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.

Haven't posted in a month

My boss suddenly started to get weird and snoop around at browsing histories in the office, so I haven't been able to post here as often (not that it ever kept me from getting work done before).

Here's what's new:

I met that mentor. He was a nice guy. Finally had lunch with him the other day and he really liked my writing. He had some helpful notes, but said that I was clearly a good writer and should be working in a room somewhere. I agreed. Hopefully he knows some agents that would be willing to sign on young writing talent.

I've written a twenty page outline for my fantasy pilot. It's coming along really well. It really feels with each revision and new idea that I'm not making something up, it's like I'm an archeologist uncovering something that's been buried in the desert. It all exists, I just won't see it all until I've finished digging and brushing things off.

Writress is loving her new job. It sounds like they're cool people, and I'd love to meet them too. Hopefully the show won't get canceled. With her working through writers' rooms being her charming self and me making connections through mentors, it wouldn't be inconceivable that eventually we could get work as a writing team together.

Halloween is this weekend, but some people started having parties last weekend. Our costume idea was a hit, so we're going to use it again. It involved me putting a temporary tattoo of a pentagram made of skulls on my neck. For some reason, a lot of people thought it was real. This is hilarious, because no way in hell could I pull that kind of thing off in real life.

Meeting a mentor tonight

My college alumni group is starting up a new mentorship program where they match established Hollywood people with those who are just starting out their careers. I was hoping to get matched with a writer, but the best they could do was a former development exec from a cable network. While it's not perfect, maybe he can help point me in the right direction for what to do when I have some finished work ready to send out.

The first meeting is tonight. They're having a meet and greet for all the mentors and mentees.

Writress is feeling better, and is now mostly concerned with needing work. Her show got its pickup for the new season, but she hasn't heard when it's starting. In the meantime I was able to find a posting for her about a similar job on a show we really like, staffed by some of our favorite writers. She has an interview with the showrunner on Monday, so fingers crossed on multiple fronts.

We're having a party this weekend to celebrate her birthday and our new apartment. It's nothing crazy, as a big party wouldn't fit in our place, but it should be fun.

It's getting to be busy enough now that I wish there was more time in the day. I have my day job, which is enough to leave me wanting to relax at the end of the day even if it wasn't too stressful. My job is also encouraging me to set more drinks meetings with other assistants. I've got two writing groups that need me to make deadlines and provide notes to other writers. New shows are starting again, and I need to stay current. There are older shows that I want to watch and study, video games I want to play, and friends I want to see. Basically, there's more than enough to keep me busy even if I didn't have a day job, and a lot of the time I just want to sleep at the end of the day.

I think the best thing for me would be to try to do one thing at a time and keep a schedule, and hopefully sooner rather than later I'll be staffed on a show in which the showrunner is the type that doesn't like keeping writers there after 6. At which point I'll find a new life goal to strive for, namely BEING a showrunner who doesn't need to keep writers past 6.

Have a new logline, and making up rules of the world

My new writing module through my alumni network has started up again. I'll be writing a new pilot rather than spending months revisiting something I wrote already.

The seeds of the idea are still growing in my mind, but so far it all seems to fit. I went over it with my other group on Sunday, and settled on the logline. No, I will not be posting it here.

It's in the fantasy genre. There is the worry that people will be prematurely dismissive about this kind of script, but I decided I don't care about that. If I write this well and make it interesting for the audience they won't care as much what genre it is. My last one hour pilot was about video gamers, and people who didn't play games still read and enjoyed that script.

These kinds of worlds get my imagination going, and you can have high stakes, and define the rules of your world. Rather than spending months researching something that already exists and trying to fit a script around that, I'm making up rules of a world as I go and based on my needs. As long as I'm consistent, I don't think that's cheating. What I hate more is when somebody knowingly changes facts about a real life situation in order to make it work for their story.

Here's an example from a show I love: The West Wing. I watched that show on DVD in college, and loved it. I listened to all the commentaries, I studied it. I'm rewatching it with Writress, and while it's still an amazing show, I think more like a writer now than I did when I was 21. [SPOIELR ALERT] In the third season finale we see a Secret Service agent stop an armed robbery, but then get shot by another gunman. The first time I saw it I was caught up in the story and the emotions of the characters. This time I knew it was coming, and I realized how ridiculous it was. This wasn't a second gunman hiding with a sniper rifle in the rafters. This was just some hoodlum standing behind an aisle in a corner grocery store. The only reason the Secret Service Agent dies is that after subduing the first gunman, he holsters his gun and makes a joke with the clerk without checking the rest of the scene. He doesn't ask if there was more than one guy. He just blindly stumbles around this crime scene with no regard for any possible threats.

I could maybe see a rookie cop make that mistake. But this was a Secret Service agent. He went through the Army, was a cop, and finally became one of the President's security detail. These guys are paid to be paranoid and check out any possible threat wherever they are, by instinct. There's no way that kind of guy would let some dumb kid get the jump on him like that.

That was a situation in which the logic of the world was broken for the sake of the plot, and so Aaron Sorkin could once more make his favorite point about how guns are evil, even for people like cops who are trained to use them.

Breaks from logic cheapen a world, and make it less real. You lose the illusion. For me the best stories are ones where you can be left believing in the back of your mind that somewhere, somehow, sometime, this could be real. Jerking your story and the rules of the world around just to make things easier for yourself is like breaking the laws of physics. It makes things just that much more impossible, and less real.

So while I create my own fantasy kingdom, I won't have to spend hours looking up the actual laws and traditions concerning coronations in 14th century Britain. I can make those up on my own. But what I do make up has to seem logical and plausible enough that for an hour a week viewers can curl of on their couch and pretend that this place of adventure is real.

Writress is still feeling sick

While we were visiting my family on Cape Cod (which could not have gone better by the way, they all loved her) Writress started getting a headache, and it started feeling like I was sleeping with a space heater. We tried to take it easy, relax, and get a lot of fluids into her, but when we got back to LA she was still feeling feverish and lousy. She went to see a doctor on Monday who said she had bronchitis and gave her a prescription.

She's been trying to take it easy all week, but it was still pretty busy because her sister came on a last minute visit to see a show at the Hollywood Bowl, and her Dad was also in town for a couple days.

One of the ways I can tell my family likes her is this. Not only have they been asking about how she's doing when I call home, this morning while I was at work I got a text from Writress reading: "Your mom just called to see how I was feeling : )". I guess my dad and sister had informed my mom that she was still sick, and she got all maternal and called our apartment to check up on her. They really see her as part of the family now.

And they should. I think they can tell how serious I am about her. It's been a bit quiet at work this week and I've even started browsing around on a website called theplunge.com which is a guy's answer to what they call "wedding porn" like TheKnot. Honestly, it's really just down to me figuring out the engagement ring stuff and figuring out when to propose. This girl has been unable to do anything all week but lay there feverish, and I still want to spend all my free time with her.

Right now her plan for the weekend is to fly out tomorrow morning to see her parents and grandparents for a couple days, but I'm trying to convince her to stay put if she still doesn't feel well. Here's hoping we get to just relax together for a couple days. Otherwise it'll be my first two days alone in the apartment, which will be weird.

An annoyance

Life is pretty good for me now. Things are great living with Writress. She met my whole family back east and everyone got along great. Now that I'm paying less rent I'm starting to save some more money.

But there was one thing that happened in the past week that I found to be somewhat ridiculous. I was flipping through things that had been posted on various twitter feeds while I was gone, including one for my college classmates. I don't follow most individuals on the list, but I look at the full list from time to time to get a sense of where everyone is. One of the things I saw was that my CollegeEx had posted something about being happy she'd done a friend purge on facebook because for the first time in a while there was nothing in her newsfeed that pissed her off. I checked, and sure enough she'd de-friended me. Again.

The first time she did it was a few months after we graduated, which was about 8 or 9 months after we'd broken up. It was a bit immature of her, but we had dated for three and a half years and she took the breakup badly so I can understand why she'd want to do that. Then two years ago, we got back in touch and re-friended. We weren't best buddies or anything, but it was nice that we could be cordial and stay in touch. I think part of why she felt secure enough to do that was that unbeknownst to me she was in a serious relationship with another of our friends from school. As I posted on this blog previously, I found out that they were dating when they posted pictures of the night they got engaged.

We've exchanged messages at random times and birthdays, and when they got married earlier this summer I mailed them a card saying congratulations. I didn't expect an invite, but I was hoping that over the years we could continue to be friendly.

And now, she's defriended me. One of our mutual friends told me that he didn't think it was anything personal about me or what I was posting, but I don't buy it. There may have been something else that prompted it, but she still did it to me. One of the people that's still on her list is one of my best friends that I know for a fact she hasn't spoken with since we dated, so I know it's not just one of those "haven't talked to this person in months" kind of purges. It was a targeted effort to remove things that upset her from her facebook newsfeed.

I looked at what I had been posting a few days prior to this purging, and there were a lot of pictures of Writress and I. Some were of us moving into the new apartment, others were of all of us during the visit to see my family. And there was also a series of pictures from when I gave Writress a tour of my old college hangouts.

It's been a long time since I spoke with CollegeEx in person or over the phone, but I still know her as a person well enough to picture what happened. She probably got stressed out, initially due to something work related. She was always very susceptible to getting stressed out to a point that it hindered her ability to get things done. Something prompts her to start a purging, and pictures of me living happily with someone else were enough to get her angry with me.

So four and a half years after our college relationship ended, she's still acting like a middle school girl about it. She held on just long enough for me to see evidence of her getting married to one of our friends in a room full of the rest of our friends. I wasn't upset or angry, rather I genuinely wished her well. And once that was over with she was unable to remain friendly and cordial with me.

Maybe she didn't intend for me to even realize I'd been de-friended. Or maybe she did want to hurt me in some juvenile way. I'm not hurt though. I'm annoyed that things seemed to have reverted to middle school drama when I was hoping to remain friends, but I'm not hurt. Really this childish behavior just reinforces the fact that I'm incredibly happy that I broke up with her rather than latch myself onto her for the rest of my life. I had a lot of great experiences with all sorts of women after we broke up. Enough things have happened in my life that I can say with confidence and without regret that Writress is the right person for me.

I'll continue to email CollegeEx on her birthday as I always have, but not try and initiate anything other than that. If I end up going to my 5 year reunion and see her, great. If not, I don't care. All that's left is a curiosity to see how she'll react when I eventually propose to Writress. Will she ignore me or act petty in some way? Or will she do what I did and wish me well? I guess only time will tell but it'll be interesting to find out.

Thinking of a new question to answer

My writing group is starting back up again next week, which means it's time for me to write a new pilot.

I have no idea what I'm going to write.

But rather than approach something by saying "I want this element" or "wouldn't it be fun if..." I'm trying to think of an overall question or theme to address with the story.

The last one hour pilot I wrote addressed the theme of identity in an online anonymous world. It was about self-discovery. The reason the fun story elements worked is that they were built from that foundation.

So now I'm trying to think of a question or theme that I really want to address. I'm pondering the things I rant about all the time, and trying to evaluate what's really important to me.

For example, one idea that I've been kicking around has to do with the nature of freedom. By following rules and expectations we don't have the ability to make any real choices on our own, so in a way the only way to be free is to do something completely unexpected and reckless. For me that was moving to LA. I don't want to write a pilot about that though. Rather, I might want to turn that question towards something else that relates to the theme but also makes good TV. I also don't want to get bogged down with research. I much prefer being able to make everything up, so that's why I don't want to write a show right now set in some real environment, i.e. an ad agency in the 1960's or a school in Texas or the NSA. I could set it in a fantasy type kingdom, that way there's a world that is understandable and accessible but I still have license to do whatever I want with it.

It's still all up in the air though. I'll update once I know more.

Something that annoys me about "How I got started" stories

As an aspiring writer, I from time to time go to panels or Q&A's with more established writers to learn things. Inevitably, someone asks the writer to tell their story of how they became a writer.

Here's how it always goes. Start with something humble. For example, "I had just moved to LA and didn't know anyone, so I was sleeping in my car parked on a random cul-de-sac in the valley." or "I had spent 6 years being a lawyer, and decided that wasn't what I wanted to do anymore, so I gave writing a shot."

That part we all get. We're assistants, waiters, caterers, or any other random peon job that woefully attempts to pay the bills while we try writing. So we all perk up to listen to the next bit, to find out how they escaped from peon-land and into the world of "wow I get paid to do this, awesome."

Here's how the stories always continue, "And then I got my agent, and he started sending me out on meetings, and I met with [some showrunner we all want to work with] and they brought me on as a staff writer."

It always skips to the "and then I got my agent" part. With no explanation. We all get that once you have CAA or WME or some agency like that you're going to get meetings. And if you're good, those meetings will eventually turn into jobs. That's not the grand mystery we came to the panel to discover.

I wish they would tell us the actual stories of just how they got representation in the first place, because that's the hurdle that we all keep getting stuck behind as we toil in obscurity. That's why I get 5 random phone calls and 6 query letters a day from wannabe writers somewhere in middle America who think that all they need to become Charlie Kaufman overnight is to open the yellow pages and start calling numbers listed under "agency."

So if anyone who reads this is a writer who will speak at a panel for aspiring writers, tell us the REAL story. Was it the one query letter that got through? Doubtful. More likely it's that you met an agent at a party or something and hit it off. Or someone owed you a favor for helping them move a sofa/bedroom set/dead body from their house. Or you were sleeping with somebody who was an agent/worked for an agent/was also sleeping with an agent.

What it could also be is that most agents will look at other writers one of their writer clients say to look at. Maybe that's how everyone gets their agent. And maybe that's the reason writers don't talk about that part, because then every aspiring writer will start pestering THEM with the query letters and phone calls to try to bring their "really original idea" to their agent.

Right now we're at a stage where the whole industry doesn't know what's coming next. Everyone in power cut their teeth during the mid 90's "must see tv" era or earlier. They don't know what to make of new media, though smart companies are making deals with Netflix. Business as usual is still good enough business that nobody needs to look ahead. And until they do start looking ahead, it's going to be tough for the young aspiring writers. In the meanwhile, we just have to keep at it I suppose.

Shacked up

It's been a busy week with no internet yet at the new apartment, so I haven't been able to post yet about life post-moving in with Writress.

In short, it's great.

It's been really fun setting the place up, and since Writress is on hiatus from her show she's been home all day doing domestic stuff. I've even been able to come home for lunch a couple days this week since my commute is only about 10 minutes now. She did all that stuff I never would have thought to do like putting contact paper in all the drawers and getting a nice looking shower curtain thing to go outside the curtain liner I already had.

It feels good having all our stuff together. The way we always hung out at my old place all the time it was practically like we were living together anyway, so it's almost easier having none of the hassle involved in shuttling between our apartments. I keep really looking forward to going home at the end of the day.

This weekend will be busy, but it'll also be really nice as the first real weekend in our new place. Then I only have one more week of work before we go back to Cape Cod for two weeks, and I REALLY can't wait for that.

Selling my girlfriend's bed to an ex

There hasn't been much in the way of spare blogging time lately. I'm moving this weekend.

Writress already has all her stuff basically packed up. She's bringing some of it over to my place tonight so we'll be able to drop it off tomorrow once we have our keys. She doesn't have too much furniture, so I think we'll be able to take her stuff and my stuff over in one trip.

We decided to take my bed to the new apartment. Writress's bed was given to her by a friend, who said she should just sell it rather than deal with the expense/hassle of giving it back. So using craigslist we tried to find someone, with no luck. Then I posted on Facebook about it. I got one response. It was a girl I used to go out with.

My first summer in LA I dated a girl, let's call her Boo. She was interning out her before her final year of college, so it was meant to be a fun summer thing. I was still in my post-CollegeGirlfriend phase and wasn't looking for anything too serious. Boo got very into me, and it became more of a relationship than either of us anticipated, but before things progressed too much she went back to school. She still had interest in getting back together when she got out of school, but she only spent a couple weeks out her after she graduated (during which time I made a point not to hook up with her and restart the cycle) before she went overseas for the next year or so.

When she finally got back to LA, I was dating Writress already. So Boo and I have seen each other a few times since then, and she even came to my birthday beer tasting and there was no drama. Nevertheless, I tried to make an effort not to rub my new relationship in her face.

So the reason Boo responded about the bed is that she's looking to move in a month, and wants a new bed. She asked me if it was my mattress, thinking it would be funny since she helped me pick it out during that summer we were dating and hooking up all the time. When she heard that it was Writress's and not mine, she still wanted it. So rather than getting the bed she once had sex with me on, she's getting the bed that I've had sex with another girl on.

A friend of ours had already told her that I was moving in with Writress, so luckily I was spared any awkwardness there. It seems like Boo is truly over me at this point, and for that I'm glad because she's a very nice girl and it would be nice to be able to see her without worrying that I was giving her the wrong impression in some way.

We're dropping the bed at her place before loading up the truck with all my stuff. We'll see if it's awkward, but I'm thinking it won't be. I think that this is good, and maybe I can finally get to the point that I can genuinely remain friends with someone I've slept with. Not that I'm on bad terms with exes, we just don't hang out ever or talk much.

But likely the next time I post on this blog it will not only be August, but I will officially be cohabitating with my girlfriend. Stay tuned for what follows.

Moving, and car accidents

About a week ago I was driving home from work when a high school kid drove into moving traffic trying to cross the street. Nobody was hurt luckily, but while there was only superficial damage to his bumper, he hit my car square in the front driver's side tire. It messed up my fenders, door, suspension, and a bunch of other stuff. I know I was not at fault, and I have the other driver and two insurance companies backing me up on that. I've been driving around in a rental car, and now have to deal with body shop guys who want money in advance, and it's a whole pain in the ass situation.

But in happy news, Writress and I found our apartment. We're moving in August 1st. We'll have a couple weeks to settle in, then we're both flying back to Boston to spend two weeks with my family. Despite the face that I've met her entire family multiple times now, Writress hasn't been able to meet my parents or brother, and I'm really looking forward to showing her around the east coast.

The new apartment is a bit on the cozy side, but it seems like a nice building full of fun people. There's no pool or fitness center, but since I don't really use those in my own building, I think I'm better off just not paying for them in my rent. It's right off the Sunset Strip in Hollywood, with lots of cool stuff nearby including a cool comic show that I've never been in before this past weekend. And luckily we didn't even need to pay for WestSideRentals or anything like that to find the place. We just took a day to drive around looking for buildings with "NOW LEASING" signs. If they didn't answer the phone on a Saturday, we took it as a sign from the gods that it wasn't meant to be.

The actual moving process will probably be a pain with renting trucks and moving furniture, and trying to get all the stuff that we need to live on. For example, neither of us has a set of dishes, since roommates provided that in the past. All of that will be somewhat time consuming and expensive I bet, but once we get past that point I think we'll both be able to save some money since we're each paying less rent than we were previously.

Once we're moved in, I'm not nervous at all. I think it's just going to be really fun living with a best friend I can share a bed with. Every day will have the freedom of "having the place all to ourselves." So hopefully I can get through the logistically tricky moving part, and on to the fun part.

After that, we can just enjoy ourselves while working towards the next step.

Day jobs

Nobody wants to be that cliche who claims to be an actor/writer/director/poet/god knows what when their real job has just been working the same random retail or restaurant job for 10 years. In some parts of the country there are career waiters, or people who start as an underling at a retail store and then end up managing the whole thing. There is nothing wrong with that. But you don't want to be the person claiming to be something you're not, when it's obvious to everyone that it's never gonna happen.

So for writers especially, we get assistant jobs. Writress is on hiatus from her show. She has a job waiting for her when it comes back, she just hasn't heard if it's been picked up for another season yet. She doesn't want to burn through all her savings, but she wants to have some time to write (which she didn't have when working 14 hour days on the show) and she wants to be able to come back to Boston with me when I have two weeks off in August. Plus, some apartments might have issue with renting to us if one of us is unemployed.

Studio temp places seem to put her info in a database, but she's not sure if she can get enough/any work through that. She doesn't want to apply for jobs that want a one year commitment, because she may be going back to her old job in September or October.

I suggested that she just get a regular summer job working at a store or something. Since she has her show likely coming back, it's not like she'll inadvertently become a career retail worker at Pottery Barn. As it is now, she can have flexible hours to write, get a bit of money, not have the stress, and possibly even get an employee discount on things she might want. Plus, it's a good way to meet some people who aren't necessarily entertainment industry, and therefore gain some useful insight or character inspiration.

So really, until we start getting paid to write, there is no one right way to go about doing things. I think you need to just take stock of your specific situation, and make the best decision from there. At the moment for Writress, the best thing she could do to help further her writing career may be to get a job that has nothing to do with entertainment.

Fun weekend

So my weekend was pretty fun. Mostly consisted of following Writress to fun premiere events and getting free stuff, so that was pretty good.

The actual premiere was on Wednesday night, and it was a really fun night. I got to meet more of her work friends, who are great people, and get a glimpse of what I'd like to be able to have someday when I create a show.

Then Saturday morning we had a lot of fun having Pacific Park at the Santa Monica Pier rented out for the show. Got to play a bunch of fun carney games and go on the rollercoaster as many times as we wanted for free. Then last night was a party for the actual airing of the show at the house of one of the executive producers. It was very nice, and despite the fact that Writress and I were the youngest people there and only assistant level, the host was very gracious and spoke with us. It was nice to think that we're not as far away from making it as it sometimes seems.

On our way back from the Pier we stopped at a street in Hollywood where a friend recommended we look at an apartment. There were so many for rent signs that we ended up going into a nicer looking building, and found that they had a unit in there that could work for us that's totally in our price range. We're not going to pull the trigger on any one place until we've done more research, but it did help make things feel more real that we're starting to look at places. Later in the day we walked around my current neighborhood and wrote down more addresses and phone numbers.

August 1st is our date that we're aiming to move. Writress's roommate already has someone lined up for her place though, so if needed we could move as early as July 15th. We may wait for Writress to sign on with a Studio temping agency or something first though, since some buildings want to make sure you're employed first for the credit check. We're waiting to see if her show gets picked up, which would mean she has a job waiting for her in the fall.

Actually looking at places together doesn't scare me, it's fun and exciting. I didn't see myself doing this kind of thing until I was engaged, but honestly, I'm not worried about that. We're not quite ready to get engaged, but I love Writress and know that it's only a matter of time before I figure out everything that goes along with buying an engagement ring and proposing.

We watched a movie called TIMER on Saturday night that was about a device that gets implanted on your wrist and tells you the day you'll meet "The One" for you. Writress asked me if I would get one if they were available. I told her I didn't need one and kissed her, and wasn't bullshitting at all. In that situation you really can't say anything else, but I still meant it.

In other news, this weekend was also the wedding for my College Ex. I haven't heard from any of my friends who were there yet, but I can't help but be curious. I'm in no way jealous because I'm glad we broke up and I'm much happier with Writress, but since she was such an important part of my life for so long I can't just not care. It feels like an old friend that I lost touch with is getting married.

And so, that's what's going on in my life now. Expect more apartment hunting updates as the month goes on.

Going to a premiere tonight

A year and a half ago I got a suit, just in case I'd ever need it. Tonight I'll be wearing it for the first time. It just goes to show that there aren't many occasions in Los Angeles where you can't get in wearing a pair of jeans.

In fact, I could probably get away with not wearing the suit tonight, but I'm not going to. Tonight is the premiere for Writress's show, so we're doing the whole red carpet thing. I get to get off work an hour early (since I'll be going in an hour early one day next week) and it should be a fun evening.

Writing-wise I've been a bit lazy the last few days, partly because Writress turned me on to a trilogy of books called The Farseer Trilogy that's captured my attention. I'm nearly done with the second book, so I should come back to reality soon. I've opted not to try to apply to the ABC fellowship, partly because I know I don't have any connections for it, and partly because money is a bit tight right now with bills and my upcoming trip to see Writress's family in Colorado, so it's not worth it to pay the entrance fees. I want to also save what I can for moving costs and new stuff Writress and I will need for our apartment.

I'm really psyched to live with her. Once we're settled we'll both be able to live cheaper and happier, until we get to the point where we likely have more money than we can spend.

What sets you apart

Writress and I met up last night with a friend of mine who was one of my junior writers on my college TV show who had just moved out to LA. We offered her some advice on getting started, and one of the more important things I've learned came up.

You need to find something that makes you different and interesting.

Writress got her recent Writer's PA job partly because she had been a competitive ballroom dancer in college. She's traveled all over the world. She has things that make her stand out when you talk to her beyond the fact that she's smart and nice.

Smart and nice are needed, but for a white guy who's an Ivy league alum from the Northeast, I need something more substantial to be my own personal hook, the same way that characters on the page need something special.

I'm still working on it, but one thing that I've noticed about myself that could be useful in a writer's room is that for some reason, people are willing to confide very personal stories to me. Sometimes right after they first meet me. And some of these stories are a little out there. In the first conversation I had with one of Writress's coworkers when I met her a few few weeks ago, the coworker told me that she once went on a date with a guy who asked her to use a strap-on on him.

I've been told that I'm not overly judgmental, and since I love hearing stories of all kinds, I think that people just feel more comfortable opening up sometimes. I think that being able to draw on not only my own stories, but on the random things I've heard along the way will help make me an asset if I'm ever lucky enough to find myself in a real writer's room.

We're going to get an apartment

Writress spoke with her mom, who was very supportive about the idea of us getting a place together. She hasn't spoken with her dad yet, but really doesn't expect any resistance there. So I think we can officially say that we're getting an apartment.

We think we'd like to stay in Hollywood, but if the right place comes up we would consider West Hollywood, Los Feliz, Studio City, or Burbank. There are some buildings that have been recently built/renovated that I'm curious to try out. Likely they're out of our price range (we'd ideally both like to be paying less in rent each than we are now), but it's worth a look since they all began construction when the economy was great and now might be desperate for tenants with the bad economy.

Things with my current roommate have been better since November, but even still I'm starting to look forward to being out of that living situation. I'm going to enjoy having more autonomy over my personal space. Writress isn't the type to get overly bossy or force things to be just her way.

I'm getting excited now. This will be good.

Nerf Swords and Plane Tickets

This past weekend the present Writress ordered for me for our one year anniversary arrived: Two Nerf Broadswords. That's right, my girlfriend got me swords. And everyone in my apartment has been having fun wailing on each other with them ever since. They're fun props to have and pace with while writing, and work well as pointers when you're gesturing to a corkboard or something like that.

On Sunday the two of us were finally able to sit down and break story on the pilot idea we've had for a while. We're using the note card system, and it seems to be working for us. I pointed to cards using my new swords. It's evolved into a different pilot than we originally envisioned, but that's how it always goes, and I think this will be a great sample. We seem to work well as a team too, so that bodes well for the future.

I just bought plane tickets this morning to go with her to Colorado over 4th of July to visit her parents and see her home town. I'm actually looking forward to it rather than feeling like I'll be on enemy turf the way I did when I visited my college girlfriend's family.

Writress hasn't had a chance to talk to her folks yet about the idea of us living together, but more and more we're getting to the point that we think we're gonna do it. It'll be nice to have confirmation, and exciting to go through the process of finding a new place just for us, but for now I'm not quite as anxious that it's not going to happen like I was for a minute there earlier in the week.

I asked Writress if she wanted to get a place together

This isn't something I would have predicted for myself, but the other night I asked Writress if she wanted to get an apartment together.

It had been on my mind for a while, and last Friday night my roommate started talking to me about apartment stuff. My plan had been to move out once my sister got to town and get a place with her. Roommate has a friend he wants to move in, and her living situation is getting sketchy for her, so she'd rather move in sooner rather than later. The thing about my sister is, I don't think she'll be ready to come out here in a couple months. I think in order to save the money she needs to save, she may have to wait until January. So I thought, maybe Writress and I could get a two bedroom place, and hold onto it together until my sister comes out. I ran the idea by my sister, and she told me that she'd rather just get her own place (I think she realizes that she'd rather be able to have her own place when she starts dating people etc...). So I was left with the decision of whether or not to ask Writress if she wants to get a place together.

I've always said that I wouldn't want to live with somebody casually. I'd even pondered if it would be better to wait until I was engaged. But I'm incredibly happy with Writress. We spend all of our free time together and don't get sick of one another. We just make each other happy. I can easily see myself marrying that girl someday, and I don't find that to be too scary. I don't think I'm ready to actually go out and buy a ring though, partly because I'm trying to be cautious based on life experience. The way I see it, moving in together is like another step forward on that path, and I think it's a step we're ready for. As it is, she stays over at my apartment every night anyway, so I think we have a pretty clear idea of what it'd be like living together. And for the cynics out there, I do also realize that if it doesn't work out it's easier to break a lease than to get a divorce. I really don't see it coming to that though.

Plus on the practical side, splitting a one bedroom apartment in Los Angeles means getting a nicer place with each of us probably paying less rent than we are now, so that's a bonus.

So on Monday night, after she got back to my place late after work, I asked her. She wasn't expecting it, but she really liked the idea. It was great.

Last night, she had thought about it a bit more, and we had a pretty serious conversation. We both realize that it's a big step, and I don't want to pressure her into anything. I think after thinking on it, she had some concerns, and our conversation last night made it clear that we're on the same page. We decided that it'd be a good idea to just think about it for a few days before coming to a decision, and she's gonna ask some advice from a couple trusted friends about it, and maybe talk to her parents.

I'm pretty sure she'll still say yes to it. It's a big step, and one of those, "wow, we're actually adults now" kind of things, but I think we can do it. And it'll be good. In the meantime she's still making it very clear that she's very much in love with me, so that helps. I'll admit that I'm somewhat apprehensive waiting for her to make her final decision. Between that and work I'm feeling a little stressed out, but hopefully it'll all work out soon.

Things are awesome and bad

First the bad:

Work has been a huge pain recently. It's making me question how long I really want to stay there, and what kind of long term benefits it's going to have for me. Due to work insanity and stress I've been needing time off more, and the combination of work stress and trying to finish a spec script by June 1st was just too much. So now I'm not trying to hit the WB workshop deadline and am instead aiming for Disney/ABC and maybe Writer's on the Verge. Work sucks. I don't like it. This is a pattern for me when I'm 10 months into a job I think. Though I doubt that it would be the case in a job I really enjoyed.

Second: The Good

One year ago today I had the best first date of my life with Writress. Today marks our one year anniversary. I'm at home now, waiting for her to arrive with ingredients to make lasagna. We're going to make some tasty food and watch the Chuck finale on hulu and I couldn't be happier about it.

The only downside to the festivities is that her present has not yet arrived from ThinkGeek.com. Luckily she's cool enough to understand.

Been extremely strapped for time

I haven't had any time to really contribute to this blog much recently. I've been really busy at work heading into the Network Upfronts this week, so there hasn't really been any downtime at the office. And when I'm not at work, I'm either writing, thinking about writing, eating, sleeping, or hanging out with Writress.

I'm about halfway through a draft of my Castle Spec, and it's gonna come right down to the wire whether it's ready for the WB workshop of not. If I don't make that deadline there is more time to submit to the Disney-ABC fellowship and NBC's Writers on the Verge, although the NBC one tends to prefer to bring diversity into the program, which as a white male from New England isn't something that works to my advantage with that particular program. I'm also doing finishing touches on the comedy pilot I'm writing with two other guys, and on the supernatural pilot I'm writing with my roommate. Assuming I stay on pace, I might be doubling the amount of writing samples I currently have available in a month, which is a good thing.

It's coming up on a year since I met Writress, and I can say now that it's the best relationship I've ever been in. My college girlfriend was the bar I used to rate other women I'd dated for years, and most fell short of that (though I'm sure part of that was also that I wasn't ready to be THAT serious with anyone for a while after breaking College Girlfriend's heart). Now, if I compare Writress to CollegeGirlfriend it just highlights the reasons I broke up with CollegeGirlfriend in the first place. While I can still see why I was attracted to and was in love with my college girlfriend, I can say with confidence that even if the ridiculous romantic comedy situation in which she left her fiance at the altar and came running to me actually happened, I wouldn't want to get involved with her again. I wish her the best, and genuinely hope we might be able to be friends down the line, but I recognize that's probably a long shot considering how she dealt with things after we broke up.

I can just be myself around Writress, and while we enjoy the same things we don't get bored with each other. There are just enough differences to keep things surprising and interesting, but at the same time we have so much in common that we're never feeling like we've been dragged into doing something we don't want to do.

Right now I'm trying to work out my vacation plans in August so that I can bring Writress back east to meet the rest of my family. The fact that I'm psyched for my parents to meet her when I hadn't even told my parents about anyone else I dated since college says something right there.

I was kind of a commitment-phobe after college, because I realized I needed to experience the world a bit more, and knew that until I was where I wanted to be in life all I would end up doing is hurting someone again if I got too serious with a girl. With Writress I can see that if we really do become something long term, I won't have to change who I am for her, and she won't have to change who she is for me. If anything, we'll be able to help and support each other, as we have been already.

I remember thinking to myself before I moved to LA that the perfect girl for me would also be a creative writer type. And somehow it worked out that just as soon as I'd worked the single-ness out of my system, along comes a girl that fits the description perfectly. I generally try to keep a somewhat objective and in ways scientific outlook on life, but at the same time I can see how things like this happen and make people believe in things like fate.

Ok, enough mushy stuff for now. I'll just leave it that I'm happy right now despite the fact that I'm broke and busy as all hell. Hopefully there will be more good news to report on here in the future.

Double-Whammy of Networking

Despite the fact that I really need some time to get some writing done, I plan to go out the next two nights to networking events for writers. I haven't been to events like this in a while, so I'm overdue. Really the only people I ever seem to interact with in person these days are my bosses, Writress, and little bits of conversation here and there with my roommate and his girlfriend.

My manager friend who's been a help with reading my material and getting me a cable network meeting has just decided to leave LA and join the family business (not entertainment industry). While I wish him well, this does leave me in the market for new quasi-representation. All the more reason for me to interact with other writers tonight. Perhaps the fact that my go-to-guy is gone will lead people to suggest other representation for me, since it's not like I'm just some random guy who can't get anyone to read his stuff. The other wild card is my current boss. He kinda offered to read my pilot months ago when he gave me permission to take a morning off for that cable meeting, but he said to contact him after the holidays. Well as soon as the holidays were over, pilot season started and we've been crazy busy ever since. Now six months have gone by, and he hasn't brought it up again. I'm pondering if/when I should ask him if he still wants to read my stuff.

Last night was kind of a bust for getting writing done. Things were in full Apartment clean up mode when I got home, since Roommate's dad is coming into town today. I pitched in and did my part, then just as I was about to sit down to eat before writing Writress called with the happy news that she was getting off work at a decent hour. She's been sick and we haven't had time to hang out for a while, so we took the time to catch up on a couple shows and do some laundry instead. Now I REALLY have to buckle down and find time to work though, while still fitting in these networking events.

Narrowing my focus

I turned in a draft of my webseries for my writing group's showcase. Now I just need to wait and see if mine is one of the ones picked for the staged reading (actors are reading first acts and teasers for 3 or 4 scripts).

In the meantime, I'm in the process of turning my Castle outline into a Castle spec first draft. I have until the end of the month to get it finished so I can submit to the Warner Bros program again this year, and I'd rather have time to review it and not send a first draft. What this means is that the Castle script is my top writing priority.

I got a few short scenes written last night. Rather than just start at the beginning I worked on my act outs, which I think are pretty strong. I based my structure on what I'd seen in other episodes, so I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, so I don't anticipate having to rework the structure too much, so that gives me the freedom to write scenes out of order if I feel like it.

Writress has been feeling kind of sick the last few days, so I've also been trying to take care of her in my off hours. She's back at work today, so currently my "crazy Cinco de Mayo plans" consist of going home after work, maybe making myself some pasta, watching an episode of something on hulu while I eat, then writing until Writress gets off work and calls me.

Having a deadline is really helping me get motivated to work on this project every day, rather than taking tons of days off. I feel really good about this outline, and I think a lot of what I've learned as a writer in the past year will come out in it, so it should end up being a stronger sample than my Heroes spec was last year. Fingers crossed.

Idea for networks picking pilots

Every year the networks go through hundreds of scripts, pick around 50-100 pilots to shoot, and pick a fraction of those to actually go on the air.

And sometimes, even after they do that, we get a situation like what happened with "100 Questions for Charlotte Payne" or "Happy Town" where months later the shows don't even make it on the air or are instant bombs.

Here's my thought. There are so many people that are die-hards for some TV. And people will pay more to get somewhere "first" whether it be the not-as-good version of the iPhone or an advance screening of a summer blockbuster. What if there were a way to get advance input on what shows will be successful, and make money off it?

My idea is that a network set up an online venue in which people pay for "advance screenings." Once they pay (and have the option of giving their age/gender) they're able to screen all the pilots. After each pilot they're allowed to rate it. You could even include short ads before each pilot as with hulu.

If done on a large enough scale, the networks would a) make a little money from the people paying to see the advance shows, b) get a better idea of what kind of ratings to expect, and c) get more word of mouth for shows that WILL be a success.

This is already done to an extent with test screenings, but those are done with random tourists in Las Vegas or people with nothing else to do in the middle of the day. And they're getting paid to be there. With my idea, people rate from the comfort of their own home, and you get a sample of people that are more like your prime time audience. Plus, they're paying YOU to be watch rather than getting a free pass to the Madame Tousaud's museum at the Paris Casino.

The networks are already familiar with the public voting on shows like American Idol, and people get really into it. Why not have people become die hard supporters of their favorite pilots?

Confirming meetings

A lot of what I end up doing at my various assistant jobs is "confirming meetings." For those of you who don't work this kind of job, what that means is that the day before something is scheduled on the calendar, I call the office of the other people involved in the meeting to make sure we're still on. Many of the times I've gotten in trouble at my job were when for some reason I wasn't able to get in touch with the other party and someone didn't make it to the meeting/was late etc... I'm always told that every assistant HAS to confirm every meeting.

So here are the things I'm left to ponder from that:

1) Why is it that I almost never get calls from other assistants confirming us? I'm always the one confirming with them, and if for some reason I forget to call, a lot of the time I don't get a call from even if the other side is has some issue and needs to change things.

2) How is it that in this day in age when everyone has smartphones that sync up to their computers and all that, why is it that nobody is capable of just showing up where they're supposed to without someone like me reminding them?

The past couple weeks have been especially annoying because I've been confirming a client's meetings in London. Not only is the time difference such that unless I do it first thing in the morning I'm screwed, there was also a giant volcanic ash cloud that made it such that I needed to cancel and reschedule all the damn meetings.

So seriously people, keep track of your own calendars. If you depend on the safety net of an assistant catching you if you flake out on something, you'll just become a bigger flake.

Haven't had time to post

I haven't had time to post in the last few days, but I just had to squeeze in a moment to talk about how much Writress knocked it out of the part with my birthday.

She made me pancakes on the morning of, was luckily able to get out of work in time to go out for dinner and drinks with me and a friend that night, and was an amazing host for the beer tasting party on Saturday. She put the whole night together, acted as an amazing hostess, and went above and beyond the call of girlfriend duty. She even baked me a cake rather than buy one. Yep, this girl is awesome. This birthday was automatically better than last year, but because of her it was a great one.

My roommate made sure to wish me a happy birthday with gusto, and got me a present that showed some thought this year, so that's a plus. Not sure if he realized what a douche he'd been last year, but for the moment, all is well on that front.

On the writing front, I've been starting to work on things a bit more during my lunch breaks, especially this week since I'm kinda broke until I get paid tomorrow, so I've been packing a lunch at home and eating in my car. With that extra time I've been doing a bit of writing.

I fixed a lot of the problems with my Castle beat-sheet, and I think it's really starting to take form in interesting and fun ways. I want to get it done in time to submit to the Warner Bros program again this year, but that'll be tough as I've never written anything that fast before. I think if I get it done it'll be a great sample for me, applicable to a lot of different shows.

I've also got a couple other projects distracting me. A friend of mine wants me to write a short for him, and I've been working on a half hour single cam comedy script with one of my brother's college friends. He's a funny guy, but he'd never written a pilot before, so a lot of what I've been bringing to the table is how to structure and build a story that can run for 100 episodes. It's also looking pretty good and taking shape fast, so that's a good thing. The roommate has been crazy busy recently with these comedy shorts he's working on, so we haven't had a chance to polish the pilot we've been working on forever yet, but hopefully we'll get that done soon so we can move on to a new project together, maybe a comedy feature.

Birthday preparations

Writress organized a party for me on facebook. Nothing crazy, just a fun beer tasting thing in my apartment. Which is what I want. I don't want anything too crazy, just fun times with people in LA whose company I enjoy.

But so far, we only have about 15-16 peoples RSVPed as coming. Knowing the LA flake factor will be in full effect, we may only end up with 5-6 people at a given time with that number.

So I invited more people. Right now the "awaiting reply" part of the guest list has like 50 people on it. Potentially this could blow up and there'd be way too many people in my apartment. But I doubt it. It's a springtime saturday night in LA, and people who come will still likely just "make an appearance" for the most part. And even if we get up to 40 RSVP's, with the flake factor we'd only have about half of that.

Really, I just wanted to counteract the shitshow that was my birthday last year. Between my friends bailing, Easter, and Passover, only a few people were able to come out, and they weren't even out for that long. It was kind of depressing. I'm not the kind of guy who normally needs a lot of people to feel validated, but since it was my birthday and my best friend had bailed on me, the lack of people partying with me still kind of stung. So that's why I went a little crazy on the invites today.

Dating without benefits

I was talking to a friend of mine about this weird situation she's in. Her best friend is a guy. They've hooked up in the past, to what extent, I'm not sure. They're pretty much codependent at this point, and hang out with each other constantly. Both admit that with the amount of time and dedication they have to each other, they really couldn't fit a real relationship with someone else. To me, this sounds like dating.

But here's the kicker: they're not sleeping together. Or rather, she's not sleeping with him. He still tries, and why wouldn't he? If you get along that well with someone you're attracted to, why deny yourself from being with each other completely? Especially since their relationship basically cock blocks them with other people too. I just don't get it.

They're not friends with benefits, they're the opposite. They're dating without benefits.

And I find that to be kind of stupid.

I can see not wanting to get involved with someone because you're worried about how it'll affect your friendship, or because you know that long-term it's a disaster, or that you realize 30 is rapidly approaching and you don't want to waste any time in a relationship that isn't "the one." But if that's the case, why take yourself off the market like this while still hanging out with this person constantly?

My guess is that there are some deeper issues at play here, because honestly, as happy as these two are as friends, they're already dating, whether they acknowledge it or not. And this day in age, it's okay for people who are dating to screw. It's healthy. It's fun.

Writress is my best friend right now. We hang out, enjoy the same things. Some of those things we both happen to enjoy are having sex and sharing a bed with somebody. And that's the way it should be.

My Birthday is coming up

My birthday is coming up in a week and a half.

On one hand it's bringing back memories of last year when my Roommate and his girlfriend totally blew me off and seemed to think nothing of it. Since I still haven't gotten an actual apology, or even acknowledgment that anything happened, it's bringing some bitter and pissed feelings up.

But that's only part of the birthday stuff. On a better note, Writress decided to throw me a beer tasting party with some friends at my place, and I'm really looking forward to it. The facebook invite went out last night, and so far the people coming are me and seven girls. It's an odd grouping for a beer tasting party, but a lot of people haven't responded yet, so I'm sure the ratio will correct itself a bit. Either way I seem to be slowly turning into Paul Rudd in "I Love You Man" in that I have way more female friends as time goes on. We'll see what happens. At least I can say it won't be a sausage fest.

Starting to feel like summer

Summer starts early in LA. As in , about now-ish. It's March, but feels like what Late May is in Boston, i.e. sunny warm/hot days, pleasantly warm/balmy nights, and enough tree pollen in the air to turn your car green and make me throw back Claritin every morning, even if it stops working after a few days of doing that.

I'm also starting to make summer plans. I found out last week that I will be unable to go back to Boston for my little sister's college graduation. It isn't THAT big a deal, as it's just a ceremony, and she wasn't particularly enamored with her school, but it's still a milestone and a time when I think I SHOULD be there.

What this does mean though, is that I'm no longer saving up my vacation time for that trip. Instead, I can use it whenever I want this summer. What I think I want to do is find a week right after Writress wraps on the show she's working on, and hopefully before she starts whatever her next job is. Likely this will be in mid-June. Then I want to take the full week off, and take her back to visit Cape Cod with me. This way I get so see my family/the cape, don't have to spend a week when I want to relax girlfriend-less, and the rest of my family will be able to meet her.

This will especially be good to do since this past weekend which was spent with Writress's sister and her sister's boyfriend. I've officially met her entire immediate family, plus her two best friends from college, her cousin, as well as her cousin's kids. Her parents and best friends I've seen on multiple occasions now. By contrast, Writress has met my best friend from back east and my sister. That's it. Granted, her best friends are engaged and have family in LA, her parents have had to come here a few times for business, and her cousins live an hour and a half away in San Diego. She really wants to meet my family, and they'd like to meet her, so in a way it'll almost be nicer to have a week when I can show her around. I'm looking forward to it.

Early influences

My favorite movie has always been Back to the Future. My favorite comic growing up, that I still read re-runs of daily, was Calvin & Hobbes.

I realized today that the perfect way to describe my dad is to say he's a cross between George McFly and Calvin's dad (who even had the SAME JOB as my dad). It's no wonder that I aspired to be Marty McFly when I was six years old, and felt a kinship with Calvin when I was a kid. This explains so much.

Suddenly I'm in demand (even if I'm not getting paid)

I already had too many irons in the fire, between my new spec script, revisions on my web series, the pilot I'm writing with Writress, and the pilot I'm finishing with my roommate.

Then this past week happened.

First one of my brother's friends from college who's about 8 years older than me but does comedy out in LA contacted me. We'd hung out a bit a couple years ago when my brother was last in town, and he liked my writing, so the two of us are now working on a comedy pilot together. He's pretty driven and motivated to get stuff done, which will be nice for me. Normally in writing partnerships I'm the one who needs to push for getting work done.

Then an old coworker of mine asked me to meet him for a drink because he wanted to talk about making a short film together. We talked a bit, then got a couple ideas together that he'd like to develop, so I'll be writing that mostly on my own with his input.

Then today I got a call out of the blue. A few weeks ago I'd responded to a post on my college alumni in entertainment board about young writers who can work on rewrites for a series pitch. I'd totally forgotten about it, until the producer, an alum who mostly works in reality tv, called me up. She has an idea for a show conceived of and written by teenagers, which is innovative and fresh, but she realized that even the most talented teenagers just don't know how to write, so she would like me to take a look at what she has and punch it up/give notes.

So my plate is very full at the moment. On the bright side I do have more quiet hours to myself after work now that Writress is working so late, so I can get writing done then. I may not be able to get through some shows I'm watching or get a chance to play Mass Effect 2 until the summer, but considering I moved out here to be a writer this is probably a good use of my time.

Who knows, this may be a situation in which having so much to do makes me more productive. When I was in high school about 90% of my time was taken up by various activities and projects, and I got a lot done. When college started I had way more free time, and I got even less done. I know myself, and once I start slacking off for a day I really slack off. I get a fantastic slouch going and will plow through an entire season of a tv show in one sitting no problem. When circumstances dictate that I'm always kept busy with something I enjoy doing, I tend to get more done.

Tonight I'm going to go home from work, throw some laundry in, and either punch up my webseries script or continue breaking my Castle spec story (which is taking much more effort than other beat sheets I've done, but I think it's just because there's a more rigid structure to follow).

Hollywood Asst: P.I.

When you first start to work in Hollywood, people tell you that you'll be doing things like, "fetching coffee" all the time, or getting your boss's dry cleaning, or answering the phones...etc. That's not entirely accurate.

I've worked several jobs. I've never picked up dry cleaning, walked a dog, and have only made a run for coffee a couple times (and usually got something for myself while I was at it). What working in this town is really about is getting access to people.

When your boss is a really big and important person, you have everyone's number, and if you don't it takes two seconds to get it. You call someone, they call you back right away. Most people don't have a boss who's that big a deal, and if you did, that boss is likely a nightmare in some other way.

For most of us, it's about getting someone on the phone with someone who can help them in some way to pursue their agenda. Big time agent is calling the big studio head. Producers are calling the big time agent to get a script to their clients. Everyone is getting called by some random person from somewhere out in the world because they have a "great idea for a screenplay".

Since everyone wants something, there's a disincentive to putting your information out in the world where people can find it. Some businesses can't help it, and so their stuff is out there for people who know how to look. But a lot of others don't.

I'd say a fairly large part of my job is trying to find contact information for people we need to talk to, but for some reason don't have their info on file. With the technological advance of cell phones, a lot of these people don't need to have an office number, they just use their cell. But their cell is a personal line. An assistant who gives out personal information gets fired.

So you have to become like a bounty hunter tracking people down. Maybe this is why there are so many cop shows, lots of writers worked assistant jobs and therefore know how to find someone who doesn't want to be found.

Assistants develop resources to find the normally difficult-to-find. They form networks and pool their resources. They spend their meager earnings taking each other out for drinks so that when the time comes that they need a number, they can get it with a wink and a nudge and a "you didn't hear this from me but..."

A lot of the time you come up against someone who just straight up does not want to give anything, and won't even be civil about it. Those people are like talking to a brick wall. You either need to find a way around them, or in some cases, blatantly mislead someone. Once when I said a boss's name the PA on the other end of the line mistakenly thought it was someone who worked at the studio, and so the call was put through. All I had to do was not correct him.

I remain fairly honest for the most part, but there are those of us who do not. And the thing is, we get rewarded for it. We come up with some kind of brilliant/shady way of getting what we want, and it's one of the few times our bosses might say we did a good job.

Really we're just conditioning a town full of idealistic entertainment-lovers to become immoral, backstabbing, selfish pricks. And people wonder why Hollywood gets such a bad reputation sometimes.

Obligatory post-oscars blog entry

I got 14 right in the Oscar pool on my shared ballot with Writress, which is exactly the same as I did last year. The girl who was hosting the party had a weighted ballot system however, which I thought worked well, so we ended up coming in second place, which meant we got our money back.

It wasn't the best Oscar ceremony ever, but it wasn't terrible. I didn't mind how long it ran, but then again I was drinking beers and being a wiseass. It'll be interesting to see how things go next year.

Just found out that a good friend of mine who lives in San Francisco will be coming down to LA coincidentally on my birthday next month. With this and the fact that I'll have Writress around turning 26 is already way better than my 25th birthday was last year.

Just got a raise

I got called into my boss's office at the end of the day today, and both of them were in there. It felt like a performance review or something was coming up, so I got kinda nervous all of a sudden. Then they started asking me about who I thought would win the oscars this weekend, so I thought it might only be a fun office oscar contest kind of thing.

But then they went into a "you're doing a good job, we like you, but you're not perfect" spiel. That had me worried, until they got to their point and let me know that I'll be making a little bit more per week from now on.

Whew...and SCORE!

This is the first real raise I've gotten from any job out here. Even my old job, where I worked for over a year, never offered me one even though I earned it. So I still fall into the "broke assistant" category, but hopefully this will help a lot toward paying down the credit card debt I got when I was unemployed and breathing a little easier when it comes time to pay rent every month.

So hooray for working for actual professionals rather than bullshit wannabe producers who think I should be happy to work for them for free.

One Year Ago

One year ago I was in my last month at my old job, though I didn't know it at the time. It was also the month that I posted the most on this blog, by far.

A lot of it was bitching and moaning about that job, and how miserable I was there and ready to go. It came from the fact that I was being used as nothing but a peon, and I wasn't learning anything. It was a dead end job, and I knew it, so it became nigh impossible to motivate myself. So I blogged a lot.

Compared to last year, I'm much happier right now. While I'm still a broke assistant, I have a better job. I'm not doing what I want to do long term yet, but I'm learning good stuff, and making contacts that will help me with what I want to do eventually. I have more, better writing samples, and I've been recognized as a talented writer. The asshole that was living in my apartment and treating me like an intruder in my own home is gone now, and especially since we got the dog and started having Sunday dinners we're back to feeling like a surrogate family.

Most importantly, I'm happier because I'm with Writress, and not dealing with the insanity that was MissCrazy. It's been tough the last couple weeks having Writress working such long hours, but we still see each other every day, and we still really enjoy each other's company when we're together. She came over after a late night at work and remarked that one good thing about her job was that she was learning about things we could do if we ever run a show together one day. A year ago I would have gone into a panic if a girl had suggested that kind of long term planning with me. With her, it felt nice. We're going to try and carve out some weekend morning time to set aside for working on our sci-fi pilot idea together, and I'm really looking forward to it.

So to sum up, my life isn't perfect yet. But I feel like I'm on the right track, and I'm certainly not miserable like I was this time last year. My 26th birthday is coming up in just over a month. Hopefully I'll keep making good progress and by the time I'm coming up on 27 I'll feel like I've accomplished something to be proud of out here on my crazy Hollywood adventure.

Projects I'm working on at the moment

During a moment of downtime at work today I stopped to list the various projects I'm working on at the moment.

The Web Series:

I was working on this with my actor friend, but she had to bail. Right now, I'm finishing up the script for the first 5 episodes with my writing group, but this one is pretty much done.

Roommate Supernatural Pilot:

I've been working on a project with my roommate for about a year and a half now. It's hard to find time to work on it, but we have a first draft and we're in the process of tweaking it and getting it ready to go out to people.

Writress Pilot:

Writress and I came up with an idea and broke story for it months ago. Since then we haven't really done too much with it as I was focusing on web series stuff and she was working on a pilot with her own writer's group. We've talked about it, and I think we're going to try to find time to move along to the next step with it when we have a free moment (especially tough with her new job) because it's a kickass idea and I really want to work on something with her. When we first had the idea we had only been going out for a couple months, but we're pretty solid now, and I could even see us as that showrunner couple down the line, so I'm ready to get cracking on it.

Castle Spec:

I had an idea for this a couple weeks ago, and since then I've written my basic thoughts down. I've also started re-watching the first season and reading a few scripts that were already produced to get a better sense of their format and the show's voice. The last time I wrote a spec it was for Heroes, so this will be a very different process (i.e. the continuity changes/80 characters won't make me want to stab my eyes out).

As a bonus, a guy who works on the show has offered to take me on a tour of the set and introduce me to some people, so I'm especially psyched for that.


What this all means:

Things are in good shape, but I need to find some time to work on stuff. Writress's new job might help with that. Before, she was almost never working when I was free, so we spent a lot of time just relaxing with each other, or watching stuff on hulu. Now I have nights when she's still at work after I get home, so I think I'm going to make the most of it and carve out some of that for solo writing time. First I'll finish my webseries (and maybe figure out what I'm doing with it sans actress), then I'll devote my solo energies to the Castle spec.

Sister's in town

My sister is in LA. We had a really fun weekend, and I got to take her to some of my favorite places in LA. She got to meet Writress finally, and the two of them seemed to get along really well, which makes me happy. I wasn't really worried that they wouldn't get along necessarily, but in the unlikely event that happened it would have been a shame. Writress is someone I'm pretty serious about, so I'm really glad that I get along with her family and (so far at least) she gets along with mine.

My sister wants to move here, so it's been good for her to be here rather than back east at her college full of spoiled jocky kids. Nobody out there gets what this is all about, so I think it will be very good for her when she's finally free of all that bullshit and able to enjoy herself out here.

She lets herself get stressed really easily, and I've always been one of the people who helps her de-stress and have fun, so I think moving away from home and coming out here with me could be great for her.

Last night my writer's group had a special one night comedy workshop with a couple established comedy writers and some actors to read selections of some of our scripts. I was able to make good contributions and suggestions that even the established guys liked. It was a nice reminder that I'm ready for a big time writer's room. All I need now is to get my stuff ready so that when I find an opportunity I'm prepared to take it.

Still plodding along

I used the excuse that I had a lot of work last night to get out of my writer's group meeting, but then it turned out that I DID have stuff I needed to do for work, so I ended up staying in the office a bit later than usual, and read a script after I got home. So I guess I'm not really a liar.

I'm keenly aware right now that I'm biding my time, laying groundwork, and paying dues at the moment. Writress has been working long hours at her new Writer's PA job, which is great, but from what she says I know that I wouldn't necessarily want her job at the moment. I would have wanted it when I first arrived in LA, and I would love to have an actual writer's assistant job, but at this point I have no desire to be a nearly 26 year old Ivy League graduate and still be taking lunch orders.

What this means is that for the next step in my career I want at least a Writer's Assistant job, and would love to have a Staff Writer job. For the latter, I'm trying to get my writing samples written and read by the right people. For the former, I'm putting in my time at my current job. You almost never see postings for Writer's Assistant jobs. It's always through networking. If I put in my year at my current job, and let my bosses know what I'm looking to do next, they'll help me. They'll be good references, and may have connections I don't have. I'll be able to contact other writers I know and try to get help that way as well, knowing that I won't have to lie if I get an interview.

What this means is that while I'll certainly be keeping my eyes open for other jobs, I'm committed to my current one until the summer when the time comes for me to evaluate the next step in my career with my bosses. Sometimes it's hard to be patient when I've been working hard in this business for so long, but on the other hand there are constant reminders around me of people who didn't get started in their careers until they were much older than me. I may not be like Josh Schwartz and get a show picked up at 25, but if I play my cards right and catch a lucky break or two, I could still get there by 30, which is still younger than most people are when they make it in this town.

Being lazy tonight

I'm blowing off my writer's group tonight. In my defense, my work wasn't being read/given notes, and the things that ARE I've already given copious notes on in earlier drafts. I simply didn't get a chance to write up notes, and my going there would have been kinda pointless when I'd rather hang out at home and rest up so as not to catch Writress's cold (yeah, she's feeling a bit sick, and she's working long hours at the new job, which is going well by the way).

I think it comes down to a problem in the way the writer's group is run. Here's what I've learned: In many informal writer's groups, there's a temptation to turn things to a "let's just read what you have" model. People work at different paces sometimes, and some people might be going full steam ahead while others may need to rework their original idea. I get it. In fact, I had to drop an idea this time because it wasn't working and there were two other pilots out there just like it.

I think it's a mistake to go to that type of open group though. Originally, there are deadlines. Outline by X date. Teaser and Act 1 by Y date, etc... If you fell behind, you caught up. It gave definite deadlines, which help in motivation, and I think the notes are better because everyone is talking about how to work on a specific stage of their episode/pilot.

And since the aim of these sorts of groups is to prepare writers to get staffed in writer's rooms, I think the idea of enforcing deadlines is good, because that's the exact sort of pressure we'll be under once we work in an actual writer's room.

Some people view the group as an excuse to get their stuff read and get them staffed. That shouldn't be a part of the process. We should welcome notes by guest speakers, but not expect them to want to staff us from reading those early drafts. I say we focus on training us to be better writers and on getting good samples written, and once they are written, then do a major push to get agents, managers, and showrunners to read the finished samples.

I think my time tonight would be better spent reading old Castle scripts in anticipation of writing my spec, or working on my web series. Since our group is organized in this confusing way now that I won't be getting any benefit out of the meeting, I really shouldn't feel bad about not being there tonight.

Proud of my girl

Writress found out today that she starts a new job on Monday. After spending the last 6 or 7 months as a corporate minion, she now has a job as a Writer's PA on a premium cable comedy. It's the job that can lead to a writer's asst job, which can hopefully lead to a writer's job.

Most assistant jobs in LA are such that you have to pretend you're not really a writer, or keep that as quiet as possible. Jobs working FOR writers are different though. They encourage you to write in your free time. They remember starting writing, and recognize the need to a place to foster new talent. Yes, she'll be doing a lot of grunt work making copies and ordering meals, but she's doing it in a great environment, and she's really excited. I'm excited for her.

She found out about the job when I forwarded her the job posting the instant I saw it, enabling her to apply right away and get her resume in before they got so many applications they had to stop opening them. So I feel good that I helped someone I care about get ahead, and she's really grateful to me for helping her get it.

I didn't have someone like me helping me when I got to LA. I've had to learn everything on my own. That's why I try to help other people though. I'm also trying to lay a lot of ground work for my little sister when comes out here.

Now I'm just crossing my fingers that I too can catch a lucky break, and hopefully get a baby writer job on some show. I've had enough professional writers tell me I'm good enough and should be in a writer's room. Now that the economy is recovering and people are getting hired again, it's not out of the realm of possibility that I could finally step up to the next level in this town.

Something I just don't understand

I was looking at Textsfromlastnight.com earlier, and there was a posting from some girl who got walked in on while having sex by her father, and she said that her father wouldn't be responding to the name "daddy" for a "looooooong time". I inferred that she was one of those girls into the whole, "who's your daddy" thing.

This is just something I've never understood. I've never said it to a girl, nor had a girl want it said to her. If a girl actually ever called me "daddy" while we were hooking up, I'd get kind of creeped out.

I get that some girls have "daddy issues" that lead them to dress like skanks and go down on silver-haired dudes that pay attention to them and buy them pretty things, but to actually call someone you're banging "daddy" just seems incestuous and gross to me.

Maybe I'm missing some kind of other meaning to it, but to be honest, I really don't care. I find it weird, and hope I never hear someone actually saying it to me.

I love long weekends

I'm going to sleep in, catch up on my insane hulu queue, have a fun time partying with friends, have a great Valentine's day picnic with the Writress, and while it'll probably still go by too quickly, it has the added advantage that the next week is only four days long.

I bought an orchid for Writress for Valentine's today. Now I gotta go home and stash it somewhere unseen for a couple days.

On love and romance

I read a pilot yesterday called, "Women are crazy, Men are stupid". Longtime readers will know that my brother and I long ago came up with Rule #1, i.e. "All women are crazy, and there's nothing you can do about it, so accept it and move on and your life will be easier."

So I went into reading this pilot thinking that maybe it was written by a like-minded thinker.

I was wrong.

Basically, the theme of the pilot was that you can't have great love without romance, and most guys are terrible at romance. Their definition of romance was an unseen figure named Chris who did things like "Show up on a white stallion named Passion for a first date". The way the dopey guy gets back on good terms with his girlfriend is by staging an incredibly over-the-top gesture with a snow machine in Southern California to make snow angels.

It's the stupid Hollywood/Disney idea that you can't have love without grand insane gestures. Women claim they want these amazing ways for guys to express their love, but if people did half this stuff in real life they'd be stampeding to their lawyers to get restraining orders.

With Valentine's day coming up, I'd been thinking on gestures. And Writress doesn't want them. It's a day for us as a couple, not or me to surprise her with some overpriced and commercial idea. Instead, we planed what we're going to do together. We're going to have a picnic at our favorite spot in LA, where we had our first date. It's plenty romantic, and doesn't involve some overly-theatrical gesture that maxes out a credit card.

And as for flowers, I'm not buying her a dozen overpriced roses that will die in less than a week. I decided that I'm going to buy her an orchid, because she likes orchids, they're pretty, and it'll still be alive a week from now, and may even last until NEXT Valentine's day.

So girls, please don't take your cues from stupid magazine articles and romantic comedy endings. Your guy still loves you even if he doesn't hire a string quartet and throw rose-petals at your feet just because it's a Wednesday. If you're really in love, just having a chance to be together and enjoy one another's company should be enough.

Guess I'm doing something right

One of my boss's writer clients came in today to work on a pitch they're going out with. They called me in to pick my brain for an example of a certain kind of story in mythology, and I threw one out off the top of my head that they liked, and they had me sit in on the rest of the meeting.

When my boss stepped out for a second, the writer asked me if I was a writer, and said that he liked that I came up with that story off the top of my head like that. He also said that I must be good at my job, because he's been with my boss through a lot of assistants, and I'm the only one he hasn't heard bad things about. So I got that going for me at least.

Last night I met a writer for one of my favorite shows. He had some sage wisdom that he passed on to all of us, and it was great being able to pick his brain and get a glimpse of how his writer's room works. I noticed that the way he carried himself, dressed, let stubble grow in etc... was a lot like me. Maybe this is why people always ask me if I'm a writer: I look the type. Gray my hair up a bit and give me 10 years of success in writer's rooms and I WILL be that guy. His story of his jobs before writing was also like what I've been doing, except it looks like things were way easier back then.

In other news, Writress got a second interview for the Writer's PA job she interviewed for. I'm really excited for her and hope she gets it.

Big life news, and apparantly I have readers

It would appear that there are people who actually read this blog, which is somewhat surprising as I haven't ever done anything to promote it other than having it listed as my website when making a comment on John August's blog or something like that. So to those of you out there reading this other than me, welcome, and I'll make more of an effort to be entertaining on here. Half the time I just throw stuff up here to help me remember it later, and I'm writing in between phone calls at work.

And to the haters of my anecdote about playing with kids with Writress, the only reason I know she was happy that I was good with kids is that she literally told me that later that night. Without it having to be said outright, it was clear that the weekend was a kind of dry run to see how I was with the potential in-laws, and she was really psyched that I seemed to pass with flying colors.

Ok, now that that's dealt with, on to the big life news. No, it's not about me and Writress, although things are at a really good place with her right now. Really this is someone else's big news, but I'm now a part of it.

My older brother called me last night. That in itself is unusual, since most of the time when we keep in touch I'm the one calling him as he's terrible at remembering to bring his phone with him places and calling home. I end up calling him (and most other people back home) when I'm driving around LA. When he calls me, I know something's up or he has a specific question he feels I'm the only one who can answer.

Now for relevant back story, my brother and I are almost two years apart. He saw me as his "little brother" until mid-way through his senior year in high school when he realized he was dating a girl that was younger than me, and his friends all liked hanging out with me. Once he started college and I periodically started to visit him, we got along great. Now whenever we talk or hang out, we have a great time together.

So getting back to the story, he called me up last night so I knew something was up. He said he wanted to talk to his brother about this first, and he hadn't talked about it with anyone yet, or even said it out loud, but after having an amazing weekend, he'd decided that he wanted to ask his girlfriend to marry him. I haven't met her yet, but I know that he's crazy about this girl, so I said congrats. Especially coming off this past weekend with Writress, I could totally understand where he was coming from.

He said he wanted to tell our sister, but that would be the same as telling our mom, which he wasn't ready to do yet. I told him he should wait until AFTER Mom meets her, and he laughed and agreed. He doesn't have any of the logistics planned yet, and isn't sure when he's going to do it, but I think he just made the decision and wanted to tell someone. And to be honest, it felt really good that he wanted to tell me first.

And since most of my audience seems to be of the screenwriting ilk, on the writing front I'm putting finishing touches on my web-series, and getting ready to cast it and find directors. My alumni writing group has been a big help on it.

For next projects, I'm thinking I'm going to go back to what I'm best at and write a one hour dramedy with some Sci-fi elements. There's an idea I broke story on with the Writress a few months back, and there's also another original idea that I had recently that I'm interested in trying out. It has some elements of ENDER'S GAME influence I think, so perhaps people will like it.

And as soon as my roommate and I find the time, we're going to do our last polish and write up a series pitch document for our werewolf pilot.