Here’s something from kid lit author Clair Legrand’s tumbleblog that I was inspired to steal emulate. I’ve been having some fun on the micro-blogging platform Tumblr, creating what I call a story jumble. A story jumble is a big, randomly organized mosaic of images, quotes, audio, and other media drawn mostly from the Web which…continute reading »
I met screenwriter Jason Nutt (@jaynutt303) in my Orange County writer’s group right after I graduated from UCLA’s MFA screenwriting program. I’ll be honest, what I liked most about him at first were the homemade cupcakes his wife made and sent along to every meeting. I believe there were pies involved too. I soon grew…continute reading »
I read, saw, or imagined an interview once with some icon of comedy playwriting who said that it was always such a relief to put on that first performance for an audience and hear them laugh because after a while, the joke just isn’t funny anymore. You become immune to it. I think story ideas…continute reading »
I recently sent the very rough first-draft of my one-act play “The Monster Test” out to a few friends for their critiques. The first ten pages received a staged reading which went very well. A few more bits and pieces had been workshopped in my class at South Coast Repertory. My long-suffering first-draft reader and…continute reading »
Hello, 2011. I didn’t look to you with nearly as much desperation or anticipation as I did 2010, but I think you will turn out to be a better year for me. I’m making some changes. Shifting focus. There will actually be something new about this New Year. First and foremost, 2011, I have decided…continute reading »
If I had known more about Will Grayson, Will Grayson I probably wouldn’t have picked it up. What I did know was that it had gotten good reviews, people seemed to like it, it was about two boys with the same name who accidentally meet, and it had a shiny cover. [amazon_link id="0525421580" target="_blank" ][/amazon_link]I…continute reading »
We all have them. Trunk scripts. The screenplays that with age and perspective turned out to be more of a learning experience than that record-setting spec sale. It happens. It has to happen. That’s how we learn to write — by writing. Also in the trunk — those TV specs for shows that will always…continute reading »
So zombies are all the rage these days. Movies, books, comics — it’s a great big zombie-loving world out there. We can’t get enough of ‘em. Good, says I. I’ll take zombies over mopey sparkly vampires — or any kind of vampire — any day of the week. The TV adaptation of “The Walking Dead”…continute reading »
If you’re anything like me then what’s wrong with you?! Get out of the house once in a while! Find yourself a nice gal and move out of your mom’s spare room! Grow up! Also if you are anything like me you fire up your media player of choice before opening your word processor of…continute reading »
Shawna Benson touched off an interesting Twitter conversation about “The Walking Dead” that fed into her already-percolating blog post. Her thoughts on the show are well worth checking out. Since I was part of the conversation I thought I’d expand on some of those thoughts here. First, a disclaimer: Apparently it’s become the latest Internet…continute reading »