I know, proportionally-speaking, this is in a far different league than anything I’ve got happening, Hollywood-wise. Even if I was one of the 10 winners to be staged, I’d probably win about $30 and some pictures from the production. Going to SEE it would set me back hundreds since it’s halfway across the country.

But as I said not long ago, I’m at the very beginning of my efforts to let the world know I’m a playwright, too. And I am fueled by any opportunity for an audience to really see my work realized, which is so rare in screenwriting.

Plus, this was the first submission I made, and there are a couple others still floating out there right now. That’s a confidence booster. After all these years there is still a voice inside me suggesting that the moment I show work to anyone, I’ll be found out as a total fraud. So now the delusion can continue!

I’ll try not to drown you in them – at most you may see four at a time like we did today, and I’ll be sure to mix in fresh content as we go.

And yes, I just decided that this counts.

They’re collecting funding pledges here at kickstarter.com. No money changes hands unless they reach their goal.

A lot of what I wrote about during and about the Writers’ Strike was about building a system where we could bypass the media conglomerates completely and control and create our own work. Matt and Chrissie have been on the front lines of this effort for years – this is their third series (that I know of), and having crewed with them before, I know they can put together a quality product. If you’re not moved to make a pledge, at least send them some good vibes and consider spreading the word!

When I got to Hollywood and started working with the professionals, I decided early on that I wouldn’t do any of that nonsense but rather focus my efforts on developing as a writer. Since I had not gone to film school, I was way behind the curve in technical knowledge, but with my job working for a Real Hollywood Producer, I thought I would pick up a few things along the way.

Unfortunately I didn’t – I spent only a few days out on set during my entire development career; I spent most of my time witnessing and trying vainly to affect the creative content of the films on their way through the sausage factory. This was of great benefit to me as a writer, but, again, left me behind the curve technologically. Which is not entirely a problem anymore, since the explosion of digital technology that was happening at the time sort of leveled the playing field.

Still, it would occasionally distress me that the “filmmaker” me hadn’t resurfaced with some zany scheme to take 50 bucks, a skateboard, and a broom handle and make a movie. I didn’t feel very strongly about my network of contacts for crew, and it never seemed to align that I had the time, money, or resources to set out and MAKE something I could ask people to take seriously.

So I wrote, and wrote, and sold and optioned scripts. I wrote and directed stage plays. And then, in a time of great personal discord in my late 20′s, I signed up for a couple of classes at a local community college in order to finally make up some of that technical gap. I shot a couple of simple exercises, built some basic Avid muscles, and then…still didn’t make anything.

My community college miniDV opus, Brett Finds Some Money, complete with unlicensed soundtrack

That knowledge helped me land crew work on some short films, which made me a little money and saw me rising higher up the food chain each time out. I turned down two chances to be 1st Assistant Director on ultra-low-budget feature films, nearly produced one short, nearly wrote/directed a block of two webisodes; a whole lot of almost.

But it was still opportunities put out there by others. I still wasn’t oomph-ing my own stuff into reality.

That is now changing.

I have written a short film, and I am preparing to produce/direct it this summer with the intent to submit to some festivals in the fall. It’s going to be tiny budget, tinier crew, and about as simple as simple can be, technically. I figure, if I can’t make one actor and a locked-down camera interesting, where do I get off trying to do complicated scenes and all this fancy After Effects sh*t people do?

My senior project as a theater major was a play about two people trapped in an elevator. That was stripped down to the basics, too. It worked then and I’m excited about this now. At the moment I know that I have as much funding as I need, a quality script draft, and the actor I want is available and gung-ho. There is much to do, but it doesn’t feel blank or mysterious. I have done all this before in bits and pieces. But this time – it’s for my own work.

The working title is Samantha Gets Back Out There. I really, really hope this is not the only blog entry I ever post about it.

Which is not totally invalid, but my carry-on was already pretty stuffed.

I just learned that the on-line lit quarterly Blood Lotus will be publishing a short story of mine in their next issue. I’ll be sure to share more details as the publication date approaches.

The readers of my personal blog know a little more context, but suffice it to say it was a really good day for news like this to come along.

Alice in Wonderland, though? That movie made me mean mad.

P.S. I do still intend to re-post more of my archive from the other blogs. Because reviews of movies that came out six years ago are exactly what blogging’s about, right?