Archive for the ‘Writing’ Category

I’ve got a birthday party in an hour (Happy Birthday, Laurapalooza!) so let’s get right to it:

- Been watching THE WIRE a lot lately. I had taken a break after season two. A break that lasted almost a year. Not because I didn’t like it, but because I was so blown away and wanted to savor the experience of watching it the first time. I hope to some day write and produce a television show that is a tenth as brilliant, real, incisive, brave, and chilling. The layers of it and its ability to introduce new characters while slowly expanding the reach of the narrative is unbelievable. I’m at the start of season four and I can honestly say that no show has ever touched THE WIRE’s level of complexity and feeling of unflinching reality.

-On the flip side of that, looks like BOSS is, for all intents and purposes, dead in the water with HWY 61 and PH. His agency, the biggest and most powerful in all of Hollywood, sent it to four heads of cable networks and they all passed – unwilling supposedly to do anything with politics with or without PH attached. It appears that we won’t be getting it back any time soon, either; which is baffling and frustrating – though it didn’t get us to where we are for now. We haven’t reached the end of the road completely, but we’re just about there. I’ve been told that unless someone comes to HWY 61 and PH and says: “Yes, we absolutely want to do BOSS” it won’t get pushed anymore and PH has definitely decided that he doesn’t want to go out and knock on doors/pitch it, which is ultimately what the “no’s” thus far are telling us what the project needs to get off the ground. It’s a tough spot as we share representation now. Apparently, they’re going to push it to the backburner for now and consider what else they may want to do with it. Which will mean nothing, in the end. Hopefully, down the road, it will be like a MAD MEN which was rejected and then filed away by Matt Weiner for eight years, until he had success and could do it.

- Looks like I may be getting some good copywright freelance work coming up (Thanks Artichoke Artisans!) Along with a few other things hear and there, I feel like – thanks to move – I’ll be able to tread water and maybe even break into copywrighting a bit more as I search for a teaching gig of some kind. I may do some extra work here and there to fill in the gaps, or maybe look for a Writer’s Assistant gig on a show.

-Very excited about the newer, cheaper AppleTV (is it ITV now?) and that it will be capable of streaming Netflix as well. Let the movie streaming revolution begin! Say good-bye to DVD’s!

- My niece Ellen was at her first Fighting Irish football game today as she’s at Saint Mary’s of Notre Dame, her mother’s alma matter, for her freshman year. The last time I was there was in college for a game with the Keefe’s. But I watched part of the game today, thinking back to my visit to see Claire there, when I believe I was in junior high. Here and her friends tried to sneak me in the student section, but I got bounced. Luckily, once I got in on my regular ticket, they found me and walked me into the section, which was packed with students. I still think of that visit and being in autumnal South Bend as the iconic collegiate experience. I remember we went to the pep rally and it all seemed as College should be.  I hope Ellen had a blast and is finding her place in the new community she’s in as well as her older sister, Emily, has at Villanova in Philly.

- Caught part of an episode of House Hunters International today. Saw a couple buy a COMPOUND with four small homes on it for two million in FIJI. Compound hopefuls be ready – we may forego Malibu/No Cal and decamp to Fiji. They had a private beach. It was slick. I’m thinking one hit TV show and five million and we might be able to buy a town.

- Been having very in-depth dreams lately. Like I’m almost conscious in them. But, I’m not remembering them when I wake up. What’s up with that? At least let me remember them. Their might be good material in there.

- My beloved Redbirds are imploding as I type. It’s pretty painful to watch. It’s like a NASCAR accident, not some mere stumble. A full on metal and fire, blown tires, hitting the wall implosion. I have long been a fan of Tony LaRussa’s hard charging (i think) brilliant managerial style. He is one of the greatest in-game generals and strategists ever in the game; but it may be time to give The Secret Weapon the chair and see what he can do with it. I think the team is not responding. We definitely have to 86 Mark McGwire as hitting coach and suck it up on the ownership side and raise the payroll to $120 million a year.

- New Arcade Fire album The Suburbs? Brilliant! Check it out. Now. No, I’m serious. Check. It. Out. You won’t regret it.

- Need to get back to work on my play and start in on my new one.

- Best meeting of the week – in terms of wow, we’re in a Hollywood office? Definitely Gran Via Productions, which was in Century City, near CAA. It was on the 16th floor of this office building located within the larger company WALDEN MEDIA (they did The Narnia Films, among many others.) When we walked up to the reception desk, it was hard to not notice to the right an enormous prop from the latest Narnia movie, THE VOYAGE OF THE DAWN TREADER – the mammoth, ornately carved wooden Ship’s Helm. It was rather impressive. Then we sat in their lovely lobby, where they had a large flat screen (naturally) playing their various films on a loop. Great way to wait for the meeting to start.

- And the best water award goes to….Brillstein Entertainment Partners. When we sat in the lobby and were asked by the receptionist if we wanted anything, shortly after the expected reply of “water” out came a lovely lady with a silver butler’s tray, polished to a high sheen. She set the waters down on lilac colored leather coasters. The water proved to be a cut above the rest – crisp, cold with ample ice in the glass. (Jason promptly awarded it the best water award after the meeting.)

I think that’s all for now, folks. Have an excellent and safe Labor Day!

I’ve got a birthday party in an hour (Happy Birthday, Laurapalooza!) so let’s get right to it:

- Been watching THE WIRE a lot lately. I had taken a break after season two. A break that lasted almost a year. Not because I didn’t like it, but because I was so blown away and wanted to savor the experience of watching it the first time. I hope to some day write and produce a television show that is a tenth as brilliant, real, incisive, brave, and chilling. The layers of it and its ability to introduce new characters while slowly expanding the reach of the narrative is unbelievable. I’m at the start of season four and I can honestly say that no show has ever touched THE WIRE’s level of complexity and feeling of unflinching reality.

-On the flip side of that, looks like BOSS is, for all intents and purposes, dead in the water with HWY 61 and PH. His agency, the biggest and most powerful in all of Hollywood, sent it to four heads of cable networks and they all passed – unwilling supposedly to do anything with politics with or without PH attached. It appears that we won’t be getting it back any time soon, either; which is baffling and frustrating – though it didn’t get us to where we are for now. We haven’t reached the end of the road completely, but we’re just about there. I’ve been told that unless someone comes to HWY 61 and PH and says: “Yes, we absolutely want to do BOSS” it won’t get pushed anymore and PH has definitely decided that he doesn’t want to go out and knock on doors/pitch it, which is ultimately what the “no’s” thus far are telling us what the project needs to get off the ground. It’s a tough spot as we share representation now. Apparently, they’re going to push it to the backburner for now and consider what else they may want to do with it. Which will mean nothing, in the end. Hopefully, down the road, it will be like a MAD MEN which was rejected and then filed away by Matt Weiner for eight years, until he had success and could do it.

- Looks like I may be getting some good copywright freelance work coming up (Thanks Artichoke Artisans!) Along with a few other things hear and there, I feel like – thanks to move – I’ll be able to tread water and maybe even break into copywrighting a bit more as I search for a teaching gig of some kind. I may do some extra work here and there to fill in the gaps, or maybe look for a Writer’s Assistant gig on a show.

-Very excited about the newer, cheaper AppleTV (is it ITV now?) and that it will be capable of streaming Netflix as well. Let the movie streaming revolution begin! Say good-bye to DVD’s!

- My niece Ellen was at her first Fighting Irish football game today as she’s at Saint Mary’s of Notre Dame, her mother’s alma matter, for her freshman year. The last time I was there was in college for a game with the Keefe’s. But I watched part of the game today, thinking back to my visit to see Claire there, when I believe I was in junior high. Here and her friends tried to sneak me in the student section, but I got bounced. Luckily, once I got in on my regular ticket, they found me and walked me into the section, which was packed with students. I still think of that visit and being in autumnal South Bend as the iconic collegiate experience. I remember we went to the pep rally and it all seemed as College should be.  I hope Ellen had a blast and is finding her place in the new community she’s in as well as her older sister, Emily, has at Villanova in Philly.

- Caught part of an episode of House Hunters International today. Saw a couple buy a COMPOUND with four small homes on it for two million in FIJI. Compound hopefuls be ready – we may forego Malibu/No Cal and decamp to Fiji. They had a private beach. It was slick. I’m thinking one hit TV show and five million and we might be able to buy a town.

- Been having very in-depth dreams lately. Like I’m almost conscious in them. But, I’m not remembering them when I wake up. What’s up with that? At least let me remember them. Their might be good material in there.

- My beloved Redbirds are imploding as I type. It’s pretty painful to watch. It’s like a NASCAR accident, not some mere stumble. A full on metal and fire, blown tires, hitting the wall implosion. I have long been a fan of Tony LaRussa’s hard charging (i think) brilliant managerial style. He is one of the greatest in-game generals and strategists ever in the game; but it may be time to give The Secret Weapon the chair and see what he can do with it. I think the team is not responding. We definitely have to 86 Mark McGwire as hitting coach and suck it up on the ownership side and raise the payroll to $120 million a year.

- New Arcade Fire album The Suburbs? Brilliant! Check it out. Now. No, I’m serious. Check. It. Out. You won’t regret it.

- Need to get back to work on my play and start in on my new one.

- Best meeting of the week – in terms of wow, we’re in a Hollywood office? Definitely Gran Via Productions, which was in Century City, near CAA. It was on the 16th floor of this office building located within the larger company WALDEN MEDIA (they did The Narnia Films, among many others.) When we walked up to the reception desk, it was hard to not notice to the right an enormous prop from the latest Narnia movie, THE VOYAGE OF THE DAWN TREADER – the mammoth, ornately carved wooden Ship’s Helm. It was rather impressive. Then we sat in their lovely lobby, where they had a large flat screen (naturally) playing their various films on a loop. Great way to wait for the meeting to start.

- And the best water award goes to….Brillstein Entertainment Partners. When we sat in the lobby and were asked by the receptionist if we wanted anything, shortly after the expected reply of “water” out came a lovely lady with a silver butler’s tray, polished to a high sheen. She set the waters down on lilac colored leather coasters. The water proved to be a cut above the rest – crisp, cold with ample ice in the glass. (Jason promptly awarded it the best water award after the meeting.)

I think that’s all for now, folks. Have an excellent and safe Labor Day!

There was a lot more lat night that I wanted to get into, but wasn’t able to due to the late hour and my general tiredness. So let’s dive right in with this pick-up post.

We did indeed have our second to last pitch for TV pitching season today @ Parkes/MacDonald as I mentioned. To recap, because it was a great week for who we were pitching to, the companies we pitched were Brillstein, Gran Via (Mark Johnson’s company,) and Parkes-MacDonald. All are good companies with lots of muscle who responded to our reps presentation of us and our sample (BOSS.) We pitched well this week. Better than last week for sure. We thought we did pretty good last week, but in retrospect and after our conference call with our TV team the other day, which was kind of a halftime review of how things were progressing so far, it’s clear the adjustments that Jason and I made really tightened and elevated our pitch.  We’re still waiting to hear from everyone this week as to there initial reactions and if there’s interest to pursue our idea further. That being said, and I think I covered this last night a bit (without looking back ) Everyone last week passed. Which isn’t unusual. There are hundreds of pitches on the TV side at this time of the year and a very select few get ordered to script. We’re not completely out, but the genral tone of the conference call seemed to indicate that we were not going to get this pitch across on this round. Which if this does indeed turn out to be the case, because its healthy, I’ll admit is pretty damn disappointing. But, about par for the course being that we’re new, unknown writers and our pitch is on the edgier side of things.

That isn’t to say that the pitches weren’t success’ in what they needed, ultimately, to accomplish which was get our name out there and get us some experience walking into those major league rooms and presenting our idea and our talents in a fun and entertaining way. The idea being that what we did was plant seeds with each person we met with. And that these seeds will bloom in assignments or other pitches or whatever down the road. According to our team, we were shone in every room we went into. With one producer going so far as to say he could tell “that we will be major stars.” Every door is without a doubt still left open, according to our agents, who set the meetings and do the check in to get the “meeting behind the meeting” after it’s over. We made a bunch of fans and that’s what it takes. Ultimately, I feel as we walked out of the pitch today, both Jason and I could look back over the two weeks and see just how much we had learned.

We do still have word on the three to come in from this week and one more pitch to go; but from there it looks like the TV side will quiet down for a bit. On the feature side, though, it appears (hopefully) they are finally ready to rev up to full speed and get us out there. We also have one of the three screenplays that we started for young producers or directors at our level before we signed with the agency, that is believed to be ready to go out to possible actors, production companies, and directors in an effort to get it into production. So, hopefully, in September we’ll have a bunch of generals with feature people and then this script will go out and one or the other or both will make headway. The big thing that Jason and I are fighting – beside the obvious material concerns of finances – is the psychological of wanting that first break to come in. Not so much for the money it may bring, but more so to cement our representation team in place. To justify all their hardwork and time spent on us. Because even though there are those tough times of silence, when we’re out there like we have been the past two weeks we are in near constant contact with them – especially our manager, but also the agents, and when we contacted our feature guys they got back to us within a couple of hours – which is not typical for those of us who haven’t made them money yet and established themselves with an assignment or sale yet. Part of this psychological pressure stems from the horror stories we’ve heard through school about peers signing with a major agency right out of the gate, but because something didn’t happen for them the first time out with an idea or script, they weren’t dropped so much as they were set adrift, with phone calls not returned and material not read, that sort of thing. Kind of dropped, without being told they were dropped and their careers started to stall because of it. It’s something you definitely feel some concern over. You’ve got to produce or there isn’t room for you.

So, here we are at the end of round two, a lot of lessons learned. Our work cut out for us. Still in the game. Still feeling extremely fortunate.

***Okay, a bit of explanation. This should’ve been posted last night. But after writing and saving it b/c I knew I’d be too tired to write it up after unwinding in the hot tub and watching some episodes of The Wire (which was a first – the writing and saving for posting later.) So guess what? I was too tired. I fell fast asleep before I could remember to post it! So, here’s yesterday’s news, today. More on today’s happenings, later on!*****)

It’s been a long, but good day. Jason and I had our meeting, at Warner Bros., @ 10 A.M. It went just about how we thought it would, which was wonderful. It’s such a relief to have that first one in the rear view mirror, but have another right away tomorrow. Such a different feeling than the one meeting, this is it, no one to post-mortem with after.

By that I mean both my writing partner, but also our reps – who were there for us today just as you’d hope. Spoke to our manager before the meeting. He settled the nerves, put me in a great frame of mind for the meeting. Then later in the day, we got a call from both agents who had spoke to the producer about the pitch and sussed out from him how it went for him, what he thought, etc…

As expected, it doesn’t look like he’ll bite on this idea. He wasn’t gelling completely with it. No big surprise. Jason and I felt that in the meeting. He was great in the room. Really funny, kind, asked some great questions, was truly engaged. But, we made some choices in how we presented the idea in the pitch and he didn’t gel to one or two of those choices. He focused on those in his questions. We answered well, stayed at the right, high octane energy, answered everything he asked in kind.

This is exactly what I was getting at a bit last night. This is why it’s so great to have multiple meetings and why that feels the most of all, so far, like the real deal. Nothing is desperate, dire, all or nothing. You pick your approach. You go in and delver it with enthusiasm and passion. That’s all you can control. The rest is out of your hands. The goal? To create a fan of the work and you. To give a good meeting and at the least, leave the door open after if they’re not interested. If they fall for the idea or script or you, then great – a deal gets made. But if you focus on that as the only definition of a productive, fruitful pitch? You’ll drive yourself crazy and grow desperate quickly, which will further shut you out. This is something Jason and I talked about, at length, and something all of our reps – before and after – stressed independent of our having the conversation. Jason really crystallized the thought of it this afternoon and it totally revamped my view of pitching and meetings. Made it all so much less stressful.

And that’s exactly what we did today. The producer/exec loved us. Loved the idea, but was concerned about those one or two things. He said he’d think on it for a night, but our agents expect him to pass. BUT, more importantly, he’s now a big fan of Latshaw/Pedrolie. He told our agents (as they related to us) that he thought we worked extremely well together, we were polished, had given the idea a tremendous amount of thought – all the basic attributes he wants to see in writers he might hire down the road and will be more than happy to hear from on their next pitch. This made our Agents extremely happy.

So, altogether an promising first day in the trenches. Can’t wait to get back into it tomorrow!

Call it the Corona Del Mar effect. I say I’m gonna do something on the blog, but there’s an unplanned  twenty-four hour delay. It’s the relaxing atmosphere Stags and I cultivate when we’re together. That and the sweet ocean breezes. That helps, too.

Here we go. Tomorrow we have our first pitch. Jason and I are a bit jittery – but that’s more over getting in there so we can do what we do and get a feel for the rhythm of the real game. Tomorrow’s is at Warner Bros. Studios with the producer of Grand Torino, among others. The meeting was bumped up to Ten A.M. so that the man with his name on the door could join the pitch. That’s a good thing. Any time the steps between you and the actual decision makers are cut down, so much the better. This would be our agents or manager probably at work. I’m would bet my bottom dollar there’s some kind of connection. I know we share the same law firm, so that’s something. Anyways, instead of pitching to a CE (Creative Exec,) who then in turn pitches your idea to her Boss, who’s either the head of her department or company (in this case its company,) we get to leap frog to him directly now. The reason why this is better is that he might have a discretionary fund for development from the studio as part of his deal to park his company exclusively on their turf and provide for their pipeline. Which means, if he did (it’s not a given, but it’s a possibility), that the head of the company could lock up the idea with a paid option or outright purchase, before taking it to the studio. That sort of thing. Regardless, it’s one piece in the telephone game of pitching, which means less relying on someone else to regurgitate your idea in just the right way. Got it? Good. Here we go:

-THE WIRE, people. Watch it. All of it. Man, I should’ve listened to my brother years ago. THIS. IS. THE. GREATEST. SHOW. EVER! It’s almost too much to handle. Deadwood’s a close second, tied with Six Feet Under. But, NONE, of them touch The Wire. NONE! I’m on season three. It’s blowing my mind how rich, detailed, and authentic this whole story and characters are – not to mention how they slowly and perfectly grow the world of the story from season to season. Of course, when it’s Denis Lehane, Richard Price, and George Pelicanos on your writing staff, you’re doing good as far as crime writing goes.

- My second niece is off to college. Which, honestly, makes me feel kind of old. Sounds like she’s doing quite well from what I can tell on facebook. Her sister is a Junior and their younger sister, my goddaughter, just turned 16. They are all getting too old too fast. It’s not fair.

-We booked another pitch for next week today, which was great. It’s with a non-writing Co-Exec Producer on Breaking Bad. That’s pretty good.

-We’ve got five pitches total right now. Which, I think, is just the first set. Or, I would guess it is. What do we know? We’ve never actually done this before.

-The thing I’ve been dwelling on, savoring even, all day is this: In the past, if I scratched something together, it was usually to get one person possibly interested. One person who, as a long shot, MIGHT be able to make something happen. In other words, the very few times I got into this situation, it was a do or die situation. That one person or nothing. Tomorrow, walking into the first pitch their will be four more right behind it. None of it is do or die in the moment. We will get better as we go through the first run of pitches. We may be great tomorrow, but we’ll then become unbelievable. It’s strange, but this feels, despite all the rest of advancements this summer, and even before, like the biggest career advancement yet. This is exactly what we wanted when we were struggling with the deal that ultimately didn’t go through. This is really all you can ask for as a writer in this town – the chance to take your ideas to the market and  to write. We’re doing that. Pretty cool, isn’t it?

-Ten years ago was the most pivotal time of my life as I struggled through the biggest change in my life ever. A change that is still having an incredibly profound effect on my life every single day. I’m beyond fortunate to be here, in this city, just enjoying the sunshine and my friends, let alone to be in the midst of my greatest dream – living that, too. I don’t quite know what to say actually. There were many nights – long, hard ones – where I thought this was just not a possibility EVER. Not in my life. To be here. Well, I feel like I died and went to heaven. Thanks to all the angels that have carried, and continue to carry me here.

- Cardinals looks like they found their bats. A little help from the SF Giants and we might just climb back into the division race. One way or the other, it’s shaping up to be one helluva stretch run!

Okay. I’m gonna catch another episode of The Wire. Then I gotta catch some zzzzz’s. Big day tomorrow!

I guess I didn’t get this entry in today, did I? No small surprise there. May take me a bit longer to “realize” that transition. Onward and upward to the matter at hand: tonight’s entry.

Colin, a loyal reader/brother-in-law to my writing partner Jason/proud father of an adorable brand new baby girl/and all around great guy, asked a question the other day in the comments section that actually echoed a question I had been asked just days earlier at a birthday get-together by a new acquaintance. It’s a question that I’ve noticed is actually coming up intermittently lately to my chagrin and growing curiosity. I had never really thought to much into the matter until recently. Despite the recent thought on the topic, I was caught rather flat-footed in my response; so I thought – let’s give Colin’s question a spin. So here it is:

“My question for you: I know that you have quite the knack for gritty crime writing (which I love. It’s a favorite genre if mine). Assuming you do not currently live a life on the lam, where do you find inspiration for details that make your writing believable, vibrant, and compelling? Personal experience… Nonfiction reading… Research… Documentary… Friends in the business, so to speak… Other films… Vivid imagination?”

Excellent question, Colin. (Thanks!) First and foremost let me provide some context. I was initially a poet. This was in high school, through college, and shortly after college for several years (three or four to be exact.) I wasn’t a mess around, scribble some bad verse in a journal writer, either. I had that phase in junior high – mostly eighth grade. Nope, I was really into William Carlos Williams, Jim Carroll, Allen Ginsberg (huge influence early on,) Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and e.e. Cummings (another really big influence, though unlike Ginsberg I didn’t write in e.e.’s style, I just really connected with his opaqueness and coded emotional specificity) by sophmore year and had adopted an almost daily writing routine.

I always loved movies. Grew up in a family that loved movies. But, I had no concept of screenwriting until my junior year in college. But, in all fairness and to bring it back to the topic at hand, I was always particularly taken with thrillers. It was my predominant genre, with an even deeper love of the heist movie. My mother is a big Alfred Hitchcock fan. An early formative cinematic experience was watching Hitch’s seminal Dial M For Murder in third grade one night with her and being totally mesmerized and freaked out by the suspense all at once.

But how did that all mix together, along with some other elements, into the kind of crime writing I tend to more and more consistently skew towards these days? Part of it probably lies in those formative years when I seemed to watch almost ever conceivable 80′s B Movie thriller (Mean Season, Manhunter, Black Widow, Thief, Tequila Sunrise, No Way Out, To Live And Die In L.A., 52 Pick-Up, and on and on.) Part of it lives with Professor Jim Balestrieri, who first taught me screenwriting as an Undergrad. We bonded over classic Film Noir and I ended up educating myself by watching all those classics (Double Indemnity, The Big Sleep, Ace In The Hole, Sunset Boulevard, The Killing, Asphalt Jungle, and on and on. )

But those are mostly starting points. Initial sparks to where I am now. The main fire that all this is forged in, with out a doubt now that I have some distance from it, was my time bartending in Chicago and my lost years as an alcoholic and drug addict. In those lost years, even back late in College, definitely during my year in San Francisco right after Undergrad, and then about two years into the Chicago tenure, I lived, worked, and socialized in a world of mobsters (Ukrainian, Sicilian, and Polish,) gang bangers, suspected murderers, hustlers, Hells Angeles, “dancers,” thiefs, fallen cops, cowboy narcs, an FBI Agent, ex-cons, soon-to-be-cons, and other fringe opportunists on the make. Even some of my bosses in Chicago were definitely hoodlums of  some kind or employed hoodlums. This I chalk up to the different things I chased through the nights, the company one keeps when chasing those things, the clientele a bartender’s bound to get in a dive bar in a pre-gentrified inner-city neighborhood (which is what I was for most of my bouncer and bartending career in Chicago.)

All that became material. And when I finally wised up and stopped chasing those things, those people still frequented the bars where I worked, especially when I worked at that juncture – which was the off nights like Sunday’s and Mondays, or Saturday open – basically the quieter more Barfly shifts. This is when I would endure or listen (depending on my mood and the drunk on the stool) to countless stories told by these folks for hours on end. Also at this point, when I was clear-headed, I definitely became closer to the Beat Cops and Detectives who would come in on an extremely regular basis, listen to their stories because they always wanted a sympathetic ear and someone to buy ‘em a few beers. One of the last joints I worked in was so slow on the one night – Monday – that I closed that usually it’d be me and this one really nice, veteran Beat Cop who came in without fail after getting off of his shift, before going home to his wife. Sometimes his buddies from the force and join him. This went on for the better part of a year.

(As a side note in Chicago you just can’t live there and not encounter or have to deal with political corruption. I’ve always wondered if Philly is the same way. In Chicago. especially in the restaurant and bar business, it’s a game of graft to keep your business afloat. I’ve witnessed some wild turn of events on the Alderman/Ward level of city politics. Corruption is a way of live there.)

There’s some other factors, too. In Undergrad, I experienced the serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer first hand as he was living in our part of Milwaukee, had walked the streets we had walked for several years, lived in an apartment building that students had lived in previously (and I had gone to a party at.) One of my first internships was for the ABC News Affiliate and their morning talk show. After his arrest, he was interviewed via phone by the morning show’s host and I was allowed to write several questions for the interview. In that same internship, I’d be in charge of culling the different story leads for the Saturday ten o’clock newscast and would have to call all the police watch captains to check in, see what was happening – as well as listen to all these scanners.

The one word I come back to in Colin’s question though is compelling. For that the roots run much deeper, or at least the roots of the interest in the actual act. I’ve always been fascinated by the actual psychology behind both the criminal and the lawman, with all its variants. I’ve found that, despite their potentially different external personalities, all cops have a similar baseline in their core mindset that bonds them even if they don’t realize it; whereas criminals seem to have a wildly divergent mindset amongst their own, a total grab bag to why they make the bad or desperate choices they make. I can’t lie, of course, and say that I haven’t committed various criminal acts on the more minor end. My nickname “Doc” comes from an epic act of forgery in High School that went on for some time and involved an actual forgery kit that I cobbled together to achieve my goal – cutting class to hang out with girls. This is just one small example and not an isolated incident.

I guess what I’m trying to say in summation is that beyond the actual events, the stories told over a bar top, the racing through the streets in places that I shouldn’t have been – despite all that raw material and a love for stories (in books, films, on stage, TV, comic books) that deal in that raw material; there’s also a core emotional impulse behind these gritty characters and their stories that I’ve been after for a long, long time in my work. Whether its those carrying the badges or those breaking the law, I’ve seen in real life (as they’ve literally sat side by side at a bar) how they’re two sides of the same coin. I’ve been fascinated with trying to crack emotionally what connects them. I hope that’s been compelling.

Whew!  Thanks for reading. So much still left to say, but I think this captures it enough.

Good Night!

I think last night’s brief entry on frustration got away from me! I didn’t mean to imply that I would quit the blog. And I know there are a good many readers out there, checking in week to week. I had hoped to inspire any questions that some may have, that I hadn’t gotten to in my unplanned ramblings, which might give me a track to rumble down for a bit, content-wise.

There is one just asked that’s rather timely (thanks, Colin!) as I was asked the same question at Jacob’s birthday get together in the park this past Sunday and I got caught flat footed by it. Even though it’s something I’ve considered internally in my thoughts. As Sunday demonstrated, though, I’ve never articulated my thoughts regarding it. We’ll delve into more of that tomorrow – as I’m going to try to switch gears a bit to more of a daytime posting ritual as part of my work routine.

Anyone see the Time magazine article on Jonathan Franzen, writer of The Corrections. Grew up in Webster Groves, a suburb of St. Louis. The same suburb where we once lived and I was born. Anyways, in the article there is a brief paragraph on his writing space and equipment, along with a picture. It’s quite fascinating. To sum up: It’s a small, ancient looking industrial office computer cart type desk  with a hard backed chair against a blank white wall. The only thing on the desk is a rather clunky early Dell laptop and THAT’S IT!  Yes, there is no one scrap of paper. Not one picture. Not one knicknack in the whole darn space. Desk, wall, chair, dinosaur computer. I didn’t even see a lamp. Very impressive.

More importantly, and something that I hope to do one day, is remove all ability to access the internet from the machine and remove all time wasting games, etc.. from the software files. Apparently, Franzen customized the machine – going all the way down to the programming language to eradicate games from the hard drive, removing the wireless card physically from the computer, and then taking an ethernet cable – pouring superglue in the ethernet port on the laptop – jamming the cable in and whacking off the permanently attached head from the rest of the cable. Amazing! I love it. I’ve always pined for a computer to work on that’s completely and utterly free of the internet and any other distractions.

Also, as a side note to the writers who are reading this, it took Jonathan Franzen ten years to produce Freedom (at 562 pages.) But, as he talks about it in the article, the first seven or eight produced NOTHING usable. He wrote, but kept throwing stuff away, heading down this blind alley, then that one. Finally, after all this time, he had six pages of a female character. It was the first set of pages he didn’t throw away in almost a decade. From there, he cranked out the first draft in ONE YEAR! Probably rewrote it over the course of another.

Lessons from this:

-Every story told is an excavation.

-Character is the light that cuts best through the dark of uncertainty.

-Plot follows Character, not the other way around.

More tomorrow. I leave you with a few photos (because I haven’t done that in a bit) that I found through Google Reader where I track many different news sources on the net. One folder is dedicated to photoblogs. I love the simplicity of a picture a day. Here are two, of a set, that I find captivating and haunting in the most beautiful way possible. Without further rambling:

Dawn On A City Street In Toronto

A Few Minutes Later

I will say this about the photos: I was drawn to them specifically from the many years I worked until dawn at a Four A.M. bar called Nick’s Beer Garden. I lived several blocks away, basically around the corner. There is something strange, beautiful, and beyond peaceful about a city right as the darkness breaks and morning spills in. All the windows dark and the doors shut on the last moment of stillness. My feet on the sidewalk pavement. The Tribune truck dropping fresh stacks in the boxes on the corner. Everything about to happen, not quite yet, but soon.

We had Jacob’s official birthday get together (you were SORELY missed, Tiff! Beyond any words!!) today over at Mar Vista park. I was baking the cake for this. Friends, and some of Jacob’s family (cousins, specifically) gathered. There was a bit of a picnic. Various UCLA theaterfolk, of course, came out. People brought food. There were a few babies in attendance. All in all, a lovely afternoon in the company of good friends and meeting new ones. The cake was a hit. It was almost completely consumed, which is the best way to tell. The afternoon ended with a rather long variation on kickball that featured no set teams, score, or specific competition. It’s difficult to describe, but it was fun enough that play went on for over two and a half hours. I was 0 for 3 from the plate, almost made a web gem when I was manning first, and pitched a good portion of the exhibition. For a bunch of actors, writers, and other fellow roustabouts we did not openly embarrass ourselves, which was promising. Then it was back to the homestead, a visit from Gilda the dog, and dinner followed by Mad Men. Not a bad Sunday. Tomorrow is chasing after some freelance writing gigs, getting down to brass tacks on the feature Jason and I have to write, and hoping we gain some new forward momentum with meetings on either the TV or Feature side, soon. I have to admit, I’m completely baffled as to the time frame we’re on, currently (it seemed all rush, rush, rush. Now, who knows?) I’m also feel deep into uncharted waters in terms of the writing career stuff and that kind of “blindness” (for lack of a better term) is really a process for me to manage. It takes effort, continual effort, and doesn’t seem to get easier as I work at it. In fact, it seems to grow harder. I feel so caught in between states and don’t know what exactly is the priority because of that. I thought it was writing (which, yes, I understand intellectually it always is; but I meant for the transition out of school, as opposed to getting set-up with more steady work outside the writing) now I’m not sure. Or its passed from that. Or, it hasn’t and I’m just not seeing it. All entirely possible. This isn’t exactly an area I can go off and research, like I’m used to. Instead, this is all about accruing experience, without losing my head, which can be painful and frustrating, but shouldn’t ever be defeating (I hope I’m made of stronger stuff than that.) Anyways, that’s where I’m at. Tomorrow is, as always, a brand new day.

Here we are. Getting settled in Culver City/Palms and the new pad. Making my way in this crazy, mixed up business. Officially an M.F.A. It’s all a little weird still. I was just talking to a friend and classmate, who I hadn’t seen in awhile. He’s been out since winter quarter and went to New York this summer, as part of a festival, to stage a play of his – himself. He’s in the same, weird financial in between state that it seems those that are just graduating and getting some interest/work opportunities/rep meetings are all in. Too busy to really commit to a real job, but not really getting paid anything, at all – yet. I was relieved to see him because I had heard through the grapevine he might take a gig in D.C., which is one of the places he worked prior to coming west. Instead, he came back because it seemed like the wise thing to do. Anyways, we commiserated over the strangeness. I would say that the common theme is that its not a very comfortable position to be in. This is largely due to the fact that you have no clue where the whole endeavor is headed, or how long it might take to get there, and speeding the process up is mercurial at best or wholly out of your hands, normally. Yet, it can be exciting and it can all see like it’s about to come through – that elusive corner will be turned and you’ll be working….as a writer….just as you dreamed for so many years.

Anyways, suffice to say you keep your head up high, you work hard, you keep your expectations low, but your hopes reasonably high, you stay in touch and don’t isolate too much, you ask for help when you need it, and you look at each day as exactly that – a day in which anything can happen, but, when you close your eyes, you get to start all over again.

All right. That was a waaaay longer introduction than I expected. So, without further soapboxing, let’s get down to it! It is Friday night, after all.

-I’m going to say this once and try and leave it alone after that. How in the name of all that’s holy did David Freese incur a season ending ankle injury, on a heretofor uninjured part of his body, on a rehab assignment in double A ROUNDING THIRD BASE?!?!?! It’s like this kid has turned out to be the boy in the bubble! I’m afraid if the wind blows too hard when we visit Wrigley he might break a bone or blow away. It’s just unreal.

-If it weren’t for Adam Wainwright, I think the redbirds would be having a much, much different season. Waino is indeed Bueno.

-Jacob and I are watching DEADWOOD. He’s never seen it and I’ve only seen it once, when it aired. It’s been fascinating to watch it again. Man, did HBO screw up, or what, when they took it off the air prematurely? The show is beyond brilliant. Milch truly outdid himself and so did the actors. I’m floored by two things – first of all, Milch dumps every spark for the ENTIRE SERIES into the first four episodes. It’s amazing. There’s one major event, that in my mind I would’ve sworn before watching it, that it had occurred in season two. I mean I would’ve bet good money. Season two, Doc? Try episode two! My jaw was on the floor. I had no recollection it had come that early. I was blown away.  (And I’m not the only one, I was talking to a writer-friend the other night and he’s rewatching it to and had the same reaction)

-We have a lot of projects in play right now. Lots kind of hopping around. It’s nice to have this TV stuff vaulting ahead of the pack. It’s all pretty cut and dry, which is good. But it would be lovely to knock some things off our plate. One thing I think we’re learning is that once something gets on your plate? It’s really hard to get it off, even if it’s going nowhere.

-Jacob’s a big fan of THE LAST WALTZ, too. That means he’s really good people.

-We have a pretty kick-ass apartment. I wake up and can’t quite believe how well it all worked out, and we seem to be falling into a good rhythm. I have to say I was against Culver City when I first moved to L.A. for some reason. The one time I had visited years earlier, I had stayed with a friend in Culver City; but never got a good grasp of the place and it seemed real scattershot – one block was cool, the next was rough. I could get that in Chicago, I wanted something different. But, Culver City is pretty awesome. It helps our apartment is so excellent, but downtown Culver City, while not huge, has some neat restaurants and bistros and cafes. It’s got a good feel to it. And, the Albertson’s? The best grocery store, I’ve seen in years. I was actually surprised. It’s a vast place. It even has some bulk foods like whole foods. A-Ma-Zing!

-Did I tell you about the new Swell Season record yet? Well, why aren’t you listening to it right now! The new Arcade Fire’s pretty good, too. Though it’s early.

-I’m a notoriously bad unpacker. Like I leave boxes unpacked for months after a move. It’s a really bad habit. SO, here’s a reminder to myself to push through and finish the job this weekend. There’s hardly anything left and I’ll be a happier man if I do.

-We’re thinking about getting some plants. We get great light and we’ve got some perfect spots for them. Any suggestions? (Preferably low maintenance, but not cacti!)

-Can you believe David Freese?!?!

-I’m quite excited that I’ll be doing more cooking here at the new joint. I’ve already busted out the risotto witch is my fast and easy dinner – through some chicken and peas in there, or beef, some parm and away you go. But, over the long haul, we’re talking BBQ, we’re talking Slow Cooker, we’re talking the whole nine yards. Which is good. It’s been awhile. Plus, it’s the type of place where I could have some friends over and it would be comfortable. (I owe some folks some home cooked meals.) We’ve even got enough room and seating to have movie nights for a select few folks.

I think that’s about it for this week’s edition of randoms. Be good to yourself. I’ll be back to regular posts tomorrow.

Aaaaaaaand we’re back!

Did you miss me?

We’ll, I missed you!

The big move is finally in the rearview mirror. THANK GOD!

It was a long, drawn out affair; but looking pretty worth it, each day.  I did realize in the midst of it all – the whole thing took about two and a half days to complete, unfortunately – that I really don’t have that many of these moves left in me. They are just too tough.

Our apartment is fantastic. Really fantastic. I think JAcob and I are a bit surprised, by it actually. While we thought it would all work out just fine between our furniture, gear, and potential as roommates; we’ve been continually amazed at how well the apartment’s laid out, how well our gear and furniture seems to mesh right now, and all the great benefits of having a roommate.

So, I guess you can see life is rolling along on the apartment front. On the writing front, life is cranking along as well. I’ll get into more of that tomorrow. We have a meeting with our TV Agent and our Manager and another Agent at 12:30 p.m. to discuss the recent revision of our pitch document for this series idea we have; which our Agent is really, really, REALLY excited to get us out there pitching as soon as possible.

So, once we talk to them, we’ll get into all that’s been going on, while I’ve been moving