It Chooses You

In the summer of 2009, Miranda July was struggling to finish writing the screenplay for her much-anticipated second film. During her increasingly long lunch breaks, she began to obsessively read the PennySaver , the iconic classifieds booklet that reached everywhere and seemed to come from nowhere. Who was the person selling the Large leather Jacket, $10? It seemed important to find outor at least it was a great distraction from the screenplay. Accompanied by photographer Brigitte Sire, July crisscrossed Los Angeles to meet a random selection of PennySaver sellers, glimpsing thirteen surprisingly moving and profoundly specific realities, along the way shaping her film, and herself, in unexpected ways. Elegantly blending narrative, interviews, and photographs with Julys off-kilter honesty and deadpan humor, this is a story of procrastination and inspiration, isolation and connection, and grabbing hold of the invisible world. While writing the script for her 2011 film *The Future*, Miranda July sought inspiration from the most unlikely of places: A weekly classified ads booklet. *It Chooses You* includes a series of interviews the author conducted with people who placed ads for various items or services, along with short snippets concerning her writing process for *The Future* plus some autobiographical notes. The book also includes photographs by Brigitte Sire, who accompanied July for the interviews. L.A. film director, screenwriter, actor, performance artist, and author, takes to the streets to meet the folks advertising their cheap wares in the local "PennySaver" classifieds shopper. Their stories are humorous, intriguing, and sometimes moving, and ultimately, surprisingly helpful in shaping the film she is trying to complete