The reason I’m off today is that I’m not over the blow I took last night when the quarterfinalists in the Just Effing Entertain Me Screenwriting Contest were announced.

I had checked the site religiously throughout the day. Finally, while sipping on a glass of wine and watching the SF Giants with my wife, I checked the site again.

“Ah! It’s up!”

I hopped up off the couch. With one hand raised in preparation to fist pump in celebration, I used the other hand to scroll down the page. I scrolled… and scrolled… and scrolled…

Queen To Be was not on the list.

Yeah, yeah… it’s just one contest, but I’m not going to pretend it doesn’t suck to devote yourself to something, feel amazing about it, and then not have it received they way you’re hoping. I still have the Nicholls Fellowship and the Austin Film Festival contests to hear back from, but with Just Effing’s entry numbers likely significantly less than those two…

Blah… I’ll just wait to see what happens.

Like my wife assured me as I was wiping the snot from my nose last night, I’m becoming a better writer everyday. In that I am confident, and I’m also proud that the quality of my work has progressively increased with each of the feature scripts I’ve completed.

Congrats to the 60 writers who were selected as Just Effing Quarterfinalists.

* The Story Bodyguard is running their “First Ten Pages” contest.  Only the first ten pages of your script will be judged.  You can win $500.  Submit your entry by midnight on January 15th.

* Total Film put together their top 100 behind the scenes photos.

* My wife and I are in the early pre-production stages of creating our own short film.  This piece, though random, got me fired up.

* The wittiness and creativity of the writing in this piece is incredible… so incredible that makes me feel bad about my own talents. You have to watch, “My Blackberry Is Not Working”.

* Julie Gray is running another contest, this time asking you to come up with the best premise line using a few set guidelines.  Due on New Years Eve.  While you’re on her site, check out her heartfelt post about the ups and down she experienced throughout the past year. 

* BAFTA released a new video series which features six lectures on screenwriting, lead by writers Aline Brosh, Christopher Hampton, Simon Beaufoy, David Hare, Ronald Harwood, and Peter Morgan.

* Roger Ebert gives us his best feature films of 2010.

* Jason Fried discusses why people don’t get anything done while they’re at work (lecture featured on TED).

* Go see The Fighter… immediately.  And before you go, check out this video of Christian Bale and Mark Wahlberg taking a break to sing while out on their press rounds.

* Adele gives an acoustic performance of her new single, “Rolling In The Deep”, while in Hollywood recently.

Check-check-check ‘em out:

Kitsune Noir highlights the creative efforts of artist James Ward, who uses plates as his canvas.

Julie Gray is running another short scene contest, this time requiring you to use the words “knit two,” “purl two,” and “Tennessee.”  It’s due September 7th.

Scott Myers at Go Into The Story writes a post on how Billy Wilder (perhaps my all-time favorite screenwriter/director) writes a script.  Take notes.

Screenwriter Jeanne Bowerman offers a heart-felt and inspiring post on the positives of giving your all towards something and in return getting the bitch slap of rejection.

This print by Sam Brown needs to find it’s way into my office, and perhaps the writing area of most aspiring screenwriters.

cartoon by Alex Noriega

Here are this week’s links for Tuesday:

Okay, nothing like waiting until the last minute, but Julie Gray has a brand new single-page scene contest up on her site.  The scene has to use the words Bengal tiger, hot air balloon, and Krakatoa.  Due date is Wednesday, July 29 at 12 am PST.  Get more details here.

Go Into The Story continues its “40 Days of Screenplays“, covering movies like Dead Poets Society, The Matrix, Thelma & Louise, Die Hard, The Shawshank Redemption and Some Like It Hot.  Go get your edumication on.

The DaVinci Dilemma discusses how you can complete projects by just dedicating an hour to them per day.

Listen and purchase Zo!’s new album, SunStorm.  You’ll be happy you did.

oil painting by Abdi Farah

What are they going to want next?  One of my kidneys?

Buying a house is way too difficult than it needs to be.  Every time we think we’re going to reach a point of smooth sailing, some storm blows in and here come the choppy waters.  There’s going to be SOME big decision to make, most likely one that’s going to cost us money and is associated with paperwork that requires us to sign our names no less than thirty times.

If we make it through this week, we just may get ourselves a house.

I’ve been absolutely slammed, but it feels good to work hard.  I’ve been handling the house stuff and writing more freelance articles than I ever thought I would, all the while still putting in quality rewriting work into Super Ted.  Every night I’m ready to pass out at eight o’clock, but it’s that good-tired feeling, similar to how I feel after a hard run.

Because it’s my goal to have Super Ted ready for the masses at the end of the month, I put together a query letter for the script and submitted it to Write On!’s June Query Letter Contest.  It was just announced this morning that my letter for Super Ted took third, which means while it needs some tweaking, perhaps it has a chance to catch the eye of whoever opens the mail at the production companies I’ll be hitting up.

Here is the announcement of the contest winners over at Write On!

necklace by Oh Curses Necklaces

Oh, disappointment…

The house stuff is looking like it’ll take a miracle to work out.

Script PIMP announced their twenty finalists and Super Ted was NOT on the list.

But, the biggest bummer of the week?

I had to sit through the entire 99 excruciating minutes of What Happens In Vegas.

However, the weather’s beautiful today, there’s wine in my kitchen, and I have a four day weekend coming up… soooo, life’s not too bad.

Back to work I go.

EDIT:  Woo-hoo!  Super Ted was named today as a quarterfinalist in the Silver Screenwriting Competition.

Chest bumps and high-fives to Ian Murillo, Dries Coomans, and Lisa Scott, who will have their scenes acted out and filmed to eventually be voted on.

They ended up having all of the judges read and score each of the twelve semifinalist scenes, then took the average score to come up with the final and top three winners.  You can find the official announcement at the Cyberspace Open home page.

Here are the rest of the top scores, including where I finished up:

1.  Ian Murillo 95.14*
2.  Dries Coomans 94.85*
3.  Lisa Scott 94.43*
4.  Diane Lisa Johnson 94.42
5.  Tim Harding 94.28
6.  Philip Schneider 94.28
7.  Walter Thompson 93.86
8.  Erik Fetler 93.71
9.  Crystal Ann Taylor 93.71
10.  Marcys Leary 93.57
11.  Rich Frost 93.42
12.  Kimberly Nunley 92.85

I’m bummed, but overall absolutely thrilled to have made it as far as I did.  On a side note, how bad would it suck to be Diane Lisa Johnson?

Best of luck to the three who are still in it.  For me, it’s time to move on, work on rewriting Super Ted, and get to outlining my new script.

She breaks us into different “types” of writers, of which she’s discovered from her extensive experience of being around and working with writers.  One such type is…

Your young, intellectual, articulate type who is maybe 28 but who seems 54. Well put together, very informed, a real expert on film and literature. Personal challenge: Needs to lighten up. Julie says: Live a little, kid. You have plenty of time to write. Work on your “voice.” 

Stalker?  I’m close to 28, a complete nerd when it comes to absorbing information, and I definitely need to chill the hell out sometimes. 

Her descriptions of and advice for the various types of writers are pretty funny.  Read the rest of her post, here.

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No news yet on the top 3 finalists of the 2010 Cyberspace Open, though they did update their page with a, “Please be patient, we’re working on it,” statement.  Thanks for my newly-acquired anxiety disorder, guys.

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I’m slowly putting work into this site, so you may notice changes and updates periodically.  I put some time into the ABOUT section, as well as put together some fun new sidebar images.

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I’ve been on a movie-watching rampage, catching films such as A Clockwork Orange (what the hell), Breakfast at Tiffany’s, His Girl Friday, Harold and Maude, and Prince of Persia:  Sands of Time (don’t look at me sideways, I got dragged to it because my wife has a crush on Jake Gyllenhaal).  You can always find my own personal score for the movies I watch this year by clicking on Wall-E’s image over there to your right.

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Those interested in stepping up their query letter game can enter the Write On! Online: Query Contest for screenplays and teleplays.  There’s no fee to enter and prizes include having your query read by literary agent David Boxerbaum of APA and some other goodies.  Due date is June 30th.  Find additional info, here.

With a 93 on my short about Chester the Squirrel, I just made the cut.

From the top 12, a team of 7 readers have chosen their favorite 3 scenes and should be announcing them soon.

Congratulations to the top 12 (find the official list, here):

95) Ian Murillo
94) Dries Coomans
94) Walter Thompson
95) Philip Schneider
94) Lisa Scott
94) Crystal Ann Taylor
93) Kimberly Nunley
93) Tim Harding
93) Rich Frost
97) Diane Lisa Johnson
93) Erik Fetler
95) Marcus Leary
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On another note, my feature, My Brother Mick, failed to make it into the top 10 of Script Doctor Eric’s 2010 Screenwriting Contest.  Congratulations to the ten who are still in the running!

COMPULSIVE LYOR by Erin Frankfort
CONTRACT by Jerod Brennen
DREAMING OF ME by Traci Peterson
HORROR COMIC by Stephen Hoover
IN DEAD COMPANY by Sophia Branson
KILLSIGHT by Josh Barbee
PICK YOUR KIDS by Jonathan Kuhn
REFLECTION by Dennis Shutty
SHORT TERM FORECAST by Brad Sorensen
THE REBOUND GUY by Lisa Super