Just another name in the pile
I’ve been mulling why last night’s semi-finalist announcement gave me so much happy vim. It’s definitely good news but a long way from being significant in the long-run. It will take a lot more of this to build a profile as a playwright. Finishing one small step is worth some inner glow but this feels [...]
Good news, everyone!
Just learned that one of my short scripts, A Point of Honor, made the semi-finalist cut at a 10-minute playwriting contest at a regional theater in the Twin Cities area. Top 40 out of 350+. The top 20 cut happens mid-March, until then, I’ll be having a one-man dance party up in here. I know, [...]
I must write ALL THE THINGS
Last night I found an excellent resource for identifying theater companies around the country that support new work either through productions, readings, contests, or fellowships. What’s funny to me is that even though I was writing plays before I ever finished a screenplay, I am decidedly behind-the-curve now when it comes to the process of [...]
Strange Associations
This torturous video (really, click only if your love of music is strong enough to survive this assault) illustrates a point I often try to make about screenwriting books (really, bear with me). While there is great insight and clarity offered by many books out there, it is entirely possible, and in fact incredibly common, [...]
The Dreaming Space
As I said, I wrapped up my evening at a reasonable hour last night, feeling satisfied about a productive coffeehouse writing session and relaxed after treating myself to a little bedtime reading. I never spend enough time with BOOKS. I felt myself ready to go to sleep, but decided to try something. I had just [...]
That’s weird
I’m sitting down to write. I’ve got my Iced Vanilla Chai next to me, the music is at the right volume, and…nothing. Have you ever looked at something like a toaster and had that moment where you momentarily have no idea what it is, what it does, or how to use it? That’s how I’m [...]
Affirmation
My long-time buddy Irish knows my writing going back to my very first, very miserable-bad screenplay, and he’s both pretty sharp when it comes to story and pretty willing to speak his mind. He’s one of those trusted readers who usually see the earliest drafts of whatever the latest screenplay is. And in this case, [...]
Dancing with myself
It has been a strange experiment, essentially working with the 25-year-old version of myself as a collaborator. I think I’ve mentioned before that several years ago, I started writing a sci-fi script on a whim – no outline, no sureness of direction, just an image that came into my head during the morning commute through [...]
How to Do ‘First Class’ screenwriting in a comic-book movie
(Full disclosure: I know a couple of the guys who wrote the script for X-Men: First Class. I’d feel the same way about their movie if I knew them or not, but part of the reason to write this is really to thank them for such a great piece of entertainment that could have gone [...]
Adjusted definition of lazy
So far today I’ve dusted some shelves, hung a picture, taken out my busted cable box, sketched out a couple more beats for this screenplay idea, had a half-hour workout and taken a twenty-minute walk. That’s after sleeping in late. And yet I persist in thinking of this as a lazy Saturday. I think, because [...]