This is what it is

MY STORY

I started writing in the seventh grade after reading way too many fantasy books. I found I didn't have the stamina for anything greater than a novella at that point and thought it would be a satisfying hobby at best.

Years later, in high school, I was bumming a ride home off a friend but had to wait for him to audition for the school play. I decided to audition just for shits and giggles and that began another hobby, namely being cast as whatever heel or crazy they had in any particular production (being an Irishman and one of three students with long hair in an Alabama school gives you a worm's eye view of typecasting). When audition time came later that year I was handed a script snippet of some loon dripping Shakespeare quotes from his rapid-fire reference hole. I was the only one given this part to audition for.

In a bit of an act of defiance, I played it straight. They stopped me in the hallway when I was leaving and asked me to come back in to audition for Hamlet in Tom Stoppard's 15 Minute Hamlet.

From there I delved into the actual works of Shakespeare and found a form of writing I felt I could make a career of. I enrolled in university with a specialization in scriptwriting for film and stage, had a few plays produced, and started cranking out well-respected (mostly) scripts at a rate of seven pages per day, first drafts always hand written. Even my non-film-loving professor in the theater department thought a career was inevitable for me.

I moved to Los Angeles in November 2007 and received a warm urban welcome when my moving truck was stolen, along with everything I owned. Being a bit of a luddite, this means I lost thousands of pages of work instantly in the form of my hard drive, my 3.5" diskettes, and those lefty-cramp inducing first drafts and hard copies. I was literally left with the clothes on my back and the laptop under my arm.

I quit writing and opened a store. A few years later and an economic door in the face later, I had to get back into the game. I rewrote my favorite script in less than a month, burning out the last 20 pages in a single sitting, and I've been back at it ever since.


MY METHOD

I do not have a strongly-set rule about writing, but I generally attack it after breakfast and morning exercise. I'll edit the previous day's work, then write at least seven pages. Typically I go over that a bit, sometimes I'm fine with letting myself fall short so long as I feel I've accomplished something major. And no, I have no recollection of why I decided to make my target seven pages. I think it was just the pace I found myself working at most comfortably.

The bulk of my editing work waits until at least a month after I've written a script, though. I find that this is the amount of time it generally takes for me to be able to read it fresh, with minimal emotional self-investment. During that time I send it to five readers for analysis, a mix of fellow writers and professional friends whose opinions I trust. The only real requirements I have for them are intelligence and a lack of fear about making like the LAPD and beating my ego into fine paste.

In the meantime, I generally take a week or two to research and outline the next project. I try to have a logline and four page treatment finished before I start writing, though sometimes I settle for a mess of note cards arranged on my corkboard.

It is after this process that I consider a script ready for the market. Using this method, I hope to have at least one excellent script per three months, minimum.

The business and networking side of the plan would require its own post. I have my milestones in mind, suffice to say.


WHAT MAKES ME SO SURE I CAN PULL THIS OFF

"The one who cares most wins." -Sun Tzu, The Art of War.


WHAT I WANT

Stability. Enough to make an honest woman of our Angie and give her at least one baby.

A reputation as a reliable craftsman. I think artistry is part and parcel to writing, but that successful writers must consider themselves craftsmen first.

In a perfect world I'd be able to just crank out masterful and salable spec scripts. Of course, in a perfect world teeth wouldn't give us so much grief in the end. So in this imperfect world, I'd love to write and produce. To this end I'm currently a location scout and manager, trying to learn what I can about any and all film disciplines.


PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE:

Produced stageplays


Burger World - Musical - A dark comedy. Portrayed burger flippers as slave labor and had a literal Deus Ex Machina when God, a business-suited executive with a horrible pompadour and use car salesman smile, flew in to solve most everything at the end. It wound up as a competition piece, hilariously to be judged by a group of old ladies. I thought I was going to get chased around with a net, but they loved it.

Derrick King - Drama/One act - The most embarrassing part of my life. In fact, this is the first time I've ever admitted this thing exists. Written as a favor for a colleague looking for a quick one act to produce. Said colleague thought of herself as a future film director and changed things extensively. Then on the final night, an actor overplayed a heart attack for about two minutes while another man monologues before asking if something's wrong and stating "but you look fine." It was my own personal Springtime for Hitler.

Pandemonium - Comedy/Full length - After overdosing on various "comedy of errors" type of productions, I wrote this piece about a group of students who hate each other and are assigned to a home project by a professor who hopes it will bring them closer together. It fails spectacularly, but in a way that seems planned. Heavy audience participation. Probably the biggest laugh-inducer I've had produced.

Freelance newspaper and magazine writer.