I’d prefer the latter, hence the no blogging. I want to say thanks to the people who’ve emailed me, wishing me well and such. I’ve tried to email all of you individually; for any I missed, please know that I appreciate your notes and hollers.

I also want everyone to know that I intend to restart this thing (or begin something better, more streamlined, more click-worthy) very soon. Please check back for details.

Best,

Jon Radar

I’m neck deep in rewrite mode, on a deadline set by someone else, someone hopefully with $$$ for my current project.

In the meantime, all I have to offer is this haiku:

friday, leaving work

time for limp epiphanies

such as ‘i like booze.’

Deleted scenes I’d like to see on the DVD: of him eating, of him sleeping, of him hacking the cable box in a hotel room to get porn. That would be true ’street level’ spy lifestyle verisimilitude action.

bad Chinese takeout

another mistake that will

be with me for days

Me? I blame it on having my neck in the sand of a major rewrite from the script from earlier this year. Still, it’s an unsettling feeling. Where is 4007 going in such a hurry?

On a related note, I just listened to the Stroke’s Is This It? on ye olde iTunes. I wasn’t even that big a fan of the album when it first came out, all the way back in 4001. But here I am, listening to it and getting almost…nostalgic. Where has the decade gone? We didn’t even have enough energy to come up with a good name for it.

I guess the bottom line here is: time flies. Make sure you’re writing enough to be okay with how fast it’s going. In other words: WRITE

http://www.moviebytes.com/NewsStory.cfm?StoryID=3021

Here’s another attempt; this time, I’m running with the “are you wearing that?” setup she mentioned. (Note: it’s interesting how, with repetition, many of these started to end up sounding like Will and Grace or Sex and the City. Does this mean I am more catty that I’ve ever suspected?)

WOMAN 1

Are you wearing that?

WOMAN 2

Yes – as a way to satirize poverty.

WOMAN 1

Are you wearing that?

WOMAN 2

I’m actually wearing something much nicer; you just can’t see it through your veil of gin.

WOMAN 1

Are you wearing that?

WOMAN 2

Yes, but underneath is a solid gold bikini. Can we go now?

WOMAN 1

Are you wearing that?

WOMAN 2

Yes – doesn’t it just make my eyes POP with mystery and desperation?

WOMAN 1

Are you wearing that?

WOMAN 2

I thought brown would go well with that potato sack you’re calling a dress.

WOMAN 1

Are you wearing that?

WOMAN 2

I have dreams that start like this. They end with me slapping you across the face, being proposed to by Orlando Bloom, then ending world hunger.

WOMAN 1

Are you wearing that?

WOMAN 2

Nobody wears Armani, darling. It wears you.

(Okay, I swear I’m not doing this just to boost their google juice. That would be tacky, right? I mean, what blogger or internerd has ever done THat?) Mostly, I mention these names because my friends on this list are good, dedicated writers who work their assets off yet rarely get any kind of validation. And, no matter what the outcome of placing in a screenwriting competition, isn’t that the point of entering one?

So, I raise a glass of juice to you, my friends. Sweet, sweet, ambition-nurturing juice. Keep up the good work.

2007 Quarterfinalists

         
150 by Jack Sanderson & Dylan Kussman
1967 by Philip W. Travis
4th Down by John Conner
A Bird Called Enza by Suzanne Pelkey
A Blueprint for Successful Living by Matthew Bookman & Geordie McElroy
A Circle of Resistance by Kris Fair
A Couple of Detectives by Keith Davidson
A Crossroad Called Manzanar by Alice Kim & Cindy Fang
A Death in Concord by Connie Tonsgard
A Dream Without Limits by David Anthony Rineberg
A Head of the Game by Brian O’Sullivan
A Night With Romain by Dennis Douda & Joe Berglove
A Time When I Had Faith by Sarah Ann-Marie Bartelt
A Tin of Paint by Paul Ian Johnson
A to B by Danny Yang
A Wish To Switch by Danielle N. Dillard
Abby West in Ring of Fire by Mike Merrell
Accomplice by Rafael Moscatel
Affinity by Rochelle Smith
Afterglow by Michael Gemballa & Douglas W. Turner
Airworthy by Hal Taylor
Almost Grown Up by Bronwen Coleman
Almost Thirty by Gillian Perdeau & Charissa Gracyk
Alone by Tracey Thomas
Alone Time by Roy Wilson
Amnesiac by Brian Loschiavo
An Evening With Anna by Rachael Mollric
An Unexpected Gift by Marilynne A. Hebert
Another Margaret by Marian J. A. Jackson
Apostles vs. Zombies by Alex Drummond
Archangel by Russell Summers & Robert Summers
Ariadne’s Thread by Steve Callen
Artist and the Salesman by Neal Ryan
As Young As You Feel by Tom Bragg & Jim Harkins
Ashy Alice by Kelli E. Ward
Asshole Saints by Billy Maddox
At The Point of a Sword by Patrick Vala-Haynes
Attention All K-Mart Shoppers by George Colone
Bad Rap by Mark Grisar & Marcus Howard
Believable by Duncan Lamont
Believe by Steve Berry
Beneath the Realm by Douglas Jackson & Christine DiGiovanni
Big Black Lincoln of Oblivion by Jacob Young
Big Max by Nelson Mooney
Bless Me, Father by David Termuhlen
Blind Ambition by Anne McLaughlin
Blood Mart by Scott Shoemaker
Blue Motel by Ted Campbell
Burn by Teresa Cutler
Camp Angel by Jeffrey Bruner
Candlelit Days by Sophia Trone
Capital Gains by William A. Brennan & Winston Gieseke
Casualties by Chris Dauer
Catching Hell by Jolene Adams
Charlie’s Gold by Barbara Wadkins & Jack Throckmorton
Cherry Pie by Delrae Goodburn
Chimney Smoke by Michael Leo Donovan
China Hearts Break by Melody M. Suppes
China’s Town by Robert Sudduth
Chronopolous by Jay D. Waxman
Cinderella and the Prince by Wolfgang Prometheus Wright
Code Name Veil by Matt Billingsly
Conspiracy Cafe by Rodney Vance
Cougars on Three by Tanisha White
Cowboyz by Pamelja Ferderbar & Michael B. Forsey
Crackwhore Pornstar Love by David Rodwin
Craters of the Moon by Milton Riess & M. J. McGalliard
Damned Heroes by Alan O’ Brien
Dancing Girl by Elaine Littmann
Daughter by Hannah Macpherson
Daughters of the Groom by Catherine G. Modesitt
Dead Rabbits by Asabi Lee & Paul Hart-Wilden
Death Patrol by Peter Tulipan
Diamonds and Dreams by Paul Michaels
Dibbuk by Alexander Besher
Disengage by Jason Ancona
Dougbot by Peter E. Groynom
Dr. Love by Marquis Smalls
Dumped and Dateless by Danielle N. Dillard
Duster by Jay Lender & Micah Wright
Emily’s Numbers by Paul Chepikian
Emotional Support by Evan R. Schullery
Escaping Normal by David J. Gutierrez
Espiritu by Joe Gonzalez
Everyday Monsters by Lisa Horiuchi Heiberg
Exit Marlowe by Matthew Scarsbrook
Exposed by William Garcia

Recently on DVD, the first season of Maude is fantastic. Clever writing, superb performances.

The main thing I’m learning from the show is how funny arguments can be. And, if well written, you can build 22 minutes of scenes around a single one. Much of this is due, naturally, to Bea Arthur’s multi-facted, sugar and vinegar performance. She’s also well balanced by Bill Macy’s Walter, her loving husband. His approach to the role is so naturalistic and grounded, it seems as if he’s not an actor at all.

A lot has been written about the show (as well as spin-off parent All in the Family) for the way it tackles current events such as abortion, drug use, and race relations. Maude deals with these issues in a thoughtful way, though the laughs remain consistent no matter what the subject matter.

For me, though, one of the joys of the series is in its depiction of a middle-aged couple who are in love and remain physical. Double and plain ol’ single entendres permeate the scenes, and the two of them are never far from the bar in the corner of the living room. They reminisce about how they met, about how they bonded over certain cocktails. It’s interesting and kind of cool to see people of that age and era (the show aired years before I was born) and to be reminded that media used to be much more honest about how people actually live their lives. People in their late 40s actually have dignified, healthy love lives…not simply ones that exist as fodder for degrading jokes. Good stuff.

How it works is this: during the note taking phase (which for me can last anywhere from two weeks to six months,) you take a few hours or so to bust out a quick scene that would theoretically be a part of your first draft. It’s just a small snippet of the project at large…a flavor, a sample. It’s purpose is to test one of the central dynamics of the story, just to see how that dynamic works on paper.

(Usually, I don’t begin scene work until I’ve made comprehensive notes on character, theme, plot, location, etc. From these notes, I hammer out the story’s three act structure, focusing on the major plot points. I then fill in the beats. When I’ve got my 45 to 65 outline of beats worked out, then and only then do I allow myself the (relatively) fun phase of actual scene writing.)

But with the Tester, I can jump forward through all the notes and plotting, and just let the characters interact with one another, so I can get a feel for them. There’s no pressure to make it good, as the Tester scene probably won’t make it to the first full draft. It’s just a sample.

For instance, let’s pretend I’m writing a comedy about a revolt in a box factory on Neptune. (They happen.) I could pick two of the main characters; the factory owner and the daughter of the revolt leader. Since these two characters are likely to have a scene in the actual script, they make good candidates for this exercise. I’ll then plop them down in the middle of a location (say, the factory’s break room,) with a set of extenuating circumstances. Hmmm. Okay, let’s say the daughter has a huge science project due the next day, one that her (single) father hasn’t been able to help her with because he’s had to work double shifts all week. So she marches to his job and confronts the factory owner, asking him if he’ll help her. As I write out the scene (two pages is all it’ll need, I think) I get a feel for not only them as characters, but also how the project’s theme plays out in real time…in this case, I think the theme deals with vocational versus familial obligations. In those two pages, I can learn a lot, and it will ideally help me to keep things tight and on track during the crucial process of outlining.

I’m going to try it this weekend and see how helpful it is. Can’t hurt, right? One more technique for my bag of tricks.