Movie Premiere

Attended my first movie premiere on Monday at the Metropolitan Museum of Art for the HBO film "Empire Falls." Celebrity sightings included: Richard Gere, Cary Lowell, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Rebecca Gayheart, Eric Dane, Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Roy Scheider (who looks like he's on his deathbead), Helen Hunt, Josh Lucas, Aidan Quinn, Steve Buscemi, Sylvia Miles, William Fichter, Kay (The WB's "Summerland") & Danielle Panabaker, Aida Turturro, Robert Goulet and some other familiar faces I couldn't place. The movie was very good, though slow to develop in the beginning. Dinner was held in the Temple of Dandur, which was beautifully lit in different colors and decorated very elegantly. I wanted to meet Marc Platt, one of the producers, but alas, I didn't have a chance. However, I have been invited to the LA premiere, so perhaps I will get a second chance.

Yesterday, my office had a nice going away party for me. One of the partners even contacted his friend's son, screenwriter Zak Penn, for me. I have his email address, so we'll see if he answers me back.

Been very busy preparing for the Big Move. My car is in Salt Lake City. Looks like it's on schedule for delivery by Monday. Wow, only three more days left until I'm off to California. Holy crap!

Almost There

I dropped off my car Monday morning to be transported to LA and it's 3/4 of the way there already! The shipping company provides you with a tracking number and I've been tracing its path every day this week. Tuesday it was in Ashland, VA; Wednesday, Nashville, TN; Thursday, Little Rock, AR, then Oklahoma City, OK; Friday, Cheyenne, WY. The estimated arrival date is Monday, May 16th, but it looks like it'll arrive much earlier, which means we won't have to rent a car for two days after we arrive .

On the screenwriting front, still waiting to hear back from the agent and manager about the pitch that is the exact same premise as the family comedy I am co-writing that sold to a major studio. Our chances are slim to none for consideration, so it looks like we're going to have to rewrite it and focus on another aspect of our script that is unique.

Tomorrow, I have to start packing. Ick. And Monday I'm going to my first movie premiere at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Something to look forward to, as I enter my last week in NY.

P.S. I lined up my first job interview in LA for Monday, May 16th.

It's Written In The Stars

Check out my horoscope for the month of May. It's so eerie, it's like it was written for me:

"Steady on Pisces! As May begins, you appear to be getting cold feet about a recent -- and possibly life-changing -- decision. Calm your fluttering heart, and have more faith in your instinct for doing what's right for yourself. Once Mars conjoins bold Uranus on the 15th, all doubts will evaporate. Change is a heady aphrodisiac for you at this point in your life. It's also essential for your growth and evolution. In fact, your best hopes appear to be coming true as the month wears on. New financial arrangements are falling into place, home and property affairs are flourishing -- and you're in the mood to uncork the Champagne."

May Day

It's May and that means the count down begins: In less than two weeks, I'll be moving to California. D'oh! So far, the only glitch has been the title to my car lost in the mail for a few days. It showed up the day before the last day I had to run to the DMV to register the car in order to stay on schedule. So I spent the day at the DMV on Friday, where there was another hiccup. My insurance company put the wrong vehicle indentification number on my temporary ID card (well, actually, it was half right). Thank God for cell phones and fax machines. They were able to fax another copy to the DMV with the correct VIN #. Then, this weekend I picked up my car in upstate NY and dropped it off at the transport company this morning. Next up is packing. Blech!

And in other news, my co-writer and I of the family comedy placed a conference call to an agent, who basically said what I thought he was going to say: the producers of the same titled script and premise as ours, who are looking to hire a writer to develop their pitch, probably will only consider writers with a track record. Another words, produced writers. We asked him to check and get back to us. I also spoke to my manager friend and he said he would do the same. Followed up with both on Friday, but I have not heard back as of yet.

I can understand why the producer would not want to consider new writers. And I would think the sitcom star would go to his sitcom writers. However, I personally think it's in their best interest to consider our script and us as hired writers because A. we already have a finished script, whereas, all they have is a pitch and B. we can be paid peanuts because we're new. It's a win win for all involved, as far as I'm concerned. Now if we can only get an answer and get somebody to go to bat for us ....