Apple

As a bee

Maximum Z Apple, Black List, screenwriting, writing gigs
the result of growing up in the 80s

Hokey smokes, is there a lot going on this week!

Might as well get the bad/not-great news out of the way. After all that time I spent slaving away on the outline for the short, the director got back to me within an hour saying that while he could “see” my story, it wasn’t what he wanted. While my first immediate thought was “you arrogant bastard. Of course this is what you want. You’re just too thick to realize it,” I had to remind myself that ultimately it was his movie and I should be a bit more flexible about it.

He wants something a bit more…traditional, in terms of a mystery. For the most part, most of the pieces are there.  I just need to rework them.  Shouldn’t be too hard.  I’m talking to him again tomorrow night. Should be interesting.

-Since I’m still learning how to use a Mac, I got both jack and shit done on both LUCY and DREAMSHIP during my cross-country flights this weekend.  My sister put it rather succinctly: When you’re so used to working on a PC, making the switch to a Mac forces you to learn a completely new way of using a computer. So while I may want to do something the old PC way, I can’t do it exactly the same and have to figure out how it works in the new Mac way.  This is going to be a work in progress.  I still have to schedule my one-to-one meeting with somebody at the Apple store.  My list of questions has been steadily growing.

-Really, really hoping to get back on track with both LUCY and DREAMSHIP. I hate these big gaps in productivity, but you do what you can.  For the most part, any concept of a target end date has been thrown out the window.  My goal now is to finish them. No matter what.

-I’m currently working on a project for a client that requires me to put together a short video script.  This has been quite a challenging experience.  I knew a video script was completely different in appearance from a film script.  I really thought my screenwriting program would have something for it, but doesn’t appear to.

So for now, it’s been manipulating a Word document with two columns.  I don’t mind the work. It’ s been fun.  But again, quite the challenge.

-The 2011 Black List came out today. I skimmed through it, but nothing seemed to really jump out.  The friend who sent me last year’s batch has offered to do it again.  I’ll look through it again and try to pick about 12-15.  Of the ones I selected last year, I think most, if not all, are being made.  Not a bad record.

Look out! It’s the iBorg!

Maximum Z Apple, computer, outlines, screenwriting, Triggerstreet
So THAT'S what happened to Steve Jobs...

Due to circumstances beyond our control, we are currently a one-computer family.  Unfortunately, it’s my 6-year-old IBM laptop, which has become very tempermental in the past few months.  My eyes roll and I swear under my breath every time “(Not Responding)” appears at the top of my screen.

But this week that’s going to change.  After years of being a PC, I’m making the switch to a Mac. I have no idea what to expect, but it’ll definitely be interesting. I’ll have to contact the fine folks at Movie Magic Screenwriter to find out if I have to buy a new version or if I can switch over. I’ve used MMS since way back, when it was originally called Script Thing.

This will be the third Apple product in my possession. I already have an iPod and an iPhone. No doubt an iPad is somewhere in the future as well; it looks like the perfect venue for checking out a script without lugging a laptop around. It would probably just be easier to have an Apple logo tattooed somewhere scandalous and install an earbud jack and USB port somewhere easily accessible.

A benefit of having one computer is that while K uses the laptop for her purposes, it forces me to work with pen and paper.  Since I’d rather use my computer time to write pages anyway, I’m using my spare time to work on editing my LUCY outline.  It’s been more helpful than I expected.

Yesterday involved cutting out a big chunk of the first act – almost 9 scenes. While I hated to do it, it had to be done.  But it tightened the story, sped things up and kept the action going.  Besides, I can re-use some of the cut items later if necessary.

-I started reading an assigned script from TriggerStreet. I’m only on page 7, and so far, I’m not impressed.  Only 115 pages to go. Oy. This ain’t gonna be easy.