It Wasn't a Strike...But It Was a Good First Pitch

I just got back from my pitch class with Cynthia Whitcomb, and I'm happy to say it was a success on multiple levels.

1. I learned a LOT about things to do and NOT to do in pitching. Props bad, enthusiasm good. Script dialogue bad, brevity good. Overall, it really helped to go back over a lot of this stuff and put it on the front of my mind with only five days before the conference.

2. I wasn't a complete anxious mess when I stood up and delivered my pitch to the group. There were probably 50 people in the room, and we had to walk up in front of everyone, give our pitch, then stand there while Cynthia gave us feedback. Typically that kind of activity is a recipe for disaster for me, but it went smooth as butter this time!

3. My pitch went over pretty good. Cynthia noted one omission she felt was important to include, and also thought I should strengthen my title to something new. But other than that, not much to work on compared to some people that seemed to miss the mark pretty badly on their first attempt.

I will say though that after listening to probably 25 pitches today, there were some really creative people with some really good ideas for movies/novels. There were definitely a few duds here and there, but by in large, I was very impressed.

Now my homework is to tighten up my pitch and dedicate it more to memory so I don't have to refer to notes to deliver it perfectly.

Here's the pitch I delivered today:

"Like Brothers" is an action/suspense movie in which two best friends turn deadly enemies in a tangled fight for survival.

Kyle Mathews and Dillon Green are former Army Rangers and boyhood friends who become bitter enemies through a tragic act of betrayal. A fight for survival erupts when Dillon surfaces years later and kidnaps Kyle's daughter and wife. Kyle must face his toughest enemy in this race against time to save his family. Who will survive?

Kyle, a successful businessman with a beautiful wife and daughter, begins to experience a strange series of stalking incidents, but before he can make sense of them, his daughter is kidnapped. Dillon has resurfaced and is hell bent on extracting revenge. As Kyle draws back on his lethal skills, and through a twist of luck, is able to save his daughter, the stakes are raised when Dillon throws caution to the wind and takes Kyle's wife hostage. A race towards insanity ensues as Kyle will stop at nothing to rescue his wife, and Dillon will not be thwarted in exacting his revenge.

Ain't That a Pitch!

Tomorrow is Cynthia Whitcomb's one-day "Pitch Class," being held at Portland State University. I'm very excited to be attending, and will gleam every nugget of wisdom I can from a lady who's sold over 70 scripts and had half produced. She obviously knows a thing or two about convincing people to buy, buy, buy!

Cynthia Whitcomb was also my script writing professor, and is also the President of the Willamette Writer's Association

This class will be very insightful, but with the struggles I have with "social anxiety," some of you know how difficult it's going to be for me. Getting up in front of people is right up there with passing a kidney stone or listening to a tape of myself playing trumpet on Jr. High talent night. It will be rough, but it will be worth it.

Wish me luck, and I'll post tomorrow night how everything went.

The Support of a Good Woman!

I've made an effort to get up early every morning for the last couple weeks to carve out time to work on my script. It's been tough, cause my creative juices don't flow so well while the birds are chirping and the sun is rising. But "Like Brothers" is now close to being wrapped, and I'm feeling good about my preparations for the Willamette Writers Conference. All that said, it occurs to me that my extra sacrifice is only possible because of one person...

My wife!

I work 'til 5, then come home to share duties watching the kids with my wife. Our only time to be together with an ounce of quiet is after 9:00pm when they are asleep. And it's during this time that we catch up on the countless hours of TiVo that stack up. Unfortunately, by dedicating myself to getting up early every morning, I'm taking away some of that quiet time from the Mrs.

But she's never complained about my script writing. She's always supported me. She has been very encouraging to me in following my dream, and has made more than a few sacrifices, both with her time and our money.

They say "behind every good man is a great woman," so it looks like I'm a pretty lucky man!

A quick report on our car.

My car is fixed. One head gasket, two cam seals, one timing belt, one water pump, and a whole lot of labor later, my car is fixed.

A major repair like this always freaks me out, because I don't know and/or trust any mechanics, especially the ones at the dealerships. Years ago we had good success with a previous car at a local dealership, but then also recently had a bad experience with this car with the same dealer.

I'm happy to say that given the second chance this dealership stepped up to the plate and did what appears to be a decent job at an acceptable cost. If any of you in Vancouver/Portland need work done on a Chrysler/Dodge/Plymouth, feel free to head over to Dick Hannah Chrysler, but be sure to ask for the Service Manager named Tom cause the frontline people don't seem to be able to get very much accomplished.

Boomerang!

OK...the bad luck is coming around and kicking me in the can. But believe it or not, I'm loving it! More explanation below.

Example #1: Turns out car #2 is experience leakaging from the head gasket, and so far the bill is climbing past the $1,000 mark! Believe that I'll give you a blow by blow report if the dealership of choice performs subpar. Independent auto guy wanted $1100 total, Dealership #1 wanted $950 + tax, so Dealership #2 said $855 + tax, plus they'll throw in a rental as needed. Let's hope the operation is a success and my little 50K-mile "poor man's Viper" is back in action in no time.

Example #2: About a month or so ago the Anderson wash machine went PLACK, and me and the Mrs. had to fork out some serious dough to get a new one. Fast forward to two days ago when I was doing something upstairs while clothes were in the dryer and I was like "what is that smell?" Turns out our dryer had fried itself senseless and is now DOA. Fast forward to tonight, and one little trip to Best Buy later (in my courtesy rental truck, of course...see example #1) and Daddy's coming home with a new dryer.

Now, picking up from my intro, my typical reaction to bad luck like this is something along the lines of falling on my knees like a 5-year old and tantruming "why me, why me" over and over again. But NO...not this time...because I'm a firm believer in bad luck leading to good luck, and even good luck leading to bad luck.

And with the Willamette Writer's Conference a mere week and a half away, I'm happy to throw out the bad luck boomerang and wait for the good luck one to come back around and smack me right between the orbital sockets.

Calling in the reinforcements

I'm two weeks away from the big conference and I'm still trying to patch a major hole in "Like Brothers." So what do I do? I call in the big guns! I send an email to a couple Army guys I know, because part of the backstory of my two main characters is that they were in the Army together.

A friend who we shall refer to as "The Gator" gives me a call back and gives me not only a couple good ideas for motivating backstory, but also some great insight into how things really work and how people respond in a military environment.

I had chatted with The Gator on the first draft of this script when the backstory of my two main guys was included, and he helped me see what things made sense to include. He really helped me find that point where I could draw the line for my suspension of disbelief.

So, thanks to The Gator!

Now, time to work on filling the hole and getting this baby ready to rock! Hollywood or bust!

Into the Wild

So I'm late to the dance once again! Just heard this morning that a new movie is being filmed in Astoria, Oregon this week. Could it be Goonies 2....uhhhh, no! Sorry. It's a new Sean Penn film, starring Emile Hirsch and Vince Vaughn, called "Into the Wild."

Apparently there was a casting call for extras in Astoria on July 8th! Dang, I would have totally taken the family over there for that. And supposedly Penn and Vaughn are in Astoria right now, filming through the rest of this week, then they move on to Alaska. Oh well. Maybe next time.

Here's a synopsis of what the book was about. Assuming Penn handled the adaptation well (a safe bet!), this should be a really interesting movie.

In April 1992 a 24-year-old from the Washington, D.C., suburbs named Chris McCandless walked into the Alaska wilderness below Mt. McKinley with a small-caliber rifle and a 10-pound bag of rice. Four months later, his emaciated corpse was found at his campsite by a moose hunter. How McCandless came to die is the unforgettable story of "Into the Wild."

Jon Krakauer constructs a clarifying prism through which he reassembles the disquieting facts of McCandless's short life. Admitting an interest that borders on obsession, he searches for the clues to the drives and desires that propelled McCandless. Digging deeply, he takes an inherently compelling mystery and unravels the larger riddles it holds: the profound pull of the American wilderness on our imagination; the allure of high-risk activities to young men of a certain cast of mind; the complex, charged bond between fathers and sons.

This post sponsored by Ovaltine!

OK, so I made a move that was 50% necessary and 50% pampering. The laptop I've been using for years is starting to show its age, and it's just a matter of time before the thing kicks out its last poof of smoke. So in being proactive I ordered myself up a new Dell laptop last week, and the confirmation email says it should be here soon!

Right now I feel like Ralphie from "Christmas Story" checking the mailbox every day, hoping my Little Orphan Annie decoder ring has arrived!

For those of you who don't know, and may be in the market for a Dell laptop, be aware that there exists a site that will give you the latest "coupon" codes from Dell to maximize your purchase power. Not even with Dell's recent "10 Days of Deals from Dell" did I come close to finding as good a deal as I did with their $750 off any Inspiron over $1999. That coupon (and others) seems to exist on a weekly basis and comes out every Thursday, and can be found by doing a simple Google search on "dell laptop coupons."

The hardest part for me was picking which model to try and configure up to $1999. As a typical man and tech-geek I always want the "biggest, best, most bells-n-whistles, coolest, etc." model, but I couldn't have one those because 1.) they're insanely expensive, and 2.) Dell doesn't put out coupons that apply to the XPS models. So I looked into the e1705, which looked like a solid model that I could configure pretty nicely for the $1999 range. However, when I dropped down a model (e1505 - basically the same as e1705 just a smaller screen), I found that I was able to increase the processor and RAM and still hit the $1999 mark. Finally, I concluded that in application I would be using this laptop on, well, my lap quite often, and did I really want a huge, bulky laptop to battle with?

So there it was...the e1505....configured with a lot of goodies for just over $2000, at a final cost of $1275. I couldn't find a unit anywhere else (even in the Dell Outlet where all the refurbs and such are) that came close to as good a deal as that. And all I know now is, when I get that bad boy out of the box and fire it up, I sure as heck better not see a screen that says, "Remember to drink your Ovaltine!"

Priorities

So I didn't post an entry this weekend. It's not cause I forgot about the blog, I was simply more focused on taking the limited time that I wasn't doing "home" stuff and getting some traction on either one of my scripts.

As it was I was able to get a good start on the page 1 re-write on the first script I wrote, "Inside." "Inside" is the story about internal conflict and rising above it for the sake of others. My protagonist suffers from anxiety and agoraphobia, and finds himself the only one that can save a number of people. Before the biggest conflict even begins he must find away to get beyond himself.

I like this movie idea a lot. I actually like it more than "Like Brothers." But "Like Brothers" is more polished and ready to go, so that's what I'm shopping at the conference in a couple weeks.

This week looks to be gorgeous here in the Pacific NW. 80s, 90s and even into the 100s by end of the week. Hopefully I can continue getting up early and making the time to write.

Summer Fridays

In case I haven't made it very clear...and for the record I should gladly state...I LOVE MY DAY JOB! For as much as I'm fighting to find a way to make script writing a full-time gig, I also now that my safety net is as tight and functional as any. My company is the perfect balance of entrepreneurial spirit and successful stability, and they allow me to control my own efforts with absolutely no micro-management. The pay is decent, I'm aware that our CFO fights hard for the best benefits we can all afford, and management works hard to find the little perks that make a good job just that much better.

On top of giving me (Marketing) a $50 a month allowance to go spend on our employees (ie. Krispy Kremes, bagels, tacos for lunch, etc.), they are also happy to kick back a little love (ie. $100, $500) when profits are good after a successful quarter.

Well, announced just this week, management has kindly decided to re-implement "Summer Fridays." And you can bet that today at noon my company was a ghost town!

I've often felt that Americans focus too much on work, and after spending a refreshing Friday afternoon with my wife and kids, I can see how cultures that put a little more balance on family/fun/work are on to a better way of doing things.

Don't Find The Time...MAKE The Time!

I was searching out some new blogs today and ran across "Borderline Inappropriate" by Scribe LA. Today's post there included an interesting excerpt from Richard Linklater (Dazed & Confused) in an interview with the WGAw. The point that hit me was...

WGAw: When and where do you do your writing?
Linklater: I sit down and just do it. When I get in writing mode I just sit down for three to five hours every day. Sometimes I'll get on a roll and write all day or night, [but generally] I take a real craftsman-like approach. I don't wait around to be inspired. I just sit down and work. I've found it easier and less emotionally volatile to just sit down and work.

That is some great advice. I'm totally that same way. I never seem to struggle with writer's block, and every time I force myself to sit down and write, it's usually effective. Problem is...I don't force myself enough. Being a 40-hour a week day jobber, a rest of the time active Daddy, and now a why am I wasting time on this blog Blogger, really seems to add up and not leave enough time on top for pumping out the first-class scripts!

I read somewhere that a newbie scriptwriter should be kicking out 3-4 scripts a year. That eases the souls of the Joe Hollywood Producer, who is never sure with a new comodity if they will have the discipline/bandwidth to stay on a schedule and meet deadlines. I think the time has come for me to make some scheduling changes and start "making" the time to work on my projects.

How Many Times?

It's a few weeks away but I already feel like I'm sitting on the dawn of a new horizon. And everything I'm reading and all the things I'm hearing tell me I'm in for a whole lot of "no's" as I bang on the doors of Hollywood and try to sell my script.

How many no's would it take before you decided that a venture wasn't worth the effort? I'm not really sure. I guess it depends on the venture. And for me, this venture isn't really about the yes's or no's anyways. It's about me grabbing a lump of clay from my mind and massaging it, rewriting it, working on it, until it becomes a tangible tale of characters and struggle, and it moves into the imagination of anyone gracious enough to read it. If that's my 4 year old son, so be it! If it's a Hollywood producer with a blank check, I'm ok with that too! (really, I'm fine with that!)

But a million no's won't sway me from continuing to write.

Like a musician that never got that chance to find a band and rock out on stage in front of thousands of people, the songs he writes at home, alone, for himself or his family are just as masterful and worth being sung!

So I will sing on too! Whether to a thousand yes's or a thousand no's. Cause it's just to dang fun to take an idea and make it into a movie!

To Some Of You This Is A Surprise

After a week of testing this whole "blog" thing out, I'm ready to let people know about it and kick it into 2nd gear.

To my friends and family, some of this might be a complete surprise. Not everyone knows about my interest in script writing, and some of you have no idea I've been working on this for the last three years.

To get you up to speed, I attempted to teach myself script writing format and began working on a script called "Inside" while I was working at SRC. I was clueless back then and only writing sporadically, so it took a long time to complete, but once I finished I realized this was a pasttime I really enjoyed and wanted to dedicate more time to.

During the spring of 2005 I ran into Heather Ebert, an old friend who is a writer. She told me about the Willamette Writer's Association, which is where I learned about Cynthia Whitcomb. I took her class in the Fall/Winter of 2005, and subsequently finished my second script "Like Brothers."

I am now at the stage where it is time to kick things up to 3rd gear, so I am attending a big Writer's Conference in August and will be attempting to sell "Like Brothers" and/or my writing services. I currently have six 1-on-1 pitch sessions set up with official Hollywood producer/agent/exec-types. I'm both psyched and scared to death!

I realize that the chances of me walking out of that conference with a million dollar contract or any work at all are one in a trillion, but I'm dedicated to giving everything I've got and rolling with whatever happens.

I finished my last polish of "Like Brothers" yesterday, and am sending it to a few industry friends for their input. Cynthia already read it and had good things to say. Considering she's sold over 70 scripts and had almost half filmed, I was thrilled to read that she liked it.

My next move is a page 1 rewrite of "Inside" and then beginning work on a number of new ideas I have. I'll also continue to read everything I can about script writing, and try to increase my knowledge of the industry. The conference is August 4-6th, and you can believe I will have a lot of things to post as it approaches and as it happens!

I'm also attending Cynthia's one-day "Pitch Class" the weekend before the conference, where Cynthia will teach us everything she knows about how to pitch successfully!

Until then...

The Side Benefit To This Adventure

If you asked most people why they write scripts the answer would more than likely be "TO GET RICH!" And although I'm bug-eyed at the prospect of making large sums of money just for putting words down on paper, behind it all is a deeper reason.

It might sound overly poetic or altruistic, but I write scripts because I really want to "tell stories that spark peoples' imaginations."

As a kid I remember seeing "Star Wars" and wishing I could be Luke Skywalker. I also remember seeing "Superman" then running around pretending I could fly and save the day. A few years later I remember seeing "The Goonies" and wishing I could go on an adventure like they did. Heck, even to this day I'll see a movie like "Pirates of the Caribbean" and be immediately 10 years old again.

Sure I write in the hope of riches, but I also write in the hope that I'll create a story that captivates the imaginations of the masses.

TGIF - Thank God I'm Frantic!

It's FRIDAY! And while most of you are heading into a relaxing weekend of cheeto munching and summertime camping or whatever, I will be franticly trying to wrap up "Like Brothers" so I can send it out to a couple industry contacts for their input before it's time to shop it around in early August.

"Like Brothers" has been such a great adventure. It has already gotten positive feedback from one highly successful scriptwriter, so I'm really psyched to see what it can do in the market. I have basically one more scene to fill in, then one last read-through for polishing.

I can't believe that the Willamette Writer's Annual Conference is only four weeks away! Time is going by so quickly. For those of you who don't know, the conference is the first crack I have at selling my script. I am already signed up for six 1-on-1 pitch sessions with producer/agent/exec-types straight outta Hollywood. Do they really come looking to spend money on new ideas? I don't know! But I'm sure as heck going to give them everything I've got and see if they like what I'm offering!

I Don't Think My Blood Wants To Go In There.

So I'm sitting in a Kaiser Medical Center waiting room at 7:30am this morning, and I'm fairly certain I'm the only person there that's thrilled to be getting blood drawn. (Actually, I'm the only one there under 3/4 of a century old, so I'm thrilled for a number of reasons!)

These wonderful moments spent waiting for Lab Technician, Latoya, are, for lack of better words, the validation for me for the two months and six days worth of hard work I've subjected my body to lately.

I am 35 coming up on 36 fast. And I've yet to get my X-Generation rear in gear and buy some much needed life insurance to protect my family. I decided months ago it was necessary (around the same time I had to take a flight to Nashville and started wondering what would happen if something crazy happened to me) so I made some preliminary calls and found out I could save roughly $5-$7 a month by losing a few much needed pounds and making sure my cholesterol and all that was in line.

In late March I had the initial physical/blood test done and found out the obvious, that I was a "bit" outside the line! Kinda like Star Jones used to be a "bit" overweight! So I dedicated the next two months to working hard, eating right, and getting myself in the shape needed to obtain the "Ultra Super Preferred Rate."

The Result: as of this morning I have lost 22.5 pounds and my cholesterol and such are all within the bounds of the fit and famous!

If you haven't seen it yet, I suggest a rent of Morgan Spurlock's wonderful journey into unhealthy eating, Super Size Me. Although a bit of an extreme example, it really shows how our culture is fixated on over eating and improper nutritional education, and the toll that eating large portions of crap will take on your body.

BTW...funny moment of the morning was when dear Lab Tech Latoya poked me with the needle and we watched my blood travel up the tube only to stop cold before entering the vile. I looked at her and said, "I don't think my blood wants to go in there" to which she replied "I'll get 'er there."

Mr. Edward Allen Harris

I just rented “A History of Violence” this weekend, and really liked it. Mostly because of Ed Harris. Is there a greater actor out there than this guy? Maybe, but I got to tell you that he’s one of my tops. Mr. Harris has been in some of my favorite movies, and the thing I love most about him is the diversity in his work. He has played everything from a lovable everyguy to a hateable control freak. But regardless of his role, he always fits the character and delivers a top-notch effort.

Here are just a few of the titles he’s starred in.

1. The Abyss


2. Glengarry Glen Ross


3. The Firm


4. Milk Money


5. Apollo 13


6. Nixon


7. The Rock


8. The Truman Show


9. A Beautiful Mind


10. Radio


11. A History of Violence

Whether Ed Harris is play the protagonist, antagonist or a bit role, he always adds a tangible flavor to the mix. Here’s hoping someday I’ll write a script that’s lucky enough to have him starring in it!

Why I Can Chase My Dream; The Sacrifice of Others

I have a confession to make. I'm a byproduct of a generation that watched too much TV, played too many video games, and didn't pay enough attention in Social Studies class. I don't know a lot about History, and I know I need to rectify that, but I also know that I love the United States of America. And I know that a LOT of men and women sacrificed things beyond my comprehension to establish it and continue to make it great.

I was reminded of all that today from a daily newsletter I receive from (believe it or not) FootballGuys.com. They reminded me about the Declaration of Independence and the guts and sacrifice it took for those men to stand up to the King of England and create a new world for themselves. The last section really sums it up. Put yourself in their shoes in 1776, and ponder whether you'd have the courage to say these words...

"We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor."

The saying goes "those that forget the past are often doomed to repeat it." In our day of modern luxuries and special interests and rights for everyone, let us not forget where we came from and upon which values and beliefs we have lived a blessed existence for over 200 years!

One Trick Pony or Dog of Many Tricks?

So I'm working my way through "The Writer's Guide to Selling Your Screenplay" by screenwriter/author, Cynthia Whitcomb, and I'm struggling with something in the book.

Q. If you're a beginning script writer is it better to write your screenplays in the same genre to show you have a depth of talent in that genre, or should you diversify and show a breadth of talent across all genres?

The case is made that it depends on where your interests lie. Cynthia states that if you're all about the comedy and that's what you love to write, then by all means, write comedy! And I totally agree. (whew, I'm sure Cynthia will be relieved!)

But my personal jones is to write in a variety of styles. Sure, my first two scripts have been action flicks, but that doesn't mean I don't think I can write a great comedy, or thriller, or sci-fi. But if I do, and I sit down with Agent Joe or Producer Bob, are they going to think I'm too flighty and not developed enough in any one area?

My hope is that my desire will be the neutralizing factor, as I firmly believe that I can write whatever genre I put my mind to. Comedy seems the toughest challenge, but I'll be happy to tackle it when the right idea pops into my head. Like a story about a one-trick-pony that falls for a dog-of-many-tricks?! Or not.

The First Step is the Hardest One

Three years ago I took a step. The first step on what's turning out to be a longer and longer journey. It began innocently enough, and I wake up every day wondering just how far it will go.

You see, three years ago I heard the story of Mike Rich, a local radio guy who spent his nights writing screenplays and was lucky enough (read: talented enough) to land a fat Hollywood contract. Maybe you've heard of his work...Finding Forrester and The Rookie?

So yea, three years ago I was inspired. But you have to understand...I'm a bit of an entrepreneur at heart. I've had a number of side businesses with varying degrees of success/failure...mostly failure but we'll get into that later. So I'm always looking for a way to get out of the 9-5 rat race and turn a passion into a career.

So script writing, huh? A way to use my love of words and story telling that required no overhead (except a laptop) and had unlimited income potential if I had what it takes to make Hollywood sign on the dotted line. Dang, this is better than Amway! I'm in. But I had no idea where to start, so I did what we all do when we need to learn something...I hit the internet!

And three years ago it was, with the help of a handful of websites, I learned enough of what it took to write and format a screenplay to start the first draft of my first script (Inside). And oh what a ride it's been since then! But we'll talk more about that later.

Until then, is there a first step waiting for you somewhere? Maybe towards a new career, a new hobby, a new love, some time off? Be bold and brave enough to take it. You might just like where it leads you...even if it's three years from now!