Just when you think you are doing something write...

Ugh…

Went to the ScriptShark seminar this weekend hosted by the Northwest Screenwriters guild here in Seattle. Had a great time, learned some good stuff and met some incredible people. Lee Zahavi-Jessup was great. Straight forward, no nonsense and honest answers.

Towards the end we broke into groups and gave two minute pitches of our current stories. I stumbled horribly through mine because I have no clue how to pitch shit at this point. When I was done one of the gentlemen in the group asked a simple plot question.

Fuck.

I just completely overlooked that element. It shatters the base of the story. But it was awesome. It’s exactly what I needed. Input from others. Especially others that are not necessarily into supernatural thrillers or sci-fi.

I really wish IQCrash hadn’t bagged his online writes group. I haven’t been able to find one where I am at. I have to start getting input from other people besides my wife (who I love and adore fiercely) and friends. Hopefully some of the contacts I make at the monthly guild meetings will produce something.

So with that I am shelving my current story until a get an idea of how to fix the issue. I tend to have my best moments in the shower or right when I wake up and can still remember my fucked up dreams. Something will whisper to me sooner or later. Until then it’s on to my spaceship in the clouds adventure!

That is all.

-Jim

P.S. Yes I meant “write” in the title.

Ow my head!

“One must let go in order to be free.”

I think that you can tell and show a person every lesson in life’s handbook. But its not until that person experiences the situation that they truly understand the lesson.

This happened to me last night in an enlightening moment while I was writing. The last few nights I have not been happy with the way the story has been going. To cluttered. Story wasn’t right. I wasn’t having fun with it.

So I slashed and burned about a dozen pages taking with it two of my supporting characters that weren’t working for me. It was like a huge weight had been lifted from my shoulders.

I find myself writing into these dark and dank places a lot. Last night I learned that it’s easy to back up, use the delete key and head in the right direction.

Wish I could do that with life sometimes. Maybe you can…

That is all.

-Jim

Here I go again on my own...

Time for a monthly update I suppose…

Struggling to finish my first script. I have several stories queued up to write. I need to get this one out of the way. Doing a good job of writing two hours Saturday mornings at Starbucks. I need to make sure I get a few pages done each day of the week now.

Conversations with my son…

He is reading Dr. Suess’s ABC book. I tell him that the pictures show him what words he is reading so use them. He sounds the next word out; C… a… m… e… l… He struggles a bit. I ask him what the picture is… “It’s a Llama Dad.”

As I am leaving for work one morning.. ‘Dad, don’t forget your iPot”. “Ssshh buddy not so loud”.

Movies...

"Drag Me to Hell" was awesome. I expected it to be another silly movie about weddings and marriage staring that flaming wench Katherine Heigl but I was pleasantly surprised!

“Up” was great. Saw it in Digital 3D. Blew me away. Son loved it. He wanted it on DVD before we got to the car.

That is all.

-Jim

If at first you don't succeed whine and cry until Dad's ears bleed...

You ever see those commercials on TV where the Dad is teaching his son or daughter how to ride a bike. It’s all smiles right. The Dad runs behind the kids bike and lets go. The kid sails gloriously down the sidewalk, the tall flag attached to the seat waving triumphantly in the air as the kid wobbles his way to bike riding glory…

Well that is total horse shit.

Saturday my wife and I taught my son how to ride his bike. It was nothing but crying, yelling, and cussing… on both sides.

He wanted to quit, ride his scooter, play on the playground, clean his room, do the dishes, wash the car, finish his homework… pretty much anything other than get back on the bike and try again.

But we held strong, refusing to let him quit. And after one of the most miserable hours in our families history… he was up and riding his bike around the park. And I am proud of my little buddy.

Of course we didn’t bring a camera…

Pulled off a double feature this weekend. Angels and Demons Saturday and Star Trek on Sunday night.

A&D was ok. Still think Tom is out of his wheel house on this character. Another scavenger hunt with an foreign hottie-with-a-naughty-body in tow. It was entertaining. The best part was all the shots of the Large Hadron Collider. Worst part was the disorienting shots of the Large Hadron Collider and when the camera spins really fast around character for a reaction shot. C+.

Star Trek was pretty good. I think we are going to see a few more flicks with this crew. Lots of laugh, decent action, good actors. I didn’t get the chills when I first saw the enterprise like I did with the first Star Trek movie. But this is a new crew in an [SPOILER REMOVED – GO SEE THE MOVIE] so I am excited to see where it goes. Who knew Uhura was that fricken hot in her younger days… damn. B.

Writing is moving along. I bought a motivational book at the recommendation of some good friends of mine. The Success Principles. With my daily schedule so tight most of the time writing falls to second or third on the list of shit I do at night. Need to work on moving it up to first.

Pitched a new idea to some friends this weekend. It’s a sci-fi action adventure with a dash of Independence Day mixed in with some Explorers that starts with a very obscure phenomenon that has been occurring throughout history that scientists have not nailed down yet that I attribute to a theory that’s way out there. Fun stuff. More later.

That is all.

-Jim

Where the hell did he come from?

Slow work day so I thought I would toss a post on the blog…

Saw X-Men Origins: Wolverine last night.

I liked it. Decent twists, great action. Films like these are really hard to pull off in my opinion and here’s why.

Everyone in the comic universe knows where Wolverine is headed through comics or the three X-Men flicks. This makes it hard to create a compelling story that tells us where he started and takes us up to the point in the first X-Men movie where he’s kicking the shit it out of people in a dive somewhere in Canada.

I think Jackman did a decent job holding the story. Plus he runs around a lot of the time shirtless, sometimes pantless, with his muscles glistening which should please the ladies. I thought Liev Schreiber was awesome as Sabertooth.

I suspect they would have been better served had they stayed truer to the Wolverine: Origins comic book series which I found compelling.

I give it a B-.

Writing is going well. On page 30 or so of the rewrite. Would love to get the script registered and passed out to a small circle of folks soon.

I think for my next story I am going to do a thinner outline. I found that while I was doing my rewrite some really good ideas started popping out on the page. While I still think I need at least a high level road map of where I am going I like the freedom of surprising myself on the page.

I highly recommend visiting Scriptshadow (See the blog link on the right side of the page) every weekday and reading the scripts he posts. It’s educational and for me at least it is a very good motivator to write.

That is all.

-Jim