writing gigs

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.

Hmmm…

Maximum Z craigslist, Entourage, Pushing Daisies, screenwriting, treatment, Venture Bros, writing gigs

I think I mentioned there was this listing on Craigslist last week for somebody looking for a writer to put together a ‘mash-up’ story involving the Old West, goth horror and martial arts.

So I wrote in, expressing interest.  The guy wrote back relatively quickly and included his 20-page treatment.

It was interesting.  But I’m not sure so much backstory has to go into a treatment.  I always thought it was more or less a prose-style summary of the story being told on the page.  I’ll have to look into that.

But getting back to his treatment…

I think there’s something wrong when you don’t get to the main story until the middle of the 4th single-spaced page OF THE TREATMENT!  Way too much stuff beforehand that can easily be summed up in a scene or two.  And a whole lot of info about characters who are killed within a few pages.  Why so much?

I’m sure every writer is sick of hearing this, but there’s definitely a lot of potential in this thing.  It’s all a question of putting it all together.

Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be a solid main storyline.  More like a lot of vignettes with a barely-there common thread.  And there are some scenes that seem to come out of nowhere.  For example: the lesbian love affair between the 2 main female characters.  How did this happen?  I hope it’s not just an excuse to have a nude scene.  There are more creative and story-based ways to do that.

So for the next day or two, I’ll be working on my scene.  I’m looking at this more like an exercise than a job application; a way to test/flex my writing muscles.

The guy asked about how much I thought it would cost, and I really had no idea.  I still don’t.  Is it by the hour?  By the page?  K suggests I ask for a co-writing credit.  If the guy is going to submit it to competitions or even take it out for representation, I think I’ll have earned at least my name in the mix.

And I wouldn’t say no to some cash either…

Almost forgot. I also wrote to that just-graduated film student looking for a ‘professional’ to proofread his script. I offered myself up for the gig.  I’ll be surprised if he responds, and even more surprised if he says yes.  I bet he won’t, but you never know.

Movie of the Moment:  We’ll probably watch the new episode of VENTURE BROS later.  I hope it’s better than last season; way disappointing.

But I can’ t recommend PUSHING DAISIES enough.  The writing and acting on it are so well done.  I think the fact it’s a smart, clever show that requires you to think is why it didn’t do well.  But we like it.

Since it’s only one season, which is about 12-13 shows, I’m trying to figure out what show to do next.  I keep going back and forth between BATTLESTAR GALACTICA and MAD MEN.  Decisions, decisions.

ENTOURAGE ended with Vince’s career in coke-fueled limbo and Ari’s marriage in trouble.  Virtually nothing about Drama. Turtle and this whole tequila thing – boring.  And E may have to sign a pre-nup.  I thought this show was about their lives in the industry.  That comment I read about this being SEX AND THE CITY for guys is becoming more true.  Now I just have to wait until next season…

Not again

Maximum Z craigslist, screenwriting, video, writing gigs

These are busy times.  So busy that I wasn’t able to do any writing-oriented work today.

Partially due to a lot of walking in an effort to get some exercise, and partially to save money.

Today was also the first day of Rosh Hashanah, so I took advantage of my only opportunity to go to services.  I walked there as well.

And K and I are trying new healthy recipes, so I have to get ingredients.

And since K has the car AND my bike is still in the shop, there’s more walking.

All of this adds up to not much writing time.  Which kind of sucks.

But I did get one of those mega-positive feelings today.  Like my scripts are going to be kickass and totally awesome.  It feels really cool to experience that.  Hope it lasts.

I’ll make a big effort tomorrow to try and get some more work done.  Promise.

-A listing that was on Craigslist about two weeks ago popped up again.  They want a produced screenwriter to help with a short-term project, and the person MUST have pitching experience.

Because everybody knows that if you are looking for an experienced screenwriter, Craigslist is the place to go!  If you’ll excuse me for a second, I have to hold on to my eyes so they don’t roll right out of my head.

How stupid would you have to be to think that a working writer would be interested, let alone willing, to take on this kind of assignment?  I’ve really considered writing them this exact question.  But in the end, I probably won’t.

Or maybe post a response-type listing.  I would love to hear their line of reasoning. Then again, I’d be amazed if they responded at all.

Once again, no Movie of the Moment. Part of it has to do with busy evenings that revolve around getting homework done, and then getting an almost-8-year-old insomniac to stay in bed.

Both of these activities are quite time-consuming, which unfortunately doesn’t include much time to settle in and watch a portion of whatever Netflix sent.

I miss that.