you marry me".
And so Bussmann followed him to Uganda. So far so Hollywood. except that by the time Bussmann had : arrived. Prendergast had left the country. Undeterred
and in search of a story. she would go on to discover
— albeit accidentally -— an all-too-real war crime . involving hundreds of kidnapped children. all of ;
which is chronicled in the book and successful stage show. Bussmann '3‘ Holiday.
Plans are already afoot for a film version. the script 3
for which Bussmann is currently working on. Indeed.
she may appear to be one of Hollywood‘s prime 7
naysayers. but she doesn’t look set to journey back
across the pond anytime soon. ‘There‘s always the ? feeling that there‘s another great story to tell. you §
know. . . Besides maybe. just maybe. I’m a “Tina
Turner" and enjoy getting the crap kicked out of me ;
fora living. Who knows'."
' The Worst Date Ever is published by Macmillan
on Fri 3 Jul.
www.list.co.uk/books
Hit >l<
* James Robert-on The Scottish writer. poet and publicist, famed for works such as The Testament of Gideon Mack, holds a session in the National Library of Scotland to discuss his literary influences as part of the Oxfam Bookfest. National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh, Tue 7 Jul.
It Jane Buulnan See preview. left. Macmillan.
* Grant Morrison It Frank Gum Where does Batman go when Bruce Wayne is no more? Grant Morrison decided to enlist the services of one of the finest comic book artists in the business in Frank Quitely to help put a new spin on the Dark Knight and his sidekick, while also creating new outlandish and exciting adventures for the crime- flghting duo. See review. page 33. DC.
It [wan Homson A discussion of new book Menage. with Rodge Glass in Glasgow, but solo in Edinburgh. Waterstone's, Glasgow, Wed 8 Jul; Waterstone’s, Edinburgh, Thu 9 Jul.
all Quintin Jardlno Former journalist and political spin- doctor Jardine meets fans and signs copies of his latest Edinburgh based detective novel Fatal Last Words. Borders Books, Glasgow, Sat 27 Jun; Borders Books, Edinburgh, Sun 28 Jun.
1! Movlng On Up With the Women’s Library moving to the Mitchell in 2010, organisers are holding a discussion at the Transition Cafe to talk about plans after the move and want views and opinions from the audience. Women's Library at the Mitchell Library, Glasgow, Thu 25 Jun.