Author: Maximum Z

He’s up! He’s down?

Maximum Z craigslist, screenwriting, writing gigs

I’ll start with the down part.

I didn’t get the mash-up genre gig, only because another writer offered to do it for free, which was ‘too good an offer to refuse.’  Can’t say that I blame him.  I was more interested in a co-writing credit, in case it advanced in any form or fashion.  Now I’ll have to look for it in the months to come.

And if it gets bought, or at least merits representation, I’ll kick myself.  Which isn’t as hard as you might think.

I suppose I’m a little disappointed.  It sounded like it would have been a fun project.  But I took the high road and offered the guy the best of luck and thanked him for what boiled down to a fun writing exercise.

Moving on…

Regarding the good portion, that applies to the fact that I have an outline for BABY LIKES JAZZ I was happy with.  Up to a point.

I think the story as it is solid, but something keeps nagging at me to punch it up.  Make it funnier. Have fun with it!

Part of that stems from the intro of the main character in the first scene.  He’s described as a ‘hotshot musician, ladies man and bad-boy rule-breaker.’  Or something like that.  I don’t have it right in front of me.  But you get the point.

So while the first act has been slightly reorganized, the rest of it has been trimmed down, but for the most part remains the same.  Do you see where I’m going with this?

I set up this character loaded with potential, and really didn’t change anything.  At least not drastically.  And that’s where I need to focus right now.

After seeing stuff like THE HANGOVER or HOT TUB TIME MACHINE, I really think I can make this kinda/sorta like those (but more PG-13); I just need to break this thing down and see how to put it back together in a funnier, more entertaining way.

But I’m also a firm believer in realism, more or less, and want to keep BABY pretty much along realistic lines.  No out-of-the-blue wackiness here.  Just funny situations based in what you’re seeing.

I can do that.  Of course I can.

I’m doing a lot of extra hours at work (which is nice, paycheck-wise), so my writing time may be a bit limited over the next couple of days.  If I can manage to squeeze in, say, 10 pages a day, then I should have an outline I’m really satisfied with by mid-to-late October, followed by steamrolling my way through actual pages, with a potential target date of December 31st.

What an awesome way to end the year.  Fingers are crossed, brain is percolating and I am ready to jump in.

And….go.

If only I could bottle this…

Maximum Z jobs, LinkedIn, Miyazaki, radio, screenwriting, writing gigs

I’m feeling pretty positive about things.  I’ve missed feeling this way.  Hopefully, it will last.  And even better, I can apply it to when I sit my lazy ass down and write.

About that…

I didn’t get a whole lot of writing done today.  Let’s be honest.  I got none done.  But I was thinking about it a lot.  And that does count for something.

I also started a new level of job search.  It was nice.  I don’t know what kind of chances I have, but it’s still exciting on a few levels.

Part of this involves becoming a part of LinkedIn, which seems like Facebook for working folks.  A lot more business-oriented material and not much personal.  Which I guess makes it more like a Bizarro Facebook.  Which would be a cool name for it, but I suppose not very professional.

There are a lot of people on it I wouldn’t have expected, such as people in the film industry.  Cool.

One of them, as discovered by K last night, is the former entertainment attorney I knew a few years ago in LA.  The last I heard from him he had left his law practice to teach (I think).  But apparently he now lists himself as a writing consultant.  Hmm.  How did that come about?

I joined a group for screenwriters and radio people.  I’m curious to see what develops out of those.

But getting back to the writing…

In theory, I’ve got time tomorrow to not only work on the job stuff, but also to finally crack down and work on a script.  Or at least pages.

As much as I’d like to finish BABY LIKES JAZZ, part of me wants to move on and start something new.  There’s the monster script, the mystery-comedy.  Both sound like they would be fun to write.  BABY almost sounds…tedious.

But it would seem almost foolish to stop, especially after having spent so much time on it.  I think my challenge is to make it fun to write.  It’s a comedy, for crying out loud!  Which leads to another challenge:  make it funny.  Which is hard.

It’s very important to me to get back into a groove of writing on a daily basis.  I feel like I’m really close to making some kind of breakthrough, and even getting a little writing done each day will help.  I suspect it will also be good for my self-confidence.

And I can use as much of that as I can get.

Movie of the Moment:  I watched HOWL’S MOVING CASTLE with V yesterday.  I’m always up to watch Miyazaki.  V, of course, was not interested at first, but within 5 minutes was completely hooked.  As I suspected.  Even better, there wasn’t much to explain to her.  That really is part of the charm of his work – each story is so universal that it doesn’t matter that it’s so influenced by Japanese culture.

We’ve talked about getting KIKI’S DELIVERY SERVICE and watching it in Japanese.  While I don’t know how effective that will be, it’s still fun to do.

And although she’d probably enjoy STEAMBOY, I think AKIRA is a little too much.

Make that a lot too much.

oh so frustrating

Maximum Z jobs, radio, screenwriting, writing gigs

That would be the current state of…just about everything.

Work is not going well. I was supposed to talk to my boss about how the situation can be fixed, or at least made a little better.  She left before that could happen.

It is slowly dawning on me that my career in radio may be coming to an end after almost 19 years.  While it’s been a good run, I will be sad to see that happen.  It seems almost inevitable now.

And if that weren’t enough to put it in perspective, my paycheck today was the bare minimum.  And boy was it.  What makes it even more astounding is how much I’ve given the company in terms of time and effort.  As I’ve been  saying, I may not be the hardest-working employee, but I sure have been one of the most dependable.  A lot of the time, when there’s a shift that needs to be covered, I’m there.

But it’s not enough.  I’ve been scraping by with part-time hours for way too long, and I don’t think I can do it much longer.  Sad, but true.

And it’s not helping that I’ve heard squat from any of the listings I sent to over the past few weeks.  Nothing about the comedy writer gig.  Nothing from the film student looking for a produced writer.  Nothing from the mash-up genre guy.  Amazing AND depressing.

I realize this is part of the territory, but it would be nice to hear at least SOMETHING.

I think what it comes down to is getting results.  I’m not, and that’s what’s so annoying.

It feels like something big is on the horizon.  I don’t know what, but I’m really hoping it’s good.

Because bad would really, really suck.

Feeling a bit better, thanks for asking

Maximum Z screenwriting, Uncategorized

So yesterday sucked.

First my hours at work were cut back yet another half-hour, for a grand total of 20 a week.  And that sucks.  I mean it REALLY sucks. Looks like my ongoing hope of finally becoming full-time is officially dead, despite what my well-intentioned boss says.

According to her, this was another case of her boss micromanaging.  He saw that I was working a whole extra half hour a day, and that simply could not be!  So I got screwed.  Again.

I saw this as another sign to get the hell out of there.  But when I told my boss I didn’t know how long I could last, she begged me to hold on and that SHE WOULD GET ME HOURS!  I’ve heard that before, too.  I occasionally get a fill-in shift, but it’s not enough and it’s not steady.  I need both.

And as usual, probably won’t get either.

So I’m starting to look into what’s out there.  K thinks I won’t have a problem.  I don’t know.

I wish the writing thing would work out.  I haven’t heard from anybody I sent to over the past couple of days.  And I’m having trouble finding time to write.  I don’t like it and will try to change that.

Then the day got worse when I went to pick up my bike.  It’s been in the shop for about a month, or at least it feels like a month.

After paying way too much, I started to ride home.  That’s when the pedals started to skip and the rear brake sounded like a screeching cat.

A quick ride back to the shop, a quick adjusting of the brake and a quick examination of the pedal mechanism, and I’m told it needs yet ANOTHER part, and that getting it will take another week.  Jeebus.

So for now, I look for work while doing my work and the usual work.