in 1977 and 1978 southern was embroiled in a lengthy and chaotic attempt to make a film version of william s. burroughs' novel "junky", but the project collapsed due to the erratic behaviour of its principal backer, jules stein. in august 1978 southern wrote a skit called "haven can wait" that was performed by jon voight, allen ginsberg, bobby seale, and rip torn at a benefit for abbie hoffman.