Some of my work...

Directing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNN6bMfUmJQ

You win some and you loose some....

When it comes to writing scripts there is a lot of advice out there. For me Blake Synder's "Save the Cat" is the screen writer's Bible/Handbook. I reference that book all the time and will continue to do so for years.

Here is the long and short of this post. I got fired from a writing job a few minute's ago. No matter what the circumstance it always sucks to get fired.

The reality is that I was doing ok and could have finished the project on time with what they wanted. The project was 3 weeks behind when I came on board, I got almost no producers' notes and stayed up for 36 hours writing the first draft to meet a deadline that was not my doing. I did the same thing with the second draft after getting a brutal critique from the professor. Oh, yeah I should mention that this is a short film project for a film school. My room mate asked me for help and so I tried.

The worst part is that I feel like I let my friend down. She had faith that I could write the hell out of this thing, and I apparently couldn't.

The best part of all of this is what I have learned.
I am reminded of how many no's I got producing for Josh. How many times people at different office's didn't even want to talk to me and some how I would get people that I had no right to talk to. Persistence, in my dad's words "keep on, keepin on".

Some of the Nuts & Bolts of the experience are that I learned:

• When you take over a writing project get as many notes from the Producer as to what he want's BEFORE you write one word of the script.
• Have your team of readers ready, that is, people that you trust that are not connected to the project to read your work and give you feed back.
• When you get a hash critique there might be more to the story.
• When dealing with a harsh critique there is a technique to dealing with it.

1. Read the notes, then respond naturally as though you where talking to that person. Write it down but DO NOT SEND IT! To anybody, this is about coping and learning.
2. Give it time and don't write anything for a couple of days. Keep thinking about the project and let yourself have time to reflect on what each point of the critique actually meant.
   
3. When you do go back and finally get ready to write it should be a couple of days later, and your mind set should be humble, hungry and ready to meet the challenge.

That's what becoming a better writer seems to be about, taking the hits and learning.

Having said all of that I will connect the two scripts to this post and let you guys judge for yourselves.