I got the writing gig.  The guy wants a synopsis, character background and first draft by Wednesday.  Looks like Act Two of BABY LIKES JAZZ will have to wait.

It’s a bit overwhelming right now, but I’ll dive into it tomorrow.  I’m still  hoping to squeeze in a run sometime in there.

K comes home tomorrow night.  It’s been a long, exhausting week.  I had a bit of a meltdown tonight regarding V and her reading ability.  I know she’s trying, but I worry it’s not enough.  But with school starting the week after next, I still worry about how she’s going to do.  Some nights I’m patient, some I’m not.  I also realize the more she practices, the better she’ll get.

Movie of the moment:  COME AND SEE, a brutal WWII movie from Russia about the Nazis in what is now Belarus.  Definitely not your typical war movie.  This is realistic, ugly and stays with you long after it’s over.  Not for the squeamish.

First of all, I only did just over 1 page today.  But I’ve got a good excuse.  I was crazy busy.

I had to get ready for the meeting with the guy looking for a screenwriter for his short from Craiglist.  As soon as V and I got home from work, I printed out some pages from WOK & ROLL and DREAMSHIP, as well as the first half of the outline from MONSTER HUNTER (which needs a new title, so as not to confuse it with the video game of the same name.  Too bad.)

I also sent an email to a client I’m doing some editing/proofreading for to see if the project was done yet.

The ‘no TV’ rule was instigated, so V played while I printed and got organized (which included a very necessary 15-minute nap for me).  We played a bit, had lunch and zipped off to today’s installment of camp.

Following a brief chat with K, I raced my ass downtown to try and be on time.  I think I made it with about 2 minutes to spare.

So this guy is finishing up his MFA in Film at the local art college.  I gave him the thumbnail version of my experience.  Then he asked how I would approach this kind of film.  I rattled off a few ideas.

Then he started to explain the concept behind his story, but it started to sound very ‘this is from an art school; can’t you just feel the esotericness of it all?’  There was all this explaining of what was going on.  I thought he said this was an action-thriller.  I’d yet to encounter any action or thrills.

While some of his ideas were clever and original, overall, I wondered how much of a grasp he really had on the writing process.  Being as diplomatic as I could, I explained that nobody wants to see a bunch of talking heads discussing where inspiration comes from.

I took his ideas, and gave them a necessary twisting around.  How about changing this?  Don’t be married to what you have now; things WILL change.  Don’t fight it.  I think I scared him because these seemed to be things he never thought about.

Before we finished, he mentioned that I was the first writer he was meeting with about this.  He got something like 20 responses!  Including a pair of writers who have actual credits.  I couldn’t help but wonder why somebody with produced material would respond to a Craigslist listing like this?  Smells fishy to me.

He expects to make a decision by Friday.  If I get it, great.  If not, that’s okay too.  He added that he basically can’t pay anything, which I expected.  The writer gets an onscreen credit and a sample to actually show around.  Me likey.

The rest of the day involved finishing up the editing/proofreading project, followed by picking V up at camp and making a pecan pie to take to work tomorrow.

While I thought it would be nice to write 3 pages today, I was happy with the 1+ I did do because it signals the END OF ACT ONE!

Tomorrow: short run, 3-5 pages and whatever else comes up.

No movie tonight.  Too exhausted, and I wanted to focus on this.  I also made a point of making sure I did this because I don’t want to slack off.

But I’m done now.

Zzzz….

Another 3 pages done today.  Technically, 3 and a half, but the total now just creeps onto page 27.  One more scene and Act One is complete. Yowza.

It seems to get easier if I produce on a daily basis, especially in small doses.  A few pages, a couple of scenes.  Not the most tremendous of output, but effective nevertheless.

Tomorrow’s objective: finish Act One, and shoot for at least 2 scenes after that.  Quite a challenge, but I also have to take time management into consideration.

See, the plan was to write in the morning, drop V off at her afternoon camp, then go for a brisk run as part of the half-marathon training.

But…

Since I’m trying to be more proactive in finding work, I’ve been checking out sections of Craigslist for writing assignments and possibilities.  For example, some guy up in the Santa Rosa area was looking for help with dialogue.  I sent to that, but have yet to hear back.  No big loss.

There was a listing for somebody wanting help with putting a dramedy TV show together.  Intriguing, but it was listed in a section of town that’s a bit on the seedy side.  I thought about it, then decided it probably isn’t for me.

There was a listing for a voiceover project involving Ben & Jerry’s.  Sounds awesome, and I could probably do it, but they prefer somebody with home audio equipment.  That ain’t me.

Then there was a listing for somebody looking for help writing a 12-minute short involving martial arts.  I thought “what the hell” and applied.

The guy responded within a few hours, asking if I was available tomorrow.  I had also asked if he wanted samples, which he does.  The thought of getting paid never even occurred to me.  I think I was thinking about it from an experience and potential opportunities point of view.

So now my morning will involve trying to figure out which pages from which scripts to hand to this guy.  The run will have to wait until the day after tomorrow.

-Had a…discussion with V about how much TV she’s been watching lately.  Way too much.  I remember 2 months ago when school ended.  The plan was to have her read more and do more math work over the summer.  Suffice to say, that plan has been shot to hell.

Even though school starts up again in 2 weeks, there may be time to salvage some of that ambitious plan.  We’ll see how that goes.

-Movie at the moment: THE DARK KNIGHT.  Still amazing no matter how many times I see it.  Makes me psyched to see INCEPTION.

After numerous promises and too much procrastination, I finally managed to get some pages done today.  About 3 1/2.  Not a bad re-start.  I think I can keep up that kind of pace on a daily basis, or at least during the week.

I tried to keep things simple, and also kept in mind the comedy aspects from that one-pager I did last week.  I’m sure there’s a couple of rewrites in store, but I like the fact that I was able to write and plan to keep doing that as often as I can.

I don’t like second-guessing myself, at least in terms of the comedy.  it would be really nice if there was some way to develop that, or some kind of comedy writing class.  In the meantime, just gotta keep doing it all myself.

-Once again, I was not the winner in the logline contest.  Can’t say that I thought that much of this week’s winner.  Hard to get a bearing on what criteria this guy is looking for.  He offers script analysis, but this makes me question the level of his ability.

I think I’ve submitted about 7 or 8 entries over the past few weeks.  I like my entries, and will probably take each one back to the drawing board and submit accordingly.

-Watching ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13 while I type this. Low budget, but very good use of what they had to work with.  Some of the actors are good, others typically cheesy.  Great premise, but a little slow in setting everything up.  Things keep getting more intense.  Only 90 minutes long, but if they made it today it would be at least 105 or 110.  Can’t believe they got away with killing a little girl!  Shocking.

Makes me want to watch BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA again just to see what Carpenter does with a Hollywood budget.