Wassup?

What have I been up to, you ask?



I went through a pretty lame dry spell for a few weeks after coordinating my son's school's talent show (it's over - yay!). I would get to my Final Draft each night, open a file or 2, then stare at the screen until falling asleep, then I'd tuck myself in, swearing that "tomorrow night" I'd write 10 pages of whatever script. that went on for a week or 2.


I feel better now though. I took a drive through my old haunts the other day, namely the street & neighborhood where I grew up. Got me pretty nostalgic. It's funny to see my old house, which has been re-sided with vinyl plus they've added a pool & deck. But I lived a whole life in there. So many memories, lotta good ones, lotta bad, too.


Anyway, I thought to myself - Get your ass in gear, punkass! Ever since I've been on a writing tear. Thus:


Cricket Hill - I still have it in TV pilot form, but I went back and am finishing another feature-film version draft, including some of the better bits from the TV pilot.


The Stand-In - Deep into Act 2 on this one without even realizing it. I thought I was further behind that I am. It's going well, it's high concept comedy stuff, added some funny shit yesterday involving masturbation.


Rainwater - It's going well. I'm taking my time with this one, it's more of an indie script, dark stuff with bits of humor throughout.


Temp'd - I can't wait to finish this one. Pretty out-there comedy about temps robbing an escort service.



Union - I can't spill the plot yet, but it's GOOD.

Plus, I've got about 50 other ideas/scenes/pages of other scripts I want to write, but need to keep my focus on these so I can at least get something completed soon.

Had a request from an l.a. prodicer for my comedy/horror Headshot so I'm polishing that before I send it off. Then waiting to hear about my 2 scripts currently in the quarter-finals at FADE IN, we should find out in April.

And that's it in a nutshell.

Listen to: Arcade Fire (Neon Bible) and Modest Mouse (We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank).

Watch: Friday Night Lights, The Office, 30 Rock.

See: Children on Men - On DVD tomorrow (Tues)!!!

Best Flicks of '06 - Belated

Finally got around to slapping together "best flick" list from last year. I had a lot of catching up to do, and still have more to go. I still haven't seen Babel, The Prestige, The Illusionist, Pan's, Casino Royale, Half Nelson, or the Good Shepard. But I've seen enough to make a decent list. Here:

1. Children Of Men

2. United 93

3. Stranger Than Fiction

4. The Departed

5. Marie Antoinette

6. The Proposition

7. Cars

8. MI:3

Underrated gems - Idiocracy & Slither. Both pretty fun movies, and worth a look.

Not bad for a chick flick - The Holiday.

Some days I like it, some I don't - Brick.

The Worst - V For Vendetta. What a god-awful bore. Also, Art School Confidential, The DaVinci Code & Underworld 2 sucked pretty hard.

What were your faves?

Oh, by the way....

I'm looking outside, and we've got like 6 inches of sleet.

Mother Nature is a Beeyotch.

Rainwater - Excerpt

The following comes from my script, Rainwater. The scene unfolds around Page 9, and is between PJ & Lenny, two friends stuck in the small town of Rainwater. PJ runs his deceased parents bed & breakfast, and Lenny drives a hearse.


INT. DINER - DAY
PJ and Lenny sit at a booth in the quiet diner. ROSE, an old firecracker in her 70s, approaches.

LENNY

Ah, there she is.

ROSE

You flirting with me, Lenny?

LENNY

Always, Rose.

ROSE

Yeah, right. You’re gonna be driving me in that death car of yours soon enough.

She coughs.

LENNY

Maybe slow down on the cigarettes.

ROSE

Been smoking for over fifty years. The problem is my piece-of-shit husband. He pisses me off again I’ll slash his throat.

LENNY

Ah, young love.

ROSE

What do you guys want?

LENNY

Coffee and home fries. I’m on a diet.

Rose scoffs.

PJ

Stack of flapjacks, go heavy on the butter.

Rose nods and walks off, hacking.

LENNY

I met this chick. Can’t tell you her name yet.

PJ

Dude, c’mon. This ain’t the fifth grade.

LENNY

In time my friend. But I can tell you this - smokin’ hot!

PJ

Wonderful.

LENNY

Don’t be all bitter. Lucy’s gone. You had your chance.

PJ

I know she’s gone. It wasn’t meant to be.

LENNY

Because you have no balls. When you gonna get your head out of your ass and get your life in gear, man? She was the one for you. You can’t just sit around Rainwater the rest of your life, running that termite-infested B&B.

PJ

Hey, the termites are the only things holding up the place.

LENNY

It was your Mom’s thing, I get that, but it ain’t for you. She’s probably rolling around in her grave, pissed off because you’re wasting your life.

PJ

I didn’t come here or a lecture. I came for some fucking flapjacks.

Rose approaches with a stack of pancakes.

ROSE

Here’s your fucking flapjacks.

PJ

Wow, that was fast.

ROSE

Table six didn’t eat theirs.

She walks off, coughing. PJ looks at the recycled flapjacks.

Lenny chuckles.

LENNY

Yum.

Vs.

Ok, which do you use, Final Draft or Movie Magic? By placing in the Final 10 of the Screenwriting Showcase Awards, they are sending me Movie Magic as one of my prizes.

I've been an avid Final Drafter for a long time now, and don't have any real plans to change that. But at least now I'll have some kind of back-up if my computer implodes/Final Draft disk melts.

Which do you guys/gals prefer, and Y?

Three Years For A Healthy White Baby? What Else Ya' Got?

Updates:

Contests - Eagerly awaiting the next phase of Fade In - I have 2 scripts in the quarterfinals - Zucker & A Couple Of Joes. We'll see if they can make it further. Also, I've got A Couple Of Joes in the Screenwriting Showcase Awards where I've made the final 10 - notification of the winner is 3/17. I've already won Movie Magic software, although I've always been a Final Draft guy.

Talent Show - It's over, and I loved doing it. Can't wait until next year. It was nerve-racking, but the kids were truly amazing. Next one will be better now that I've got this experience under my belt. Can't say enough about the kids, amazing, amazing, amazing. The audience loved it because I kept it short.

TV - Watching mostly Heroes, The Office, Lost & Jericho. Heroes is 1st- Season-Lost good, we'll see if they can keep up the crisp writing and cool stories.

Music - Latest CD's we're spinning are Peter, Bjorn & John as well as Silversun Pick-Ups. Just got the new Arcade Fire - DAMN they are GOOD. Buy The Neon Bible.

Scripts - now that the talent show is done, I can re-focus. I've got 4 scripts I've been bouncing between. I'd like to finish Union and The Stand-In, but I'm also eager to finish Westville and Rainwater. Rainwater is an older script that I never finished, okay, I never got off page 6, but I've got some great ideas for it and am looking forward to tackling it again.