Friday, June 08, 2007

Swamped!

So, last month - doesn’t seem like that long ago - CE over on the Inside Pitch blog announced he was throwing in the towel. He had a great blog, it really took you inside the walls of a major agency, and he often answered questions and discussed story. But CE said maintaining the blog was one more thing on his already very busy schedule (he’s a newlywed - actually, I think he started the blog around the time he got married). I wanted to beg him to keep the blog going - but I knew exactly why he stopped blogging.
My blog is often the very last thing on my never-ending to do list.

After CE announced he would no longer be adding to his blog, I ran over here and posted something. And then I posted a couple more entries. I want to keep this blog going and make regular entries.

Then a million things hit at the same time. I had to pinch hit on a panel, I went to the Fango Convention, I had to do my 2 day class, I had a bunch of friends in from out of town, a last minute article for a European screenwriting mag, I had a friend’s birthday party, I had 2 script rewrites to do, I had this insane Sequel Project to work on, and I wrote a new tip that ran on Thursday (yesterday - if you missed it, wait until it reruns next year). The Blog? Not even on my radar.

Now, the amusing thing about all of this is that during this time I also posted on a bunch of message boards answering questions. That’s kind of a coffee break thing that I do when I need to get away from the rewrites or class prep stuff. So why can’t this blog be that coffee break thing? Well, writing in the blog is *work* and a responsibility... but answering someone’s question is kind of reactive.

And one of the problems with *this* blog is that the contents seem to be informational in some way - every time I’ve done a "dear diary" entry bitching about something that happened in my life, the response has been "We don’t care, tell us about screenwriting". That means I have some sort of requirement to be on topic...

And I already have a website that is on topic.
I write articles for magazines that are on topic.
I teach a class that is on topic.
I am not UNK ! His blog has some of the best screenwriting articles I read on it.
So, folks, screw you.
Yes, screw you.
Sometimes this blog will be about screenwriting, sometimes it will be about getting stuck in traffic on the 405 when I’m *not* going to a meeting. And sometimes I’m going to grab some answer I gave someone from some other message board and paste it here (copyright issues be damned). And sometimes there may be a big gap between posts (so, what else is new). But I’m hoping that taking away the on topic requirements will help me spend more time posting here... and maybe that will turn into more stuff about screenwriting.
So, be prepared for some freakin’ boring dear diary entries about what I had for lunch.
NEW FORMAT:
Today's lunch: Carrot Cake at Starbucks.
Movies: A Simple Plan on DVD - a film so well made it's almost impossible to watch. I squirm and cringe and cover my eyes and just want to turn it off to escape.
Pages: Finished the Studio Sequel project.
- Bill

19 comments:

James Patrick Joyce said...

You post that, then leave us hanging.


What did you have for lunch?



(Jane Espenson is on top of this kind of important detail)

wcmartell said...

I was actually joking about Jane's blog when I wrote that...

And I added my lunch.

- Bill

Team Brindle said...

Thank you so much, Bill, for keeping this site going.

Like all the rest of the Pros with blogs/sites (Rossio, Elliott, Mazin, August, Unk, Espenson, etc)you are a teacher. And we students out here seriously need you pros to show us the way.

When Lockhart closed up shop i wanted to alternately cry, & kick him in the nuts. He was cranking out some seriously good shit.

And i love your personal stories. I WANT to hear about you lugging your suitcase for 5 miles around a strange city in search of the nearest Starbucks at 2:00 in the morning, after not sleeping for 10 days, or whatever.

When you tell those stories i totally picture you as a char in a movie... a comedy of errors of course. LOL!


Thanks again for sharing your experience & expertise & insight!

~Laura

Eleanor said...

What Laura said. :)

I enjoy reading about stuff like your lost cell phone - it's a nice break from dealing with my life, and your post are always inspirational or an alert to things I should be thinking about ... whether you intend that or not.

Keep on blogging. :)

MaryAn Batchellor said...

Screw you? Have we ever asked for anything less?

Anonymous said...

Boring! Write about screenwriting only plz!

Kidding. There's more to life in the big city than writing, and I'll be honest and say I like your gossipy stuff as much as anything else on the net.

I do promise to take your pic off our website soon too (it's been over a month!)

annabel said...

I am looking forward to your "dear diary entries"! :)

wcmartell said...

Wait! I'm still on the SoCal website? Still?

- Bill

Anonymous said...

I tried to start my own blog but I couldn't think of anything to say!

My favourite of your Blod entries are the ones where you talk about your experiences in Hong Kong.

Hal Weaver said...

Always enjoy your blog, no matter what the flavor of the entry, but especially dig the "Mishaps-on-the-way-to-the-foreign-film-festival" posts because they're so damn entertaining. Reminds me a bit of Bill Bryson's stuff. Any chance we'll get a report from the Fangoria convention?

Thanks' for your words. Please keep slinging'em

OK HW

wcmartell said...

Not enough stuff for a Fango entry (well, now that I've forgotten everything that happened) - but the odd thing is that I signed 2 autographs. One for someone I knew, one for a stranger.

- Bill

Anonymous said...

Now you've been replaced! The pizza man is no more.

Thomas Rufer said...

I'd like to read more about the beer drinking stuff. The more beer the better.

Anonymous said...

Man, you sounded almost pissed off :-P

I pop by here for the entertainment, if I happen to learn stuff which quite frequently I do, Bonus, it's your blog mate, do what you want with it, post about whatever you fancy, just keep it going at whatever pace.

On an unrelated subject, you going to be up here for RainDance this year?

David CC Erickson said...

Bill-
You're about the only pro that seems to be working as a writer in the trenches of the film business AND teaching AND giving back on your tips site. I suspect many others aren't so inclined to share their experiences and insights. Screw them, Bill, screw them. Unless they're buying lunch.

David CC Erickson said...

How many working screenwriters are teaching and running a tip site and blogging about their experiences in the biz and elsewhere? How else are the amateurs and outoftowners gonna get a clue? It's all gold, Bill.

Grubber said...

Do what you have to Bill, I appreciate all your sites and your time they must take to maintain.

Many thanks.
cheers
Dave

Anonymous said...

Wow...

Don't come by for a few days and see what happens?

This reminded me of your workshop in Los Angeles a couple and a half years ago... Where the guy in the middle of the room kept telling YOU and everyone else in the room (I'm sure you don't remember this but I'll never forget it) that HE just had a meeting with so and so producer and THAT'S not the way HE DOES IT... Blah blah blah blah blah.

And you were nice but everyone could tell the fuse was burning...

And we all kept smiling... And waiting. And hoping.

And you delivered. LOL.

Don't change a fucking thing. Ever.

Unk

Anonymous said...

And it's not like we have to read everything, is it?

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