Month: March 2012

Moving ahead 144 characters at a time

Maximum Z networking, Twitter

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of interviewing Julie Gray of justeffing.com.  Among the topics we discussed was the growing use of social media as a tool to help writers network and brand themselves.  I didn’t realize it at the time, but those words made quite an impact on me.

I’m not the most avid Twitter user.  I check it from time to time on my phone, and occasionally from my laptop. Probably because I’m writing, and want to focus on that.

Most of the people I follow are screenwriting or film-based.  A lot of them, like me, are working hard to achieve success.  It’s especially cool that they’re scattered all around the world. (Hello UK and Australia!)

I can’t help but notice that some people tweet A LOT. Sometimes about a project they’re working on, or posting a link to an article, or maybe messaging with somebody.

Like I said, I don’t tweet that often, and seeing these makes me feel like I’m missing out on something.  Not being LA-based, it’s tougher to become part of that community.  Tougher, but not impossible.

I’m going to start making a more sincere effort to change that.

I’ll follow more people.  I’ll make more comments. I’ll retweet something I like, rather than thinking about doing it later and not.

The only person who can build my brand is me, and this is the first step towards making that happen.  I’m not expecting instantaneously huge results, but you never know…

Whew!

Maximum Z Go Into The Story, Movie of the Moment, Oscars, Radioslot.com, rewrite, running, screenwriting, story, writing
And...exhale

Wow, what a jam-packed couple of days! Here’s a quick rundown:

-Whirlwind trip to New Orleans for the Half-Marathon. 13.1 miles in 1:56:06. Wooo!  Next up – coming in under 1:55 for a race in September.

-On this week’s installment of The Script Adventurer!, I interviewed Scott Myers from Go Into The Story. He had a lot of interesting stuff to say, including the most important thing a new or aspiring writer should focus on is having a strong story concept. If the idea behind your story isn’t strong, then the script won’t be either.  Also served as a reminder of what a great resource the site is for aspiring and professional writers.  Check it out if you haven’t already.

-Now that the big run is out of the way, I can devote more time to finishing the DREAMSHIP rewrite. There’s no reason I can’t wrap it up by the end of the month, and I don’t foresee much of a problem with the follow-up editing.

I also realized the Nicholl deadline is coming up, and I could actually submit to it.  Not sure which way to go on that.

-I spent part of the going-there flights muddling my way through the latest section of the LUCY outline.  Progress remains slow but steady.

-Movie of the Moment: Lots of ’em! Best Picture winner THE ARTIST (2011) was featured on the plane.  I liked it, but not sure if it should have won Best Picture over HUGO. If you’ve ever seen SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN or A STAR IS BORN, then you know how this plays out.  John Goodman was really good as the studio boss.

Also got to watch BATMAN: YEAR ONE (2012), an animated adaptation of the comic by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli. Solid work on both story and voice fronts.

K watched NEW YEAR’S DAY (2011), which I had no desire to see.  When it was over, she said, “It’s trying too hard to be LOVE, ACTUALLY.”  I caught about three scenes because I was zipping through THE HUNGER GAMES, which I liked more than I expected to.  Easy to see why this is the latest YA novel headed for the big screen later this month.

Also caught the first 30 minutes of MY WEEK WITH MARILYN (2011) before the plane landed. I’ve always had a problem with biopics. It’s tough for me to separate the actor from the real-life person they’re playing.  So while it was easy to imagine Kenneth Branagh as Olivier or Michelle Williams as Marilyn Monroe, I kept seeing them as actors playing somebody else.  Nevertheless, I liked what I saw.

-JOHN CARTER opens this weekend. I may actually go see it.