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!

Slowly, But Surreality Part 3

It's a bit of an agonizing wait when updates keep dribbling in over the course of weeks, even days. That's what I've been going through over the entire summer!


But this is a good thing, because those updates continue to foster progress on several fronts.


My short Pwned has progressed to finalist status at Shriekfest. Check out their website for tickets and event passes for the festival. There are some great horror indie features and shorts in the lineup.  Save the date for some horrific fun - September 30th through October 2nd.


Surreality is moving along, still slowly but surely. I'm still looking forward to the next phase of development.


Finally, option/sales negotiations for that unnamed feature of mine is close to being complete. I'm looking forward to seeing it happen - and to getting the pic made!


That's it for now. Keep writing!

Spring 2010

Wow, not much to report as the year slips away. The first third of 2010 has been peppered with baseball games, civil war reenactments, school for me and the entire family, scouting events... In a nutshell, not much time to write.

But I have set aside some time to keep on that animation idea. As a participant of this year's script frenzy (write 100 pages of a script - or anything else- within in the month of April), I foresee myself failing miserably - with just 14 pages short of the goal. But hey, that's 86 pages to my credit, so I'll take it.

Don't beat yourself up over the words you didn't type. Praise yourself for what you got done! Right? Who's with me?

Of course, I have wasted a lot of writing time on learning MS Powerpoint for class. Now that I know how to use it, it's really cool! I've wasted a lot of time trolling the internet for links to my heritage too. I'm proud to say that I've traced our family line all the way back to 15th Century France, and to the first settlers of Montreal, Quebec, and with some measure of certainty to Pre-Revolutionary War America. That seems like a worthwhile waste of time.

And now, I've succeeded in keeping this blog page up to date. Yay, me!

Keep writing, everyone!

January is Here, and We're Off!

January 2010 is halfway over, and already I feel like I'm behind... But I can check off at least one thing on my 'To Do' list - "update blog." Check.

Let's see, my library class from last year ended with an A. This year I will be learning how to use Microsoft Office without pulling my hair out! Wish me luck!

I'm sad to say that Spike didn't advance to the top spots of the Writers Place competition, but it was an honor to be a finalist. I've gotten some pretty good feedback on my redraft of The Schoharie, so my next step is to pitch and submit it.

I'm continuing to work on that animated feature idea, and as long as the page count grows I'm temporarily satisfied with its progress.

That's where I'm at. Keep writing, everyone!

A Professional's Rant

I found this link to be an interesting and entertaining read from screenwriter Josh Olsen. 

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/archives/2009/09/i_will_not_read.php

I'm nowhere near a professional in my caliber of writing, and yet I understand where he's coming from. Sometimes. The article is a double edge sword (cliched phrase!) for me, because as a reader there are days when I dread having to come up with a tactful way to say someone's writing isn't that good. And as a writer, I hate to bother professional level people into reading my work.

But as writers, we have to do that. As writers, we need feedback. As screenwriters, we need to convince the right people to read our material so that it can be bought and, hopefully, made into an honest to goodness movie - or tv show - or web series. How do you do that with tact? 

So, thanks, Josh Olsen, for making me laugh and then depressing the crap out of me in one fell swoop.

Paranoia Film Fest

On the weekend of March 13th-15th, 2009, there is a horror and scifi film festival taking place at the Queen Mary in Long Beach, California. If you want to find out more, or buy tickets for the event, you can log onto www.paranoiafest.com .

This is their first annual festival, and it looks like fun. Of course, the main reason I bring it up is that one of my scripts has made it to the finalist list of their screenplay competition. A Good Soul. Yay!