Thursday, January 06, 2011

I'll miss you, vacation

I've had three weeks of holiday vacation and it's been fantastic. During vacations I always turn into a professional screenwriter as much as I can. I read scripts, write pages, watch movies with a critical eye, catch up on all my industry contacts, try to attend a function or two. I sort of pretend my day job doesn't exist.

During this vacation I managed to do almost the entire rewrite of Nice Girls and I'm much, much happier with this version than I was with the first. I finished yesterday after two days of marathon writing sessions, just in time to send it to the group for notes on Sunday. That leaves me four days to get my shit together to go back to work.

That's all great, but it makes it really really hard to actually go back to work.

I like my job. I like the kids, I like the control I have over how I spend my time, I like the fact that I get to talk all day about my favorite subject. I like having full health benefits and a livable wage. I hate the homework and getting up early and the time it takes away from writing.

It's that getting up early thing that's the real bitch. Everything that happens in this town seems to happen on a Thursday. Parties, screenings, panels. It's like everybody in town sleeps late on Friday so they consider Thursday part of the weekend. I can't do these things because I get up at 6am and have to talk on my feet all day to a bunch of volatile teenagers.

So since I have one more Thursday before I return to early rising, I'm taking advantage of it tonight. I'm going to a double feature of The Town and Gone Baby Gone at the Aero with a Q&A by the director between films.

You know who the director is, right? Right. I honestly cannot wait to see what he has to say because I love most of his work. People can say what they want about Ben Affleck, but the man knows his business.

It's stuff like this that makes me wish even more that this was my job. Every day that I sit and write and send emails and sign up for screenings makes me sigh and say "Why can't someone pay me to do this?"

You and me both, right?

I keep reminding myself that I'm at a point where all I have to do is make this script great. It's commercial, original, interesting, and in a genre that sells pretty well. I have people ready to read it who can get it where it needs to go. So if I just make this the best script I can, this may be the way to making my vacation life become my real life.

9 comments:

  1. Anonymous1:59 PM

    If I had to ask myself. Best vacation I had over the last couple of years. I would say. When my wife and I went to Los Roques, Venezuela. It was a blast and best times of our life. Nothing comes close. We will always remember this place and that week.

    Crystal clear water, as well as great fishing and diving.

    Great place for screenwriting and other things :):))). If you know what I mean.

    And you guys should try writing on the beach. Nothing beats it.

    Derek

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  2. What a wonderful vacation. I suspect it will turn out to be entirely useful.

    We watched Human Target over last few days, the season, omg I want The Guerrero Show. (If you haven't seen movie, must at minimum see Jackie Earle Haley's Rorschach jail scene in Watchmen, he entirely owns it, fabulous.) Human Target was fun, lots of good decisions, two new women, and a rocket launcher.

    May your next vacation be as long as you want it.

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  3. Totally agree about Human Target and JEH. That scene in Watchmen was kind of the only scene in the movie that I truly liked.

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  4. Anonymous5:37 PM

    Caught JEH in the credits for "Damnation Alley" and couldn't figure out what character he was playing. Then it finally hit me, he was the kid. Great movie to watch if you want to see how radically sci-fi/action movies have changed over time.

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  5. And I do want that.

    I'll stick it in my queue.

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  6. Totally best scene in Watchmen. Would have cut movie by a third, starting with non-Moore dialogue (I kept meandering off, distracted by things to do, other times, I'd be entirely riveted, came to realize there was never meandering when it was Moore written dialogue), weaving back in only what necessary to hold it all together.

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  7. Any great nuggets from what Affleck said at the screening?

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  8. Why, Adam, that just happens to be today's 9am post!

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  9. Yes. I love this post because it's what I think EVERYDAY.

    I'm finally coming to the last act of my newest script and I like this one.

    Now I just have to convince other, high powered people with lots of money to like it too.

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