Silver Screenwriting Semifinalists

Well, the Silver Screenwriting semifinalists were announced over the weekend.  Congratulations to the twenty semifinalists who are still in the running.  Unfortunately Super Ted was not among them.

It’s a bit disappointing that what I feel is my best work of date is not being received as well as I had hoped.  Here’s the updated look at Super Ted’s current status in the screenwriting contest world.

Super Ted's Contest Life

Still, I will be spending this week querying the hell out of the script and we’ll see what happens.

In regards to the house, we had a last second snafu that came to our attention on Friday, but it has since been resolved and hopefully we’re still able to sign the final papers on Tuesday.

The Renegade Craft Fair over the weekend was pretty freaking incredible.  I picked up a t-shirt by SEIBEI that I’ve been dying to get my hands on for a bit, and came across an awesome artist by the name of Catia Chien.

This week is a big week…

* buying a house

*querying Super Ted

* getting back to my old workout ways

Better get a jump on it!

It’s been a long time… I shouldn’t have left you…

photo by Jan von Holleben

Oh hi.

It’s been a little bit since we visited.  There has been a lot going on and blah… blah… blah…

The typical.  Life’s been busy so my blog has been the first to get pushed to the side.  But, hopefully things are starting to calm down.

The folks at Nicholl’s decided that my script, Super Ted, was not one of the 326 to make it on to their quarterfinals.  The news stung for about seven hours, but I feel like I haven’t had an opportunity to really dwell on it.  I’m rewriting it and prepping to send query letters out at the end of this week.

After the news from Nicholl’s, and with Script PIMP giving Super Ted the boot earlier in the month, the contest recap as of now is as follows:

Super Ted's Contest Life

Not to be a Debbie Downer…

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.

Trying my best to Hakuna Matata

I’ve been completely slacking with my blog posts lately.  My last few days in bullet points…

* Went into contract for what possibly could be our first house

* Experienced approximately three nervous breakdowns

* Celebrated SF Pride with some great friends and really bad beer

* Watched the USA Soccer Team fall to Ghana

* Went and saw Knight and Day… disappointed with it and yet unable to pinpoint why

The house stuff is super exciting, and yet I have this mild yet constant nausea that just won’t leave me the hell alone.  Emails with documents needing my signature keep flooding in. 

I need to get out of the house and leave my laptop at home if I’m going to get any writing in.

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On July 1st, the Silver Screenwriting Competition will be announcing their quarterfinalists and Script Pimp will be releasing the list of their top 20 finalists and prize winners.  I submitted Super Ted to both contests, so Thursday will be an exciting day.

Silver Screenwriting top ten just announced…

It was really cool while it lasted.

Taken from “Just F-n,” the 2009 Silver Screenwriting top ten:

BET ON BLOOD by Patrick Barb
ENDOWMENT by Ian Samplin
EVERLASTING by Brent Spencer and Jonis Agree
INUGAMI by Rich Figel
HORROR COMIC by Stephen Hoover
LIFE AMONG THE RUINS by Anthony Fisher
SHIFT by Kodjo Akeseh Tsakpo
THE GREAT AMERICAN LOSER by Jess DiGiacinto
THE HAPPINESS EXPERIMENT by Alex Darrow
WAY TO THE CAGE by Richard Michael Lucas

First off, congrats to the ten who made it! Pretty sweet…

I was talking to my wife last night about how I was actually nervous this round. During the first two, I never expected to see my name, so I didn’t think much about it until after it was announced. Getting so close this time, however, made me start to daydream on the days leading up to today’s announcement… “What if I make the top ten?”

So, I can honestly admit I’m a little disappointed, but I’m also happy that I got to where I did. I’m going to go for a good run to clear my head, and will spend the next few weeks improving the script and preparing to pitch the hell out of it next month.

Northern California residents are the coolest…

My friend Becky dropped me a note the other day to recommend a book by Northern California author Anne Lamott called Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life. And because I’m a huge lover of borrowing over spending money, I skipped on Barnes & Noble and swooped by the library yesterday and picked it up.

Unbelievable…

Excuse me while I go throw up now…

The Silver Screenwriting Contest semi-finalists were announced this afternoon, which represent 4% of total entrants…

Taken from Julie Gray’s The Rouge Wave.

Silver Screenwriting Semi-Finalists:

Bet on Blood by Patrick Barb (horror)
Chimana by Paiman Kalayeh (romantic drama)
Endowment by Ian Samplin (drama)
Everlasting by Brent Spencer and Jonis Agee (drama)
Fertile Attraction by Mariah Wilson (rom-com)
Hair Today by Dennis Douda (comedy/family)
Hero Quest by Joel Dorland (action/comedy)
Horror Comic by Stephen Hoover (thriller)
Hunting Picasso by Marlene Shikegawa (thriller)
Inugami by Rich Figel (thriller)
Life Among the Ruins by Anthony Fisher (heist thriller)
Meadowlanz by Moon Molson (drama)
Mechanicsville by Jason Thornton and Chris Thornton (drama)
My Brother Mick by Kim Nunley (drama/thriller)
Offramps by Patrick O’Riley (comedy)
One Night Stand by Ian Coyne (horror)
Plus Size by Jacob Roman (comedy)
Raeford’s Grill by David Meyer (drama)
Shift by Kodjo Akeseh Tsakpo (thriller)
The Basement by Scott Shackleford (drama)
The Cool Kids by Cliff Zimonowski (thriller)
The Great American Loser by Jess DiGiacinto (dramedy)
The Happiness Experiment by Alex Darrow (dramedy)
The Warriors of Westgate by Michael Harriel (drama)
Upgrade by Louis Rosenberg (sci-fi)
Way to the Cage by Richard Michael Lucas (drama)
When in Limbo by Adam King (thriller)

Going to go with My Brother Mick

I made the decision over the weekend that I’m going to pitch My Brother Mick at the Screenwriting Expo in October.

I was hoping that Easier Said Than Done would be ready, but I want to be 100% confident in my work before I try and sell it to somebody. Easier Said Than Done might be ready, but I want to start preparing my presentation now, and I think with some additional work, My Brother Mick will be a strong one to go with.

I haven’t looked at the script since I submitted it to the Silver Screenwriting Competition (of which the top 10 finalists will be announced by September 10th, dah!) earlier in the year, so my first order of business was to reread the story.

I headed to the local coffee shop and sat down to read it all the way through. I think the time away will prove to be beneficial. I immediately saw some changes I could make to strengthen the story, both smaller tweaks like wording issues that will improve the pacing, and complete story structure issues to increase conflict.

I’ll spend the next month getting it as strong as possible and putting together my pitching presentation.

I’m playing with the idea of having a “pitching party,” and inviting some people over to liquor them up and practice my pitch with before the big event in October. Why does the thought of that make me more nervous than imaging myself in front of production studio representatives?

Calm the heck down already…

I can’t seem to get my mind focused this morning. After having a relaxing and fun weekend with friends, family, a great movie, tasty food, and incredible wine, you’d think I’d be ready to rock.

I’m almost too excited to knuckle down and get back to work. Getting word about the Silver Screenwriting Competition gave me such a rush, I feel like I’ve been planted in Starbucks, overdosing on caffeine all weekend.

If this is as far as I make it in the competition, I will still consider it a success.

I wouldn’t be satisfied only getting to this point, but it’s turned on the turbo-boosters on my confidence.

It has seemed to jolt me into excitement about even the smallest things. I’m amped about writing, my shirt designs, looking for a house, growing my garden, stepping up my cooking game (wow, I realize how old I’m getting making that list). But I’m so charged I can’t even get my mind to stay in one spot and focus on only one thing at a time.

There are only two things that can get my mind to behave itself. The first, drinking wine, would be inappropriate considering it’s only 10:30 in the morning. The other, which is the technique I’m going to utilize, is to go for a long run.

Hopefully when I get back I will have sweat out all my anxiety and can really start in on my to-do list.
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Go see Julie & Julia. Besides having to sit in the front row because the entire retirement community was in attendance, I thorougly enjoyed it. Great work Nora Ephron, Stanley Tucci, and the greatest actor of our time, Meryl Streep.

High without dope…

Since yesterday I have been just camped out on cloud 9. I received an email at the end of the day Friday that my script, My Brother Mick, made it through to the quarterfinals of the Silver Screenwriting Competition.