Moving on...

I'll probably have a couple more SIMPSONS posts in the near future, but for now I've kinda had it with the little yellow fuckers. I've got a life to lead and a career to tend to. To wit:

-ATTACK OF THE SPACE CHICKENS: I had brought mine and Scott's working draft of the latest script on vacation with me, but I was much too busy hobnobbing with Rogue and Wolverine at Universal Studios to do anything with it. But I NEED to get back to it. I NEED to feel better about the script (and I already feel pretty good about, I just NEED to unconditionally love every character, story element and semi-colon. I'm confident I will soon.

-VALLEY WHEEL BASEBALL - I missed last weeks game during my abovementioned vacation, so I absolutely can't wait for this Sunday. Our 5-1 Royals are playing the 6-0 Indians. We're gonna draw blood. I'm batting lefty now, with pretty good results. I'm 2-2 left-handed, 7-18 righthanded, which puts me close to .500 for the season.

-OTHER WRITING: I've got some interesting things happening. First is the screenplay I've been commissioned to write; if we can agree on a price, I start in a week or so. I plan to have the first draft done before school starts in September. The idea, concept and story all belong to someone else; I'm just a hack for hire.

---I've also been approached to semi-ghost write a book for somebody. There's money in it, and while I'm neutral to the subject (it's non-fiction), it's good money and I'm being hired to write. I'm a writer, right?

---I'm also considering approaching the folder on my computer named "Blog", and thinking about double clicking on the file named "Book_Blog4.3.doc". That's my book on low budget filmmaking. It's well over 200 pages, but still needs some serious work. I still believe it has the potential to be publish-able. I just need to read the damn thing and steel myself for some hard decisions regarding its current state.


And finally, although I'm all SIMPSON'd out, starting Monday the Simpsons/USA Today site goes live. I absolutely cannot wait to see the 13-14 other entries into the contest, and I dread seeing the reaction to ours. It's painful, putting yourself out there... exhilirating when you nail it, crushing if you don't; there doesn't seem to be an in-between for me. Probably explains a lot.

Anyway, go here right now. You can sign up for an e-mail newsletter to announce the start of voting.

Vote for the best, I implore you. I just truly hope you find ours the best.

Production begins!

We shot our first day yesterday and it went wonderfully. We have four days to go. Wish us luck!

More SImpsons

from left: Marty Langford, Atom Marotte, Warren Amerman, Jim Purchase, Joel Katon

Not a lot of time to blog, 'cause we're knee-deep in SIMPSONS production, but here's an image of some of the crew from our pre-light last night. The set looks GREAT!

THE SIMPSONS script is done!

I've just turned in the final revision of THE SIMPSONS script I've been developing with the rest of team. I've received word back from Dave and Warren that they approve (Warren actually contributed a pretty good gag!), and we submit it to City Hall and the Mayor's Office tomorrow. I've been told that they may come down on me for my use of the word "bastard", but the context is necessary, and I'll fight it all the way to... well, to City Hall.

I'm still waiting on word from the other team members: Scott, Karl and Joel... but I'm pretty happy with this draft. Special thanks also to bud, Rob Davaiu, who joined the other night for a writer's meeting and served us well with his insights.

Now all we have to do is make them damn thing.

We'll be planning a party in late June to unveil the finished product, which will also include behind the scenes antics of pre/post production, and of the actual shoot. As well as video profiles of the key players.

USA TODAY will be hosting the finished videos from the 14 different Springfields, so I'll be sure to supply links to the page when it's up (which we expect to be June 29). Voting will end on July 9, with the winner announced shortly after.

Tuesday Update...

I had every intention of continuing my Moday updates on Monday, but I always feel kinda sleepy on Mondays.

-Saw KNOCKED UP over the weekend and I thought it was great. Judd Apatow is a good comedy writer. It was a wee bit long, but who am I to complain about a movie that had me laughing out loud throughout it's running time. There certainly felt like a late second act drag, but Apatow most definitely redeemed himself and created a wonderful adult comedy. Much like 40 YEAR OLD VIRGIN, for which I still maintain should have received an Oscar nod for Best Screenplay, Apatow creates adult situations, using adults, for an adult audience. And while some of these adults may be adolescent in behavior, there're still most certainly adults. Plus there's adult nudity, which I appreciate.

-I've been meeting with a local man who is interested in hiring me a screenwriter for a project he is developing. While the subject matter is definitely not "me" (there's no Space Chickens, artifical intelligence, or time travel), it is something he's passionate about, and his passion is becoming a bit infectious. I like the idea of being a writer-for-hire (I'm also working for another producer on some corporate stuff). It gets me closer to answering the question, "What do you do?", with "Me? I'm a writer."

-THE SIMPSONS vid is chugging along. We had what I hope is our last production/writers meeting last night (at the lovely Li's Brothers restaurant). We've pretty much finalized the structure, and now I just have to write a first draft of the script. Which, of course, will then be ripped apart, cannibalized and spewed back out as what others will refer to as "better', but which I maintian will be "worse". :)

-The Royals did again this past Sunday. We're now 3-1 in the over-30 Valley Wheel baseball league. I had what I judged to be a super game, going 2-4 with some really good at-bats. I also did well playing the field (at both shortstop and third base), making every play hit to me. I've only made one error all year (which I still think was a questionable call); and my fielding percentage has always been more important to me than my batting average (which right now is .286).

-There didn't seem to be an ON THE LOT last night, which is cheesing me off. Not only do I not like the show, they move it around so much, I can never watch it! It's like the old Woody Allen joke: MAN: "I hate the food here", WOMAN: "Me too. And such small portions."

See you soon.

First CNN, now ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY...

... and soon USA TODAY (who just announced a partnership with Fox on the SIMPSONS contest). But yeah, in the PopWatch section of the EW site, there's a story (and picture!) of our efforts toward the Simpsons vid we're producing. Now that's cool.

Hey, I'm on CNN...

The quality's craptastic, but if you squint real hard you can see me.