We recently got an invitation to attend a dinner honoring Cameron Crowe at Keith’s old alma mater, the University of San Diego High School. We didn’t go, but we’re big fans of a former classmate of Keith’s who wrote amazing films like Say Anything, We Bought a Zoo and Almost Famous.
After retiring from the software industry last year, I knew I wanted to
write since that was the area of my previous job that I enjoyed the most. I spent most of last year learning to write
middle-grade and young-adult fiction and completed two novels. Those are now in the endless game of
submitting to editors and agents – trying to find a publisher. But last month was a turning point. Although, I'll continue to write children's books, I turned my focus to screenwriting.
I decided that since I watch so a lot of TV and movies (too embarrassed to say how much...,) I should try that. I entered my most recent feature screenplay, Last Woman, into a contest on February 1st. I will find out how I did, early next month. I have written a dozen screenplays that I wrote between 1999-2006 after graduating from UCLA’s Advanced Screenwriting program. My instructors were Jack Sowards (Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, and Star Trek: The Next Generation) and Jim Schmerer(MacGyver.) I felt “almost famous” when they took Keith, myself, and my favorite fellow student, Dana, out for dinner after graduation to a famous deli where everyone seemed to know these legendary (but now passed) writers. I then attended screenwriting classes on Saturday mornings in Portland by Cynthia Whitcomb (I Know My First Name Is Steven, Mark Twain and Me) and bought all her books.
In last month’s blog, I mentioned another script, Time for Lily that I also dusted off, rewrote, and submitted to contests. Out of my dozen scripts, I’ve updated eleven and submitted them to various contests. I also requested “coverage” for most and that lets me know what needs to be fixed. I’m learning screenwriting all over again – but at a deeper level, paying more attention to voice, characters, and structure.
But one area that I didn’t know much about was writing for TV. It is much different than writing a feature movie. When I entered one of the feature scripts that I truncated to TV size as my entry to the Native American Media Alliance TV writer’s Fellowship, the kind director said that I needed some help with TV structure. That was an understatement as I learn this new craft. He was just being nice. I didn't have a clue! But you're supposed to write what you know and since nobody is interested in medieval Bohemian sheep breeds - I picked TV.
I love great TV like Ted Lasso and The Mandalorian. I watch a classic sitcom every night before bed (currently Friends) to end my day with a laugh. I like smart TV like shows from Aaron Sorkin (West Wing, Newsroom, Sports Night, Studio 60) and extremely funny TV created and written by sitcom giants Chuck Lorre and Steven Molaro (Big Bang Theory, Bob Hearts Abishola, Young Sheldon.) For those of you from Escondido, Steven Molaro is not the younger brother of my high school heartthrob and good friend, Cliff Molaro. This talented "Steven Molaro" is from New York. I don't know what happened to little Stevie Molaro that I knew from Cliff and 4-H, I'll have to ask Cliff the next time I see him.
In my quest to learn how to write TV scripts, I’ve read three books so far, read dozens of blogs and pilot scripts, and studied the coverage I got for my “truncated script” First Man. After not getting the NAMA fellowship, I applied for the NBC Launch TV Writer’s program. Part of that application process was the requirement to get an entrainment industry reference. My references for the NAMA fellowship had been my dear high school teacher, Mr. Stan Alstrum who is kind enough to read my stuff and say nice things about my writing. My other reference was my former writing partner for computer books, Jack Ross. He has a budding future as an editor. I don't think I could get one tiny mistake by him! But the rules of this fellowship said specifically that the reference must be from “the industry. “
As I mentioned last month, I had actually sold a screenplay back in the early 2000s and wondered if that producer was still around. Much to my surprise, she was and is now producing my screenplay – Runaway Cricket as a musical. Wow – 20 years later! I downloaded the soundtrack from Amazon and it was fun to hear the songs accompanying my script. She gave me a great reference for NBC and I’ll use it when I apply again at the Native American Media Alliance next month. After all this – I can’t help but feel that I’m “almost” there and ready to be famous as I work each day on my first real TV script – Aim Me. More about that to come…
Here is the link to my credits on Runaway Cricket
https://blackorb.com/credits.html and the songs https://blackorb.com/runawaycricket.html
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