GETTING IT BACK TOGETHER

Nov 3 - Just thinking

Yes, I'm still alive. It's been a while. I got married! Yeah! Happy Happy Joy Joy. However activities of recent weeks have left me little or no time for comedy. But that will be changing. Although I have to tell you that some of my priorities have changed in recent weeks. I'm a goal oriented person, and for the last several years my goal has been to become a stand-up comedian. Well now I've done that. I may not be a professional standup with anything resembling a career, but I have achieved my primary goals. The point is this, back before I ever thought of doing standup, my goal was to write a screenplay and get it produced. I was never able to finish a script though. I see now that the problem was I had not found my voice. Well now I think I have. So I'm going to be spending alot more time writing. I am still going to be doing standup for fun. Starting Tomorrow it's back to the open mike circuit. I'm going to use this journal as my writing journal as well, so things may get kinda weird at times, but I'll title each entry clearly so you won't have to read my screenplay ramblings if you're only interested in the standup part.
 

Nov 4 - The Luggage Store

It was great to see everyone again. I had a four minute set ready to go about a diner I ate at in Las Vegas. I figured I'd do a bit of general info on Vegas and then go into the routine. Ten minutes later I get off stage never having gotten to my prepared material. It may not have been the funniest set I ever did, but it ranks among my favorites. No routines, no punchlines, just me telling the audience about my wedding in Las Vegas. It was the most fun I've had doing comedy in a long time.
 

Fortunately just before the show I learned a wonderful lesson in weirdness. I was eating at Wendy's across the street from the Luggage Store, and suddenly the guy at the table in front of me turns around and says, "I don't think I ever cried when looking at a tit." I wrote it down immediately. I just wanted to thank that man for sharing his thoughts with me.
 

Nov 8 - Screenplay Writing

I had written this elaborate outline of the first and seconds acts. When I sat down and started writing scenes the outline quickly went away. In fact the second scene is a total departure from anything that I had in mind. But I think it's better than what I had in the outline.
 

I've identified a few problems with writing a screenplay. The first is the difficulty with the concept of drafts. When I write standup, there is one draft, then I perform it, then I change it or not. I don't have the same level of feedback. I can write a five minute piece without worrying about this too much, but a 90+ minute piece is just too much for me. I need not to worry about this, but it's hard. I need to learn that it's OK for it to stink the first time through.
 

The other problem is related; I have no confidence in my ability to sell the script when it is finished. This is just my usual worrying about such things, but it is getting in the way of my writing. To get around this problem I am going to package a short script that I've already written and try to "sell" it to some local filmaker. Probably a student. It's a simple one-act, with one set and only two main characters plus three or four background characters. This should work well for a student project. This will get me over the hump of getting a script produced.
 

Nov 10 - Screenplay Writing

I saw a great thing on Bravo tonight on the scriptwriting process. A bunch of big name Hollywood people telling me what I already suspected. It's good to get confirmation though.