We were blamed all day for bringing the insane rain to the southland.

Met up with good friend/mentor/teacher/awesome dude/past Guild guest, Blake Snyder over in Beverly Hills.  Had  quick but awesome chat about living and writing in LA, new story ideas, and of course, I got to soak up his infectious optimism.  Nicest guy ever. We returned to the Beetle to find a $55 parking ticket, courtesy of the Beverly Hills PD.  Assclowns.

We visited our friend Mike and his two awesome doggies, Hemi and Buttons at Doggie Styles. Got in some much needed puppy time since the Brando is back in Seattle with Apollo (the pekingese/chihuahua) and Molly (Manager of Chocolati in Greenwood).  Laura couldn’t resist getting him a shark hoodie.

Drove around Beverly Hills for a long while, ended up in Century City for a meeting with the lovely and talented Dan Nguyen, who is over at Fox Atomic. Cool office. It was exciting walking around the Fox lot, of course, until it started pouring rain (which didn’t stop).  The cafeteria we were in was a mixture of h.s., Devil Wears Prada, and the Microsoft cafeterias.  Weird, crowded, bustling, hot, loud, etc.

Dropped some coinage at the Fox company store.  The lady working there was so distracted with her party plans for Grammy night (on the phone the whole time), that she accidentally gave us the employee discounts ($15 each) on all the seasons of Arrested Development. S-C-O-R-E.

Post Dan, we explored the depressing Mar Vista, the shiny Marina Del Ray (MDR as they call it), kickass Venice (visited the Arbor store), and Santa Monica. We met a really bitchy “celebrity” who none of us recognized. Apparently, she’s a rock star. All I know is she’s mean and “has body odor.”

Went to George Mastra’s book signing of Fidali’s Way. He used to write on Breaking Bad, so several alums were present.  Patty Lin invited us, and we were joined by Sanjay Shah.  We met a guy, Clark, who was a research assistant on Mad Men and getting his MFA at AFI PDQ. How cool is that?

Finally we ate dinner (vegan friendly for the wife), and hoofed it back to the Valley after spending 14+ hours on the road. Phew.

Anyway, the party will be catered by Laura, of course. At my bequest or behest or whatever the word is, we’re having
mini-pb&j, ants-on-a-log, and deviled eggs. Awesomeness will ensue as we play ROCK BAND 2 and discuss what it’s like turned 29, again.
So F U Seattle weather, we’re gonna party anyway. We’re that hardcore.

As for the Coolest Book on TV Writing…I’ve been reading Pamela
Douglas’s book, WRITING THE TV DRAMA SERIES (2nd Edition).
Put out by our friends at MWP, this is an extremely comprehensive and exhaustive
book on breaking stories, writing a spec, the business of TV writing, getting
a job, and contains great interviews with people like Steven Bochco (NYPD Blue,
Hill Street Blues), Ann Donahue (CSI:Miami), Melissa Rosenberg (Dexter),
Georgia Jeffries (China Beach, Cagney and Lacey), Damon Lindelof (Lost),
and Ron Moore (BSG).

This is a must read for anyone who wants to write for one-hour television
and do it the right way. There are no illusions here, as Pamela breaks down
all the myths about dramatic TV writing. There’s no doubt that it is hard work,
just a little different type of hard work than writing an original feature.  They’re
all incredibly difficult at times, no? Since
I’m in the process of writing my spec of Burn Notice, it’s come in quite handy.
As many of you know, I’m a total procedural junkie, having written a spec of
Law and Order some time ago and embarking on writing more this/next year.

Did anyone see that Danny Boyle and Charlie Kaufman are going to be at Austin
this year? Holy crap. I’m so glad I’m going. Well, signing off. Got partying
and gorging to do. Finished up my bio for the Austin Film Festival program/website.
Need to get my photo, but having a bad skin week.  (Got my passport
photos for Sweden. Had a big zit in the picture, which will be there in perpetuity,
Oh well.) Anyway, there is something surreal about being listed as a panelist
with people who’ve done real/huge/awesome/stellar/kick-ass/sublime work.   

Anyone else tired of this weather? So gray, so rainy, so awful. Even Brando
didn’t want to go out for a walk. I’m sitting in my favorite coffee shop, surrounded
by everyone else trying to get a pick-me-up. About to add some more pages to
my script, hoping to finish by next week.

Since I haven’t blogged about it yet, let’s talk about the amazing BILL TRUE
and DEAN HYERS. These two are on my top 10 list of nicest guys ever. This list
includes Blake Snyder, by the way. We will bring them back again. For those
of you who missed it, shame on you This was hands down the most invaluable
pitching training I’ve ever had.

We were all nervous as hell. Pitching in front
of an audience is hard. I don’t care who you are. Even as President of NWSG
(basically a volunteer Project Manager) I ranked 6th out of 22, which was a
hard pill to swallow. Of course I blew through my pitch in 37 seconds instead
of the allotted 90 seconds.  I left out my catalyst (duh!) and a major
piece of the subtext/set-up puzzle. 

The hardest thing was to admit that
I didn’t do my best, didn’t prepare properly, and sold myself short by not
using all the time.  I forgot that it doesn’t matter how hard we try to
check our egos and pride at the door, they still crash the party. So,
not only did I learn how to pitch better, more from the heart, and how to hit
the major plot points, but I learned that I need to acknowledge that my ego
is right there with me, vulnerable to, as Dean Hyers would say, devastation.

Phew. Who needs therapy when you can just pitch in front of an audience and
get feedback! Imagine if these guys were mean, I think I would’ve gone home
and drank a bottle of Vodka and watched Taxi Driver. But, in this case, I was
appreciative of their knowledge, brutally honest feedback, and I was inspired
to take my pitch to the next level.

Here’s what they said about US…

Aadip,

Dean and I wanted to take a moment to thank you and all the great people of the NWSG for making us feel so welcome and at home this past weekend in Seattle.

As you know, I just sent a message to Linnea Toney of the Austin Film
Festival, telling her what an amazing group you folks have up there. I would
like to echo those sentiments here by reiterating your group really and truly
“gets it right—and it encourages and educates on the art and the business
simultaneously. I am so impressed by the people they get up there to speak—from
Michael Hague to Blake Snyder to Pilar Alessandra. I am even more impressed
by the number of options and potential sales the group is beginning to see.
All I can say is ‘wow.’”

Not only did Dean and I have a great time, we appreciated the groups hunger to learn and to improve. Our hope is that our teaching—based on our personal experience in the trenches—gave them something they can use to help take their writing careers to the next level.

Please send our thanks to the entire group. We look forward to seeing our friends in Seattle again soon!

All the Best,
Bill True & Dean Hyers

Finally, I’m putting it out there. It’s not secret that I am a huge Barack
Obama supporter and consider political involvement an important
part of who I am. I was a delegate to my district and congressional caucuses,
but I’m also going to Spokane next week as a state delegate on behalf of
Obama. I’ve been volunteering on behalf of the campaign for years, even before
there was an official one, so I feel personally involved in his nomination.
That’s the power of a leader like him, he can rally many disenfranchised
voters to at take part and even derive pride and value from the fact that
someone like him can have a serious chance at being President. I want to
say that Hillary Clinton’s commitment to universal healthcare will be her
calling card in the future, whether or not she is involved in the Obama administration
or not. 

I want to congratulate Barack on winning all the delegates necessary and doing
so with class, style, and grace. I’m also excited to try to speak with superdelegates
in WA State about incentivizing filmmakers to shoot their stuff in WA, instead
of going to Canada, Bulgaria, and New Mexico. We’ll see.

On a cheerier note, I’m happy to announce that we’ve received an institutional grant from AMPAS (The Academy guys – the Oscar people).
Besides being really cool (I’ve never written a grant before) it means that we can continue to provide the same level of service to our membership by bringing A-list instructors and talent to the northwest.

Starting Wednesday, I’ll be taking an intro
acting class at Freehold (they moved to Belltown, by the way).  What’s
a FREEHOLD, anyway?  Wish
me luck. I’m not an actor, but I thought this class would help my writing.
I hope this means I don’t have to get a real head shot. Last time I did was
when I tried out for The Apprentice. Long story. They already had an Indian
guy and their "rocker" guy, so no need for the old deepster. That’s OK. It
was a good experience to audition on camera and see what actors go through
on a daily basis.

I prefer to spend my time with my laptop with Final Draft
open, my wireless turned off, a copy of Save The Cat at my side, a cup
of cafe au lait, my dog, and some bebop (Diz, Bird, Monk, Budo, Brownie, Stitt,
Fats, anything with Kenny Clarke, etc.) playing on my iPod.