The Front PageThe Film of the DayThe Latest Radio BroadcastThe Latest KarmaCritique
The Latest PostsThe Latest Comments
|
What Movie Title Does Your Life Most Resemble? 
I’m a full time SCREENWRITER! I bailed off the corporate ladder last week, mates, with nary a glance back nor a smidge of regret. After too many years of relegating my dreams to the back burner, they are now blazing into reality. I’m psyched, I’m jazzed, I’m pumped, I’m ecstatic, I'm off to write ...
Submitted by OnSetChicago on September 4, 2007 - 3:09pm. |
User loginWho's OnlineThere are currently 2 users and 46 guests online.
Online usersThe Latest Donations
The Latest PollBest Actor Of All Time In The Gangster/Crime Film Genre Al Pacino: The Godfather Trilogy/Scarface/Carlito's Way/Donnie Brasco/Serpico 29% Ray Liota: Goodfellas/Cop Land 14% Robert De Niro: Goodfellas/The Godfather Part 2/Mean Streets 29% James Cagney: White Heat/Angels With Dirty Faces/The Public Enemy 14% Marlon Brando: The Godfather Trilogy 0% Joe Pesci: Goodfellas/Casino/A Bronx Tale 14% Total votes: 7 Friend Sites(in no particular order) |
Great!!!
So much happy to read that, Chicago!! :D triple HHHugs! tell us more (well,until the point you're allowed of course)
And about my life movie title... dunno, maybe "Tijuana Blues" or something :)
"Every deep being needs a mask to exist" - F. Nietzche
YEAH! RUM IS IN PROPER ACCORDANCE FOR CELEBRATION!
FIRE THOSE CANNONS! And if any assistance be needed, assitance be granted!
EZEQUIEL
RUM!
I say to ye let us have that rum (and coke;-) the next time I be in L.A. and I'll take ye up on thee kind offerance (I think I just made up a new word, has kind of a Pirates of the Karmabbean ring to it) of assistance.
"The thing to determine conclusively is whether you are in a comedy or a tragedy."--Dr. Jules Hilbert, Stranger Than Fiction
WOW!!! ....... ... er.. ..... WOW AGAIN!
Jan, that is awesome news!! Please please tell us more! As much as you're allowed to, how did this happen, what was the final thing that convinced you, whats the roadmap to the treasure, wench, where be the red X in this map?!?! :)
This is so cool! I promoted this to the front page, there is -no- better news than of a karmacritter moving up in (or into!) the industry!
Final Thing That Convinced Me
Marco,
I've been thinking about your question ever since you posted it, and I'm not sure that there was a *final thing* that convinced me, but a series of experiences that led me to realize that this is what I need to do. Besides what I've already posted in a Screenwriter's Saga, those included: going to Chicago for a conference and ditching meetings I should have attended to watch filming on the street. Accumulating movie ideas that I didn't have the time or energy to write. Visiting with friends who are successful in the independent film business and picking their brains about how they found financial backing, etc. etc. and feeling happy for them and at such a loss for myself that I wasn't willing to GO FOR IT!
Okay, wait, there was a *final thing* and without it, this may never have happened because I do have a family to consider. After talking off and on with my husband about this possibility, he went out of town on business, and I never have asked him why (maybe it was time to think on a long drive), when he got back late at night he said, "You have to do this." And it SCARED ME. But, I slept on it and got up the next day and typed up a letter of resignation. We then started going over our budget and once we realized that we were spending nearly $10,000 a year just in gas and car maintenance for my long commute and added up the other things that would be cut out such as eating out constantly (we are already healthier now that I cook so much more at home!), business clothes, etc. etc. etc. we put the wheels in motion to live on his salary for now, and I turned in that letter.
I realize it isn't something that everyone can do. But for us, it's working. And I can truly say that neither of us have been this *happy* in a long, long time.
"The thing to determine conclusively is whether you are in a comedy or a tragedy."--Dr. Jules Hilbert, Stranger Than Fiction
Wow. Thank you so much for sharing this....
I knew exactly what I had to ask, see, I'm also in a stage where the current job is not exactly bad and it pays the bills, but my passion is in storytelling. You're very blessed having a husband that not only supports your desicion but actually has an income the family can live on in the meanwhile you get yourself established in your true vocation. Right now, I'm the only income for my family, but that will maybe change in the future. Anyway, thank you so much for sharing this, its really something that opens my eyes a lot.
I wish you all the best of luck in the world, truly!! And you know something, my father always said... when you do something with passion, you cannot help but to do your best. And doing your best pays off! You'll have all kinds of success!! You already do, actually, in many ways :)
ME'LADY....
I'm so thrilled for you! And it was great talking to you! Now remember, focus, be strong.
Write every day, line by line, page by page, hour by hour. For above else, beyond imagination and skill, what the world asks of you is courage, courage to risk rejection, ridicule and failure. As you follow the quest for stories told with meaning and beauty, study thoughtfully but write boldly. Then like the hero of a fable, your dance will dazzle the world.
AND DON'T FORGET THE RUM!
EZEQUIEL
ME'MATE...
It was great talking with you, too!
Interesting choice of quote considering I just finished watching Adaptation about ten minutes ago. What a strange, unique film.
Jan
"The thing to determine conclusively is whether you are in a comedy or a tragedy."--Dr. Jules Hilbert, Stranger Than Fiction
nice added detail...
Very cool, Jan!!!
I love the financial analysis part. It is amazing how little money we really *need* to survive and how a second job is a mixed blessing financially... congratulations on seeing into this! It's a very important part of commiting to the artistic journey.
Not that we don't want to earn a great living. That certainly is my goal. I was telling Cici just the other day in a private email that I certainly didn't bargain for living in the trenches as long as I have. But looking back, its been a pretty cool ride, and every year I become more skilled and, contrary to what one might think, more confident that something will turn around for me. It's only a matter of time.
Keep cooking those healthy meals... maybe we can add recipe exchange to our emails!
p.s. I definitely live in a comedy... a dark comedy!!!!
Good for you for taking the plunge!!!
Congratulations Jan!!! It's a difficult choice cause there is a lot pressure in our culture to tow the line and work a 9-5 job... it forces us artist to sit on the fence with one foot on either side and being unable to give full enery to any choice.
Goodluck!
I'm Dancin Ma Jig!
Chicago ta fore with yer deadlights on the prize!
TAKE HEED MATES!
This be no wench! We have a breasted pirate sailin' with unmerciful cannons at full sail!
EZEQUIEL
The Screenwriter's Saga
Our story opens a few years back with a screenwriter pounding out a variety of spec sitcom scripts. Her biggest cheerleader takes her on as a client. The agent shops the scripts around and generates a great deal of interest. Calls to major studios are being returned! Conversations take place. Deals seem thisclose to being made.
And then …studio heads are sacked and their projects are dead in the water, reality tv rears its head and brings with it the death of the sitcom, and the disillusioned agent leaves the business. Simultaneously, the screenwriter’s mother becomes terminally ill …and so does her father.
Soon after, the grieving writer is juggling an estate to settle, a husband, two children, and a dream slipping away. The mom in the Midwest does what is practical, what is expected, what doesn’t seem foolish to all those around her. She returns to school, gets a master’s degree, joins the corporate world, and raises a family.
She makes a good living, the occasional travel is interesting, and the day-to-day work routine is …boring as all get out. The urge to write creeps back. She ignores it in the exhaustion of her two hour commute and long days. The urge to write grows stronger. She ignores it in the need to feed college funds so that those two kids can live their dreams.
The urge to write becomes impossible to ignore. The corporate librarian begins to dabble in writing at night and on weekends. She uses vacation time to work on movie sets. Conversations with close friends making a living in the independent film business reveal that even though they are making less money than ever before, they’ve never been happier.
The urge to write takes over. Plans are put into motion. The screenwriter takes a trip to L.A. tests the waters. The waters beckon.
The Saga continues …
"The thing to determine conclusively is whether you are in a comedy or a tragedy."--Dr. Jules Hilbert, Stranger Than Fiction
an artist's journey
I love your synopsis of the decision making and events leading up to focusing on your art. Inspires me to write my own... a much more complicated journey, since it took a long time and several careers for me to figure out which art to even focus on!
Do Write Your Own!
And I'll look forward to reading it.
If I'd put all the details in mine, no one would have believed it. My life has definitely been Stranger Than Fiction. I'm striving, however, to determine conclusively that I AM in a comedy.
"The thing to determine conclusively is whether you are in a comedy or a tragedy."--Dr. Jules Hilbert, Stranger Than Fiction
TAKE NO PRISONERS!
If you need any advice on the business of writing, feel free to email me at
san_diablo@sbcglobal.net
I KNOW I CAN HELP, or at least point you in the right direction, if you need it!
EZEQUIEL
Such An Offer
Cannot be refused! I will email thy kind sir post-haste!
"The thing to determine conclusively is whether you are in a comedy or a tragedy."--Dr. Jules Hilbert, Stranger Than Fiction
So exciting!!!!
And so inspiring! I think you have decided for yourself that you are in a comedy. Your saga sounds like it's leading you to a whole new series of adventures. Can't wait to hear more!
These Waters Be Not Fer The Faint Of Heart!
Breasted pirates Ahoy! May yur dead reckoning bring you to booty! May yur bowsprit have spirit my fair corsair!
AYE!
I say rum be in proper accord for this pirate lady!
EZEQUIEL
Inspiration
This is quite the tale. You've inspired me to get off my ass and stop feeling sorry for myself.
Yes, I wrote a novel. I wrote a novel that nobody read because I was too proud to concede on royalties and/or too scared to put it out there and allow it to succeed on its own merits.
So the next move...?
Finish my second novel before I die and maybe in the interrum turn in a screenplay or two to the Sublim thingy EZ tried to explain to me.
"Baffling the critics since 1971."
Post new comment