EXTRA CRITICUM

I am SOOO mean to myself

I had a little bit of a meltdown yesterday. It started at the computer. And grew from there. We’re talking stomping around the house, hiding in the bed sort of melt down. Eventually, I was able to crawl out of my own wreckage, but there were bruises. And some bleeding. I think I broke a bone. Because I was being mean to myself.

I don’t hate myself. I really don’t. But, I was being mean. Because, yesterday morning, at the computer, I didn’t think I had what it takes to work on a project. My mind was flooded with confusion, indecision, and a total lack of motivation. And that’s when the self hate started. Why DON’T you know what you’re doing? Why DON’T you want to write? Just CHOOSE something and get on with it.

Page One. Again.

Here we are again, again. Facing the blank page. This time, I know what NEEDS to go onto, as, well, I’ve been here before. I’m talking about the page one rewrite. That thing where you have an idea, you’ve written a bunch of pages, maybe even a first draft, then you realize: it sucks. IT sucks. Not the idea. What to do? The page one rewrite.

I’m working on a new spec pilot. Another cop show. Because… well… Just because, ok? (Don’t judge me, I’m in a terrible mood.) It focuses on the detective characters and how his unique personality informs how he solves the crime. (Let’s be honest–that’s all a cop show is. The crimes don’t REALLY matter, it’s how the main character behaves, that’s what we care about.

I have a first draft. It sorta worked, but not really. The main character came off more like an asshole than anything. And who wants to watch an asshole? (Not to say he’s got to be nice or even likable. But an asshole is a person of a singular dimension.) I had a mystery. One I liked just fine. Which… I’ll come back to.

Does A Good Play Matter?

Recently, I saw a couple of plays that made me wonder: does a good play matter? Does it matter if a play is well written? Does it matter if a play is well acted? Are these TRULY important to a good theater going experience?

I’m beginning to think, no. They aren’t as important for most of the theater going audience.

The first play… (and I want to say I’m not going to mention names, as I didn’t really like the plays)… was a realistic comedy, set in an apartment, about a widow rediscovering life. Well, that’s what eventually it was about, the first 30 minutes are about something else. In fact, that was one of my major complaints about the play. It wasn’t sure what it was about sometimes. It wasn’t sure of it’s tone. It wasn’t sure of itself. And then wrapped the story up in two scenes… and the stuff of those two scenes could’ve been a whole act. Personally, it SHOULD have been a whole act, the time required to really unpack the story and to earn the ending.

Working publicly: good idea, bad idea?

I just had this thought: while developing a new idea for a script or a story...what if I were to put my notes up on the internet?  Character sketches, plot ideas, etc, etc.  It feels a little scary and dangerous, from a creative point of view.  (What if my ideas look stupid, what if someone steals an idea... that sort of thing.)

Burn. Out.

I think I’m facing something that I don’t want to face. And I’m not even sure if it’s true. I’ve written a lot of pages in the year since I’ve moved to LA. A LOT of pages. And not all of them have sucked. Which is good. But… man… these past weeks… trying to write (well, rewrite…) has been hard. Really hard. So there it is… have I become a BURN OUT? Is this the end?

Do I just need to step away? What if I don’t WANT to step away? How do I NOT be a burn out?

4th Graders Don't Have Writers Block...

4th Graders don't have writers block... They don't.  Their imagination overflows.  It's non stop.  It's a torrent.

Today I volunteered over at 826LA.  An organization:  dedicated to supporting students ages 6 to 18 with their creative and expository writing skills, and to helping teachers inspire their students to write.

It's an incredible organization.  It was started by Dave Eggers, who is a purty good writer himself.  One of the exciting things about each of the locations (look them up!) is they all come with a special kind of store front... in the case of the one in LA, it's a Time Travel Mart.  The one in Brooklyn is a Super Hero supply shop...  But, the real business is in the back rooms, helping kids with papers and creative writing.

Today's project was Choose Your Own Adventure day.  A group of 4th and 5th graders were going to make their own Choose Your Own Adventure book.  It started with the kids creating the location and what "You" were after.  Then the group divided for more pages (and choices) and once more, before finishes by writing the last four pages of the adventure.

A GREAT theater-going experience...

(I was going to write this LAST week, but, Osama seemed to be everywhere...)

I had a GREAT theater going experience last week.  Absolutely fantastic.  And it had NOTHING to do with the play.  Which was a real eye opener for me...

My wife and I went down to San Diego, just for the day, and I thought, hey, let's go to the Old Globe, let's see a show.  It had awhile since we saw a show, so why not?

The Killing on AMC...

The Killing is a new show on AMC.  Same network that has brought us The Walking Dead, Mad Men, and of course, the best show on TV, Breaking Bad.  (That's right, Breaking Bad not Mad Men.... sorry, Roland.)  AMC has transformed itself from showing not so classic movies into producing really detailed, really adult stories for a demanding audience.

And The Killing continues this.  It's based on a Danish series of the same name.  Basically, the series is about the death of a high school girl and what follows, the investigation, the family and a local political race.  Great actors, moody atmosphere, here played by Seattle with great aplomb.   12 episodes, 12 days of the investigation leading to the murderer.

Let the haters hate....

With the speed of the cultural zeitgeist, being a couple of weeks late is a life time... but, I'm gonna give it a go.

Rebecca Black's Friday was unleashed upon us recently.  And like the monster it is, it quickly took a hold of our cultural imagination, quickly being called the worst song ever.  

Really?  Seriously?  Does anyone else remember Disco?  

I saw some good theater in LA.... Woah.

It's true.  I saw some good theater.  In LA.

It was a recording of the Thrilling Adventure Hours, a live radio show in the style of the old time radio.  I've been listening to their podcasts through iTunes for a few weeks now.  They take older genre's and put a nice twist on them.  Western on Mars?  Check.  A Paranormal Nick and Nora Charles?  Check?  A superhero with laser beams? ...ok, there's no twist there, it's just fun.

Are Writers Sociopaths, or is it just me? Questions from the Battlefield

It's something I've been thinking about for the past few days. I was reading an article about a shooting on campus, this time (oy, THIS time?), this time it was a faculty member who didn't get tenure who opened fired at a faculty meeting. Three wounded, three killed. The article focused on past events in the shooter's life that if things had gone a little differently, she wouldn't have been in the position to do what she did. And those three people would have been alive today.

ZOUNDS! Aha! I get it!

I had always had problems understanding certain videos.  However, thanks to technology, and people's willingness to waste time, the greatest music video of all time is now totally understandable.

Charlie Sheen is making me quit writing.

Charlie Sheen is now broadcasting his own show.

Let's Fight About Spartacus.

I'm late to the game.  I didn't catch the show when it first on Starz last year, and I am only now catching up on Netflix (thank you.)

I love the show.  It is a comic book mash up of 300 and HBO's Rome.  It has buckets of blood, and more than a lot of sex and nudity (women AND men) to make my wife blush.

Crawling out from under a rock.

Yeah.  That's right.

I've been under a rock.  Both creatively and... well... I can't say realistically, because, that would mean I've been crushed by a mighty weight since the last time I have posted here.... and there are no broken bones, so I guess I have to go with creatively and figuratively.