There are more ways than ever to listen to History Daily ad-free.

Listen with Wondry Plus in the Wondry app.

As a member of NoisorPlus at noisor.com or in Apple Podcasts,

or you can get all of History Daily plus other fantastic history podcasts at IntoHistory.com.

Thank you. It's December 1, 1977, at a movie theater in London, England. Cameras flash as John Carpenter and Deborah Hill make their way through a crowd of elegantly dressed actors, producers, and critics.

No one pays attention to the two young Americans. John is tall and rail-fin with a dark,

bushy mustache and long, unruly hair. Deborah is shorter, with frizzy blonde hair. They're holding

hands, clinging to each other in the excited mass of unfamiliar faces.

The London Film Festival is underway, and everyone around seems to be toasting successes and

making new friends.

But John and Deborah feel out of place, even though they're about to walk into the premiere

of their own movie.

Arriving at the theater doors, they walk past the poster for assault on Precinct 13.

It shows a group of armed men climbing through a shattered window.

At the bottom are the words written and directed by John Carpenter.

It's a thrill for John and Debra to see those words.

But if anything, it undersells how much work they put into the movie.

John didn't just write and direct the film. He also scored it and edited it with Deborah's help.

Entering the lobby, John and Deborah finally see a familiar face. Erwin Yablons, the movie's

distributor. He rushes up and shakes their hands. Erwin is short, bald, and bursting with energy.

Without him, it's likely that no one would have seen John and Deborah's film, but he took a risk

and managed to get assault on Precinct 13 onto the festival circuit. And now he tells John and

...