Darin's come down for a visit. I haven't seen him for three weeks. It's like being denied a drug you've been on daily for four and a half years and finally getting a maintenance dose. Since we've been together the most we've been apart was two weeks, when I went to Ireland with my mother, and that was tough. This was excruciating.
There's a big grad film student party tonight, and everyone asked everyone else, "Are you going?" The answer for the most part was yes. Except me, I said, "My husband's coming into town." Immediate understanding: "See you next week."
<Insert contented purring noise here.>
The season premiere of Homicide. Frank Pembleton's come back to work after his stroke. Someone give Andre Braugher an Emmy and a starring role in some major flick fast: Die Hard: With An Acting Range. He's so amazingly good. I don't cry at movies, although I've felt the tears welling up -- it's never occurred to me to cry at a television show, until tonight.
I am so caught up in this character I have to keep reminding myself: Andre Braugher's fine, it's the character who had the stroke.
Today's guest speaker was Richard Sakai, a producer at Gracie Films. I hope he didn't know who he was following. Anyhow, he said some very interesting things, at least about sitcom writing: it's very hard to break in, it's harder to get a staff position, it happens every day. If you can write comedy, write it consistently, and write it for character and story (and not just for the joke), you will be employed for life. And at a damn good salary, too.
Too bad I have zero interest in comedy writing.
This week's lesson: this town runs on slave labor.
Yesterday I dropped off the script coverages I did at the talent agency with the idea that I won't do any more -- instead I'll pursue an internship at a production company. On Monday Brooke voiced total disgust at the idea of a talent agency offering no-pay internships: "An internship? For those pigs?" Her reasoning being (other than the fact that she's a manager of talent and in some competition with the agencies) that production companies live on the largesse of the studios, so it's somewhat understandable that the internships are no pay. Whereas talent agencies are making money hand over fist all the time and have no excuse for not paying their workers.
And also, it's not going to help us get an agent -- agencies don't want to represent people they used to step on.
Lots of people in the class had been considering doing coverage for this agency. I think they've all called and dropped out.
I stopped by the production office and went through the internship books to see who was looking for interns. They all are. Studios, major production companies, everybody. On Monday I start calling and sending my resume around. I have to decide where I want to work and whether this outfit is likely to hire me for the summer. Which means I have to start thinking about what I want to do after grad school.
I know I should have had my game plan all worked out before this, but I've never thought more than a year or so down the line. I feel like the pressure is really, really on now.
Part of the decision entails something I don't want to think about and God knows my friends don't want to hear about: moving to LA permanently (where permanently can be replaced by 5 to 10 years, with time off for good behavior).
But between Sakai's talk about TV and watching Homicide, I've started thinking about what I want to do -- some of the best writing around is happening on TV these days, and there's a hell of a lot more work in TV, and...
Darin says I'm the one who's ruled out moving to LA, which I interpret to mean he'd be up for moving to LA if I said that was what I needed to do. (Mind you, there's an easy way for me to find out precisely what he meant: ask him. I love that aspect of our relationship. Unclear on something important or difficult or painful? Just ask!) But it's a big step. The base of his work is Silicon Valley, and I don't know what he'd find down here. I guess if I told him he had move down in 1998 (after I graduate) he could start looking.
I don't want to think about this. Things I don't want to think about I usually don't mention, which is bad, because those are the ones that need the most discussion. Just because you don't talk about something doesn't mean it isn't there.