THIS May Be IT...

Brian and I had a surprise visitor today... Our co-writer/director friend Tommy!!!

Okay, I'm sure you're tired of hearing me whine about writing and my career and blah, blah, blah, but this is MY blog and it has all but replaced my personal journal (I have NEVER kept a diary, btw, it has always been a JOURNAL) so I'm gonna ramble on about anything I like.

:P

So anyway... Brian and I haven't had much success writing his movie, and I haven't had much success writing either of my movies or my novel.

Writing is generally a solitary process, and in that sense I'm not a writer.

I grew up (starting at age 11) in the theatre. Our theatre troupe was a community theatre and we each did EVERYTHING. We constructed the sets, painted the sets, fished out props from the shop, fished out costumes from the shops, bought costume pieces for our role, sometimes made costume pieces for our role, rehearsed together, pulled curtains for each other, helped transition between sets when we weren't off stage, worked lights, worked sound effects, stage managed if we weren't right for any of the parts in a particular play, were therapists for each other when Life threatened to overwhelm one of us, were cronies when there was a reason to celebrate, stood just in the wings and danced naked or partially naked for each other to try to crack the on-stage actors up, dated each other's ex-girlfriends, fought with each other, made-up with each other, fought alongside each other, fought on behalf of each other, then when the play was over we tore down the sets with each other and went out into the Real World and got into trouble with each other.

I'm a TEAM player, not really a solo act.

So in that sense I'm not a writer, I'm a producer. (I work best supporting someone else's creative vision with my own creative insights, so in that sense I'm not really a director, either.)

And so, late last year, I wrote Tommy an impassioned email begging him to find a regular time during which he and Brian and I could meet every week and FINALLY get a feature-length script written.

And, very generously, he agreed.

Now, he's also a daddy and a husband and a generally upstanding member of the community (when he's not with Brian and me, that is, hehe) and so he had to juggle some things around.

TODAY he showed up to visit, and announced that he would be doing so EVERY Monday!!!

It took him almost a month and a half to work out the logistics, but it looks like WE'RE GONNA BE WRITING A MOVIE!!!


This makes me INDESCRIBABLY EXCITED!!! I've known for the better part of a year now that when we get a script that's good enough to make a competitive movie, we may very well be able to find financing for it. And so I thought "I'll just crank out scripts until we find one Tommy wants to direct, and we're in business."

But "cranking out scripts" is a bit of a hassle when you haven't yet figured out what you do well and what you don't. That is to say that in spite of 14 years of study, I don't yet know my writing strengths and weaknesses, specifically. The horror script I wrote at the end of last year revealed -- quite surprisingly -- that even when I think I have a tight, commercial (meaning "people WANT TO see it" and not necessarily "will make me rich") idea I may not be NEARLY as close as I imagined. (And that's one of the dirty li'l secrets about storytelling -- if people don't want to hear the story, no one is gonna notice how well it's told.)

But whenever Brian and Tommy and I collaborate, the results -- probably due to our 3 unique perspectives -- tend to be quite good. And even though I'm usually the guy who sits down and writes the pages (I am good at that, I don't mind taking credit for that) it seems to take all 3 of us to create all the IDEAS that go down on those pages.

I could write a 120-page story that is correctly formatted and keeps you turning pages. That's part of my gift. I've done it many times before. But after you read the words "The End" and close the script, are you excited about what you just read? Or do you go "Oh, okay" and forget just about every single word you read?

When I'm writing on my own I tend to fill hundreds of pages with forgettable -- though cleverly-chosen and well-crafted -- words. And that DOES NOT a filmmaking career make.

But because of our past work experiences, I truly believe that with the (Un-)Holy Triumvirate we have a REAL shot at being allowed to quit our "day jobs"!

So today may turn out to be a landmark day for us!!!

At the very least, I'm enjoying the possibilities that today has opened up for us! I mean, Life might step in the way and derail our efforts (once again) and tell us it's not yet time for us to unleash our movies onto a poor, unsuspecting civilization.

HOWEVER... until it does I will simply and joyously celebrate the fact that all the players are currently in place for what could very well be the beginning of something very, very beautiful!

(And maybe a little bit subversive and messy, too, hee-hee!)

:D