L.A.nticipation

I'm a big believer in working and hoping. Working hard (and selling cleverly) and hoping to be the person who gets the surprising break. So I'm writing screenplays. One drama done. One comedy in the early outline stage. So far it's like trying to learn the craft as if it had never been practiced before.

Next week I go to Screenwriters' Expo to mingle with hundreds of other strivers, hope-junkies, delusional types, and some real, skilled - hell, employed - writers. Could change my life. More likely, I'll meet some good company and learn stuff. That's great. And California, I'll be making a small contribution - but only by some measures - to your economy. Throw me a bone, will ya?

My Wildest Dreams: to return from L.A. with a mentor in the person of a known, working writer. Realistic goal: meet a bunch of people more advanced than me who are willing to use the web to keep on meeting and teaching each other through good criticism.

As in an earlier year, Jay Leno and the Tonight Show will tape story pitches by Expo participants (It's "Toy Story" meets "Romeo is Dying"). Word is, the studio audience votes on whether the story is sold or not. And then the sale/no sale is revealed. I'll keep you informed about where and when to see this segment, but do not - I repeat - do not look for this guy on-camera.

In the meantime, it's great to be home. The Woman I Love (TWIL) is even happier than me. Does it have to do with my compulsive tidiness, my cooking skills, my svelte form? Doubtful. She unaccountably likes me; it's the core of her considerable charm.

[Swiped the photo from a Hollywood fan. Click on the title to go to the source. Apologies/thanks.]

Case Closed

What's that? The state capital building, an erection of Huey Long, as I understandt it. Farewell Baton Rouge!

What's the verdict? Well, it's the wrong question. The question is whether you have any regrets, whether you wasted your time, whether you worked hard and well but accomplished nothing. No. To all three. I paid with frustration and missed opportunities by being away from The Woman I Love (TWIL) for the greatest part of the last ten months. I have come to dismay over miserable cellphone service that interrupts us twice each evening. I have come to appreciate how greatthe effect of her love and respect is. And I'm grateful for her patience. I've also recalled how much I enjoy an evening to myself, a Saturday without plans, a day filled with movies.

I rewrote a movie script of my own creation, I shot part of a DV movie that may yet acquire a story to go with that footage, I gave what advice I had to the trainer I worked with most closely, I played well with others. And I'm exhausted with the effort of leaving.

I suffer leaving as if it were a physical wound. That's why I did not visit home more often. TWIL was always glad to have me visit, for however short a time. But between the fatigue of arriving (six hours aloft) and the distress of leaving, it offered me real frustration in the 40 hours I was home. I know what you're thinking. I mean psychic frustration.

Even leaving Louisiana was not easy. People were warm and I was appreciated. I will miss is the daily sense of direction and progress that work offers, the pleasure of reliable human contact on a wider scope than home, and the opportunity to influence people.

I will not miss C.M. (See a previous post.) Finally, at the urging of the project leader, I talked with C.M. about our disagreements. We made a lot of progress, but I'd be a simpleton to think it changed her, or me. It comes down to this, in my biased interpretation: C.M. wielded the authority of her office to engineer the perception of success in everything she does. The effect is poor, but the story it allows her to tell is a good one.