Page Count - Day One

I already broke my pledge! Gah!

After one day of writing...

SCREENPLAY PAGE COUNT: 53

Under Pressure

Sudden realization #2: When you spend a very large portion of the day writing, it is difficult to find the drive to write on here.

The deadline for a very big writing fellowship is July 1st. You must submit a full-length screenplay by that date.

That gives me roughly a month or so to knock something out of the park to submit for this year's program.

It can be done, right? Stallone wrote Rocky in 3 days! I can write the next great American screenplay in a month!

So, here's the deal.

I will finish.

And to make sure that I finish, I will post my page count on this blog every day until I'm done - giving you all full and total ability to mock me to the end of time if I don't.

Now _that's_ entertainment.

Think It Over... Creep.

Don't worry. I've still got a Top 5 Friday for you later today [and I think it's a pretty good one] but I just this from our friends at AICN and had to comment.

What the hell is with the movie and TV industries these days?

I know that seems to be a frequent topic around here but as a struggling and aspiring writer, it's painful to see dreck after dreck after dreck green-lighted while I chip away at something new and fresh and fun. See, if I was already successful at this career path, I could just rip off something already out there and be a millionaire overnight [that little faggot's got his own jet airplane... that little faggot he's a millionaire... we got to install- never mind.]

I really don't get it. I don't understand why it's so difficult for Hollywood to embrace new ideas. I understand why from a business aspect, I suppose... the devil you know and all. But creatively, it's a nightmare. You saw my post last night about a relaunch of Beverly Hills 90210. It's a perfect example. It's just the brand name they want. As you read more and more about it, it becomes more and more apparent they plan to start fresh with completely new characters. Then why call it 90210? Branding. It's a familiar brand to people and it's a blatant attempt to cash in on the good will of fans of the first show.

Want some more?

What about the piles of remakes and sequels that are filling up the slates of every movie studio [and some TV studios - Bionic Woman, anyone?] in town?

Take a look at this snippet from an MGM press release...

"MGM is planning an exciting fall and winter release schedule. In partnership with Sony Pictures Entertainment, MGM will bring new installments of two of its tentpole franchises -- the new James Bond movie QUANTUM OF SOLACE and Steve Martin in PINK PANTHER 2. MGM will also release United Artists' international thriller VALKYRIE, starring Tom Cruise on October 3. With the appointment of Parent, MGM will enter its new phase of evolution by focusing on its major movie franchises highlighted by JAMES BOND and PINK PANTHER sequels, THE HOBBIT, THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR 2, THE OUTER LIMITS, ROBOCOP, DEATH WISH and FAME, among others."

Okay... so, another Bond. That's fine. Casino Royale was a lot of fun so they earned some street cred from me on that one. Pink Panther 2?! Did anyone even see Pink Panther 1?! I have yet to ever have a conversation with anyone in the world that contained the phrase, "Hey, you really should check out the Pink Panther movie!" So, in that one we have a sequel to a franchise that probably should have been left alone.

The Hobbit? No complaints there.

Thomas Crown Affair 2? What the fuck? Was there some great untold story in the life of Thomas Crown that I missed in the first one? I won't completely shat on this one because I dug the first one... although that in itself is a remake. Sequels to remakes... what will they think of next?

FAME?! You're re-doing FAME?! Let me guess. It'll be "modernized" into a "Step Up 2" style plot line. Awesome. We don't have enough dance crew movies and TV shows. It's soddin' brilliant, mate.

I'm going to ignore the other two in favor of going...



WHY IN THE HOLY FUCK WOULD YOU GO BACK TO ROBOCOP?!

There are two possibilities here. They're going to slightly piss me off by going back and doing another sequel to a movie that had two too many shitty sequels OR they're going to SEVERELY piss me off and go back and remake one of the most picture perfect action movies ever. Either way, it's enough to make you want to track down MGM's studio head and give him a, "Dead or alive, you're coming with me."

And now to add on to the, "What the fuck?" for the day.

Thanks to AICN, I also discovered that NBC is close to green-lighting a show where Christian Slater plays a dual personality... a Jekyll/Hyde thing where one personality is a nice, kind stay at home dad versus a superspy. Oooookay. And to top it off, this is operating under NBC's new policy of not needing a pilot to approve the series. Really? You sure you want to do that, guys? Christian Slater rules the world and all but... seriously?

And the icing on the cake. FOX is close to greenlighting a new animated series by the creator of the brilliant Arrested Development. But before they do, the entire future of that series will be decided by the network suits watching a reading of the show's script by the cast.

...

An animated series... being judged on a cast reading.

I don't even know where to start with that.

And so I won't!

More Posts For Posting's Sake

Forgive me. I'm feeling a little drained today. Why, you ask? I give a three part answer.

1) I was up til around 3:30 AM because I had a sudden burst of desire to try and adapt a book into a screenplay. Since I openly admitted that I've been having a lack of inspiration on that front, I seized the moment when I felt it and stayed up until I was about to drop.

2) One of the good things about being unemployed is that you can pretty much do anything at any point. What I mean by that is, for example, if you know the post office is crowded at a certain time of day, you're pretty much free to go at any other time of day you want. So, when I realized this morning that I needed to go to the bank, Juice It Up, and Trader Joe's... I knew I could go at any point today to avoid the crowds. And when does my dumbass go? Noon on the dot. Ugh. Although, I do have to admit it was pretty fun to be bumming around in my sandals and Dodger hat while all the businessmen in their suits were rushing to get through their one hour break.

3] Building off #2, I went to the gym at about 5:30 PM. At our gym, there are three treadmills... with usually anywhere between zero and one taken. Rarely two... and never three. On this night when I strolled in, all three were taken by three friends who decided to go to the gym together. It's all good. I decided to use the bike instead. All was perfectly fine for about ten minutes until I noticed the girl in the middle get off her treadmill and go outside to use her phone. I paused to watch, wondering if her treadmill was going to be free but then saw her friends wave away someone else who wanted to use it. She came back in and got on it so I shrugged it off. Then I notice she's walking very slowly on it... then I notice she's texting while walking very slowly... then I notice she's doing a Rubix Cube while she's walking very slowly on it. I start to get annoyed... but I don't want to be that guy... you know that guy. Then she changes all three TVs to some vapid MTV reality dating show... with absolutely no redeeming qualities at all. Great. I was listening to my iPod so I was still shrugging it off.

Then she starts walking backwards on the treadmill.

Then she jumps off, gets behind her friend, puts her hands on her friend's waist and starts walking with her.

Then she gets back on her own and decides to hang on to the heart rate monitor bar, puts her feet on the plastic belt guard thing, and hangs backwards to let the belt drag against her feet.

Then I notice she's not wearing shoes.

And while I still don't want to say anything because now my workout's almost over and I still don't want to be that guy... it's at this point that I start wishing physical harm on this girl. Like something "tragic" where her toes get caught under the belt and the belt pulls her underneath and somehow she ends up like that guy who goes under the rock crusher in Temple of Doom leaving nothing but a bloody streak behind.

Does that make me a bad person?

Does it help if I point out it's at this point that I notice she's wearing a sorority sweatshirt?

I knew it would!

See, while there's many things I despise about the collegiate Greek system, one of the main ones that continue to affect us all is their tendency to spit out their members into society as self-involved, self-centered, egotistical, materialistic pieces of worm-ridden filth that aren't worthy of sharing oxygen with most of us.

It's a little too much generalization, I know, but dammit, I keep it real, yo.

I'm sure I was supposed to feel better about the situation when she left, walking over to give me the remote to the TVs so I could finally watch ESPN for the last ten minutes of my workout but I don't.

There's a serious scholastic study to be done about the social relevance and contribution to society of members spit out of the Greek system. I'm not the person to do said study because it would turn into a real life Sweeney Todd... but someone should do it.