I'm Here, I'm Good, and I'm Ready to Rock!

A coworker just reminded me that it was Thomas Edison who said,"I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that don't work."  For an aspiring screenwriter, let me tell you, there is no more fitting a quote than this.  The paradigm of old has shifted, at best, IF it even exits at all anymore; where some impassioned no-name screenwriter (like me) pecks out a brilliant longshot spec (or seven specs... to date) that becomes a hot, sought-after project, making him (possibly even HER/ME) the hot, sought-after now-AGENTED screenwriter of the moment, penning blockbusters for 6-figure deals at major studios. 

In short, the days of writing your script in a silo and being "discovered" are gone.  On his blog, John August and his contributor talk at length about the fact that a new paradigm has yet to clearly be defined, except to say that screenwriters have to act with more passion, more heart, more motivation, more flexibility and more action than ever before.  And, with the advent of the smart phone video camera accessory, any bearer interested in acquiring quick YouTube fame can shoot a film.  So, those of us who ache with the incurable desire to realize our actual stories must go hard or go home.

The hard part about going ANYWHERE for me, though, is that between my life day-job life, our part-time teens and our full-time three-year-old, support of my drummer/musician hubby/partner, care for my ailing mother and managing my own household, I already have to steal late-night-early-morning -the-baby-is-asleep-coffee-break moments to write.  So when accomplished screenwriters espouse that they "just did it," it is a bit overwhelming.

At the San Francisco Black Film Festival a few weeks ago, I reunited with a Tuskegee brother/friend/classmate (Kevin Avery) who has carved out an impressive career as a working writer/stand-up comedian in L.A., now New York.  Kevin wrote and produced a brilliant short, Thugs, The Musical which was screened at the festival and earned rave reviews.  We laughed through nearly the entire film.  When we weren't laughing, we were composing ourselves for the next round of laughter. "You gotta put something out there.  Let people know you are here."  He told me.  In that moment, I decided, I'm going hard.

I have to let people (other than my family and friends) know that I'm here, I'm good and I'm ready to rock.  I've finally written a viable short script that I feel really proud of.  And, as I claim the script more and more, the necessary pieces for the production of it seem to be falling into place.  Location... CHECK!  Badass Director of Photography... (tentatively) CHECK!  Kick ass actors... CHECK!  Money... well, I'm working on that part.

Stay tuned...