The Second Part of the Catch-Up

Been spending most of my days up in the writer's loft, a.k.a the barn, a.k.a. the tiger cage (on account of the heat) researching and outlining a pitch I'm putting together for a cable TV show, a one-hour drama about a TV reporter, which just to insure it's a hard sell I've set it in the 70's at the height of the Watergate stuff. So for about a month I've been immersed in documentaries about Vietnam, Watergate, the CIA, and all sorts of fun stuff that's gonna look great on a lunchbox.

Anyway, I'm pretty much done with the outline and ready to pitch. I've really only ever pitched once before, formally, and it was with a partner. But I've been pitching all my career as a promo guy, sitting around a table and trying to get assigned a particularly good spot. I dunno. The first pitch (with the partner) went well. We did what we were supposed to do, which was charm her and tell the story. It went like this:

Walked in the office. Exchanged pleasantries. Made a few funnies, broke the tension a bit, kept things light and casual. Then turned on a dime - at her behest - and got to business. A few jokes on our side. No smiles on the other side. Mental note that jokes are for bullshitting time before the pitch proper, and the pitch proper is all business. Finished up, fielded a few questions, took to heart one or two astute criticisms, and got "I'll take it upstairs and see what we can do." Eventually she passed.

So that's pretty much how I figure it'll go this time, ideally leaving out the pass. Oh, and this go round I'll be pitching to a TV screen; the development person in question is based out of New York. I look at this as an opportunity for comedy. She may look at it as an opportunity to crush someone's dreams via remote control. It remains to be seen who is right.

On other fronts, things grind slowly along with the storied Duvall script. I just got some pages from the director, or should I say writer/director, as he has pretty much rewritten it a hundred times and there is nothing left of my script except the "concept" which is fuck-all as far as I'm concerned. Every time I think about Get Low, it just brings to mind the William Goldman quote, which I'll paraphrase as "If you're looking for creative life as a screenwriter, you won't find it."

To wit I've been thinking more and more about the possibility of writing a novel justforthefuckofit, but the problem is it's time consuming... which I know you're thinking, you've got no job, all you've got is time... but you'd only be half right since I fill find my days writing things I hope will earn me a living, whoring myself essentially, only to have them thrown down the memory hole. As far as a novel goes, I reckon you need money to write one unless you are a true bohemian, a lice-ridden mooching drifter douchebag artist like, say, Henry Miller circa Tropic of Cancer, living in your own filth and schnorring meals off your gainfully-employed friends.

I don't know if I'm quite there but I feel the itch more and more to write something... yes, I'll say it... noble. Also I think it's time to make a short film but that's another post.

Saw Little Miss Sunshine last night. I was ready to be unimpressed, it seemed to be sooooo targeted at my indie sensibilities, what with the Sundance pedigree and the hipster directing duo, and the eccentric soundtrack contibutors. And dontcha know it won me over. What a sweet, sweet, funny (and a little flawed but so what) movie. Get out there and see it, not because I said so but because this world would be a better place if Alan Arkin were in every movie. Not to do dirt to the other actors in it, all were uniformly excellent. Steve Carell just shows more and more promise as the heir the to beaten-down, disaffected Bill Murray crown. God bless them all.

And so...

I hope to get back to a screenplay in the next few weeks. I hope I can find the time. It's a passion project, which probably means I shouldn't bother. But it's in my craw and I'll talk more about it as it starts to develop. For now, it's backburner. Oh, and I didn't even mention my meeting with my former bosses. More on that in the future...