Out of my Comfort Zone

The Twilight Saga is my favorite series of films and books. I discovered the books from a 12-year-old.  Almost two decades ago,  I wrote an algorithm for a dating site based on music preferences and met in the patent attorney's office in Portland to explain the logic. During a break, I noticed one of the lawyers' kids reading Twilight. He gave such an amazing pitch that I stopped by Barnes and Noble on the way home (pre-Kindle days) and bought the book. I was hooked. 

After the movies came out, we took our granddaughters up to lunch at the View Point Inn, and it was magical to be there. My love for the Pacific Northwest beaches propelled me to buy a vacation home on the Oregon coast, a few miles away from where the beach scenes were filmed.  I was on "Team Jacob" during the movie since I'm Native American and rooting for the tribe and wolves.

Over the years, I've been fascinated with wolves, especially after finding out that we are descendants of the Wolf Clan of the Cherokee tribe. I wrote a Hallmark-like romantic comedy script a few years ago, Nature's Way, set in Seattle and Port Angeles, that discusses the reintroduction of wolves into the National Parks. After doing genealogy research about my family's life before they were relocated from North Carolina to Oklahoma during the Trail of Tears, I wrote my first solo YA/MG book, Sleep Warrior, set in Cherokee, NC and the Eastern Band of the Cherokees. However, I wanted to learn more about my Oklahoma roots since my grandmother went back to the reservation close to Tulsa to die.

A few months ago, I went to Washington, D.C., to see one of my pictures that was accepted into the Smithsonian's Mirror, Mirror exhibit about the Disney Parks. While there, I visited the National Zoo and spent a lot of time with the red wolves - watching them. I decided to write a script centered around the red wolves - but in Oklahoma.  I've never written a teen light horror/fantasy script, nor one with a male lead, so I decided to write Blood Moon Wolf for my Native American Media Alliance Feature Film project this month. I had pitched 3 scripts, and this one was my last choice.  First was Kidnapped Kangaroo, which I've started this month writing as a YA book, and next was Chocolate Factory Death, based on a near panic attack I had around the loud machinery inside the Lindt chocolate factory I toured last year in Cologne, Germany.

But my cohorts liked my Blood Moon Wolf  "mini treatment" the best, so I took a deep breath and jumped into the abyss of the unknown. Teenagers as the leads? How do they talk? I reached back into the memory of helping to raise my four granddaughters and decided to name the wolf after the oldest; the leader of the pack - Chandra.  My other character, Riana a combination of Suby, Vrinda, and Tulaasi - very strong young ladies.

The one thing that made it easier was that the instructor taught us the 8-sequence method. Wow, for someone who spent a career in a highly structured world of programming and accounting, this was catnip for me. I like to say that you can eat an elephant if you start with one bite at a time...meaning that breaking down a huge project like writing a DMS system can be done by one person. I proved that right when I created DealerStar DMS fifteen years ago and sold it a few years ago. Now, I get to write full-time, and I hope to never eat an elephant because I'm a vegan and animal lover. If I write a great movie, it will be because my cohorts coaxed me out of my comfort zone, and my instructor gave me a tool to keep me sane - along with the inspiration of my four granddaughters. 

I've been doing YouTube videos - to help promote my books - and I'm working on my Amazing Animal Kingdom series. If only we had wolves! Here's the Amazing Animals playlist. Thank goodness I don't have aspirations as a filmmaker!  But I love to tell my stories!

Next will be a video about my Wild Africa Trek adventure - really out of my comfort zone!

Here's the link to my videos about Disney's Animal Kingdom

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLx_8Ja4anZU7PdLL_kyT3kkTNaz3BhCQl

Right Tool for the Right Job

 I was a daddy's girl growing up. I'd follow my dad around like a puppy dog and learned how to graft a tree branch, change the oil in our cars, and even castrate cattle.  My dad also always said "The right tool for the right job."  I learned when to use a hammer vs. a mallet and I won't go into the castration tools!

When it comes to screenwriting, I'm a huge Final Draft lover.  I have three different licenses; one for my Windows laptops (they let you install on 2,) and another for my MacPro that was generously given us by Final Draft during the Native American Media Alliance Writer's Lab Fellowship in June 2023, and I recently bought the new mobile version for my iPad.  I like this version because it is simple to put in night mode when I take the iPad to bed to read a cohort's script or do a final proofing of my own.

I put all my scripts on Google Drive, so easy to pull up the latest revision - no matter if I'm using Windows or Mac. I prefer the Mac version when I have the script read to me because the speed is much better than the Windows version.  I've been using the Windows version for over 20 years - upgrading from Final Draft 6 - all the way up to Final Draft 12 now - so I'm more familiar with the screen layout. I like the structure of Blake Snyder's Saving the Cat - and I normally start that Template - Beat View, then when I get done outlining, it is easy to Insert, Send to the Script and then start writing.

Final Draft wasn't the first screenwriting software that I learned.  I attended UCLA in early 2000 and selected MovieMaster 2000 as my first tool.  After a few years, I switched to Final Draft because it seemed like more people in my class used that.  You might wonder why I haven't been more successful if I've been writing screenplays for over 20 years.  That is because after finishing UCLA and writing a few scripts, we had a family tragedy and I had to stop writing and focus on my technology business.  For the next couple of decades, we helped raise our grandaughters and earned enough to support two families. 

 Fast forward to last year, when I sold my software company and turned back to screenwriting.  I started learning again how to write and rewrite and entered contests.  I've done well and now have quite a few scripts ready to be produced.  I'm in the pitching phase - learning how to sell my screenplays.  I won a second NAMA - Native American Media Alliance Fellowship that starts at the end of August 2023 and goes through November.  My next feature screenplay will be started from scratch and I'll have the input of my cohorts and instructor.  My first step is to create 3 pitches and I've asked my family and friends to rate them to help me pick the one I want to write about.  Hopefully, by November, I'll have a great script and pitch it at Skinfest.   https://nama.media/sandi-jerome/

Getting back to the "right tool for the right job," I'm also learning how to use a Mac to make my YouTube videos.  This month was my first using iMovie instead of Movavi for Windows which was getting slower and slower and difficult to move videos and photos from my iPhone to Windows.  I was considering changing to an Android phone to make things easier, but in the end, I only needed to learn iMovie.  One thing that I've learned is once you've learned a type of software, it was pretty easy to switch to another one. I easily switched from MovieMaster to Final Draft and now, I've learned iMovie after years of using Movavi.  I'll use Final Draft for Mac to have my script read to me and the iPad version to read late at night.  The right tool for the right job.  I'm going to print this and send it to my dad - I know he'll be proud.

Here is my latest YouTube about our trip in April to Disney's Castaway Cay. I've been behind, but after changing to a Mac, I should be able to get these done quicker.
https://youtu.be/5wI44tPY-KU

Kissing Frogs

I'm a Star Trek fan - not at the Trekkie level, but I often quote the Prime Directive and First Contact when it comes to letting people be themselves and trying not to disturb them. Up until this morning, I would almost have a panic attack at the thought of networking. I’m an introvert, but when the situation dictates, I can come out of my comfortable cocoon and transform into a social butterfly – but that was in a prior career when it meant survival.

I’m taking a course from the Hollywood Game Plan author Carole Kirschner, and last night’s bonus episode was The Ultimate Guide to Stress-Free Networking. Carole inspired a new perception of confidence and attitude about “getting out there.” Being a super techie, I created my Contacts database this morning to hold my Native American Media Alliance fellowship cohorts, along with the producers, agents, and managers with whom I have made “first contact.” I have 56 records so far. In my prior career, I had over 11,000 – so I have a ways to go.

Another homework assignment was to make a list of my screenwriting objectives, and my highest priority is to pitch my entry to Nicholl’s, Last Woman at The Austin Film Festival in late October. Like the producer of The Godfather, Allen Ruddy, I worked in technology before devoting myself full-time to screenwriting - and I like to write scripts about sci-fi and technology going wrong - or, as we like to say – “unexpected results.” I was lucky to learn the craft of screenwriting from the ultimate source of frightening Sci-Fi: Jack B. Sowards, who wrote Star Trek II - The Wrath of Khan. He was my instructor during my Advanced Screenwriting Program at UCLA. I don’t know the name of those things that went in the ear that ate the brains in that movie, but this blog is about frogs. Yes, frogs.

I was born and raised in California; my mother’s family moved to Anaheim in the late 1800s. I grew up in Escondido, and when we’d go to Disneyland, my parents couldn’t tell me because I’d get so excited - I’d throw up. I’m that big of a Disney fan.  I think it was a Disney movie that coined the phrase, “You have to kiss a lot of frogs before you find Prince Charming.”

A few years ago, I wanted to sell my software company and write full-time.  I met with 24 companies that wanted to buy mine - but things never worked out. I’d tell my husband, “Well - that was another frog.”   I had pretty much given up until one day, an investor asked me to call a young man who was getting started in the business and needed help.  Networking – oh no!  I didn’t want to help a competitor - and all this frog-kissing and running my company was stressing me out - but I did it anyway. We had a wonderful chat.

It was a shock to discover that we had attended the same high school in Escondido - even though we ran companies thousands of miles away - in opposite directions. Even weirder was when I heard his last name, and we figured out his father was my brother’s best friend.  It got even stranger - the next month, we were each returning to Escondido - it was his grandmother’s 90th birthday and my parent’s wedding anniversary.  We agreed to meet, and he ended up being the prince I was looking for, and even though I’m not uber-rich - his company bought out my stock by paying me enough each month to enable me to write full-time. Now I’m looking for a princess or prince to be my manager, agent, publisher, and/or producer, - so I’m ready to start networking and pucker up to kiss more frogs! 

Writing is Life

My first blog was almost four years ago when I decided to retire and become a full-time writer.  It was about my high school sport, field hockey.  My husband Keith taught me how to play soccer after we got married since he was All-CIF soccer in high school and his favorite sport of ice hockey was nothing like what I had played – but soccer was. It was so much easier to kick the big soccer ball instead of hitting a tiny hockey ball with a stick. Soccer has a similar field, rules, and goal as field hockey. But Keith insisted I learn to kick with my foot instead of my toe. Not only does this prevent you from breaking your toe, but it gives your kick more speed and control. 

Over the years, soccer has been a big part of our lives. We’ve been to Olympic soccer games, along with NWSL games. We’ve seen greats like Marta, Abby Wambach, and Megan Rapinoe, but the best was watching our four granddaughters play.  Each girl was an amazing player – inside and out. Soccer is also a fun game.

We loved managing and coaching soccer teams and even the most athletically-challenged child can play.  It isn’t like baseball where they go to bat – all alone - and strike out.  Instead, young soccer players get so many chances to get their foot on the ball, especially in youth soccer where the team can swarm together around the field like a beehive. Keith would smile when he’d spot a young girl more interested in a little tiny flower growing on the field instead of paying attention to the game. She was having fun!

When I played on adult teams - mostly over-30 women’s indoor soccer, I’d constantly remind my teammates that nobody was getting paid and we all had to get to work the next day, so let’s be careful out there. It needs to be fun.  At that time, there were no professional women’s teams but today that has all changed.  The world of women’s professional soccer, especially the NWSL is exciting and lucrative for some of the players and owners.  It is still called soccer in this country instead of football like the rest of the world, but it is fun.  One of my favorite scenes in Ted Lasso is when the new player, Dani Rojas screams “Football is Life!” But for me, writing is life.

My latest script, AimMe Coach, is almost done.  It was originally a one-hour dramedy like Ted Lasso called Aim Me, but I worked with an amazing mentor – Kris Crenwelge as part of the Native American Media Alliance fellowship that I won.  She is a staff writer on True Lies and is currently in the Native American showrunner fellowship. Kris suggested that I cut out half of the characters and make it a network half-hour comedy.  That meant removing half of what writers like to call “their darlings.”  Gosh, that was hard since I killed off my main character.  But surprisingly, that left the hero to be my Native American character, Suby Mankiller, and back full circle to my granddaughters.  My youngest and strongest is named Suby and is in the bottom left of this picture. She packs a lot of dynamite into her petite body.

This picture sort of brings everything full circle for me.  I quit writing twenty years ago after graduating from UCLA’s screenwriting program when tragedy struck and Keith and I had four little granddaughters to help raise.  I put my dreams on hold and had a new objective to earn enough money in the technology industry to support our daughter-in-law getting certified as a teacher and those amazing little girls.

I had also taken a bad hit in my right eye with a soccer ball and had a partially detached retina and poor vision to contend with.  But with big monitors and dozens of surgeries, I do pretty well – just don’t ask me to drive at night!  My lack of depth perception makes playing sports difficult, so I walk a lot instead, at least a 5K a day and lots of yoga. 

For me, writing is life – I feel like Dani Rojas, each morning – excited to get up and write, write, write.  If you want to see my YouTube about Aim Me (the hour-long version)  here’s the link and I hope to have the ½ version done soon. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLx_8Ja4anZU7427aV5A98VQUPYtmdfWJc 

https://nama.media/sandi-jerome/

Taking Chances

One of my dad's favorite sayings about Las Vegas is, "They didn't build those big casinos from our winnings." I don't like to gamble; it must be the accountant in me. The odds are not in my favor. The most I've ever done is put a few coins in a slot machine with predictable results - I didn't win. 

But as part of my screenwriting training, I wanted to do the opposite of the recommendation "write what you know." Could I learn something from a book, then write about it?  A true screenwriter can be told a pitch - somebody else's dream and story and then craft a movie or TV pilot.  I want to be able to do that. How hard could it be to write about blackjack - a game I've never played?

I had seen my husband and best friend play blackjack In Las Vegas, and one time, my best friend, Laura, called me over and handed me a pile of chips and said, "Don't give these back to me, no matter how much I beg."  I thought, "What a weird game."  I bought a book about blackjack and learned about card counting and the basic strategy.  

My screenplay, Last Hand, was born.  I entered it in Nicholls and was a Quarter Finalist, but since then, I've done a lot of rewrites to focus on the emotional issue of the special relationship between a father and daughter. I shaved off twenty pages to make it a better financial risk, removing the water skiing scenes. I made my main character Cherokee and changed her name from Madison to Kimi - which means secret in Cherokee. My story has lots of secrets.  The reviews have been good, and I'm a Quarter Finalist in a 2023 contest.

 "Last Hand" is a well-crafted story that features strong character development, a clear plot direction, and relatable themes. The film does an excellent job of balancing its multiple storylines, while also maintaining a consistent tone and pace throughout. 

One of the strengths of the film is its fully-realized characters.  Her father, Flip, is a flawed character whose past mistakes continue to haunt him. The other characters in the film are also well-developed and add depth and nuance to the story.  The film's plot is driven by clear goals and conflicts. 

Overall, "Last Hand" is a strong character-driven drama that is sure to appeal to a wide audience. The film's themes of family, legacy, and addiction are universal and relatable, and its well-crafted plot and characters will keep viewers engaged from start to finish.  

In some ways, I've been taking chances by trying various genres and formats. I've been asked, "Do you want to write sitcoms, novels, movies, or animation?" My answer is simple - yes!  I love writing, I spend hours doing it every day.  I go to bed at night thinking of my scripts and wake up excited to start writing. I am lucky because I type as fast as I think, and I have fantastic technology skills - so using screenwriting software is easy for me.

Most Vegas movies fare well - people enjoy watching films about their dreams of being a winner.  In 2008 a movie came out, 21, about the MIT Blackjack Team that used scientific theory to make a bundle. It only cost $35 million and grossed $159 million. I hope someone will take a chance on my screenplay, Last Hand.

Can I Be Funny?

I'm in the contest phase of my screenwriting career, along with the questioning phase.  

Should I write for TV or movies?  Do I like comedy or drama?  Am I good enough to be successful in this new career?

Entering contests helps me measure my progress - although a huge part of it is luck. There are thousands of entries and hundreds of readers. You might get a reader having a bad day – or hates your genre – or even your political views.  

Only 30% of the scripts get to the Quarter Finals.  Oddly enough, I had two scripts get a high scorecard and move up my rank on Coverfly in the 2023 ScreenCraft contest but didn’t place in the Quarter Finals.  Why would two readers doing feedback score me high and give my scripts a great review, but another two in the contest pass me over for the Quarter Finals?  Could it be a clerical error or the readers having a bad day?  I don’t know, so I’m extra happy when one script does move up the ladder.   

This month, I moved into Quarter Finals of a contest for my TV script First Man.  I don't think it will move any further up because it takes being the best to win a contest. I'm not there yet.  I think I have figured out the formula for writing drama, which is going well - but comedy?  I like to think I'm funny -  but can I write funny? Can I get better at this? In my last December Blog, I talked about making things work, then better, then the best. You can read it with this link.

https://sandijerome.blogspot.com/2022/12/make-it-work-make-it-better-make-it-best.html 

I need to improve, and I'm using my TV script First Man as a testing ground.  I wrote it early in my career as a feature screenplay, meaning it was about 100 pages. As a feature, it was originally a Quarter Finalist in the big contest – the Nicholls Fellowship.  To convert First Man to be a one-hour dramedy - sort of a funnier and less expensive West Wing, I had to make it shorter. The screenplay was the full journey – ending at the White House. A TV script needs to be more of a sample or view into the future of a “fish out of water” learning politics and the woman who loves him adapting to a new job and relationship.

I think the idea is funny.  If you look at our "Second Gentleman" - the spouse of Kamala Harris,  he's extremely qualified to be a future "First Man" if President Biden gets hit by a bus.  Douglas Emhoff is a lawyer and distinguished visiting professor at Georgetown University Law Center. As Kamala's husband, he married her when she was the Attorney General for the State of California and got a taste for the term "wife-guy" - a slang for when a husband owes his fame to his wife's success. Doug could walk around the White House with confidence and ease and adapt to the "upside down" role of being a male First Lady. 

To make the situation funny - I thought, what kind of guy, already famous on his own, would not slide into this wife-guy role easily?  What type of person would be the best "fish out of water" to fall in love with the possible future first female President of the United States? Yup, a jock would be perfect and one without too many CTE injuries to the head.  I didn't want him to be the typical dumb jock, so he's a pro baseball pitcher who needs to know every batter he'll have to pitch to - similar to how a politician knows her debate opponents.   

My first attempt at writing my First Man TV script was disastrous. I merely took my feature screenplay and deleted characters and scenes until I was down to about 60 pages – one hour.  I submitted it to the Native American Media Alliance for their TV Script Writer lab in December.  The kind director suggested that I learn more about writing for TV, and I did that. I studied, read, watched and figured it out. For my next submission to NAMA, I have created a new TV script from scratch to see what I’ve learned. I talked about this last month.  https://sandijerome.blogspot.com/2023/03/

But that script is still in draft status and, hopefully, a project for the latest NAMA Writer's Lab I applied for this month. But I wanted to enter two other diversity fellowships, NBC and Paramount, so I rewrote First Man to the correct format, got it down to 37 pages and improved the structure. It will be serialized like The West Wing in later seasons. It starts with Anna being the VP, then going on the campaign trail with Jake and eventually becoming the President. Hopefully, there will be a funny White House wedding with Jake being the obsessive wedding planner instead of Anna, who will be busy running the free world.

I’m trying to make it funnier. I need to tone down my “I Love Lucy” type of physical slapstick and write smarter and funnier dialog.  I’m working on that, along with making sure that the first year of the series is about the road to being the President. In the meantime, I submitted it to a contest in January to get feedback, and it placed high. I also got coverage for it, and this is what a reader wrote:

This is such a fun idea, and in the current political climate, where we have our first Second Gentleman, it’s a topical and current take on the romantic comedy. Jake’s step into this new world is refreshing, and Anna’s strong navigation of the political system is believable and authentic. We can see all sorts of personal and political drama playing out as these two attempt to make their relationship work in the biggest of spotlights. The story also boasts some really fun dialogue, and not only do Anna and Jake have chemistry in their verbal banter, the supporting cast is wry and engaging. Wilma is a standout here - her personality as friend, assistant, and tough-love voice of reason for Anna is useful and credible. 

We also really like Anna herself - she’s passionate about her causes, and the script wisely makes her Native American background a part of her story, creating a great role and adding diversity to the cast. Overall, this is engaging and fun, and the combined worlds of baseball and politics are a nice contrast. Anna and Jake have a good oil and water chemistry going, and we’re rooting for them to get past their differences and find a way to make it work.

Fingers crossed on my journey to write funny, and I'll let you know how that works in a future blog. Right now, I'm doing daily exercises from from the book, How to Write Funny. I am also doing exercises to improve my yoga. Hopefully, I don't get them mixed up and end up with a new pose that looks hilarious. 

Almost Famous

 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 1^st.  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