The Writing Itch

I have a few scripts in various stages that I'm itching to get back to. Luckily, this summer I'm giving myself the time and space. I'm teaching one class and one camp. That's it. The other hours of the day will be dedicated to writing.

The Edmonton Children (Teen Horror) - I had a recent revelation about this script that I want to do a little revamping on. It's a script that I've been casually working on for about three years now. I love the idea, I love the story, it just needs another major rewrite. I'll get this one right eventually. I have a new element that will definitely help.

Captain Dynamo - I've been working on this one this semester alongside my Independent Study students who are writing their own feature scripts. It's silly, it's fun, it's big and it needs a lot of work. But I love living with these weirdo characters. I'm about 100 pages in, maybe 10 more pages to go as the most and then back into a major rewrite.

The New Teen Comedy - Toddy and I have a mission this summer. To write a teen comedy together. Hence all the recent teen research.

I think I need a writer's retreat. Give me a month or even a few weeks to knock some stuff out. No interruptions. No distractions. Just me and my little MacBook.

Tribeca - The Week After

It's been non-stop since my plane landed on Sunday night. Between catching up at UT, reading student scripts, watching their rough cuts and playing catch up with my own stuff ... sending out 20 some odd scripts to potential companies for Spider, writing thank you cards, prepping for end of semester screenings and gearing up for a summer semester, it's been rather nutso around these here parts.

But tonight ... tonight I get to see a movie with Toddy. And I'm SO SO SO looking forward to it. It's not exactly the Oscar winner you might expect from me, but those of you who know me, know I love my mainstream fare. Zac Ephron ... you and me and a junior sized Diet Coke. It's all in the name of research!

From the Gen Austin Girls

This is why I love teaching and working with kids so much. Cause they're so cool!

Please Call Me If You Find My Phone

I lost my phone in a New York cab on Friday night. It looks like this. If you see it, call me. Wait, no ... send me a letter. Or maybe a telegram. I'm dying without you, little Nokia slider phone. I couldn't call my husband to find out if he was picking me up at baggage claim or in the loading zone. I couldn't call my mom during my layover to see how the family was doing. I miss you, phone. I miss you so much it hurts. I'm really sorry to betray you like this, but I'm going to have to find a new one.
I'm eyeing this pretty little number. It's so rad and does really cool things like pretends to be a slate and a ruler and a level and maybe even a pencil sharpener. I kind of feel guilty about replacing you, little Nokia, but I think losing you in that cab that fateful night might've been a sign. A sign that I need an iPhone with a more expensive monthly bill. At least that's what Karen said. And she's pretty smart. So I think I believe her.

P.S. If you've tried to call me in the lasts 48 hours, I didn't get the message. Just FYI.

Home, I Love You

As much of an amazing experience as I had, I'm so happy to be home. Coming off the plane and stepping into the Austin, airport ... big sigh. Yay, home! But not before spending a lovely evening with some of my bestest friends who sadly live in New York, way too far away from me. But Mark and Pork Chop welcomed me home with open arms. And I grabbed on tight. I missed my boys.

Tribeca - Day Five

Briana and Van (Johnny Bravo). We love Van.

The red carpet where we had to wait in line to get our photo op.

We spent a lot of time on that couch in between meetings.

We spent three solid days here at the Tribeca Cinemas Gallery taking meeting after meeting after meeting.

Our friend Lily, the recipient of the Adrienne Shelley award for screenwriting. We think she's really rad.

After a long week of meetings and parties and losing my cell phone in a cab, we got home about 1am and crashed. And crashed hard.

Yesterday's highlights ...

1) Robert DeNiro and his little entourage brushing past me at the awards ceremony.
2) Two really kick ass meetings with companies that I've admired for years.
3) Dancing on the dance floor with all of our TAA friends and Lance Reddick (The Wire).
4) Watching our new friends honored with cash prizes to forward their films.
5) Seeing Jamie Hector who played Marlo on The Wire and for some reason feeling a little nervous about it. He still scares me.

This has been an amazing experience. The folks at the Tribeca Film Institute and Tribeca All Access have put together something really special. And we're indebted to them.

Tribeca - Day Four

Holy gamoly. How do people do the party thing? I'm home at midnight from a full night at an Apple Store Tribeca party. I randomly ran into friends I haven't seen in years. It's a totally small world.

It was a jam packed day of meetings. Literally one to the next to the next. Again, some really promising stuff. I'm anxious ... oh god, my eyelids are about to give up on me. I'll have to recap tomorrow night for everything. I'm not sure I'm going to last much longer.

Cameron Diaz in talks for Bobbie Sue

A big congratulations to Chris (The Spider in the Bathtub cowriter) and Owen (all around funny man) and Russ (I don't know him but if he's hangin' with these boys he's gotta be good people)! This was in this morning's Variety ....

Cameron Diaz is in final negotiations to topline Warner Bros.' legal comedy "Bobbie Sue," with Donald De Line producing.

Story centers on a hard-charging female ambulance chaser whose mindset makes her the ideal candidate to be the face of a prestigious law firm when a powerful client is sued in a sexual discrimination case.

Warner bought the spec script by Russell Leigh Sharman, Owen Egerton and Chris Mass in the fall. Dana Fox is polishing the screenplay.

De Line senior VP Andrew Haas is exec producing "Bobbie Sue."

Warner-based De Line produced recent releases "I Love You, Man" and "Observe and Report" and is developing "Yogi Bear" with Karen Rosenfelt.

Tribeca - Day Three

I can barely keep my eyes open. Totally wiped. After waking up at 6:30am to get ready and run over to Kinkos for a last minute run of scripts, we made it down to the Tribeca Cinemas in time to get some granola and catch our breath.

We caught up with everyone before heading into our meetings. We're getting to know all of the other filmmakers and their projects and I love building that community. We all have mutual friends, acquaintances and strange little connections to each other. There are people here I can guarantee continued friendships.

3 out of our 4 meetings went really really well. I'm finally meeting people from the indie film companies I've followed over the years. And what's funny is that now that they're all getting older and having kids, they're looking for family films. Who'da thunk? I love it. So somehow we're fitting with a lot of what they're looking for. It's the first time I've been to something like this where I felt somewhat valuable and not like a desperate little indie filmmaker. It's a good feeling. So yeah, crossing all fingers and toes, we'll come out of this thing with some really promising avenues.

Tomorrow 7 meetings and two parties. And then some sleep. Off to sleep now.

Tribeca - Day Two

Up late taking notes and prepping for tomorrow's meetings (Bring it On 2 providing a little background noise on my cable TV).

We spent most of the day in pitch workshops. Three producers listened and gave notes on each of our 5-10 minute pitches. Pitching is an art. Some people can pitch like a mofo. Some people stumble, falter and get all tangled in their story. I used to be one of those tangled up pitchers. Not any more. We did a good job. I had a few laughs and some nodding heads as I described our little weirdo family comedy as quickly and concisely as I could. We made a few mistakes on our producer end of things, but it was all good stuff to get notes on. We feel more prepared going to our "real" meetings.

Also had a first great meeting outside of the festival with a woman/producer with Texas ties. I knew instantly we would be friends even if we didn't end up working together. But that working relationship might have some legs.

After a quick breath at the hotel, we headed out to the East Village for some Veselka's and Veneiro's. We had a major sugar rush (carrot cake, chocolate mousse cake and some dessert I can't pronounce) as we ended up walking the 30 blocks home.

Things I'm looking forward to: Serious Moonlight, Ethiopian Food, the Donut Plant and seeing my girls.

Tribeca - Day One

After a full day of travel from Memphis to New York I arrived safely at our fancy hotel in Midtown. Enough time to wash my face, put a scarf around my neck and head to the opening night cocktail party. We met and mingled with lots of the screenwriters and filmmakers. Many of whom Scott had already befriended at the morning breakfast. And from the party, we met up with Clare for some yummy eggplant pizza from Arturo's. It's raining like mad here. So by the time Briana, Scott and I got home, we were drenched. Forgot the umbrella and raincoat. Damnit.

Tribeca Bound

I'm sitting in Charlotte, NC waiting for my delayed flight to Newark to board. Apparently the weather over the New York and New Jersey skies ain't so good. I'm ready to put my bags down, flop back on my hotel bed and stare at the ceiling for a little bit.

It was a rough weekend in Memphis with my family. I was sad to tell my dad goodbye at the airport this morning. It doesn't always hit you until you're sitting alone in a huge airport surrounded by a ton of strangers. But I'm grateful I had the time that I did with my grandmother.

I look forward to my time in New York pitching this little project to financiers, production companies and "people that can make your dreams come true" as my dad likes to call them.

For those of you following our little Tribeca adventure, I'll make sure to take some snapshots and post daily reports.

Wednesday and A Little Broken

I'm back up at Brian's office for the fourth night in a row getting the final mix of the Love Bug score.

I'm sleep deprived, sad and a little broken.

Monday Night and Delirious

Being so wound up and nervous (yeah, I don't know) I had to leave the Salvage Vanguard Theater and sit in a parking lot while jumping off bridges played. But even still, it went really really well. Savannah and I did a little Q&A afterwards which was fun. I don't get to see her very often so that was nice. We'll both be heading to Illinois in the fall for a screening of the film for a community college. There's one more screening tonight if you missed it on Sunday and Monday. 7pm at the Salvage Vanguard Theater.

Afterwards, I raced up to Brian's office to do some work on the score for Love Bug. Was up there until I became deliriously tired a little after midnight. But the score's coming along really nicely. The words I used to describe what I wanted out of it ... dorky, silly, stupid, fun, cartoonish. It worked. It feels like all of that.

jumping off bridges - Salvage Vanguard Theater, Austin

I woke up to some really sweet notes and texts this morning from folks who saw jumping off bridges at the Salvage Vanguard Theater last night. I ended up over at Brian Satterwhite's office working on the score for Love Bug.

I'll be at the screening tonight which is a live commentary performance. I'm curious, but not sure how that's going to go exactly. We shall see ... hmmmm.

For More Details:
Salvage Vanguard Theater
7pm, $5.00 at the Door.
Austin, TX

Missy Elliott - Gossip Folks

I forgot how great this video is.

Disney and Nickelodeon Overload

I've been on a weekend binge of Disney and Nickelodeon. Wizards of Waverly Place, Josh and Drake, Hannah Montana Movie and Camp Rock. I have to say, I really dig Wizards of Waverly Place. As far as the others, "eh". Hannah Montana the Movie is a total stinker. But fortunately Mark and I snuck in after seeing Observe and Report. I have a few more sugary sweet teen films waiting in the wings. All in preparation for a summer writing project with a friend.

Tribeca All Access - One Week Out

We're about a week away from our trip to New York for the Tribeca All Access Program. Between setting up meetings, finishing up Love Bug and prepping classes, it'll be a nutty next seven days. But I'm excited. Very excited. And before I go ... Crank: High Voltage.

Little Love Bug ... We're So Close

Hanging out with this dude (Not the one reading the paper. The other one that looks like he's actually working) quite a bit editing Love Bug.

And watching these crazy kids on screen over and over and over again.

We're so close to locking picture, I can feel it. We'll have a cut to hand off to Brian hopefully tomorrow. That's the plan. If anything in the edit changes, it'll be so very, very minor. And then handing off to Eric on Tuesday to whip up a crazy sound mix (cartoon style). And lastly titles and color. Then we'll be done and done.

I'm really proud and happy with how this little film has turned out. I think it's my favorite thing I've done so far. And hopefully, crossing all fingers and toes, I'll get a chance to do a feature version soon.

P.S. I'm working on a fellowship application for Tribeca. I'm stumped on the question "Who would you want your mentor to be and why?" Would it be silly to say John Hughes? Or Steven Spielberg? Or maybe Chris Columbus? Because they made rad movies like Home Alone, Adventures in Babysitting, Sixteen Candles and ET?

What's Grosser than Gross?

Asking for people's help. And then feeling like a complete asshole about it. It's just one of those fine line sort of things. You work your butt off, try really really hard, work really really hard, but in the end you'll always need a helping hand. And sometimes when you ask, it's completely fine. And other times, you just feel slimy and gross. Like you need to take a shower. There's nothing worse than feeling like that kind of person. I don't ever want to be that kind of person.

Today's Anthem - Journey

Love Bug - 2nd Cut

We're getting closer and closer with the short film, Love Bug. We're on a 2nd cut. Have to lock picture by Friday to hand off to Brian and Eric. It's uber cute.

Ice Castles - The Remake

My Mom will be SO excited ....

Taylor Firth to star in 'Ice Castles'

7 April 2009 | From HollywoodReporter.com | See recent The Hollywood Reporter news

Figure skater Taylor Firth will play the starring role in Donald Wrye's remake of 1978's "Ice Castles," which has begun filming in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

The love story set in the world of competitive figure skating also stars Rob Mayes, Henry Czerny and figure skater Molly Oberstar. Olympic medalist Michelle Kwan will appear in a cameo in the film.

The film is being produced by Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions Group's Stage 6 Films in association with Jaffe/Braunstein Entertainment and Magic Rock Prods.

Wrye, who directed the original film, is also handling the remake, which is being produced by Michael Mahoney. Exec producers are Michael Jaffe and Howard Braunstein.

Weekend Movie Reviews

Strange Wilderness - It was on my "research" list of films. I'm working on a big budget comedy that partially takes place in the woods on a camping trip. This film is a real stinker. I laughed out loud, once, I think. Which is a shame. It had a great cast.

Adventureland - Loved it. Not what they advertised on TV. But I loved it. It's my kind of teen film. Old school.

Cold Prey - Mark rented it because it's an "international horror sensation". Sensationally bad, maybe. Ok, not that bad. But not really good. Snowboarding slasher film. The snow was pretty.

40 Days and 40 Nights - I actually kind of liked this film. Surprisingly. It's completely stupid, but it was kind of fun at the same time.

Love Bug Set = Gone

Fernando and I took the set down. No more Star Wars figures, Transformers, crickets, dinosaur pictures, coloring books, Superman border ... everything's back to normal. Whew.

12 Favorite Characters of All Time

This is a riff off of Tractor Facts Favorite Movie Characters recent entry. Here are just a few of my favorite movie characters. Of course, there are too many to put in to one blog entry.

Sonny Crawford (The Last Picture Show)

Mohammad (The Color of Paradise)

Chris Chambers (Stand By Me)

Billy Madison (Billy Madison)

Atticus Finch (To Kill a Mockingbird)

Mabel Longhetti (A Woman Under the Influence)

Maria Coughlan (Trust)

Edward (Edward Scissorhands)

Chunk (The Goonies)

Jake Ryan (Sixteen Candles)

Carl Spackler (Caddyshack)

Susan Vance (Bringing Up Baby)

Ok, back to writing my own characters.