Happy Holidays

My writing has hit a bit of a bump. Between getting sick, having a small fling, and my parents coming into town, I've fallen off the writing routine wagon. I've run out of ideas for mackjackandjill.com, I've finished the 2nd draft of Same River Twice and now I'm moving on to a spec script of Raising Hope.

The first season is pretty spectacular and on Netflix. Plot is Jimmy Chance has a one night stand with a serial killer. She goes to prison and is executed, but not before giving birth Jimmy's daughter. He now must raise his daughter Hope with the help of his parents and crazy great grandmaw who all live in the same house. What makes the first season so spectacular? In addition to being wildly funny, the show has a lot of heart and is very charming. The characters care about each other and find really clever ways to be sweet to each other by the end of the episode. Unfortunately the 2nd season has not proven to be as clever or interesting.

The goal is to have the workable first draft done by January 23rd (the start of my pilot writing class.) Immediate tasks-- Character research. 2-pages on the primary and 1 on the secondary. Then I need to outline my plot (which means I have to come up with a plot.) Then I can start writing. So I'm stating right here and now that I will have my plot outline done by January 3rd. There it's in writing on the internet!

Something I need to achieve is the flow and humor of the show. With my 30 Rock script I was able to get in sync with the show. I just understood on a visceral level how it all worked. I could tell when I wrote a line that I needed a joke. I could feel when the scenes were getting too long. But most importantly I understood how the show unfolded itself. Raising Hope moves in a distinctly different way. It's almost like ever quarter of each episode feels like it's own plot, but moves seamlessly so it doesn't feel segmented. Also I'll have to adjust my humor. This all feels daunting, but a year ago I thought writing a 30 Rock episode was beyond me and that was much easier than I thought.  So I'm sure I'll pull it off.


Song of the day (only because it came up on Pandora)
Cobra Starship.

Who wants to listen to that?

When I quit Isabella's I went on a writing binge. I had started the other blog, I finished the first draft of my third play Whatever It's Worth, and I started my TV writing class. I got sick with the flu a couple of weeks ago and I also started dating someone. Both did a number on my writing routine. It's been a month since I've updated this blog and mackjackandjill.com hasn't fared much better. The flu got better but the relationship didn't. It's not officially dead, but I'm willing to call it. We didn't progress far enough to officially label it over, so in it's place, a dwindling frequency of text messages will be all I get.

I find it difficult to be happy with my own accomplishment. I approached a very attractive girl on the train. Got her number, had subsequent dates, had her spend the night. I knew we'd never progress into anything serious. All I wanted or expected was a little fun. I figured this end was inevitable. Even prepared for it. But it still hurts. Every relationship ends in abandonment. Except one, hopefully.  It's a chilling sentiment to me that two people meet, become intimately involved, reveal more to that person than anyone else, then sooner or later one of them decides the other isn't good enough.

New York is a hard place to have friends. Being a waiter makes that even harder. I only get a night or two off a week and if I'm only friends with waiter folk, they have the same situation, only my nights and their nights rarely match up. I've always considered myself a loner. Now it's ten fold what I was. I've had plenty of people tell me that I can come to them with anything. But they only time I feel the desire to connect with people is when I hurt. And who wants to listen to someone complain about their problems and seek reassurance all the time. I sure as hell don't want to listen to that.

Dylan Patrick Smith -- Fading Dreams
http://www.last.fm/music/Dylan+Patrick+Smith