Friday, August 26, 2011

Nicholl, true facts

So, awesome news: my first feature film script Loverude was a Nicholl Quarterfinalist!
So, bad news: my first feature film script Loverude was not a Nicholl Semifinalist.

But let's get real here. Loverude's the FIRST script I ever wrote, and it's a weird little film about a virgin and a gigolo falling in love. This is not the kind of thing that would be likely to win or should, for that matter.

But QF is the top 300 of 6,000 scripts, which is pretty friggin' insane, so I'm happy.
Meanwhile, I wrote my second feature Method over the last month, and it's way better than Loverude, though Method is also weird and was written for a specific purpose.

Now I'm working on a project that could lead to either a huge change in my life or none at all. 'Cause that's what writing is: a whole lot of potential and a whole lot of free work until maybe, some day, someone pays you more than $500 for something. That's my dream anyhow.

I'll post stuff from San Francisco soon, hopefully before my birthday/forget what I did.

Sunday, August 14, 2011

these are cool

Strand Curated Collections -- get your favorite writers' libraries

When I have a kid, I'm going to stick a giant castle on his/her wall and turn it into some Small World deal. Or when I get my own house and have a spare bedroom to decorate. Patrick Hruby rocks.

My child will also get this and these. Or me.

If you're an LAPL member, you can download three free DRM-less songs a week from Freegal. They've got Mumford & Sons, Foster the People, Incubus, and Flock of Seagulls, just to name an eclectic few.

My writing has vastly improved in terms of output, efficiency, and quality (I think) since I started buying and completing those variety puzzle packs. You know, logic art, crosswords, various types of word and number games. I was really into Games when I was a kid, but now I prefer the Penny Press-made magazines. I suggest picking up cheap discounted ones at your local Borders before they're gone.

Mama want.

Gets my goat

I want to talk briefly about a NY Times magazine article on reducing twin pregnancies. I'm one of those women who doesn't believe in abortion...for herself. But my personal feelings on what I would do I don't think are relevant to the legal system, and so I am absolutely 100% pro-choice.

However.

If you're a 45 year-old woman who ALREADY HAS KIDS and you go through fertility treatment to HAVE ANOTHER CHILD and then you decide to ABORT ONE OF YOUR TWIN FETUSES when that treatment finally works, there is nothing about that equation that isn't selfish. It's about as bad as going to adopt a child, finding out that child has a twin who also needs to be adopted, and adopting just the one. Okay, it's not that bad, but it's close.

If this had been a 45-year-old woman who had never had children, would I have a problem with this? A little, but not really, especially if she were a single woman. Twins are not triplets, but for someone who's desperate to have a SINGLE CHILD in their lifetime but can't afford another, fine. Having a third kid, though (or whatever number--the article isn't clear how many kids this hideous woman already has), is icing. No one writes that movie of the week. It's already so unnecessary. It's having a cat and a dog, but then deciding your apartment isn't overrun enough, let's get yet another.

And you can see she sees the act as a shopping experience, because if she had gotten pregnant with twins naturally, she says she wouldn't have aborted one. WTF?

I really don't want any comments about how abortion is wrong. This isn't about abortion. This is about the commodification of life, and since we're a throwaway society, we throw away the purchases that we don't like. This woman had no medical reason to get rid of the extra child, and since she said she wouldn't have reduced if it were natural, then clearly money isn't that much of a problem, it's her point of view that has morphed into thinking life has more or less meaning if it comes from a tube or a night in the sack with the mister. And that's what's fucked up.

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

t - 1 month

Didn't get as much writing done as I wanted to tonight. Got sidetracked by political convo with the roommate. Trying to figure how to write the theater scenes within my film. Not sure if I want to use a play that already exists or not. Other than that, I'm very happy with this feature I'm writing. I'm not gonna tell you anything else about it except its working title Method, which I think is brilliant if I do say so myself.

Had some unexpected good news this past week that gave me the boost of encouragement every not-employed writer needs on a regular basis to keep from throwing themselves off of something high like, say, Seth Rogen.

Today is my uncle's birthday, so I will be 28 in exactly one month (it's all about me). In two years, I'll be 30, and soon after that, I'll die. In the meantime, I'm gonna eat Whole Foods dried apple rings, screw up logic art puzzles, read, write, and pray to get laid soon, because, honestly, turning 28 without a boyfriend or at least a scratching post is gonna suck. If I can't get a boyfriend, at least let me get an agent. One way or another, a girl needs to get f--ked.
In summing up, I wish I had some kind of affirmative message to leave you with. I don't. Would you take two negative messages?
-- Woody Allen