Get rich slowly.

I think I've reached that level of unemployment where I have to stop buying things.

This sucks because we're still working on our new apartment, and all I want before Christmas is that bedside table lamp from Target that my roommate also has. That isn't weird if we have the same bedroom furniture, is it? I like to think it ties the whole apartment together.

In a very real way, I've only worked one payed week since moving to Michigan, the week I was bumped up to 2nd AD during the July film. My bank statements are no longer so... reassuring. There are several ways to deal with this --

1. Buy less stuff. This also means going out to eat less and buying fewer mint mochas, which I didn't think I did with great frequency... but then again I looked at my debit card usage over the past month. Huh. That's interesting.

2. Get a job. Well duh. The thing is I'm still waiting for Big Hollywood Movie to come to town. I suspect they're still in Chicago shooting, because they're a Big Hollywood Movie and they can destroy their budget by staying over schedule in one location for a month. However, I do not have a big budget to wait for them. I'm going to use every method of information extraction I know -- and I watched all of Alias -- to see if they're still planning on coming to Detroit, when, and how much longer I can wait for them. I *hate* to consider other jobs, because this is a resume show-stopper job, but student loans wait for no one. Not even Big Hollywood Producer/Directors to finally get their act together with their schedule.

3. Ask for handouts. Just kidding! But if I do I'll have to get a puppy. People are always more sympathetic if they are getting two sets of puppy dog eyes.

On the other hand, I feel like I've never been committed to my writing so determinedly. [Not sure how that always translates into productivity, but the feelings sure are nice.] Maybe it's because I'm starting to be desperate to do that and that alone for a living. Unfortunately, no matter how furiously I start to crank out content, any sort of financial result will be in the far distance future. Why are there no writing get rich quick schemes?

UPDATE: Just finished internet stalking. Production on Big Hollywood Movie in Detroit is closing down. Thanks, BHM, for leading me on, for not returning my phone calls or emails, for being a disorganized mess that wasted my time AND ruined my travel plans. How is it that some of the top professionals in this business can be so UNprofessional?

Restart.

Yesterday was sucktastic.

I'm making myself feel better by skipping morning exercise, making myself pancakes, and reading excessive amounts of Hyperbole and a Half.

Also, I wanted to share this excellent list from Nitsuh Abebe of reasons why not to date a writer, modified from a list of reasons to date a writer. I'm still incredulous that such a list as the original existed. Some of my favourites are --

7. Writers are smart. The moment you realize this is not true, your relationship with a writer will develop a significant problem.
13. Writers will teach you cool new words. This is possibly true! We may also expect you to remember them, correct your grammar, and look pained after reading mundane notes you’ve left for us.
16. Writers communicate in a bunch of different ways. But mostly writing. Hope you don’t like talking on the phone — that shit is rough.

Check 'em all out. Read some Hyperbole and a Half. And have some pancakes.

So in Love.

I wish talent was communicable. I wish if you could just be close enough to a person, their genius could travel through ions and particles and zap you into similar levels of ingenuity.

I was in the presence of Aaron Sorkin today.

I got a tip that he was going to be doing a lecture for the film students today. I asked for details. Found out time and place 20 minutes before the Q&A started. It's wonderful to be an alumnus. At which point I jumped in my car, found a parking spot, and walked like a flat footed crazy person to the lecture hall. I was NOT going to miss this opportunity. I was ready to park illegally and suffer a ticket if I had to.

I saw two professors, a couple old classmates, oh, and did I mention AARON SORKIN? I was twenty feet away from Aaron Sorkin. Breathing was... difficult. Not only was Aaron Sorkin there, but so were Jesse Eisenberg and Armie Hammer. There was a showing of The Social Network last night [aw, which I missed], and today they were doing a Q&A [which I managed to get myself to]. They all were so excellent.

A lot of the discussion focused on the movie [which I will probably go see now], but Aaron [oohh, he told a student to call him "Aaron" not "Mr. Sorkin." There's nothing as thrilling as when someone you really admire tells you to call them by their first name] did mention that he watches ESPN to procrastinate just as much as the ordinary writer, that the final draft varied little from the first draft [effective prewriting, maybe?], and that Mr. Fincher did 99 takes of the opening scene.

Oh man. Aaron Sorkin.

I was in cloud nine all day long. Screenwriters are really the loveliest people. I still maybe can't process the fact. Aaron Sorkin. Me. [100 other people.] Same room.

If you are interested in MY take on Facebook, check out the short I made -- Join This Group?

For anyone who's following my celebrity count I've got Pamela Gray, Tom McCarthy, Aaron Sorkin, David Koepp, Ed Helm, Carrie Fisher, Anne Hathaway, Sam Waterson, George Lucas, and the back of Joshua Jackson's head. Well, maybe about that last one. I wish they were trading cards.

I watched Castle tonight. I'm thinking about spec-ing it. Castle hosts a poker game with three other blockbuster writers. James Patterson included. They bust his chops for only putting out one novel a year. I wish I hosted poker games and cocktail parties with famous writers who would ruthlessly tease me into productivity. Wish I knew James Patterson.

Sell Out

I like to juggle several projects at once. I heard once that if, as a writer, you have to choose between working on the only project you have going and not writing, you'll choose not writing. However, if you have to choose between working on this project or that project or not writing [still], you are much more likely to be productive. With the former you have a 50-50 chance of being productive. With the latter you have a 66-33 chance [or, as HW Guy said, 25-25-50. It's still 50-50. I disagree] of getting something done.

I said the other day that I have an index card with my list of projects taped next to my light switch. There are five projects on that list. I try to work on at least two a day in some capacity.

Blog posts do not count.

Today I reread "Keys to the Garden." As per most writing advice I've ever heard, once I finished Draft #3, I put away the script for a while. It's riddled with holes and inconsistencies and scenes that made me cringe while I was writing. But I put it away and didn't think about it. Since it's been about a month since I celebrated the promise of rewrite #4, I had to take time to reacquaint myself with the story. I took myself to a coffee shop, ordered a mint mocha [because the only way to drink coffee is when it's disguised as something else], and reread the whole script with minimal interruptions.

I tried not to make a lot of notes, or even any judgments. I jotted down a handful of things that I wanted to chance on a legal pad as I went, crossed out a few extraneous words, but for the most part, I just reabsorbed my story. The work of actually wrestling with it will probably start with notecarding [AGAIN] as I rework some plot problems before I cut and edit and delete and rewrite and subtextualize the heck out of those 88 pages.

I love this story. I do. The characters, the dilemma, the eternal good versus evil battle. The mythos, the magic, the pain, the death. It's one of my favourite, if not my favourite, scripts that I've written.

I don't think it'll ever sell.

As I was rereading the script, even as I was rediscovering my attachment to it, I could hear the negative reviews. Predictable plot, simple characters, irrelevant. But I also consider those critiques to be strengths of the script. In a good versus evil story, aren't all your characters in some way simple? This one's good... and this one's evil. The complexities are there, but sometimes I worry the epic battle between good and evil has been disregarded out of hand as passe.

Also it's a pretty spiritual story. Like, really spiritual. If you think the Chronicles of Narnia got some flack...

I adore this story. I know that it's so far from perfect now, that maybe some of my concerns would be solved with more and more rewrites, and I could carry it for years. The current plan is to finish Draft #4, make it polished and pretty, then pass it along to a few people who can give me real writer's notes, friends in the industry, former professors, etc. Let them get back to me with brutal honesty [the kind that writer's notes are famous for]. Read and consider their notes and decide what to do next. But at what point do I make a business decision instead of an artistic decision? At one point do I decide that, even if I don't think the story is irrelevant, it is if no one will read it? How many drafts, hours, mint mochas, until I let it go?

"You accidentally called me baby"

If you're interested in selling original spec scripts, take a minute to read this article by Nikki Finke.

If you're looking for some good new music, check out "What I'm Looking For" by Brendan Benson. It reminds me a lot of "My Hands are Shaking" by Sondre Lerche. [That was two for one, people.]

I've been trying to put more time into prewriting for my next couple of projects. Or, as HW Guy likes to say, I open up a Celtx document, punch in a few sentences into my outline, and call it writing. But I try to ignore his devil's advocate stance [which is really, just my stance. I'm much more of a write it then revise it writer. Or a binge writer, as an old professor called me] because today I scrapped nearly all an outline for a pilot. It's much better to scrap a couple of sentences than fifteen pages.

I taped an index card with the titles of all my current projects up next to my lightswitch in my bedroom. Just so that I can increase my guilt on nonproductive days.

Green

The film I'm working on next has been delayed again. I've started to miss working, which is sorta a strange feeling. I try to be productive. I try not to eat my days away.

I do mean literally eat. Try sitting at home most of the day with a dozen s'more cupcakes from a dinner party beckoning from the kitchen counter. Nobody misses disappearing leftovers...

Scott Meyers recently posted on the importance of outlining. Whenever someone I respect tells me to do something I don't like, my productivity is knocked down several percentage points as I try to procrastinate. Eventually I suck it up and take my computer to the coffee shop where I bang out a few more scenes on my beat sheet for "The Exit Strategy." Scott persuaded me with his fateful argument that outlining should make writing more fun. Right now I'm thinking a writing partner would make writing more fun. A writing partner who does all the writing.

Yesterday I slept until noon. It was embarrassing. In my defense, I was up late the night before and I slept horribly. Today I vowed to get up earlier. Which shouldn't be hard, getting up in the morning. I did get up earlier, and one of the first things I read was this --

HBO Greenlights Judd Apatow/Lena Dunham Coming-of-Age Pilot

Judd Apatow, old news. Lena Dunham is a 24 year old writer/director/actor who's made two features, numerous shorts and web series, and who now gets a chance at being an HBO showrunner.

It blows my mind. How does this even happen for people -- at 24? What do I need to be doing with my life to get there? Or is Dunham just less of a hack than I am?

Ok, so once I got over my initial bout of jealousy, I decided to check Dunham out some. She has a lovely website, all her shorts and trailers up on her Vimeo page, and keeps it current with a blog and a Twitter account. I hope she has a blast shooting her pilot and that HBO will pick it up for a series. I also hope that I will soon make friends with someone who subscribes to HBO and Showtime, because I am tired of missing out on good TV.

Drafts and Dialog

My WIP sidebar is outdated. Two of those scripts have been put to back burner, and "Keys to the Garden" draft 3 is complete. As for my TV scripts, I'm clearly no longer considering "Dollhouse" to spec. For those TV writers out there, I asked Amanda the Aspiring Writer what shows would be good to spec this season, and she tweeted back Modern Family, Big Bang Theory, The Good Wife, and The Vampire Diaries.

Yes I did say tweeted. No I don't want to talk about it. I hate Twitter.

I've been reading Richard Walter's "Essentials of Screenwriting," and I just finished a chapter on dialogue. Besides going through a list of practical do's and don't [Do economize. Don't use ellpises unnecessarily], one thing really stuck out to me. Walter promotes constant dischord. He says, "Don't let anybody agree with anybody else. As soon as there is agreement there is boredom." He's not advocating incessant screaming, tantrums, or cringe-worthy shouting matches. But as long as the characters oppose each other, there is conflict, which is the heart of drama and a surefire way to keep your readers/viewers interested. "Let each line challenge the next," Walter encourages. It's also an effective way of making sure you know what each character wants in every scene. I mean, aren't we all just trying to get what we want from everyone else anyway?

I used to think that I was good with dialogue. I used to think I could make it sound very realistic [in opposition to how this blog feels to me right now]. But Walter challenges my thinking -- "real speech is available free of charge in the streets. Dialogue, on the other hand, is worth waiting in line for. It needs to be special. Unless it writhes and wriggles, glows and glistens, it is unworthy of any audience."

You know how when you have an important, emotionally charged conversation with someone, and usually all you can manage to get out is a stutter and a weak defensive? But how, five hours after the fact, you have the most perfectly constructed, flawless, scintillating argument, with a turn of phrase that would have shut that sucker down? That's what dialog needs to be. It's not the brain freezed watered down fragments we say in real life. It's the mulled and spiced and sharply aged comebacks we only imagined we could have said.. And if it takes five hours to come up with that kind of dialog, it's ok. We've got the time.

For the Record

If you have not seen Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, you should. It's wonderful. It's hilarious. It's maybe the most entertaining movie I've seen all summer. And I've seen a lot of movies.

So please. Do yourself a favor. Do good movies a favor. Go see it.

Shame shame.

I don't find myself as an easily embarrassed person. But here are some things that do embarrass me:

1. My car. More specifically, the windshield wipers on my car. I turned them on yesterday in order to clean my windshield. And then they didn't turn off. They stayed on. My windshield wipers won't turn off until I turn my car off.

2. How difficult home decorating is for me. Hollywood Guy was teasing me the other day because I couldn't pick a set of sheets. "What's the big deal? Grab a set and go home." Easy for him to say. I don't think his roommate is the next Pier One Martha Stewart. I carry paint chips with me wherever I go. Do you think I've ever cared about matching my sheets to my walls to my curtains to my bookcase before? Then I asked HW Guy what his place looked like. Undecorated, that's what it looks like.

2.5 How I'm starting to recognize Ikea employees. [And think of them as friends.]

3. Time management. Or how I don't have any. I waste so much time. I have this great opportunity to NOT be working right now, meaning I can work all day on my writing. Today was the first day in about two weeks that I logged some good writing time. In about an hour and a half I had a rough bare bones treatment for Current Draft, "The Exit Strategy." In just an hour and a half of my day. If I actually utilized all my free time, do you know how quickly I could bang out a first draft? It's just like -- when am I going to get serious about this? [And now I'm moving from being embarrassed to being annoyed at myself.]

4. My research. Both "The Exit Strategy" and the other Rom Com I was working on previously require some interesting research. Mainly research into psychology and self help books. [Side note: Do you know when you type "psychology" into the subject search on your local library catalog, the second book to pop up is a Bernstein Bears book? Why??] When I was researching the other Rom Com script, it was all self help books on love and dysfunctional relationships. In fact, I never actually checked any books out of the library because I couldn't bring myself to be that girl who comes to the front desk with a stack of relationship help books. For "The Exit Strategy" I need to know about grief and loss. Today I checked out a book called -- Welcome to Your Crisis. It's very difficult in these circumstances to not just blurt out "It's for research!" all the while smiling broadly to prove *you're* not in the middle of a crisis.

Nice.

There's this boy. Who I met in Michigan. Who lives in LA. Who's working in Seattle. Who I might go see in Georgia.

Does this surprise you about my life? Because I'm not surprised at all.