this is a good schedule for doing most things in life, I've found.
Discipline is always worthwhile.
None today.
3 miles yesterday?
If you're like me, you got mailed that Star Wars parody about a million times, the one that starts with LIAM NEESON saying, "It is vitally important we enter trade negotiations with the federation." Well, it turns out someone actually wrote that (duh) and several other funny movie parodies as well, all of which can be reached at The Editing Room. Check it out. (The Indie Filmmaker Game is pretty funny too.)
Reason Number 14 why you should save your work early and often: You work on your husband's computer. Despite your good intentions, you are using Microsoft Word. You have written 9 new pages of your novel and are feeling pretty good. You hit Command-S, the Macintosh save combination, and Word helpfully tells you that the disk is full and you should save someplace else.
Your husband's computer, which is his business workstation, has 4.5 GIGABYTES of storage free.
You hate Microsoft Word with the white-hot intensity of a thousand suns. But no matter what the Justice Department eventually decides, you know that monopolies are hard to avoid.
(Conveniently, I had been hitting save quite often, so I only lost about half a page of material. But I can't imagine the screams that would have echoed through our house had I not saved recently.)
A friend of Darin's called his business line, clearly wondering why Darin hadn't called him back after his call yesterday about a lucrative job. (Because his sometimes-secretary hadn't transcribed the message and sent it to him, that's why.) I picked up and talked to Byron for a while. He mentioned that Darin had mentioned my last script, saying how much he liked it. I gave him the logline, which he thought was great, and then he asked if he'd like me to call in a favor with a friend of his, who's a big-time TV writer who has an agent at Broder Kurland.
Oh gosh. I couldn't. That would be cheating! I should slave and starve and beg people to look at my stuff--
I'm sticking a copy in the mail post-haste.
Everyone says that Hollywood is an industry built on contacts. To which I ask say, Show me one that isn't. Silicon Valley was the same way. It's always hard when you're on the outside and it always seemed like the same people got the same few jobs. Finding a job anywhere sucks. How many of your jobs have you heard about because you knew someone? Now, how many have you gotten because you know someone?
Everything I've heard and seen about Hollywood leads me to believe it's the exact same way. Nobody--with the possible exception of Penelope Ann Miller, who I think is intensely talentless--works consistently without something going for them.
You can have all the contacts in the world and if you don't have something to show them when they ask (or you do--and it's crap) you're screwed. Because it's always about money--what will make the maximum amount of money for the people involved? Nobody's going to buy their friend's script to make the friend feel better--there's too much money on the line. Not just the budget of a movie. The script buyer's salary is on the line. Buy too many pieces of crap and you're on the street. Simple as that.
The best advice Terry and Ted give on Wordplay is this: connections are easy if you have something people want. You will always get someone to look at your stuff, and if it's good they'll look at future things you have, and if it's great, they'll snap you up or mention you to someone they know. Because when you're great, you're worth money.
I talked to Len the other night--I haven't finished reading his script yet, but he's read mine, and he loved it. Of course, he had two major suggestions on how to improve it that are totally right on (but that's what he does for a living, that's why he makes the big bucks).
We also gossiped for an hour--Stanley Kubrick, George Lucas, Emma Thompson. I didn't have any USC gossip for him, but I hope to after this weekend. (It's Gonzo's Back To Portugal Garden Party. His roommate, Justin, currently works for the Cinema School. And if Justin doesn't have any good gossip, I'll step on his toes.)
Can't wait to hear what Len thinks of Hannibal.
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Copyright 1999 Diane Patterson
Send comments and questions to diane@spies.com