A Better Person

Language, however brilliant and precise, cannot contain, control, or make perfect sense of the chaos of personal experience.

I've been writing for over ten years. I've gotten paid to be a freelance film critic, a writing tutor, a journalist, optioned two scripts and a treatment. I've been nominated for a few awards, won a few a others. When I first started out I thought I'd be content writing about movies. Nope. I soon discovered I wanted to write them. I turned towards theory and analysis. Maybe I could go the academic route. Nope. I wanted to write them. Graduate school came and went.

The writing experience, the growth as a person, my awakening, if you will, has all lead me to where I am now as a screenwriter. I have the skills, have learned the craft. I've got talent. I just need more people to notice. I need to get the word out. Working with Nick as a co-writer is helping to get me to that next level. I know we're close to breaking in. I've got my foot in the door, now I just need to bash it down.

I know I lack experience as far as "world travels" go but I know I've experienced enough to get me started as a professional. I've had enough universal experiences to be a relatable writer. My passion and voice is finding it's way into my current projects. Still, I know I could do more. I want to travel and experience new things, new adventures, get on a plane and go. As soon as I can afford to I will. I want to get my writing to the next level. I'm a good writer. I want to be a great one. I know I can be.

Beyond the Mat is now in it's 6th and half draft. I say six and a half because after I finished the 6th draft last week, I met with one of the producers (which was supposed to be both of the producers and our lead actor) and went over the dialogue with a bit of fine tooth comb. I think the results were good overall but when the director saw that we had gone ahead with a rewrite without his input, he was slightly disappointed. I figured he had given us the okay, that the producers told him what they wanted to do. He hadn't because they didn't. Sigh. No one ever tells the writer anything. I'm trying to smooth things over. Not there has been terror raining from the sky as a result; it's just an unfortunate bit of miscommunication. I think the next draft of the script will fall somewhere in between 6.0 and 6.5.

I think the meetings with investors went well. Hopefully they did, 'cause this struggling writer needs to get paid. My day job is sucking ass right now. The pay is great, the people are nice but they're not giving me nearly enough hours.

Blood Bond is progressing nicely as well. After rereading the script and realizing that the major patch and polish wasn't that major after all, I can safely say that the script is working really well. It's great pulp fun and once the rewrite is done I think it will have a shot. Hyde Park here we come.

We should be hearing about Californio soon. Major player gets it within the next week (hopefully). Our actress is getting it out to Mark Boone Junior for a read. We're still trying to set up a meeting with other people as well. Nick also received a request from a production company to read some of his work. He sent them our latest draft. Hopefully we'll get more calls from as a Nicholl's quaterfinalist.

My comic book with Mark is on hiatus for a bit, he's knee deep in Joy Buzzards work and other commitments. We'll get it done soon.