Today's High Spots

An appointment with my agent for lunch tomorrow is a high point. One of my friends called it "hoidy-toidy". I must admit it ALWAYS feels good to say I have an agent, but when it happens, or how it happens is just as plain and ordinary as a cheese sandwich. I was writing with Alex at the time, and he had met these wonderful people before at an international conference in Banff, Alberta.

Against his better judgement, I'm sure, he took me along to this conference and here was the couple from LA that represent talent "behind the camera". "That's us," I thought. What I knew about the film industry at the time wouldn't have filled a thimble. So, when introduced, I asked what they did, and when they told me, I said, "Oh, great - we need one of those!" They were speachless with my bold advance, I was blissfully unaware, and finally the female in this partnership said, "I'll read something, then. But you have to send it. I'm not carrying it home." Hurray. Agent...check! And there it was.

In the end, it's just like you hear over and over again in the industry. Is this person someone I want to work with? When the answer is yes on both sides, magic can happen. So tomorrow is lunch with friends, really. The new bit for me is that a third party is invited along tomorrow. Interesting...

When I got out, I ate in a 50's diner with actual juke boxes at the tables, I checked out a shoe store the size of New York City (no lie) and enjoyed this street performer. This, and young people spinning on their backs on the stars of Hollywood Blvd., plus movie characters wandering around makes you realize you're in Tinsel Town. Cool!

Vacation Day

Oh, how wonderful it was not to have anything to do today. I was out, exploring, shopping a bit, went for brunch, napped, had a swim, had my Screenwriting U phone call. I begin to feel the R&R... wonderful. And today I found this wonderfully perfect ass!

Only in America

Here I am in beautiful downtown Hollywood. You can see my logo...I love my logo... in the foreground, and I guess you'll have to take my word for the fact that the, no THE Hollywood sign is over my left shoulder waaaay in the background. This is taken from the four-story plaza that is now my neighbourhood. They've got everything from COACH (designer handbags) to Crepes. I had a tropical fruit crepe. The phenomenal thing about that is they brought me the whole can of whipping cream, and left it on the table! I haven't experienced that before.

Here's another thing I'd not experienced before today. Sniffed by a drug dog! I don't know if someone questionable was on board, or whether they'd heard about BC bud, but two officers and their dog - not a coochie-coo sweet kind of dog, believe me. I think maybe a cross between an Alsasion (or however you spell it) and a German Shepherd.
"Single file please. Keep to your right." If anyone had been packing, they must have rightfully shit themselves. I saw the trio come up the outside steps to the plane. They RAN up those steps. I didn't stay to see if they got anyone. The dog let me by with my pecan cookies, so I just kept on going!

Phone call with my group tomorrow morning. I'm glad to be here, even though most of my clothes don't work. I packed for spring instead of summer. It's hot and humid. I have kind of a hippie dress with me, so I guess I'll be wearing that ALL the time. It's now nearing midnight, and I still have windows wide open. Goodbye cool, wet weather!

Sea West Lounge

I used to be a lounge lizard. Hanging out in the lounge made me feel, on some strange planet, part of the "in crowd". I was with it. I was happening. In actuality I was sitting in a dark room, on who-knows-whose filth, drinking my face off. It has been nearly 30 years since I did that, since I felt that way, until today.

Today, I feel again that I am part of the in crowd. I'm in the lounge, but it's not dark at all, and nobody's drinking - not alcohol anyway. There's Starbucks, and specialty teas, cheese, and almonds, juice, cakes and cookies. There's a flat fee for all this at the door. This bit of heaven, this quiet haven away from the three tours of pre-teens on board, away from boistrous party groups, away from crying children and spilled soft drinks.

This is the latest service offered by BC Ferries on the larger ships between Swartz Bay on Vancouver Island and Tsawwassen on the lower mainland. They call it the Sea West Lounge, and signage at the door warns against loud conversation and boisterous behavior. I don't believe I've spent a better ten dollars in my whole life!

Plus, I'm here with the business people, with the singles who don't want to be shuffled along with the crowd, with the quiet ones, and today that's a beautiful thing. And I'm on my way. This ferry crossing begins a two week vacation that I truly need. This two week vacation contains my Hollywood meetings. This is what I've been working towards, and I feel ready. My attitude is good. I just need some rest, and there is time for that. Clever woman that I am, I worked that into the plan. Stay tuned, Gentle Reader, we're getting close now!

Three more Sleeps!

With the Hollywood meetings looming large, we had another conference call about what we need, and the almighty "One-Page" reared its head again. The first one I'd done way back had way too much in it, so I didn't even re-visit it. I just started over. I got a short, zippy pitch written and off to colleagues for critique. It only seemed to fit the bill for one of the three who read it. They needed a little bit more. So now that is out there to two additional fellow writers who hadn't seen the first one, and my first e-mail back said, "May I be brutal? Call me." Uh-oh.

On Tuesday evening I have a one-on-one call with the instructor to review this item. It's a marketing tool designed to make a producer want to read your script. If the first line doesn't grab them, they won't read on, and so forth. So it needs to be brief but tweak the curiosity, or help the producer see that you've got a character who would attract an A-list actor, or be easy to make for a million dollars, or something appealing to his/her business sense.

If you think this is easy, you are mistaken. Believe me.

In regards to progress on the re-write course assignments, I did get #7 done, and that leaves 8, 9, and 10. I'll be able to get back to these once this one-page is done and I'm on the road. It's good that I'm nearly ready because it's almost time to go. I will keep you apprised as I go. Cheers for now!

Oh - BTW, I have a new story posted on LifeasaHuman - could give you a giggle: http://lifeasahuman.com/author/pegainsley/

Assignment 11 Complete & Posted

It feels SO good to be back in the game. Now 7-10 to catch up. Just wanted to let you know I did get some real work done today, and thought I'd also share some visuals...

This will show you what I wrote on the Beat Sheet big sheet, and what it looks like now i.e. 5 pages of beats (scenes) for the movie! The red scribbles? You wouldn't really expect that I would publish it all for anyone to see do you? Especially that all-important final scene!

Finally...a BREAKTHROUGH!

If you are still there, gentle reader, I can finally report that I'm on my way again. And now there are only 10 more sleeps before I leave home and begin my 2010 vacation which includes the all-important activities in Los Angeles. Hollywood, even.

There are two kinds of being stuck for this writer.

One is just the regular there's-a-blank-page-and-I-can't-go-on, which is normally handled with good old-fashioned procrastination. Laundry to do, bathrooms to clean, plants to transplant all become more important when you're that kind of stuck. Eventually you just sit down and write the thing because while you are planting plants and upside down in toilet bowls, your mind is working on something that you can write down.

This particular term of stuckedness was not this variety at all. It was a deeper, scared-y-cat, I-can't-do-this kind of stuck. When you believe that you can't do it, your mind doesn't work on anything at all, and in fact you think you'd better just lie down rather than clean the house. This is the worst kind of stuck, because you don't really see a way past. The energy I have been using for sheer determination has run out. I'm tired.

In desperation I called out to my former writing partner, long since lost to cancer. No, he didn't answer, and no, I didn't feel his presence. I didn't even think about him again. I just sat down and began to add the ones, then the twos, and compared them with the script I've already written, which gave me some threes, and before you know it, I had broken through! Four straight hours and the elusive "beat sheet" is done!

I was so happy I did a little happy dance around the apartment, even though it was after 11:00 and I actually chortled, and laughed out loud, and yes, I remembered to thank Alex, justincase, and Zoooooooom! I am back to loving what I'm doing!

Assignment 11 came out today, and I "only" need to make up 7, 8, 9, and 10! And meantime I'm making lists of what to pack, and trying to get other things ready for my trip. And that's okay! I feel now I have a complete story, and guess what? I can see the humour in it!

Through Process to Progress

This is the next photo I have for you. Progress! Still nothing to write home about, but I said I'd share my journey, so I'm writing to YOU about it.

And to quote the great fictional character Forrest Gump, "That's all I have to say about that."

'til soon, Peg

Thought I'd share a little process...

Some assignments go easier than others. Some parts of screenwriting just flow; others lump-bump along until the poor writer screams with frustration and comes to the conclusion it's impossible to write a whole movie anyway.

As you may guess from my infrequent posts of late, I fall into the latter category. Not to leave you out of my struggle, I thought I'd share some of the techniques I've tried.

I have tried starting at the beginning, I have tried starting at the end. Then I was struck with this wonderful idea - just make a wee note about every single thing that happens in the story, and put all the notes together on a story board of sorts. Along the way, I've happened across a few more twists for this twisty tale. So the photo shows where I am currently - I haven't quite got everything up there, but...

You will see there is a great empty patch in the middle, so I am still creating things, building relationships, infusing characters with more levels for their interaction, making them interact with each other, or more, different characters, building entertainment value and elevating quality. Well, I'm not quite caught up on all of that, but the weekend is here and I will be. As it says in my profile, I'm determined. Stay tuned for progress on the story board...

PS: BTW, this isn't a real storyboard - this is more like a get-those-scenes-up-on-the-wall board. And I do realize that I'm not explaining what a real storyboard is. I'm just not up to it right now. If you're really curious, there's always Google.

Great to be back at Script Work!

It's not the joy of getting assignments done so much, as it is the joy of discovering what the assignment is meant to show you. I think that must be the sign of a well-constructed course. Or a writer hungry for instructions. Or both.

Thinking about the part each character plays individually brings another level to story. If I keep discovering more levels, I don't know when the actual script will get written. I have a decent starter kit, but the opening scene has already changed, which changes the all-important first ten pages, and because of what I'm inventing for the characters, the rest will change quite a bit too. My hope is that with all the groundwork in place, the script may pretty much write itself. Then all I have to do is wordsmithing. Tra-la.

Of course, if you stay tuned, you may find that this is not the way it goes at all, but this we will discover together. Anyway... assignments 4, 5, and 6 are completed and have been posted for feedback from a colleague. Now I must take the time to get some groceries in the house and then I need to back-track to assignment 3, which is the full screenplay beat - by - beat. When I accomplish this, the darn thing may just be able to write itself. Ever onward, I am proud to report this progress, and I remain truly yours, gentle reader.

Back Online at Last!

It has been awhile - I feel behind in everything, so it's time to get that rectified. I am tackling life - as we all do - one task at a time, one day at a time, one assignment at a time. Who said, "Life is what happens when you're following a dream," or some such thing.

Things to deal with - day job deadlines, day job blues, day job effort required beyond belief.

Body - killer throat bugs - desire to sleep, and sleep - age itself -

Mind - interest in project, high - number of assignments done, low (see above)
- attention required to a friend's accident - concern taking up mind-space
- attention required for children - for friend moving to new house -

Home - always left 'til last, but order brings joy, so will do that first

Then I'll get on with assignments. One month until the Hollywood Meetings begin!

And the O-project? E-mail to update, inform of activity and request for time.

So now you're caught up. This read can't have been much fun, and I will improve, as I do, with age. Please grant me the gift of patience. Cheers to all!