Can I Scream Now Or Later?

So I'm looking over Elston Gunn's weekly recap at Ain't It Cool News of new movie projects in the works, and what should I see? The exact same movie I have been toiling away on for the past three months, with the exact same title and the exact same premise, which has been purchased by a major studio for a sitcom star to headline!!! WTF?! I had just passed the script over to my co-writer to finish it up and now THIS! I'm so disgusted!! Perhaps, the only saving grace is it was a pitch and there is no writer attached ... yet.

So this is the plan: my co-writer and I are going to place a conference call to the agent we have access to and command him to send our script to the producer and star for consideration. We probably don't have a snow balls chance in hell -- but you never know. Stranger things have happened.

Now, on to the good news. My romcom was selected for the Romantic Comedy Pro Development Seminar at The Writer's Building (www.thewritersbuilding.org). It will be analyzed -- for free -- by a professional analyst. What a fricken day!

California Here I Come

It's official: I am moving to California on May 14th. I can't believe it's finally happening! Bought my one-way airline ticket and dropped my deposit in the mail for my new apartment the other day. At the moment, I am in the process of scheduling a transport for my car. Went to IKEA yesterday and scoped out some new bedroom furniture.

Now I have to give notice at work and start packing. Ugh, I HATE packing. The good news is I can leave a lot of stuff, like my winter clothes and such, in my apartment here, so I don't have to pack that much. Just warm weather clothes, books, CDs, scripts and paperwork.

Thankfully, Raul is coming out with me for at least a week, possibly two as we're trying to plan a trip to Palm Springs for Memorial Day weekend, to help get me settled in and shop for furniture. His favorite thing will be assembling the IKEA furniture. Thank God for that because that's not something I particularly enjoy.

And how cool is this, we already were invited to a party the night we arrive for a charity event at Paramount Studios on the "New York backlot". LA here I come!

Movin' & Groovin'

We are movin'. Can't get these lyrics out of my head from my friend Toronto Paul's pop song. Can't remember the song title, but it's got those lyrics in it. Anyway ......

It is appropriate, though, because I am a movin'. Moving to the west coast, that is. Very shortly. I haven't signed on the dotted line yet, nor have I gave notice at work. However, I think I found an apartment to share with a cool roommate, who is also ..... drum roll, please ..... an aspiring screenwriter. Go figure. The apartment is at a good price and in a decent neighborhood between Melrose and Santa Monica Boulevard. Next, I have to pick up my car, register it and arrange to have it transported to California.

On the screenwriting front, not much is happening. I am going to try to finish the family comedy before the move, but it might prove difficult with all that I have to do. The meeting with Mr. Movie Star's producer did not pan out, however, we're going to meet in LA when I relocate.

That's about all for now, folks.

P.S. I saw SAHARA and it sucked.

It's A Girl!

My step-sister had her baby tonight. Yay! Can't wait to meet the newest edition to our family. And here I was having cocktails with a friend at the top of the Hotel Gansevoort in the Meating Packing District, while my step-sis was having an emergency C-Section. Luckily, she and the baby are doing just fine. Had I known I would have had a drink in her honor! ;)

P.S. if anyone is ever looking for a cool place to have drinks in NYC, the rooftop bar at Hotel Gansevoort is tres-chic. The outdoor terrace is tiny, but it commands a fantastic view of the Hudson and New Jersey. But beware, it's VERY expensive. Cosmos are $14 and a glass of white wine is $12!

Goals For 2005

Well, this is sad. I just went over my list of goals for 2005 and I don't think I've accomplished a darn thing, yet, except marketing my material. And it's mid-April already! :( Although some of the goals I am currently working on, I just haven't accomplished them as of yet. Like the script for the family comedy. For some unknown reason, this script is taking forever and a day to write. Maybe because it's, essentially, an ensemble cast and it's more difficult to write for multiple characters, as opposed to one main character? Anyway, it's my goal to finish the damn thing and pass it on to my co-writer before I make the move to the coast. You heard it here first.

Weekly Recap

• Mr. Manager spoke to Sam Raimi’s prodco re: my horror/thriller, but apparently Sam’s too busy with Spider-Man 3. You mean, there’s no one else in his office that can read it? Hmm …
• Emailed Mr. Movie Star’s producing partner about meeting in NY again. Supposedly, he’ll be in NY soon.
• Wrote some more pages for the family comedy I am co-writing.
• A manager passed on my horror/thriller, but left the door open.
• The guy looking for horror writers requested my horror/thriller.
• An anonymous blog reader noted no one cares about aspiring screenwriters.

Monday

Ugh. I hate Mondays. I always feel so sluggish on Mondays. But especially today since I was out until 3:30am. Dinner and dancing. Haven't done the latter in a long time. I should be writing at work, other than this post, because my boss is on a plane all day flying back from Europe. But of course I'm not taking advantage of it. Really just trying to stay awake long enough to get through the day. Sat outside on a bench in the sun and I literally fell asleep. Never done that before!

Most of my beautiful sunny day yesterday was hijacked by Raul's older friend whom we took out to lunch for her Birthday. Her dinner plans fell through and she is feeling lonely and depressed. As Raul put it," it was our good deed for the day." Luckily, I was able to squeeze in an hour for a walk and a quickie to the gym before dinner. Damn, missed "Desperate Housewives" yet again. I suppose I should learn how to use my VCR ....

Minor celebrity sighting: Wes and Robb from Bravo's "Boy Meets Boy" at The Park restaurant's party The Rambles last night.

Spoke Too Soon?

I found out after visiting with my sisters in Connecticut on Friday (in my mind, kind of a goodbye before LA, especially the one who was up from South Carolina, whom I haven’t seen in almost five years) that my bro is not out of the woods, yet. He suspects his rash may be T-Cell Lymphoma, even though the biopsy came back negative for cancer. However, many biopsies come back as false negatives. Apparently, his rash looks identical to pictures he found of T-Cell Lymphoma. So he’s hustling to find a specialist in FL before the cancer (if that’s what it is) develops any further.

Nothing to report on the screenwriting front. Wrote several pages this week, but nothing this weekend. Friday I was in CT, yesterday I went to a cocktail party with Raul and a friend from Paris and we all went to see an off-Broadway play about actress Anna May Wong. It was a snoozer (literally), though it was interesting to learn about this Chinese-American actress’ life and her friendship with Marlene Dietrich, darling. Maybe I’ll get some writing in today, though it’s such a beautiful day, so I want to go outside. Plus, we have dinner plans with our friend from Paris tonight. Not to mention, gotta go grocery shopping.

Random thought: Angie did not do a very good job of defending herself on “The Apprentice” the other night. For cripe’s sake, according to the list of things to do, almost everything laid on her shoulders. Alex should have delegated more evenly. No wonder Angie cracked during the presentation. All Chris had to do was purchase the tech toys … and he lost the credit card? You’re fired!

Random thought II: On “24” even though I suspected it was coming for weeks, I was still horrified -- HORRIFIED -- when they shot down Air Force One. Though, it could have been more suspenseful. For instance, where’s the turbulence? The plane should have been shaking and bouncing, etc. Could’ve had some false scares that way where the plane shakes violently putting the audience on the edge of their seats. Anyway, it was still horrifying.

Celebrity sighting: Oliver Platt on Thursday at one of my favorite pizza joints in the Village, Two Boots.

Good News

No, I didn't sell or option a script. My brother got his test results back and he does NOT have cancer. Thank the high heavens for that! However, he still has the rash, so his doctor is sending him back to the dermatologist. Send him wherever, as long as he doesn't have to see an oncologist, I'll be happy.

Shaken, Not Stirred

Nothing much to report on the screenwriting front. Except, I'm getting pages written for the family comedy.

There's been rumblings that British actor Daniel Craig has been selected to be the new James Bond. Daniel who? I'm disappointed to say the least. I was hoping the new "Bond, James Bond" would be the sexy Aussie, Hugh Jackman. Or at least Clive Owen, though I don't know his work that well. And Daniel Craig? I don't know nuthin' about this guy. From the looks of him he doesn't even look that handsome. I don't know about anyone else, but I want my Bond to be suave, sophisticated and SEXY! Daniel Craig is NOT sexy!! But I can see why they dumped Pierce Brosnan. He was, reportedly, asking for $42 million. Yep, you read that right -- $42 million dollars!!!!! Good grief, get over yourself Mr. Remington Steele.

Spring Has Sprung

At least for the moment. It's finally a nice, warm sunny day in New York. Hallelujah! Can't wait to get home and go for a walk. And I keep picturing myself in LA driving around in this weather with the windows down and the sunroof open. Yep, I like to drive.

So the apartment in LA is actually someone's garage that he's converted into an office. Or a bungalow, if you will. ;) He still has to add a bathroom and kitchen and block off his office space, so I can have a living and bedroom area. Plus, there is a swimming pool next to the garage, er, bungalow, and the house is near the 10. I sound so LA already. The 10, for anyone who doesn't know, would be the number ten freeway. He's going to send pics, but I still am going to have to get on a plane and have a look at this place. Will have to arrange to see some other places, too, while I'm at it. It's April 5th already -- I have got to get my butt to LA already!

Finding Neverland

Forgot to mention I watched this over the weekend. All I have to tell you is the water works were working overtime on this one. I don’t know why, but this movie really touched me. Go find Neverland at a video store near you.

Weekly Recap

• The temporary apartment in LA did not work out, but I may have found another place.
• Emailed Mr. Manager to follow up on my follow up and he said he never got it, his computer got sick; emailed him again to say why I had emailed him before … and I have not heard back from him yet again.
• Still have not heard back from Mr. Movie Star’s producing partner about when we’re supposed to meet in NY …
• Wrote some more pages for the family comedy I am co-writing.
• Pitched a new supernatural horror idea to the same writer I am writing the family comedy with.
• The co-writer of my romcom said he got a letter requesting the other script we we’re supposed to co-write together, but it never happened due to his schedule. So I said we’ll send them our romcom and say the one they requested is unavailable.
• Made contact with a writer from my day job who won a screenwriting contest and we’re planning a get together in the near future.
• Offered to possibly help an independent director produce a horror movie who is looking for funds to produce it. However, I discovered a studio-backed franchise is coming out with a similar concept (and same title) sometime this year.
• A manager requested my horror/thriller.
• Another prodco requested my romcom.
• Sent a query for my horror/thriller.
• Sent an email to someone looking for horror writers.
• Sent another email to someone looking to hire a personal assistant for a writer/director.

Switcheroo

I made the switch to: http://writeonandon.blogspot.com/ So change those bookmarks, if you happen to be a regular reader ....

Last night, made a mad dash to my mom's in upstate NY. I did not want to be stuck in doors alone all weekend in the rain. And my mother is alone, so I thought we could keep each other company, while I do my laundry and squeeze in a little writing. Besides, this might be one of the last times I can drive to my mom's before I make the move to the west coast.

Speaking of southern California, I may have found another place to stay. A friend of friend is converting a garage into a cottage or guest house. So that could be an option. We'll see what develops.

On the screenwriting front, a manager requested my horror/thriller and another company requested my romcom after reading the synopsis. However, they said up front they have no money to option it, assuming they like it, but they have contacts with studios, prodco's and networks. I basically told them if they want it, I don't care, they can shop it around all they like.

Also, sent a query off for my horror/thriller, an email to someone looking for horror writers and another email to someone looking to hire a personal assistant for a writer/director. Replies? Zero. The way that makes me feel? Priceless.