Welcome to Issue #18!A quick update on the past week: I started scheduling meetings based on the personal development slate that I told you about a couple of weeks ago. I also had a recent general meeting on the feature side. A few days ago I took the time to boil down a feature idea into a quick 5 minute mini-pitch that I could test the waters with if the opportunity came up, which it did. I'll let you know if that results in a chance to pitch the whole thing, but I was glad I thought ahead and rehearsed it a bit. Not throwing away my shot, etc.It was my 48th birthday last week, the eighth anniversary of selling EXTANT. I've been able to do so much cool stuff since then. After two seasons of EXTANT I got to work on MARS for NatGeo and sat in the writers room with Ron Howard for an afternoon talking about APOLLO 13. I got to work on THE STRAIN for Carlton Cuse, Chuck Hogan, and Guillermo Del Toro, made some great friends in the room, and spent four weeks in Toronto (in January) prepping two episodes. I sold REVERIE while on staff there and spent a year making that on the Universal lot with my friends at Amblin. I had a world premiere of a new play at Stages Repertory Theatre in Houston. That was all in the first five years after breaking in.Now things have slowed down a bit. I've sold two projects in the past three years, one that didn't go forward (BARBARELLA) and one that is still in progress. I've done some uncredited rewrite work and been part of a couple of great mini-rooms that also won't show up on my IMDB. I'm not the new guy who came out of nowhere with a crazy story anymore, in fact it didn't even come up in the general. I'm one more writer in town trying to do stuff that I'm proud of with people I like while keeping the lights on and the dog in rotisserie chicken and that's fine.I am proud to say I'm not jaded or cynical about any of it after eight years. I still get a thrill when I'm driving through the neighborhood and see the yellow crew parking signs and Star Waggons, the tell-tale signs that someone is trying to capture lightning in a bottle up the block.I still love the writing part most of all.Except when it comes to these goddamn second acts...
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2nd Act Problems (13 minute read)
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Welcome to Issue #18!A quick update on the past week: I started scheduling meetings based on the personal development slate that I told you about a couple of weeks ago. I also had a recent general meeting on the feature side. A few days ago I took the time to boil down a feature idea into a quick 5 minute mini-pitch that I could test the waters with if the opportunity came up, which it did. I'll let you know if that results in a chance to pitch the whole thing, but I was glad I thought ahead and rehearsed it a bit. Not throwing away my shot, etc.It was my 48th birthday last week, the eighth anniversary of selling EXTANT. I've been able to do so much cool stuff since then. After two seasons of EXTANT I got to work on MARS for NatGeo and sat in the writers room with Ron Howard for an afternoon talking about APOLLO 13. I got to work on THE STRAIN for Carlton Cuse, Chuck Hogan, and Guillermo Del Toro, made some great friends in the room, and spent four weeks in Toronto (in January) prepping two episodes. I sold REVERIE while on staff there and spent a year making that on the Universal lot with my friends at Amblin. I had a world premiere of a new play at Stages Repertory Theatre in Houston. That was all in the first five years after breaking in.Now things have slowed down a bit. I've sold two projects in the past three years, one that didn't go forward (BARBARELLA) and one that is still in progress. I've done some uncredited rewrite work and been part of a couple of great mini-rooms that also won't show up on my IMDB. I'm not the new guy who came out of nowhere with a crazy story anymore, in fact it didn't even come up in the general. I'm one more writer in town trying to do stuff that I'm proud of with people I like while keeping the lights on and the dog in rotisserie chicken and that's fine.I am proud to say I'm not jaded or cynical about any of it after eight years. I still get a thrill when I'm driving through the neighborhood and see the yellow crew parking signs and Star Waggons, the tell-tale signs that someone is trying to capture lightning in a bottle up the block.I still love the writing part most of all.Except when it comes to these goddamn second acts...