My first rejection. Am I the lucky one?

Howdy folks in the ScriboSphere. I'm on Cloud 9 right now as I managed in 3 months of trying, to get a rejection for not 1 or 2, but 5 loglines. I love it. I can't wait until I get some more scripts finished as I could make it to 100 rejections by the end of the year.

How great is that? Some people are ignored by everyone but I can get people to say, and I quote:

but i'm not sparking to any of these ideas. my advice is to send query letters to producers and managers!

I mean how great is that? It's actual text and how many people can say they were turned down by a big shot?

It's like a dream come true. Now if only I could get a read, I might even think my life improved from being shit.

Anyway, maybe I should query,

Will write for food?

That's a good idea. I probably won't do it but hey what the hell, creativity is the key. I haven't been this giddy since I stole my first girlfriend. This one may even top the first fight in the street over me.

Man, I love this attempt at a job. I'm ready for my protag's close up Mr. De Mille.


Anyway, back to reality. I'm so pleased with myself, I could just pee. I guess my rotten life may be worth something after all as I have a very thick skin now. Almost thick enough to relocate to LA and walk around with a collection of scripts and pictures of notables.

I guess also that since SW jobs are plentiful, I could even support myself. Yes, I think that I will miss the NYC winter this year. If I can get a good deal on moving, find an apartment from 3000 miles away and find a job before I give notice where I am, I will eb an Angeleno in time for XMas. Aaaaah, joy.

Wow, this move is almost like trying to be a screenwriter. I'm not sure if that's a good sign or a bad sign but what the hell, I'm supposed to die anyway so I may as well go out in pursuit of my heart.

To all who enter:

Keep writing as writing is the revealing of the soul

South Of LaBrea

Well, this my second post. A lot sooner than I thought. What does that title mean, you ask. That is the title of possibly the most boring movie I ever tried to make exciting.

It's actually coming along pretty good as I have gotten YouTube, studies in sexuality, abusive relationships, close friendships, a shattered goal, the stages of grief (it was an accident), etc. into the script. The actor I want for it should love it (secret for now).

Anyway, this movie is teaching me more than I thought it would when I started. I am getting really good at scene transitions and my dialog is sharpening up tremendously.

I will definitely TriggerStreet it when it's done. Unfortunately, I can't talk too much about it yet, but after these last 30 pages fall this weekend, maybe I can loosen up some more info.

I can say that it is a story that should empower a whole lot of women. The story takes place in college but it's definitely NOT a college movie.

I'm also working on a fantasy comedy where a grandmother is actually a torture technique (I know. I'm sick).

It's coming along pretty good as I just came up with a novel way of introing the antag and main relationship character. This one shouldn't take the three months South Of La Brea is taking but I can also get away with 90- pages. It's also got this neat little trick to distingish it from other comedies like it(nothing is new after all).

Anyway, I've got to get back to the script and some database stuff I have to fix - in my real job - so I'm going to cut it here but as soon as we get to ActIII, we'll look at some screenwriting stuff featured in the excellent text "Advanced Screenwriting" by Dr. Linda Seger. I think it's the best of the four books I've read as it looks more at abstract ideas than examples (not to say it doesn't have examples) such as one that will be the gist of the next post.

She says and I quote

"A character's problem doesn't have to be negative. It may be a quality that is usually considered positive, but in a certain situation becomes a problem."


I take that to heart as the idea of a character flaw can mean so many things in every different screenplay even in the same genre.

I spoke about this on Mystery Man and I think it's the next frontier. Of course character change can provide an "intrinsic plot thread," but I don't think it should be done too "externally."

A good example is Red from Shawshank. Most people consider his last parole hearing the end of his arc, but I feel that it was just him not caring anymore. Andy had escaped, why get excited. It just so happened that those were the marbles he foreshadowed "rolling around in his head" earlier in the movie. Of course it could have been a genius plan or it could have been an arc where he finally has hope.

I'm betting on a tired old man that lost his best friend and just doesn't care anymore. Anyway, we'll save the rest for another time.



Keep writing as writing is the revealing of the soul.

My First FADE OUT:

Yes ladies and germs,

I have written my first screenplay. It's a 15 page short but it does say FADE OUT. It was important for me to get something out pretty quickly as I really want this as my career. The idea for it came from the screenplayshollywood blog.

I scanned through all of May and found the perfect short. It has drama. It has sex. It has betrayal. It has more sex. Just kidding. It has redemption.

It's basically a pretty good writing sample. I'm hoping the individual who posted it wants it, though it's small enough that I could make it myself.

All I need is a cameraman and 3 actors with an apartment and a car.

Anyway, I'm now on my second project though this one is a feature length drama. It's coming along good as when I read it aloud, I like it and I am so picky that...well that's another story.

Plus, I am partly working on a few treatments for a couple of movies I could actually sell.

Mostly, I don't write specs to sell them but for them to be writing samples. I am trying to have at least two in every major genre and for the most part I do (read: they are just loglines and premises).

It's funny because I used to think about it and I wrote a pretty decent screenplay years ago and couldn't figure out what to do with it as breaking in can be intimidating especially when you're basically on your own with no support structure.

But now with the advent of the Internet and my resolving my issues, I am gong to make this happen no matter what. I think I am pretty good at this, even better than I program or engineer.

My ultimate goal is to see an actor go up and get an Oscar for one of my roles. Of course that's ot an easy thing but I figure if I can flood the market with good stories and great scripts, I may get a chance to be noticed by the sometimes hard to understand Academy.

It's a pretty good plan that will probably take years but I have nothing else to do. I have no life at all because my mentality is now so inward that this is really all I can do and be happy. I hate my cubicle now and I need to get away.

Sure I may end up in a cubicle writing for some TV show, but hey I guess it's not the cubicle but what I do all day. It's exciting at times but times like now are so boring I could shoot myself and have fake blood pour out.


Well, that's it for my first post commemorating my first FADE OUT but
"I'll be back."