Networking Trip in LA

Here's a lovely view of Sunset Blvd at sunset, after my class was finished. I'm standing on top of the parking structure next to the LA Film School. The night before, there were even students filming a project there, and it brought back fond memories of doing short films at Colorado film school.

Even though I was unable to meet with the manager who was interested in  my pilot while I was in LA, I still met some awesome people in my screenwriting class, and I had lunch with a friend who works as a story editor on the animated show Thunderbirds Are Go!

       Side Note: I was helping an old roommate clean up her house last week for a move, and saw her          kids watching the show Rescuebots. I was like, "Dude! My friend Patrick the story editor totally          knows the people who write for that show, and here I am, listening to it in the background, which        means I'm a friend of someone who is friends with other people who write content that is being          played, right now, in thousands of homes across the world. AWESOME!


Over lunch, Patrick told me that since I've finished an original pilot, all I need to do is write another animated spec, a live action spec, and then he can shop my scripts around to his friends who will be hiring writers for their own shows next year!!

As amazingly awesome as that was to hear, I have to admit that on the inside, I was staring at him with my jaw on the floor, thinking, "I just went through 18 months of blood, sweat, tears, and emotional torture, and now you want me to do that all over AGAIN?!!!!"

But hey, maybe the next script will only take me two months instead of 18. I'm crossing my fingers that all the blood, sweat, and tears means that eventually, I'll be able to write dozens of scripts off the top of my head and churn out tons of stories every year, and finally be like my favorite author, Brandon Sanderson, who writes a dizzying amount of content and shows no signs of slowing down or stopping.

I DID IT!!!!

Guess what?! I FINALLY, FINALLY, FINALLY finished my urban fantasy pilot after 18 months of brainstorming, outlining, writing draft after draft that just didn't work, and then more brainstorming, outlining, writing draft after draft...etc. In fact, after I finished draft number 10 (yep, count it. TEN DRAFTS), I stared at my computer screen. Just stared. I was speechless. I couldn't believe it. I'd actually done it. I'd finally figured out a good structure for the story and wrote a script that I was actually happy with.

HALLELUJAH!!!!!!!!!

I'm going to say that again:

HALLELUJAH!!!!!!!!!

I honestly, seriously considered dropping the project a dozen times. Every time I finished another draft that just didn't click, I promised myself that I was going to give up. Put it on the shelf. Try again at a later date. Forget this frustrating, annoying, stupid story even existed. To be honest, I'm not sure why I kept going. One thing that really helped was that I met a junior literary manager last year when all I had was a logline and a poster. That was it. It was the only story he was interested in. Knowing that somebody in Hollywood wanted to look at it was a great motivating factor. But even so, I was still in a deep, dark, black hole of knowing with absolute certainty that this story was never EVER going to work.

But...a hard knot of stubbornness deep inside me refused to give up. Back in June I had promised myself that I would write just one more good draft, and then I would give up the project forever, satisfied that I had at least given it a really good try. Well, one more 'good draft' turned into five more drafts since none of them were a 'good draft.' I panicked in August, wrote even more frantically, I even signed up for a November screenwriting class in California--a perfect opportunity to meet that manager in person and renew my connection with him (even though I was five months late in giving him my promised pilot script). The class really helped to give me an extra hard push the last couple weeks. I find that I do WAY better in my writing if I have real deadlines--screenwriting contests, weekend trips to California...etc.

I finished draft 10 while being deathly ill and watching loads of Korean drama episodes (Shopping King Louis is really cute, and W was a wild, crazy, amazing adventure criss-crossing the realms of fiction and reality!). I even managed to get it through a critique group the day before I left for California, and I was so lucky my sister tagged along for the trip because I didn't even have enough energy to drive.

Unfortunately, the manager I wanted to meet was traveling and the meeting didn't work out, but I did send him the script, and it's on his to-do list.

I still can't believe I did it. Wow.

GAPF-Pitch pitch pitch until you die!!!

The Great American Pitchfest, headed by Bob and Signe is an amazing experience. First of all, it's nice being around other people that are just as crazy as you are about writing. You even get to attend classes where people tell you that it's okay to be crazy enough to want a job as a writer and give you tips on how to deflect questions like, "When are you going to get a real job?" I love seeing people pitch their screenplays. Here's what I learned:

1. Have onesheets for your ideas.
2. Practice your pitch. A LOT.
3. Nobody cares about you wanting to be a script reader, they just want ideas.
4. Have five strong ideas in your quiver.
5. Don't act desperate. Movie industry people can smell desperation a mile away.
6. Research the production company
7. Carry IB Profen in your pocket or your purse.
8. Wear sneakers, not heels
9. Paying good money for good artwork on your onesheets is worth it.
10. You only have one chance to impress, so make sure your script has gone through LOTS and LOTS of editing before you send it to anyone.