Unrequited and It Feels So Good

I finally did it.

It’s not a big thing. Happens all the time. Hundreds of Thousands of times.

But this was my first time.

I was nervous. I was scared.

But it was beautiful.

I registered a script with the Writers Guild of America, West.

A teleplay, to be exact. A spec script of the television series Longmire. Episode title, “Unrequited.”

I registered it because I entered it into a teleplay contest. This one.

Do I hope it wins? Of course.

Do I think it will? I’ll be over the moon if it makes it to the quarter finals.

I’m just happy to have written something that someone else, someone who knows what they are talking about, suggested I submit it to a contest.

Because it’s registered, and because I want to, I’m posting it here for anyone to read.

Enjoy.

Feedback welcome.

Permission

Yesterday, I went here:

And saw this:

It was pretty great.

But that’s not what I want to talk about.

I want to talk about something else entirely.

I want to talk about Permission. And I don’t need your permission to talk about it.

And that’s exactly my point. I don’t need your permission. I don’t need anyone’s permission to be a writer. I don’t need anyone’s permission to be a filmmaker. I don’t need anyone’s permission to chase and live a dream. Whether it happens or not is not up to you. It’s up to me.

For years now I’ve been entertaining the dream of sending out screenplays to agents and producers, eventually finding one who loved it and believed in it and would try to see it financed and made and released. Then I’d be a successful screenwriter.

The only problem is, that dream, while possible, is highly unlikely. It just doesn’t get done that way much anymore. But worse, I realized I was basically waiting for someone else to tell me my script was good and that I had their permission for it to be turned into a major motion picture. I’m realizing how skewed that is.

I don’t know much about Hollywood. Never been their, don’t know anyone who works there. All that I know comes from what I’ve read and heard about it. But from what I’ve read and heard about it, it’s looking less and less appealing. And not in a “Hollywood is full of sleazebags” kind of way, I mean it’s just tough for a newbie screenwriter to climb the ladder.

My other option? Stop waiting for permission. Go and do. Write. Make movies. Do what I want now, not later after someone gives me the go ahead.

But what about money? Doesn’t film making require, like, cameras and computers and dollies and lighting and actors and gaffer tape and producers and directors and craft services and contracts and permits and, oh yeah, money? Cart before the horse. Excuses. What kind of films can I make now? What kind of books and scripts can I write now?

We don’t need permission to do what we want, provided it doesn’t hurt others. You don’t need my or anyone else’s permission to follow your dream. What excuses have you been telling yourself that keep you from fulfilling that dream? Tell yourself no more excuses. Don’t focus on what you don’t have. Take stock of what you do have and go from there. Don’t wait for permission. You already have all the permission you need. You have a dream. Go do it.

Monday, Monday

“Monday, Monday, so good to me.
Monday, Monday, it was all I hoped it would be.”
– The Mamas and the Papas

Another Monday, another blog post.

I wrote like a maniac this last week. I finished two complete edits of my screenplay and I think it’s about ready for another evaluation. The only roadblock is, those evaluations cost money. And money I ain’t got. Yes, I’m still looking for gainful employment. I’m exploring many options: full-time, part-time, contract, work-from-home, fiverr.com, thumbtack.com, craigslist.org, working a street corner… Daddy’s got to pay the bills, sug.

Even if I do pull together enough dosh to pay a few bills and send the script off to a reader, I’m also interested in submitting the script into a few contests, but those cost entry fees, too. Anyone want to be my patron?

Aside from writing, something sparked my old filmmaking passions again last week. Maybe it’s all the free time I have. Only, for the first time in nearly seven years, I find myself without access to a video camera. I’m really into being productive at the moment (to stave off boredom if nothing else), and I’d like to use this energy to do something creative. The trick is finding something that doesn’t also require me opening my wallet, because that lets the moths out.

With the script about as edited as it will get until I receive some feedback on it, I could either go back to Isolation, or go back even further to an earlier unfinished script, Everything Is Broken. Yeah, like the Bob Dylan Song.  Or, start something completely new. That’s tempting, but I like the feeling of finishing something I’ve started. Isolation seems mountainous when I try and look at it. It looms over me, insurmountable. As soon as I think about it, my first reaction is to push it aside for later. I’m not sure where that impulse is coming from. I’ll try and figure it out this week.