Pilot Season

Pilot season sucks sometimes. New scripts are fun and cool, but also lame and discouraging when you see the same people making them year after year even if they're unoriginal.

And work-wise, its a pain because I spend all day making, or trying to make, phone calls to people who either don't want to be reached, can't help me, or don't want to help. If I sometimes manage to do the nigh impossible and get someone on the phone I don't get a congrats either. All I do is give justification that "see, it works sometimes" for every other time I'm told to go on some wild goose chase. Very frustrating.

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Need to get in a post for December

I haven't posted in a while. I guess I've been focused on other things. I was going to say that I was being lazy, but then I realized all the stuff that's been happening this month, and letting an anonymous blog fall by the wayside is okay.

I'm about to go pick up Writress from the airport after being apart for about 10 days. We're both going crazy, and methinks the next day or so will be busy with happy relaxing times in our apartment, so I need to take this opportunity to say farewell to 2010.

I became more of an adult this year with my job, with my writing, and most importantly with my relationship with Writress. Last year we were just some wannabe writers who dated and had lots of sleepovers. Now we're living together in a very adult and mature relationship, and we're ridiculously happy.

So in short, 2010 was a good year for me. I think we can make 2011 even better.

Holidays break rhythm

I was writing at a pretty steady clip before the holidays. My life was structured such that on nights I didn't have to go meet someone for drinks or something like that I was generally doing something productive writing-wise.

Every time a holiday comes up I always think, "Great, I'll be able to use that extra day off on Friday to sit down and hammer out the next act of my pilot" or something along those lines.

It never happens.

I think it might be that I lived at school during the week starting in 10th grade, so after that I never really associated home with getting work done. And especially since my parents moved to Cape Cod, I really don't associate the new house with anything other than hanging out with my siblings and watching movies.

So needless to say, this was not a productive Thanksgiving break for me. I had hoped to make up for it a bit last night, but after Writress and I watched an episode that was about to expire on hulu I laid down on the couch for a second, and literally lost all energy do do anything. I couldn't even read a book more than two pages. I think it was just the travel catching up with me. Hopefully I'll be in a better position to be productive tonight. We'll see what happens.

It just goes to show how easy it is to NOT write. Especially if you have an entire life asking for your time that would be enough for a lot of people who never consider pursuing a side career.

Made it to Thanksgiving

Technically I still have an hour and forty-five minutes to go, but my bosses are gone for the night. I don't have to come into work tomorrow, and I'll be flying out tomorrow morning to head back to Boston.

I'm hoping things aren't too crazy at the airport with all the body scan/pat down issues. It's hard to get a clear idea of what's going on from the media, who make it sound like you either go through a scanner than uploads a picture of you to Larry Flynt's desktop or you get a full cavity search by Zed from Pulp Fiction.

I'll give myself some extra time just to be on the safe side like I always do. I got stuck with a middle seat since I bought my tickets last minute, but at least I won't be needing to sleep like with the redeye flights. Maybe that will help prevent me from getting sick, who knows.

There's a fair amount for me to do when I'm back home. I need to write an act of my pilot, revise the comedy pilot I was working on, see friends from high school, see a friend who just moved back to Boston from LA, and have a movie watching marathon with my sister. These are all enjoyable things, but still, there's only so much time.

Then it's back to LA. I get through three tiring weeks, then I get an even longer break. And this year I'll be planning on coming back to LA before New Year's Eve, so I can spend that with my girlfriend. It will be the first time I've ever been able to spend New Year's with a significant other. Every other year I've either had a girlfriend in a different state/country, or I've been single and didn't have a romantic prospect when the clock struck 12 (though one year I made out with a girl later in the night, so I rang in Central Time's new year with someone).

Thanksgiving will also mark exactly a year and a half that Writress and I have been dating. She still makes me happy, and I don't see that changing.

So this year, I'm thankful to have people in my life that make me happy. When just spending time with someone is enough to put you in a good mood, it's pretty easy to be content.

Encouraged to do impossible and/or evil things

Yesterday my boss asked me to call up an assistant in New York (that I almost never speak with) to get a number to reach a writer. I called, was pleasant and nice, and was told that this writer doesn't have an office or an assistant. Like many in the entertainment industry today, this writer didn't need those things. He was able to work from home off of his personal email and cell phone until a production office would get set up. The only possible number to reach this person on was the cell phone, which this assistant wasn't even sure she had.

In the event somebody does have a cell phone number, they REALLY aren't supposed to give that kind of thing out without prior permission. This is the kind of thing assistants get fired for easily.

So when this assistant told me that she didn't have a number she could release, I was fine with that. I thanked her for her time, and hung up.

This morning I was telling my boss that this writer was only working off a cell, and would be difficult to get in touch with. He lectures me that I need to get "better at sweet talking people to give me things."

This isn't a matter of negotiations. This is an assistant across the country that I've never met before, and never even spoken with before. She has no personal connection to me, and I have no leverage over her. I have nothing that she wants. She has nothing to gain from giving me this information, no matter how charming I am. And if she did give it to me, she could be fired.

So I'm being encouraged to do something that is either impossible or evil. Either there's no way she'll give me the number without permission no matter what I say, or I somehow come up with some way to pressure her into risking her job.

It's especially hypocritical when I'm told very often not to even give the reason we're calling someone over the phone. If I'm expected to never give out information of any kind, why should everyone I speak with give me all kinds of confidential information? No amount of flirting skills over the phone could do that.

Holidays: Spend them together or apart?

I just bought my tickets to go back to Boston for Thanksgiving, but for a while there I was a bit worried that they'd be too expensive, and I wouldn't be able to do it (Thanks Virgin America, you're awesome). When I thought I might not go back, I had an offer from Writress's family to spend Thanksgiving with them.

They understood why I declined, but they still like me. It did call into question what holiday protocol will be in years to come.

Right now, I think that Writress and I are going to our respective families for Thanksgiving and Christmas, and spending New Year's Eve together in LA. But pretty soon we're gonna be at that point where it might be weird spending holidays apart. We're going to have to figure out how to decide whose home to go to.

I figure we'll eventually go one of a few different ways:

1) We alternate Thanksgiving and Christmas each family every year. One side gets more presents and days off, but if we switch every year it stays fair.

2) We spend Christmas with my family since it's harder to travel to the East Coast, and Thanksgiving with her family in Colorado. There would also be an understanding that there would be at least one additional trip to Colorado (perhaps for 4th of July again) since it's just a two hour flight with only a one hour time change, so long weekends are easy to travel.

3) We start selling pilots, get rich, and host both holidays at our awesome house in California. Or our schedule is flexible enough and we have enough money to travel back and forth all over the place during each holiday season.

If only everyone lived in the same city, or at least the same time zone, things would be easier. But for now, we're sticking with the same system we've been using since college. Holiday comes up, and we go home.

P.S. I've changed my blogger name from "he who rants" to "finds life hilarious." I think that since I'm so happy at home I have less reason to rant on here. I'd rather keep things positive.

Calendar stress

It's that time of year again where looking at my calendar becomes stressful.

I've started writing actual pages of my fantasy pilot, and I'm on track to get it done on time, but it's tough when other aspects of my life like setting drinks with other assistants for work start to invade into my writing time.

Suddenly that "Christmas is approaching" feeling starts to creep in, and I become acutely aware of just how many nights I have between now and then, especially as I see them fill up.

The things I want to do out of work really would be enough to occupy someone as a full time job. At least I know I'm not being idle.