Drizzle in the Hizzle

Shower and then write, or write and then shower? Always the dilemma of the morning. This morning: write then shower. Feels right. An adventure, my life.

I realize my last post was a lunatic blob of despair. I was pretty overwhelmed at the idea of panic in the post-petroleum streets, but I think I've come back to my senses a bit. It's raining today, and that's oddly restorative. Of course, being awoken every time thunder freaked out the cat was not restorative, but, you know, he's a cat, he gets scared. Anyway, LA doesn't get a lot of rain, or weather of any kind, really. So to actually see something normal, something working the way it's supposed to (unlike me, blogging while I should working) is helpful. Cheerful even.

I also realize that last post was pretty off-topic. No showbiz stuff to speak of, so let me make with the latest.

My project with Santa Barbara writing partner is due next Monday. I've got one scene left to write, and then she and I have to break act three and get it down on paper. In a week. I'm terrified, but I think we'll get it done. She and I have been working for about three months now, and we've really gone to great lengths to beat the story point-by-point before actually sitting down to draft pages. I've not really done that in such detail before, and I think it's the key to us having gotten so much done in so little time. And it's also the key to it being a great story. Notice I didn't say script...I can't confidently say we've written a great script, the story I have a huge amount of faith in. If we just can get it on paper and then refine it to its purest form, THEN we'll have a great script.

This I've really come to learn is the best way to work. To resist the urge to get a few ideas sketched out and then jump into the pages. It NEVER EVER WORKS better than writing and rewriting and putting it away and then rediscovering it and asking HARD QUESTIONS and then rewriting it all out again... and only then sitting in front of Final Draft to start writing the script. And here's the kicker - when you do finally set down pages, it comes so easily and quickly, it feels like you're cheating. You go around that dreadful feeling of being in the middle of a scene not knowing why he just said that and she just did this. It will sing. It will ROCK.

Speaking of, the TV thing I'm doing with my other writing partner has been given a blessing by the William Morris agent who's going to "shepherd" it to networks and production companies, etc. So he's going to start setting up meetings this week and hopefully we'll get into the room with the good folks at HBO, Showtime, FX, Fox, USA, and a few other places. We were pretty good in our pitch to the agent guy - a little stiff at the beginning, but funny and relaxed when we warmed up. Practice is what we need.

Unfortunately, I've not done anything on any of my own stuff, writing-wise, in a while. But I'm letting paying gigs and the hopes of selling this pilot keep me afloat for a little while. Though I am starting to feel the hot breath of 2006 on my shoulder. It is sizing up to be a year I'll need full time work and, more than anything, to just crank out as many scripts as I humanly can. Ah, yeah, always something.

Well, the sun came out. Rain doesn't last long here in the desert. So that probably means it's time to get to work.

PS - Wallace and Grommit is the feel good claymation roller coaster ride of the year.