Archive for January 29th, 2010

Just the other day, as I mentioned, I was feeling down. So were a lot of other writers I knew and it was safe to say there were no easy answers at hand, we had to just get back to work, and keep pushing forward. Nature of the beast. Happens every so often.

Today, I was making my late morning iced coffee run when I received this email from an Academy Award nominated Actor, who also works as a Producer-Director, with a twenty-five year career in film and television.

I really like what you’ve written. You deserve to be really proud of your accomplishment. I have lots of thoughts and suggestions which we can get into in a bit. But, basically, I think this is a provocative and entertaining drama. Ricky, of course, will let you know if and when the moment is right for me to jump into that process with you in earnest. Regardless, I look forward to saying hey in person at some point in the not too distant future.

Keep up the solid work!

This is in reference to a one hour drama pilot I had written that he had taken a look at. When I mentioned the other day “flipping the switch” to the process, this is part of what I meant. You grind it out for moments like this – where you connect with someone that you respect – and not so much for a paycheck or a compound in Malibu or an Academy Award. Though those things are nice and could make, potentially, a heckuva an icing on the cake when the whole shooting match is done; they’re not the point of it all. The point is quite simple and easy to lose in the hustle and the grind if you’re not diligent. The point is to tell a story and entertain someone. That’s all.

Accomplish that and satisfaction will follow. I guess what I’m saying is that if you have the urge to tell tales in your bones, don’t quit – no matter how down you get. The next set of ears and eyes who connect with your words may be just around the bend, and they may be a set of eyes and ears who could make a difference for you in some small way – that means even just validating your effort. Too often I watch writers quit writing and fret when down, and therein lies the rub. How can you get to that next set of eyes and ears if you’re not telling stories?

I got back to the Gym today.

I got off track in the past week and a half or so. Before that, because of the Holidays and my retreat to Corona Del Mar (Thanks, Polly and Joe!), my regimen was a little spotty.

But I went back. I actually enjoy it now. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing, yet. I tend to overdo things I like, so gotta keep an eye on that. Yet, I know I really need the workout, too. The whole writing life makes it all to0 easy to live a sedentary, keyboard tapping, In N’ Out burger eating, dinner at 1 in the morning, Oreo’s and Ice Cream for breakfast lifestyle. At least it does for me.

So, I’m there working on the “guns” when I see this guy. He’s a regular at the West L.A. Bally’s Total Fitness. I’ve seen him there before. You really can’t miss him, because for all the toughness he tries to exude, he’s largely there for you to see him. That’s painfully obvious.

He’s Mr. Outfit – completely coordinated, right? I’m not joking, color scheme, the works, all the way down to the key lanyard artfully dangling out of his pocket. Today it was blue. He must have every lanyard color of the rainbow. It’s a stunning level of detail. The kicks are always super expensive. Sometimes there’s a do-rag, sometimes not (today it was two toned – blue and white, which went with the aforementioned lanyard.)

There are two kicker’s here. The first of which are the shades. He sports Gucci wraparounds with diamonds on the temple (albeit small ones, but you can’t miss the sparkle.) And, he paces. Back and forth on one end of the first floor, in this slow, puffed up, kind of way, Alternately, he’ll sit at a machine – not use it, just sit. He looks like a peacock actually, or a rooster when he struts. It’s almost bordering on some strange performance art mandate.

Now, I had never seen him lift a weight or jump on a machine, until today. He sat down at the bench press and started doing a rep. Not reps, mind you. A rep. At about ten pounds (I would not lie to you about this.) It’s why I’m writing about this at two in the morning, when I should be asleep or, possibly, writing something more meaningful – like what I had for lunch (fruit shake with protein powder!) I have not seen something so utterly anti-climatic in awhile. At least not in person.

As soon as he was “done” he took to the barnyard for a stroll again – for the next forty minutes or so. That’s a heckuva a rest in between reps!

He was the Anti-Gym Rat.

Only in L.A.