Bait And Switch

To refresh your memories: I'm taking a rewrite class this semester to work on my first script; I couldn't get into the section I wanted to take; I decided after the second class that Naomi's class would be okay because she seemed to give decent feedback; then I had a private consult with her.

That's right, my private consult. I don't think I described this in any length. It went great. True, I honestly do have to do a page one rewrite, but she thinks that most of the work I have to do is in the emotional backstory for each character--once I do that, she said, I'll have a great script (as opposed to a pretty good one) and "someone will make this movie." I know: Hollywood's the only town where you can die from encouragement. But it felt pretty nice to hear, even if you know it's not true about a script that features 3 women in the main roles (kiss of death at the box office).

I talked to Carolann Friday night (two nights ago). She had also just met with Naomi and had the complete opposite experience: Naomi trashed her script from top to bottom--hates the script, hates the genre. And whereas Naomi spent 2 hours with me, interrupted only a few times for a short period, Naomi spent most of the 2 hours with Carolann on the phone with others--Carolann thought about walking out.

Then Carolann told me what the schedule change for the rest of the semester is. Naomi wants us to work individually and call her when we want her to read something or get her feedback on what we've been doing. No more class sessions. No more interaction between the students. We all work independently and then track her down to get her attention.

I hope I have misunderstood this. Because I'm going to be furious if this is true.

That is not the class I signed up for. I take classes because I like the structure of them, I like knowing that on February X I must have so many page done. Yes, I could set all those deadlines for myself, but I do better with externally imposed ones. Or rather, ones that I have made with someone else, because I don't like to disappoint people.

Of course, one month of the semester being over, I'm well and truly screwed. We all are, if we wanted to change classes now, because we can't.

I watched Gia last night on HBO. Like all HBO movies, this one kind of sucked--you never get a sense that it's building towards anything; it's a collection of snippets and vignettes, not a story.

I watched it, though, because I think Angelina Jolie would be really good as the main character in my thesis script. (I even called up Linda and told her to take a gander, get her opinion. She agreed.) Having someone specific in mind helps me write, even though I'm not writing specifically for her. It just makes me a little more confident that there are tough, bright actresses out there--they're not all squeaky voiced and seem dumb as bricks.

I decided to break down and get into my size 8 jeans. I could still wear the 10s, but they were getting a little ridiculous in the baggy department. The 8s are definitely tighter than the 10s have been, but most things would be.

Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics

1.5 kind of icky miles today. I think it's 'cause I went running too quickly after having a shake and I got a terrible stomach cramp. Oh well--there's always tomorrow.