TRIBECA
I'm volunteering this year at the fifth annual Tribeca Film Festival. At the start of the new year, it was my goal to volunteer more (usually for non-profit, social programs), but this time I also added a festival. It's great fun and I'm meeting incredibly nice people while helping out. Not everyone has "an agenda" for being there either -- although many of us are writers, actors, directors -- but most people there (many older people too) just want to support filmmaking and the downtown area.
Hey, and I get a free T-shirt and lots of goodies -- and a chance to see many of the movies for free. Volunteering has its perks.
There are many films I hope to see. All the buzz is about Flight 93. Not sure I will see it yet.
I want to, but the trailer alone choked me up. I'm not sure I can sit through it. One of the cable channels did a reenactment of Flight 93 not long ago and it was well-done and very upsetting.
Other buzz is about "The Groomsmen" directed by and starring Ed Burns, also Saint of 9/11 about Fire Department Chaplain Mychal Judge who was killed on 9/11, a documentary about Dorothy Day (a liberal Catholic), "Lonely Hearts" starring James Gandolfini and John Travolta.
So check out Tribeca Film Festival this year and enjoy filmmaking at it's most daring and creative. There is something for everyone (including Family Films).
Perks for people who love movies and filmmaking!
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
LIVING OFF WRITER'S BLOCK
I'm not really suffering from writer's block. Writers block is the inability to write or think of anything worth writing about. I'm not there. I have 6 completed screenplays. I'm trying to decide on my next one. I have the idea and title. I've done research the last month (I enjoy that part) and have some tentative character names... I see the "movie" in my head... but I'm having a hard time deciding is this the best avenue for me to go down for the next six months to a year?
As you know, writing is rewriting. So when you're starting a new script, honey, you're looking at another 2-3 drafts for sure just to get it good enough to send to your agent. As Hemingway so artfully said "All first drafts are shit." It's hard to write the first word of a new script... but eventually it all comes together.
I could revisit a former script and give it a page-one polish. But I'm not passionate about it at the moment. This other new script could also be written as a book. So that's my dilemma.. spend the next year on a new script or try my hand at a short novel? Of course, writing a book is no less daunting than writing a screenplay. Ah. Decisions.
Met a great guy from L.A. who is reading my scripts and getting them to some people. He's very quick to pick up the phone and call anyone in the business. He's a nice guy, too. So I hope he can get my script on the right desk. He's not even an agent, but he's fearless and that's essential in the writing business.
I haven't been to the movies in awhile and I love going to the movies. Nothing interests me much. Thank goodness for Netflix. I'm catching up on classics.
It's glorious springtime in New York. The birds are chirping, flowers blooming, and the trees on my city block are budding. I love this time of year. Rebirth, promise and hope.
I'm not really suffering from writer's block. Writers block is the inability to write or think of anything worth writing about. I'm not there. I have 6 completed screenplays. I'm trying to decide on my next one. I have the idea and title. I've done research the last month (I enjoy that part) and have some tentative character names... I see the "movie" in my head... but I'm having a hard time deciding is this the best avenue for me to go down for the next six months to a year?
As you know, writing is rewriting. So when you're starting a new script, honey, you're looking at another 2-3 drafts for sure just to get it good enough to send to your agent. As Hemingway so artfully said "All first drafts are shit." It's hard to write the first word of a new script... but eventually it all comes together.
I could revisit a former script and give it a page-one polish. But I'm not passionate about it at the moment. This other new script could also be written as a book. So that's my dilemma.. spend the next year on a new script or try my hand at a short novel? Of course, writing a book is no less daunting than writing a screenplay. Ah. Decisions.
Met a great guy from L.A. who is reading my scripts and getting them to some people. He's very quick to pick up the phone and call anyone in the business. He's a nice guy, too. So I hope he can get my script on the right desk. He's not even an agent, but he's fearless and that's essential in the writing business.
I haven't been to the movies in awhile and I love going to the movies. Nothing interests me much. Thank goodness for Netflix. I'm catching up on classics.
It's glorious springtime in New York. The birds are chirping, flowers blooming, and the trees on my city block are budding. I love this time of year. Rebirth, promise and hope.
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