early

I haven't posted in a while and the stress that brings is weird. It's another self-imposed deadline that I just can't keep. And it's really not about whether people are reading this or not, it's about me not doing the things I'm supposed to be doing. I should post to this blog because I have it and I said I would and yet I just can't do it. There's so much time but for some reason I can never find enough - or more accurately, I don't try hard enough.

monkeys and typewriters

I'm sad. I read in the trades the other day that a story was optioned by a production company that has a first look deal over at Fox. The log line in the paper is the same for a script I wrote a few years back and have tried unsuccessfully to sell. When I tell this to people, their first reaction is, "Dude, you've been ripped off." But I know that it was bound to happen. You put enough monkeys in front of enough typewriters and bingo; one of them is going to write your script.

It's really not about the script. It's about working hard and getting the deal done. Things I don't do.

DOND

I was watching my new favorite show the other day, "Deal Or No Deal", when the contestant made the following remark to The Banker:

"I am taking you down to Chinatown."

Now, I happen to love the movie Chinatown and my first thought was, "Please. How dare you reference Chinatown when you're playing Deal Or No Deal. Do you even know what that means?"

And then I started thinking about it - Chinatown, the place where nothing is as it seems, where everyone speaks a different language, where just when you think you've got the place figured out, it shifts, it changes and you realize that you don't know anything. It's a place where chaos reigns supreme, a place where random happenstance controls fate like a wildly fired bullet hitting you in the back of the head.

So it hit me - DEAL OR NO DEAL IS CHINATOWN. Nothing makes sense. Everything is random. It's madness. It's picking numbers out of a hat and hoping that somehow everything turns out okay. You can't learn this game, you can't crack the code. On minute you’re cheering high dollar amounts and the next you’re begging for a penny. All you can do is give into the fog of chaos and pray for the best.

Last night there was a woman who was writing her suitcase selections down on a pad. Why? How does that help?

Forget about it, Contestant. It's Chinatown.

the lazy writer

I wrote a screenplay recently that I plan on submitting to Sundance for their screenwriter's lab. The application is due May 1 and I've kind of muddled through most of it but it's nowhere near ready and I can hear the clock ticking. I'm trying to re-jigger my schedule (something that has worked for me in the past) by getting up early and working then. However, instead of working, I often find myself:

1. Reading the LA Times.
2. Drinking coffee.
3. Talking to the cats.
4. Reading blogs.
5. And now, obviously, posting to this blog.

I'm both proud and ashamed of myself. Proud that I can actually drag myself out of bed around 4:30 in the morning but shamed by the fact that I spend that valuable time stacking yesterday's mail or cleaning up my desktop.

I will get this done, though. I must.

Today I'm wearing brown socks with black shoes to the office. I wonder if anyone will notice...

the good book

here's an interesting article. Jesus does indeed love the sinner but hate the sin.