Adaptation

I first wrote Surviving Edwards Avenue in 2004, as a companion to another script which almost won at Austin '03, called Cricket Hill. I liked Surviving Edwards Avenue, sent it out, it was a bit more edgy that Cricket Hill, but I had no luck with it. So away it went - until this January, when I decided to write a book. A novel. I had so many damn scripts written (55) that I said to myself, "Self, just adapt one of your screenplays."

And now, Surviving Edwards Avenue is almost complete, I'm at 40,000+ words now, working on the last chapters. It's funny, writing a book. For years I've been streamlining thoughts and stories, showing the actions instead of saying. And now, obviously, it's the oppposite.

And I love it.

I can really get inside the characters' heads, and tell the reader EXACTLY what they're thinking.

As I was writing the novel version, something was changing with the story. When I first wrote the screenplay 6 years ago, it was much more comedic, but as I write the novel version, it's less so. I find myself scaling back the humor, going in more for the drama of the situation (the plot is 3 kids dealing with their parents divorce). What seemed irreverant before now has taken a turn, but it feels right. And certain things that happened in the screenplay seem ridiculous now so I've had to do a bit of plot modification. Actually, if I ever did want to send out the screenplay again, I'd have to do some major tweaking & re-writing - and I only really discovered this when I started the book.

The plan is to finish it this week, let it digest a bit, then go through it and fix what needs fixin.' Not the usual way I'd suggest handling a re-write - writing a book first - but it's working this time, and I can't wait to finish it.

Creating Moments

In my most recent script, Zombie, NJ, I tried to make a certain sequence really stand out. I tried to make it a moment to remember. I could have written it pretty easily, a quick scene that gets the characters from Point A to Point B.

But I wanted it to be memorable. Like one of those sequences that you'll remember as your favorite part, sequence or whatever. It's a scene in a crawlspace, the main characters (three 15 year olds) are hiding under the house as zombies rip apart the house above, searching for fresh meat. I tried as best I could to draw out the tension (the horror above them, their current dark & wet surroundings). On the page, I made it last about 2 pages, when it could have been easily half that. It's my favorite scene in the screenplay.

In the last year, we had some fine moments in theaters:

(500) Days Of Summer - You Make My Dreams sequence.

Up In The Air - The scene where they're firing the older employee via teleconference, and he's actually in the adjoining office.

The Hurt Locker - Many moments here, but one that sticks with me is the sniper scene - Bigelow really draws out the drama here. I think the scene was like 15 minutes long, ever wrending second was amazing.

Up - The opening montage.

There are certainly others, but you get my point. When I started writing I didn't pay as much attention to these things, was simply worried about dialogue, structure, story (things we obviously need to worry about!) but after the script reader/agent/assistant/Spielberg puts the script down, you want to give them another reason to pick up the phone.

Screenwriting 2009 - Fail

Why? Because I only finished 1 script. Zombie, NJ. Don't get me wrong, I like the script, but there are SO many other ideas/scripts already started that I want to get into my Final Draft folder. I did finish a decent re-write of another (Goombah, formerly called Family Values).

And the contests/festivals/lost causes that I entered went nowhere - do they ever?

I had about 5-6 script requests that I sent out. Nada. I'm still waiting to hear about one of those, but it's been 3 months, so I'd call that a wash.

I'm looking at new places to list scripts. I've had stuff on Inktip & Movies-bytes for years. Where else is there to list? I've come across a few sites here and there but I dunno.

I did try to start a new script for 2010. Yes, I still have the 20+ other ideas in my head & hard drive, but I thought a new year should bring a new script. Maybe it'll be the one.

'09

Best TV of 2009 - Breaking Bad; Modern Family; Glee; 30 Rock; The Office; Mad Men; Lost, Dexter; The United States Of Tara; The Middle; Big Love; True Blood; Men Of A Certain Age; Fringe, It's Always Sunny In Philly

Best Songs of 2009 - Youth Group - Friedrichstrasse; East Hundred - Plus Minus; Passion Pit - Moth's Wings; Temper Trap - Sweet Disposition; Jason Lytle - Yours Truly, the Commander; Kings Of Leon - Notion; The Dears - Money Babies; Julian Plenti - Unwind; One Day International - Not Over You; Matt & Kim - Daylight (for me, Daylight is my song of the year).

Best Albums - Passion Pit - Manners; Matt & Kim - Grand; Youth Group - The Night Is Ours, East Hundred - Passenger

Best Movies of '09 - The Hurt Locker - Up In The Air - (500) Days Of Summer - Fantastic Mr. Fox - Up - I Love You, Man - Where The Wild Things Are - District 9 - Star Trek - The Hangover - Away We Go.

You?

WTF - Why the Face?

Ok, back.

So, what's up? Well......

I finished a script. Not a huge deal but it's my first completed script in a year after dozens of stops & starts. Anyways, it's called Zombie, NJ, and it's about, well, that. I like it, it's fun, goofy, topical, and has some pretty cool sequences. My first real popcorn script you could say.

I started to tweet. Sorry for the lack of tweets, I'll try to be a better tweeter. http://twitter.com/PatRodio

Here is another Twitter page I follow - http://twitter.com/KipKoopa

I'm on Facebook still, and have uploaded gallons of pix from the past movie productions I shot a few years ago. It's fun to look back, but I do miss shooting stuff.

Movies I've seen of late - Where The Wild Things Are - A Beauty. Wow.

Planet 51 - Cute, has some stuff for the adults, but a decent kid flick.

Want to see: Men Who Stare At Goats, Up In The Air, Lovely Bones, Greenburg (Noah Baumbach's next film) and Fantastic Mr. Fox.

Good TV - Modern Family. Glee. Bored To Death. Sunny/Philly.

Listening to: The Dears. Julian Plenti. Jason Lytle. MGMT. Passion Pit.

2009 Summer Movies

Haven't seen Food Inc, 500 Days Of Summer, The Cove or District 9 yet, so they could make a best-of list, but for now......

The Best........

The Hurt Locker - Stunning, tense. With top of the line performances from Jeremy Renner and Anthony Mackie; awesome, taut direction from Kathryn Bigelow; and a bad-ass script.

Up - Beautiful. Bittersweet. Devastating. Inspiring.

The Hangover - Simply put, funny as Hells.

Star Trek - Fun, exciting - what the new Star Wars trilogy should have been. Wish George Lucas had JJ Abrahms direct the new trilogy.


The Not-So-Best......

Ice Age 3 - Pretty harmless, but pointless stuff.

GI Joe - Actually had some fun sequences, and there's a great movie to be had here, somewhere. But Tatum as Duke? Duke's not a mumbler.

Funny People - I liked the look inside of comedians lives (though we've already seen it before), and it had some funny moments, but overall, it was hard to get into. Sandler was almost impossible to like/root for, and he did a great job actually with the role, but still, he was just too much of a prick.

Night At The Museum 2 - Eh, it was okay. Again, kinda pointless story-wise, but had some good moments here and there.

Could You Describe The Ruckus?

When I heard of John Hughes' passing yesterday, it really hit me. And when you sit back and think about how his writing has shaped us, our movies, everything, it sorta blows your mind.

What I always liked about his work was he was writing for us. And he knew us. He felt like he was one of us.

Just think about the movies he's written (and some he directed)...Mr. Mom, National Lampoon's Vacation, Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Planes Trains & Automobiles, She's Having A Baby, Weird Science, Pretty In Pink, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Some Kind Of Wonderful, The Great Outdoors, Uncle Buck, Home Alone, National Lampoon's European Vacation, Christmas Vacation, Curly Sue, Career Opportunities, etc.

"That's why they call them crushes. If they were easy, they'd call them something else." Sixteen Candles

For obvious reasons (and the name of this blog/current post) one of my faves is The Breakfast Club. It's an almost perfect film for me. The characters are priceless, and the writing is spot on. Terrific pacing, too.

It starts out as fun, a bit of a romp, but then quickly becomes something else - something meaningful.

Something about life.

It's how teens think, act. What they do. The shit they have to deal with. Popularity. Violence. Geekdom. Pressure. Love. Hate.

And you can see how he loved these characters. Because he gave them hearts. He gave all of his characters heart. I mean, who hasn't thought about life, what they're going to be, how are they going to get out of the funk they're in, etc.

Even Ferris Bueller, with all it's fun and attitude (and dance scenes), we think about what's ahead, and what we're leaving behind.

And then he grew up, and gave us Planes Traines & Automobiles, She's Having A Baby, some of his most accomplished works, in my opinion.

In Planes, he pulls a similar switcharoo. We start with Steve Martin dealing with the New Buddy From Hell, and how that evolves into a true friendship. And heartbreak, too, when we discover John Candy's character is basically homeless, mourning the loss of his beloved wife. That's heavy stuff for a comedy.

She's Having A Baby. The pressure, the panic, of fatherhood. Did I do the right thing? What am I doing? I'm going to be a father! But when it comes down to it, when his wife and baby are in distress, life slaps Kevin Bacon in the face - nothing else matters but them - and he wakes up, ready for fatherhood, to be a better husband. Funny? Maybe not, but real? Yup.

Even though his career seemed to be winding down (he wrote numerous screenplays under an alias - the Beethoven movies, a few Home Alone direct-to-Tv sequels), his resume is painfully impressive, and who knows what he still may have had up his sleeve.

Dear Mr. Vernon: We accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday in detention for whatever it is we did wrong, but we think you're crazy for making us write an essay telling you who we think we are. You see us as you want to see us: in the simplest terms, in the most convenient definitions. But what we found out is that each one of us is a brain, and an athlete, and a basket case, a princess, and a criminal. Does that answer your question?

Sincerely yours,

The Breakfast Club.

Throwing $50 out the window

I wanted to write this on June 8th, but, well, I didn't. But I wanted to share.

6/8 was the deadline for Austin. And I just HAD to send something. I had a few choices I was thinking about sending a month prior, but life sped up to the weekend prior to the late deadline and there I was, with nothing sent yet. So I decided to send The Stand-In.

So I went to print it on Friday night, thinking I can mail it Saturday the 6th. But I discovered I was out of ink.

Fuck.

So, after work on Saturday I buy ink. Head home, print the mofo out. But I don't have 3 hole punch paper (I swore I did), and can't find my 3-hole puncher. Post office is closed anway so I gotta wait 'til Monday.

Monday the 8th.

6:30am. Rise. Make breakfast for my kids.

7:00am. Get spatula, scrape kids out of bed.

8:15am. Drop the kids off at school, head to work, take script and entry materials with me.

9:00am. Start working. No time to mail script yet.

12:00. First inspection (I'm a home inspector) runs long. I know my office has a 3 hole punch so I run over there, 3-hole punch The Stand In, then realize I still need card stock covers. But I'm running late and head straight to 2nd inspection.

NOTE: It's at this point of my day that I wish Austin joined the 00's and accepted e-mail submissions.

4:00pm. Inspection ends. Hit Staples to grab card stock. Attach card stock, head to Post Office.

4:53pm. While in line at Post Office I make the mistake at glancing at the script (don't do this). I see two things that I would immediately want to change. Not typos, but poor wording.

On the 1st page.

No time for corrections, I mailed it off.

Hectic day aside, my thoughts spin around me. Did I pick the right script? I thought it was a good comedy, but good enough to place? I just don't know. I got my notice from BlueCat regarding the quarterfinals (didn't make it). I wasn't even in the top 987,645,464 quarter-finalists. And what did I send? The Stand-In.

So, Austin looks bleak. Enjoy the $50 bucks, Austin. Buy yourself something pretty.

Where Are We?

Hello? Fellow bloggers? Where the hell did we go? Are we over the blogging thing? I dunno. I mean, I have time to post, I just don't do it. And it seems like a lot of other bloggers/writers have stopped as well. Not all, of course, but there's been a noticeable drop off.

Are we busy writing? Working the day job? Raising a family? Farting around? Farting?

Writing's been hard to get going. I still have several scripts started and am working on them as I much as I can, I've listed their titles here before. I'll mail out The Stand-In to Austin on Monday, and am waiting on the Bluecat Results (quarterfinals announced soon).

Peace out.

BlueCat Feedback - The Stand-In

Okay, gang, here's the feedback from Bluecat, for my comedy, The Stand-In. My logline is:


Pete, an anti-social loser, hires a male model, Simon, to attend his high school reunion cruise as Pete to "wow" his former classmates. But when Simon falls for Kara, Pete's high school crush, Pete takes matters into his own hands and battles the model for her heart.


The feedback.....


What did you like about this script?

Pete's initial humiliation-by-wedgie is an amusing scene. Pete clearlyseems destined for a life of humiliation and sexual failure; youeffectively set him up as a protagonist who needs to transform himself and his life.

When we jump forward chronologically, you swiftly establish that Pete is still a put-upon individual: his good nature is exploited by his colleagues, who pile their work upon him. His dress sense may have improved (slightly), but he seems no closer to romantic success. Will the impending school reunion enable Pete to correct wrong turns that he's previously taken, or will it just be a reminder of his sexual and social failure as a teenager, a pattern that heappears to be stuck in?

You quickly establish Simon as a rather vacuous, self-absorbed hunk.The scenes in which he feigns concern for the starving Africans before switching to diva-esque behavior between takes are amusing (if a little obvious). The impending reunion sets the main plot in motion:Pete hires Simon to impersonate him, creating the impression that he'ssucceeded in life. It's a premise that has comic potential. We already anticipate that things won't go quite according to plan; is Pete's aspiration (to impress everyone with "his" (Simon's) good looks and material success) a false goal? Perhaps accepting himself and being unashamed will prove to be his true goal.

You derive some farcical energy from the scenes on the boat. You quickly show Pete's plan coming unravelled: Simon wants Kara for himself, while Pete discovers that Kara actually had a crush on theold, socially-maladjusted him; he'd have been better off appearingunder his own guise rather than that of the fictitious "Chuck". Of course, Kara hates liars, so he feels compelled not to come forward immediately (a narrative contrivance that is just about convincing).

You tighten the screws on Pete as Simon appears to be successfully winning Kara's heart. How will he undo the confusion he's caused? Can he hope to win Kara away from Simon? Will the (unavoidable) revelation of his true identity anger Kara when it finally arrives?

You bring Pete to an appropriate end point, as he discovers some home truths: that he should have confidence in himself as he is, that the bullies who tormented him were fallible people with insecurities of their own, and that being himself is the route to success with Kara (well, that and a good makeover). Having a fitting end point for your protagonist is a good attribute in a script; so long as you're aware of the "lesson" your protagonist needs to learn, the false goal they're aiming for and the true goal they need to recognize, you havea strong "core" to the script. If things go a little awry in the second act (and they do, somewhat), it's just a matter of remedying this. The spine of the script remains strong.

What do you think needs work?


It's problematic to specify too many songs in the script; you may not be able to secure the rights to use them. It's best to refer to generic types of song if it's absolutely necessary (in the karaoke scene, for instance), rather than being specific. The karaoke sequence itself is overlong; it should only take one song to establish that Pete's unabashed taste for cheesy music endears him to Kara.

Why is Simon so determined to seduce Kara? He's an odiously self-absorbed and cocksure character, obviously, but he has a vested interest in keeping Morty (and, by extension, Pete) happy. It should be easy for Pete to persuade Simon to follow orders and make him lookgood without threatening his relationship with Kara. You need to establish convincingly why Simon goes "rogue" and pursues his own agenda at the risk of angering Morty (who holds the keys to his career in his hands, of course). The mechanics of the plot need a little attention here.

Some of the contests between Simon and Pete (the relay race and the rock-climbing contest) seem a little unnecessary. The second act feels slightly dramatically flaccid. Once we know that Pete has a circle of friends who are prepared to help him defeat Simon, we never feel that Simon is a serious threat to Pete's happiness. Write to increase the possibility that Kara will fall for Simon; make him more of a real romantic threat. Deepen Kara as a character; she feels slightly one-dimensional, a "prize" for Pete to win rather than a distinctive personality in her own right.

Best of 2008

Ok, I'm way late on this but haven't updated in a while. Working on a few scripts and have finally settled on one, a comedy called Born Again Christian. Act 1 is done and I'm onto Act 2.

So here's my "Bests" lists of 2008, music & film. Music-wise is not an order, there were several important albums to me, hard to pick a best.

The Airborne Toxic Event - An amazing debut, and every song on this album is terrific. And the album-ender, Innocence, might just be one of the best songs I've heard in years. If I picked a number 1 this would be it.

Keane - Their 3rd album, Spiraling. A little more energetic than their 1st two, just about everysong on here is solid. And like Airborne Toxic, it has an amazing closer - Love Is The End.

James - Hey Ma - Great, great, great from start to finish. Waterfall is a stand out.

The Killers - Day & Age - This grew on me, and now it's almost always on. The songs A Dustland Fairytale & Spaceman are simply wonderful. Wow.
Coldplay - Viva La Vida & Prospekt's March - Both the album & EP brought us some amazing songs. Lovers In Japan, Life In Technicolor (1 & 2), Lost, Strawberry Swing....

Radiohead - In Rainbows - Not their best album, for me that's The Bends, but it had some amazing moments, none better than Videotape.

Weezer - Not incredible but solid. It has two wonderful songs, The Angel & The One as well as The Greatest Man That Ever Lived.

Sigur Ros - No, I don't know what the singer is singing, but the music is powerful and inspiring.

Charlatans UK - You Cross My Path - Welcome back, guys. A solid return to form.

MGMT - Time To Pretend - This is a grand album, with songs that sneak up on you. And just try NOT to dance to the song, Time to Pretend.

Youth Group - The Night Is Ours - they've still never topped their amazing debut but this is still a fine album. A fave is Dying At Your Own Party.

Best Flicks -

1. Let The Right One In - The direction. Cinematography. Acting. The snow. The blood. And the pool scene. Whoa. Currently being re-made by us silly Americans, which is a shame.

2. Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist - Beyond a fun, cool soundtrack is the smart script, directing and wonderful acting. It feels like you're there, because you'd had this kind of night. The night that nothing yet everything happens, and the night you'll never forget.

3. In Bruges - Stellar. A dark, pitch black comedy. Ralph Fiennes, Colin Farrell and ....are at the top of their game, with a cool biting script.

4. Milk - Fantastic.

5. The Wrestler - Mickey Rourke & Evan Rachel Wood sitting by the ocean. That's truth.

6. The Dark Knight - Yup, Ledger is amazing, and even if he hadn't died tragically, he still should have won that Oscar. But more than that, this is a great film.

7. Role Models -It could have been a dumb, thoughtless romp. It wasn't.

8. Wall-E - A beauty.

9. Forgetting Sarah Marshall - Same as with Role Models. Coulda be a waste but it really rocked.

10. Burn After Reading - not the Coens' best, but it's tight, smart and fun/fucked up.

Coulda been good but was really just Ok......Benjamin Button - Yeah, it was pretty much EXACTLY like Forrest Gump, plot-point for plot-point. Characters, too. Same writer as well. And dialogue that mirrored each other. ("My name is Forrest. Forrest Gump"...."My name is Benjamin. Benjamin Button")...BUT it still told an interesting story.

My main problem was it was too cold. Some critics applauded because Fincher left out some of the shmaltz. Well, having a heart and pouring on the shmaltz are 2 different things. The movie lacked a heart.

BACK

It's been a weird fucking year. 2008. It can go, can't wait 'til it does.

I thought 2007 was a weird one.

I wish I had 2007 back.

It's also hard to believe that 2008 is already over. I have these mini-flashbacks of events that happened this year that seemed like they JUST happened.

Bascially, life is moving r e a l l y fast. We all know this, of course, but it's amazing how fast it does go when you think about crap like that.

Scripts:

I was trying to get my horror script done but my head/heart/guts just aren't into it.

I had 3 script requests before the holidays - The Money Shot, The Stand-In, and A Couple Of Joes. Sent them out, hope to hear something in January. Fingers crossed.

Bloom/Separation Of Nate - Haven't gotten much done on it lately but an adjustment here, a tweak there.

Westville - Still love this one, and I think it'll be the one I finish next. I've got Act 1 done and I'm happy with it, and I'm well into Act 2. It's a fun script, has elements of Diner & American Graffitti.

Titan - This was my high school drama. Not about a shooting (although it touches on one) but focuses on one kid who is pretty much left behind, bullied, etc, and how his life falls apart. I think a story like this will always be topical - maybe too much so - I'd hate to rip off some story of some poor kid from a current headline.

And I've got about 5-6 others that I look at every now & then, itching to click on the file and getting back to them.

Movies:

Saw some stuff here & there.....

Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist - Loved this. A sweet movie, great performances, and a killer soundtrack.

Burn After Reading - Smart & fun as hell.

Milk - Really well done. Sean Penn was superb, and Gus Van Sant really poured his heart into this.

Let The Right One In - A stunner.

Role Models - Funniest movie of the year of good, funny movies. Also loved Tropic Thunder, but Role Models is better. Jane Lynch is great in support - will someone give this lady an award already?!

The Day The Earth Stood Still - Not horrible.

Changeling - Interesting story. Had the pace of a dead tortoise but was a decent film, just something I'd never really watch again.

Can't wait to see: The Wrestler, Benjamin Button

Happy holidays.

GO!

All Over The Place

Usually, I've got a few scripts open and sorta pop back and forth between them, depending on my mood that day.

Now I'm a mess.

I've narrowed my screenplays down to 2 (that I want to work on). No, wait. 3. Krikey.

One is Bloom (tentative title, we discussed this a few posts ago, and thanks for the input). The other is Temp'd, which is my little crime comedy of sorts. The other is Westville, about love, friendship and odometers.

And now, my books.

Yeah, books.

One is a memoir. Yeah, everybody's got one. Well, so do I, dammit. The other 2 are adaptations of screenplays. Cricket Hill (2nd place comedy at Austin in 2003 - For those of you down there this year, good luck and have fun). The other is Brightsword, which is a fantasy comedy.

I decided to work backwards on these (as opposed to adapting a novel) because:

A. I had bad writer's blockage.
B. Cricket Hill is a hard sell as a feature-script, and is better suited as a TV series (tried that 3 years ago until the company that optioned it went belly-up), or a novel.

But its too much to work on all at once, too much to think about. I know I have to focus on one (ok, maybe 2) so I can stop fartin' 'round and get at least one of these completed soon.

Cool Poster Time

More Union Feedback - Writers On The Storm

I entered my script, Union, into Writers On The Storm and didn't get far. Ok, I got nowhere. They did provide feedback. Here it goes..........

Recommendation: Pass

Strengths/Weaknesses:

There are a lot of fun moments in this script, and a great family dynamic, but the story doesn't quite come together as it should. Characters are so quirky that they have a tendency to feel like caricatures instead of fleshed out people. The pacing of the story drags as a result of the flashbacks and changes in perspective. A good start, but a ways to go.


Reader suggestions:

One of the major concerns of the script is that we're never quite sure who the protagonist is, Hoyt or Barnaby. Barnaby's narrator status makes us lean toward him - the audience is seeing the story from his perspective.

However, the majority of the story centers on Hoyt. This slows the story down. Strengthen pacing by giving the script a stronger conflict, and making sure it sticks to a classic three-act structure, which works well with comedies. Consider eliminating some or all of the flashbacks - we don't need them to understand the family, and they interrupt the narrative.

Work on fleshing out the whole family - give them more flaws, more motivated personality, and more active goals throughout the script.

***At the end of the notes they gave it some scores, it boiled down to Structure, Major & Minor Characters, Title, Premise & Execution being labeled as SO-SO and Dialogue, Style/Voice, Originality, and Commerciality labeled as GOOD.

"So-So." That's a funny critique. They should have a "Neat" or "It was aiight" or "Kinda sucked."

Oh well, onto the next contest/script/query/who knows.

James - Sometimes

Watch:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-j3F6uoHpc

I Sing Myself To Sleep........

The last time I saw James was 1992. Tower Theater in Upper Darby, PA. They were opening for Squeeze, and I got to meet them afterwards as they were hanging out, looking for a cool place to go (we had no interest in Squeeze). Nothing like a little chit-chat with a band you admire. A similar thing happened last week at the Trocadero in Philly.

I got the the concert as the opening band, Unkle Bob, was playing. Good stuff actually, I had no expectations. Never heard of them. Anyhoo, they played and were gone, and soon James began. For those of you who don't know them, their big hit was LAID from many moons ago (it's in most teen movie previews). And yes, I named my teen movie Laid. Ok, anyway...

James played, and they were astonishing. They played all their gems. Sit Down. Sometimes. Born Of Frustration. Seven. Ring the Bells. Say Something........

I love it when a band breaks out a trumpet and violin, then invites the audience to sing the chorus of their tunes. On Sometimes, we all sang the ending chorus for about 5 minutes as the band just watched, smiling. Good stuff.

After the show I decided to check out the overpriced t-shirt section. I asked a dude how much the shirts were. $30 per t-shirt. Man, I used to balk at $20. But he mentioned that Unkle Bob shirts were only $20, and I told him I only had $15 (I truly did). He said they'd accept that. I figured they were an upstart band, and selling merch is a good way for them to make some cash so I gave him my last $15. And it turns out he was the lead singer of the band, out selling t-shirts.

We chatted for a few minutes, mostly small talk, he told me to find them on myspace & facebook.

Now, I understand they're not well known (they did apparently have a song on Grey's Anatomy last year) but sometimes you just can't beat seeing bands in a small venue, rubbing elbows with a possible future rock God.

"Sometimes.....I look in your eyes and see your soul."
James, Sometimes.

New Script Title

Yo. Been a weird Summer, I'll leave it at that.

I'm awaiting word on two screenplay competitions - Austin, which should hopefully announce 2nd rounders/semi finalists soon (this week?) and Writers On The Storm (9/15 - quarter-finalists). Once again, fingers crossed.

By the way, my new profile pic was taken by me in Serbia back in 2000, in a small village outside of Belgrade. He's a neat kid, and there were a bunch of other amazing kids that had gathered around to see the dorky American with his dorky camera. Got some great shots.

So I've been tinkering with a script or two. Kinda settled (but not really - focus, Pat! Focus!) on two - Westville and another that I'll need your help on:

It's about a 30ish year old guy, married with kids. But his wife is leaving him, and his life is unraveling. It's a drama but with some comedic touches.

His name in the script is Nate Bloom. Two titles I'm kicking aroung are: Bloom & The Separation Of Nate.

Which do you guys prefer?

Unless round's funny

Got a few scripts I've been kicking around over the last few months, and as usual, will be starting a new one before the other ones are finished...or even halfway done.

Bluecat Union update - No go for the Semi-finals. Ah, phoey. Guess I'll just have to win at Austin (2nd rounders to be announced at the end of the month - fingers crossed).

Taking a look at some screenplays I started but never finished for a variety of reasons, such as America Inc, Westville, and The Wonderful World Of Wonderworld. All comedies, cause that's my thang.

I started a new screenplay about a month ago that was supposed to be a drama, but couldn't help throwing some comedy at it. Life's funny, what the hell can I do?! That one is called The Separation of Nate. Have an outline for one called Funeral also. So, I may be telling y'all about any number of these soon (hopefully I'll be saying something along the lines of "I finally finished...." or I'll be saying how I just started 6 more new scripts. Who knows. Writers write, so as long as I'm working on something, even with a lack of focus, at least I be writin.'

Still stuck on the new Coldplay, James and Weezer albums, and will be attending the All Points West shebang at Liberty State Park on August 9th with Radiohead headlining. Should be pretty amazing.