Making the new year count

We're off to a good start for 2012. And let's face it, we've got to make it count with the advent of the whole Mayan calendar - zombie apocalypse on the horizon.

Speaking of the zombie apocalypse, I just received word that my zombie short - Body and Blood was a first round finalist in the 2011 Table Read My Screenplay Competition.  This is the second time I've done well when entering this competition... I like this competition.

But what I really should be focusing on is the necessity to broaden our horizons. For years, I stuck to my guns and focused solely on features, and predominantly on horror features. It's my niche, and it's where I'm comfortable, and let's face it, Body and Blood is a horror story. But it's not a feature. And if my friend Jay Costelo hadn't put faith in me and convinced me to try and write a few shorts, I probably wouldn't have written this.. So thanks, Jay!

And if my friend Jeff Brown, a writer who I believe has a promising future, hadn't convinced me that Supernatural was a show I needed to watch, I wouldn't have tried my hand at writing a couple of TV specs. So thanks, Jeff for inspiring me to broaden my horizons.

And while we're at it, thanks needs to be sent out to other writing friends of mine - Judith Watson, George Lee and Sharon White who, as a group, participated in a writing exercise with me that inspired me to write Turf War, an animated feature with no horror whatsoever in its content. I still think it's better than Gnomeo and Juliet. Turf War was a top 100 Table Read finalist last year.

One last thank you, to Greg Goyins - another writer, director, producer and a man with many hats - who has inspired me to tackle another short.  I'm working on it, Greg. I'm working on it.

Thanks to all of you, and to anyone in my life who may not be mentioned here, for helping me broaden my horizons and see the potential of the future. Have a good 2012!

Writing is... well, it's writing

Hello everyone, and Happy Holidays. I hope the end of 2011 brings good memories of a well lived year. Mine was okay. I accomplished a few writing goals - an option, a few accolades from screenwriting festivals, and most recently the completion of a TV spec for the show Supernatural.

Will the script ever make it to the screen? Probably not. That's not the way TV spec writing works. Would it make a good episode? Well, I'm biased. But that's not the point. The point is that I wrote it after years of swearing to myself that I would never write something for TV.

Why, you ask, would I limit myself? Good question. Part of it most likely has to do with the desire to procrastinate instead of grapple with a challenge. I always believed the writing for TV would be hard. Too many fans hope their scripts will make the cut. Shows already have their writers, so staff is extra critical when they read your spec - IF they read your spec. Chances are they won't. If you're lucky to get someone to read it, it's for a show other than the show you wrote the spec for because, like I said - that's just the way the TV industry works. The rules for writing TV are a little bit odd.

But I'm proud of myself because I did it anyway. I wrote a Supernatural spec, and I think I did well. And now I feel excited at trying my hand at another. Maybe a comedy. Maybe another supernatural themed show. The point is that I was inspired to write it, and I followed through. And now I have another script to showcase my talent. Or at least I have another script to showcase my learning curve. It felt good to do it and to complete it in spite of the odds of it ever getting made. It felt good to overcome writer's procrastination.

Hopefully, the new year will see me continue to overcome writer's procrastination. I wish the same success to all my friends and family in their 2012 endeavors as well. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and Happy New Year to all!

Things are still looking good

And there you have it. I have been busy working on material for an upstart production company. I wish I could share more. But I can't. Yet. And that's a good thing.

I will say this. As much as I hate networking, it's a necessary evil and the reason I was asked to come on board the project I'm working on. It could be as simple as "Hey, you're in the business? Me too! We should stay in touch!" It's never enough to just write. STAY CONNECTED!

Oh, and I wanted to give another shout out for some friends of mine, Greg Goyins, whose short After the Denim is featured in the upcoming Florida Film Festival, April 8-17, 2011. Maggie Franks for her successful docu-short The Board Meeting, about a pair of retired executives who ponder life while surfing. And Chris Billett, who is moving on to bigger and better things. Congratulations, guys! And good luck!