Rejected
I submitted a script to a screenwriter’s fellowship, and I finally got a response. Thank you for taking the time to fill out the submission material. We hope that you will understand that our admission process involves a variety of factors and that our decision in no way should be viewed as a reflection of […]
Laborless Weekend
Sorry I missed a post yesterday, but I had no internet connection. Curse you, Apple eb770ed, for finally figuring out how to create a password! The only other router in range is labeled, simply, “STASH.” I’m just a white kid from the ‘burbs, but I do watch The Wire, where the dealers have a “no […]
But What I Really Want To Do Is Direct
People often ask me what I eventually want to do. It’s a tough question to answer without resorting to platitudes. It’s an old Hollywood cliché that everyone wants to be a director, so I try to avoid that, even though I graduated from what amounts to a director factory. What surprises me, though, is that […]
Really Writing
I walked into the writers’ office yesterday and saw a ping pong ball and two paddles sitting on the assistant’s desk. I paused, staring at the ping pong ball. This was one of those moments you see in indie movies, where the character is contemplating his life, but you don’t know exactly what he’s thinking […]
“It’s exhausting but fun.”
No, I didn’t say that about being a PA. That’s Jane Espenson, talking about “producing.” I produced a sitcom pilot in film school. I asked my professor what, exactly, was a producer’s job. My professor said, “The producer is the guy who, when something goes wrong, fixes it, even if it means picking up a […]
What’s My Motivation? (Or, Does the World Really Need Another Blogger?)
Yesterday, I read an essay by Paul Graham, “Good and Bad Procrastination.” Among other things, Graham summarizes Richard Hamming’s “You and Your Research” thusly: What are the most important problems in your field? Are you working on one of them? Why not? I like the third question, because it assumes an answer to the second. […]