Small Town Dramedy Completed

Well, it's finished. It's time to stick it on the backburner and move onto something else. (I'll come back and finish it out later.) My thoughts: Kurt Russell and Kelly Preston would be adorable together in this. The script still needs fleshing out, fine tuning and amping up. But, what I have is a very sweet-natured, good-hearted slice-of-life that ended up tilting more towards the comedy than the drama. I may even decide to go ahead and finish it out in August, having it ready for September. Overall, I like the end result. I think the final product will be what I set out to achieve - a sweethearted confection of a human comedy.

Almost Done

I finish the draft of the small town dramatic comedy tomorrow. (This month has flown by. It seems like I started this rewrite only twenty-nine days ago.) Tonight, it's Manwich, beer and DEATH WISH and the original THE HILLS HAVE EYES. I picked up a used copy of Whiskeytown's Pneumonia last night. I've really liked the CD, just never bought it. Per usual, I put it in as I made said Manwich. More tomorrow...

Shawn Colvin & The Small Town Dramatic Comedy

I have write to music. It makes the act of screenwriting more cinematic. (Plus, I'm a music fanatic and I have an excuse to listen to music.) For dramatic comedies, I write to artists, whereas horror and action I use soundtracks from other movies in that particular genre. (Did I use "whereas" right? I think so. I never get to use "heretofore," or "wherewithal." Or "henceforth.")

Anyway, last year, the first draft of the small town dramatic comedy was written to a Rhapsody playlist of Kathleen Edwards and The Jayhawks. These choices never felt quite right but they served the purpose. I started the rewrite using the same list but quickly decided I needed to find the artist(s) that fit this world.

After a strenuous search on Rhapsody (okay, ten minutes), I decide Shawn Colvin best captured the spirit of this screenplay.

I like Colvin. I have her Steady On CD on its own playlist (for cooking supper when I want to listen to it.) I have Fat City and A Few Small Repairs, along with some Jonatha Brooke on the screenplay playlist, and it's the perfect accompaniment for a breezy, whimsical story.

HK/American Crime Thriller: A Lead

My admirable and patient manager has a contact in a Chinese company looking for action/crime thrillers. Their American pointman is now reading my HK Triad crime thriller/by way of Michael Mann (see previous HK/American Crime Thriller posts if you have no idea what I'm talking about. I'll wait...humming to myself... Caught up? Good.) If he likes it I have to submit a 500 word synopsis broken into three acts to the Chinese company, as that's how they conduct business. If they like that they will read the script. Maybe all of this will end with me working with Johnnie To or Ringo Lam.

Updates & The Police

I love The Police's debut CD, Outlandos D'Amour. What a fabulous record. I dig their other stuff, but this is their most complete work. It's the perfect mix of rock, reggae and Brit New Wave.

The small town dramatic comedy is rolling along as scheduled, page 61. (I'm actually a page ahead, despite leaving early last Wednesday for the Aerosmith/ZZ Top.) It's still frothy and cute; right now tilting more toward comedy than drama. I'm seeing Kelly Preston and Kurt Russell in my head as I write this. I think they'd make a terrific pairing as they are providing the model for the characters.

Aerosmith/ZZ Top In The Atl

I caught the Aerosmith/ZZ Top show in Atlanta last Wednesday night. ZZ Top, seasoned like Tex-Mex chili, cooked. Aerosmith, America's hard rock answer to The Stones, swaggered. These bands are legends for a reason.

It was hot - upper 90's around showtime. That might've contributed to ZZ Top playing only an hour. Aerosmith only went 90 minutes, but Steven Tyler tore his hamstring a couple of weeks ago, forcing the band to postpone or cancel its next six shows. (Not to mention the other band ailments.) Atlanta was their first show back, and despite Steven not being at full speed, moving very slowly and deliberately on stage, I feel very blessed.

Despite the obstacles, it was a very good night of American rock.

Hump Day

After my...adventurous...day yesterday, I decided to treat myself to some Dunkin' Donuts this morning as I worked on my script. ("Mmmm...Dunkin' Donuts.") I'm on page 21, and on schedule, of my small town dramedy, and I'm really digging it. It's breezy, funny, and very light on its feet. A bakery figures prominently into the story, and that perfectly sums up the feeling of this script - a sweet confection.

Last night turned out to be a bust on the viewing - O'Reilly had an uninteresting line up, and Melinda and Melinda was full screen on IFC, not widescreen (luckily, I'd already seen it when it first came out on DVD.) I tried DVR-ed Teachers, the 1984 Nick Nolte teaching flick, but I couldn't concentrate. Companies passing on my scripts don't affect me in any real way. Sure, it's disappointing, but I don't huddle in a corner and rock back and forth while quietly sobbing. Or drink. I tend to go into a temporary tailspin, where I can't concentrate for that evening, bouncing from one thing to the next. Tonight will be more focused. Grilling some chicken and listening to Elton John's Madman Across The Water, one of the greatest CD's by anyone ever, as I do it. Feel like some "Corner Gas" after O'Reilly tonight.

Two Passes

The Lifetime Movie Network passed on my femme suspense thriller. Sony Home Entertainment passed on my Michael Mann/90's Hong Kong crime thriller. Disappointing, of course, but as I always say, onward and forward with optimism and hope.

How To Salvage A Bad Day

Last night, in my excitement of starting the new Dean Koontz novel Relentless before bed, I forget to set my alarm. I usually get up at 9:30. This morning it was 9:45. It's only fifteen minutes but it seemed to be an omen, as I never forget to set my alarm.

I started the re-write/polish of my small town dramedy as planned - ten pages - over breakfast (Coco Krispies and coffee.) A few hours later, seven pages into the script, I see it's approaching lunchtime, and I need to work out and do a little outdoor house stuff before I eat.

Having left my car parked in the driveway overnight, I needed to return it to the garage, so I stick my car keys in my pocket, planning to do it after I'm finished.

I work out and do my outside house chores. I walk to the driveway to move my car, so I can go in, shower, eat lunch while watching an episode of "Batman: The Animated Series. Vol II," then resume writing.

I realize that I've lost my car keys somewhere in the yard

I look. And look. And look some more. The needle in the proverbial haystack has nothing on trying to find these keys. "Needle in Canada" is a better way to put it.

By now, it's almost 3:30. I give up. Starving, I go in and eat lunch and watch my one "Batman" ep and read a chapter of the so-far-so-good-Koontz novel. I'm about to go shower, and return to the writing, when Mom calls wanting to help me find my keys. I tell her it's a lost cause. They're gone. She disagrees. She's Mom so she wins.

At 6:30 I finally get into the shower. No car keys. The day is completely gone and wasted. (I blame it on the alarm clock. Thanks alarm clock that can't set itself. A real alarm clock would.)

Being a victor and not a victim (thanks Joel Osteen for that awesome phrase), I refuse to let a bad day ruin my day. So, I'm cooking something fun to eat, listening to a CD I like while I do it, Shawn Colvin's Steady On, and watching "The O'Reilly Factor," DVR-ed Melinda and Melinda, and "How I Met Your Mother," and "The Big Bang Theory." Maybe even some "Corner Gas."

Tomorrow, I plan an Awesome Lanny Day to make up for today.

Back From The Beach

Yes, I remember that movie from the 80's. No, I've never seen it. Yes, I know it's "TO The Beach," not "FROM The Beach." No, I don't care.

I'm back from Beach Week with the family. I highly recommend the Destin/Panama City Beach area in Florida. White sands, emerald water, hazy heat - it's so choice (to quote Ferris Bueller.) However, it's now "back to life, back to reality" (to quote En Vogue. How do I remember that? Same reason why I remember "BACK TO THE BEACH," I guess.)

Anyhow, I plan to blog a lot more, even if it's short - and if there's only three people out of the five billion on this planet actually reading this. And, as usual, I have another script cooking...

Small Town Dramatic Comedy/"Corner Gas" plug

Last year I completed a draft of a small town "dramedy" (that's "dramatic comedy" for all you non-pretentious, normal people.) Like most scripts, you complete a first draft then put it on the backburner to simmer as you go work on other things. (For me, this "simmering" sometimes can be a year or more.) Since this breezy script takes place in spring, I decided to complete it now, being it's summer. (Both seasons are warm. That's where I'm going with this.)

Over the past year and a half I've become a big fan of "Corner Gas." It's apparently the most popular Canadian TV series of all time. (It airs here on WGN America in the middle of the night during the week.) "Corner Gas" is "Seinfeld" set in the smallest of Canadian small town. If "Seinfeld" was The Show About Nothing, "Corner Gas" is about even less. (The "Seinfeld" similarities end there. The show itself bears no other resembalance to the greatest sitcom of all time.)

I love "Corner Gas" because it's normal, everyday people dealing with normal, ordinary things. Like "Seinfeld," (and "Curb Your Enthusiasm"), it's finding comedy in the minor details of life. What does all of this have to do with my small town dramatic comedy? That was my aim last year.

Game plan: 10 pages a day for my 3 writing days a week (Tuesday-Thursday) from July 7-30. That's 12 total writing days in July, 10 pages a pop, equaling 120 pages (first draft ran 118 pages; close enough.) Mondays and Saturdays as optional catch-up/get ahead days.

Time to roll up the sleeves and see what we have...