My Hulu queue is trying to kill me

New shows have started up again, and I'm psyched about that. But there are a lot of them. Frankly, I find myself looking forward to when more networks abandon the fall-spring season model and space shows out, I'll have enough time to watch everything.

I want to write TV, and I work at a company that covers TV, so it's my job to stay current on what's out there. And despite my great TV knowledge, there are tons of shows I haven't seen yet. Between work and my writing projects, I don't really have enough time to watch all the new stuff, let alone older things like seasons of Stargate SG1 that pile up in there.

Luckily the Writress is a TV-holic as well, and we're able to spend evenings watching stuff together, by even still, it's rough.

Some shows might get canceled, or I'll stop bothering to follow them (despite the collective love-fest it's getting from everyone, I've stopped bothering to follow GLEE for example). Other shows are getting bad ratings despite the fact that everyone I know watches them (for example, DOLLHOUSE). Other shows will never be canceled even though I don't know a single person who DOES watch them (i.e. CSI, NCIS, Two and a Half Men, Ghost Whisperer, etc...).

I need a couple weekends with nothing to do but write and watch tv shows. Or better yet, sell a script and have enough money to quit my day job and stay at home to write and catch up on shows and video games in between meetings with people who might staff me on their shows/hire me to write a feature. A man can dream.

Crazy busy

Every night this week I've been busy. I guess that comes from trying to write a pilot with my girlfriend, write another one through my alumni network, and create a webseries all at the same time.

And to top it all off, shows are starting again. My Hulu queue is like 50 episodes long. Since I'm not unemployed anymore things like additional seasons of stagate SG1 show up and I don't have time to watch them. I fit in Daily Show and Colbert Report before work in the morning, but at night there just isn't enough time to watch the 2 hour HEROES premiere. If I had Hiro's ability to stop time, I wouldn't be saving the world. I'd just use it to get shit done with enough time to sleep.

This weekend I'm taking the Writress to Disneyland for her birthday. It should be fun, but it means I have one less day to get all my weekend stuff done, which I'm sure will include script coverage for work, script work for the webseries, script work for my pilot, and trying to catch up on the week's premieres (by the way, saw the premiere of CASTLE last night. It was nice being able to watch it on Hulu instead of ABC's buggy player. It was a good episode with the exception of Beckett's weird Moscovite accent).

Exhausted

I don't know why, but I've been tired all week. I'll be going strong then hit a wall at 10:40ish and practically pass out on my feet. This morning I got up and was still tired even before I left for work.

Today may be a long day.

Did good work on the webseries last night, but may need to take a break from writing tonight to lie in bed and watch Mad Men and sleep.

Unconcious Structure

When I first learned about dramatic structure, I expected it to be like learning how an engine runs. They'd open the hood, I wouldn't know what was what, and eventually I'd learn the voodoo that makes this thing run.

What actually happened was I realize, "huh, that makes a lot of sense." I went back and looked at a script I had been writing, thinking I'd need to restructure it, and found that the structure was already in place. I guess from all the countless hours of TV and movies I've watched in my life I learned how an episode is supposed to go. This made me feel good about my potential as a writer.

Last night I started outlining my web series. I had planned on various story arcs, with each arc broken up into parts, sort of like what Felicia Day does with The Guild. I had two story arcs to outline last night, and I found as I wrote them that they naturally broke into three parts each. This is good I think, because in the even that we ever want to turn this into a half-hour comedy, we already have the proper act breaks.

This is all still very much in the planning stages, and I have no clue how/when we're going to shoot any of it, but my friend and I are both very enthusiastic about it so I can't wait to give you more updates.

Stay tuned.

Being responsible

My roommate invited me to go see a movie today. Except he invited me via text message and email. Along with 9 other people. It seems I make the cut when he's inviting all his friends in LA, but not when it's just us hanging out in our apartment together.

It's a movie I didn't really want to see, and I have some work to do, so I'm not going. I have to read and write up notes on two pilot scripts my boss's clients wrote, so rather than rush through it to make a movie I'm staying home so I can do a more thorough job of it. Plus I want to work on my web series idea later tonight.

So I'm being responsible. Part of me misses hanging out with my friend and wants to take what I can get, but honestly, I don't think I should feel bad for this. When he claims he can't spare a single moment in a month in a half I shouldn't be available at any random time he decides he wants to get people together to see a movie.

If he reaches out to me with something more personal than a group evite, then I'll consider working my schedule around so we can hang out.

Found a new project idea

I had drinks with an old friend from Harvard who just got out of grad school and came to LA to act. We came up with a great idea for a webseries to do together, and we're both really psyched and motivated to get started on it.

I haven't written anything I KNEW would get shot since my college TV show, and I remember it being a really good feeling. The hardest part about motivating myself to write out here has been knowing that even if I write a really good episode I'll be begging people to read it.

Stay tuned for more updates.

Next project

A couple months ago I had an idea for another pilot. I put together a beat sheet for it, but have since kinda turned off on the idea. I realized it was very derivative of a game my old roommate liked to talk about, and that kind of took the wind out of my sails on that one.

I'm also in the process of working on a script with Writress, but that's still in the beat sheet phase. We need to find some time to work on it in between catching up on the end of BSG (2 discs left in the series for me) and HIMYM (just finished Season 2 last night).

It's a long weekend this weekend, and Writress will be busy for most of it at an event with some of her old college friends, so I think I want to take at least some of the time to begin working on a new project on my own.

So here's what I'm considering: either another pilot, or to try writing another feature.

I had a feature RomCom idea back a couple months ago, but I've since cooled on that idea too. It wasn't big enough, it didn't keep me excited. Things in the Sci-fi/fantasy genre tend to do that for me more, and I've seemed to start carving a niche out for myself there, so maybe I'll do something like that.

Not sure why I'm interested

Saw this in Wired today, and felt compelled to follow the directions:

http://howto.wired.com/wiki/Fold_Your_Own_Sky_King_Paper_Airplane

It's a simple to make paper airplane that works really well. I kind of dig it.

Fool's errand

Some guy just cold called my office asking if we had any positions open. When I said no, he asked for an email to send a resume anyway. I told him I didn't foresee us hiring anyone anytime soon. What it really came down to was that in order for this guy to get a job, I would have to be fired. So asking to send ME your resume won't help you at all.

Plus, cold calling people in this town almost never helps for ANYTHING, but that doesn't stop a zillion random people from calling me everyday asking if they can submit their screenplays. Seriously people, stop trying to break into screenwriting from Oak Ridge NJ, or St. Claire Missouri. As if they'll call and say "Hi, I have a script" and we'll respond, "Really!?? We were JUST saying how we needed to find another one of those. Can you send it to us immediately? Do you mind if we just pay you $1 million in advance for it now? We'll send you more after you win your Oscar for Best Original Screenplay."

The people answering these calls are broke assistants who could be making more money elsewhere but had the guts to actually move to LA and do this, not phone it in half assed from across the country. I'm really happy for you that you got your 14 day free trial to IMDbPro, but for now, shut up.