David

Change

[scrippet] INT. CLASSROOM Mr. SMITH walks into the room and lays his briefcase on the desk. He sighs. SMITH Okay class. Today we’re going to talk about the Reagan Revolution. The students yawn. He writes the words on the board. SMITH Have any of you ever heard of this? The students look around. They’re bored.Continue reading “Change”

Writing for the budget

When you first start writing scripts, one of the great liberating experiences is the ability to start a scene with something like this: [scrippet] EXT. PARIS STREET – AFTERNOON Smith steps to the curb and hails a cab… [/scrippet] And then, you can follow up with the next scene, with a quantum leap: [scrippet] EXT.Continue reading “Writing for the budget”

Valley Film Festival

One of my scripts took “best screenplay” honors at the SF Valley International Film Festival last night. It was a nice cap to my first trip to LA. Writing isn’t exactly lonely work, as much as it is isolating. Even when you’re working in the coffee shops with other presumptuous writers (where I am rightContinue reading “Valley Film Festival”

Food in film

I’m in the fog that creeps in after I finish a script, when you wonder what to do next. Of course rewriting is a good idea, but then it also makes sense to get a little distance. I guess I could clean the garage and change the oil before starting the second draft. But insteadContinue reading “Food in film”

Spec season

Regular as fireflies on the Fourth, October is the time of year that Nicholl inquiries begin to roll in. I’ve had the good fortune of placing spec scripts high in that contest two years in a row. Once they release the list of quarterfinalists and above, production companies and a few agencies will reach outContinue reading “Spec season”

Procrastination

This video is kind of freaky. Like someone’s been watching me.

Top screenplay contests

A couple years ago when I finished my first script, I had no idea what to do next. Unlike fiction, you can’t just send queries to agents and expect any kind of response, even rejections. Screenwriting contests and script competitions are one avenue to get industry attention. These are the best options based on myContinue reading “Top screenplay contests”

Do you read your stuff out loud?

I don’t know how many times over the years that I’ve recommended to writer friends and fiction writing students to read their work out loud. Not only will you catch every typo and grammar glitch, but you’ll be able to hear the ring and rattle of the words in your head. Now that a tinyContinue reading “Do you read your stuff out loud?”

The hearth is your friend

This is the only truth. As much as writers might be in love with the romance in Dylan Thomas’s notion of the hearth killing the writer, a working stiff life can be your greatest ally. A full-time job requires punctuality. It requires a schedule. And when you start to wedge moments into that schedule forContinue reading “The hearth is your friend”

Morning dialog

Cats that wake you at first light are useful. Suddenly you’re stumbling to the garage with a cup of cat food, bleary eyed, wondering where you are. You walk past where the Mac is charging on the counter, and suddenly you’re sitting on the front porch typing (or more likely deleting) dialog on your scriptContinue reading “Morning dialog”

Hurricane Lili: Chapter One

SUN-SPARKLE ON whitecaps, stiff onshore breeze pushing the smell of rotting kelp and turtle grass off of the beach, massing clouds on the horizon dark and promising rain: this was the backdrop to the girl on the day that things changed. I watched her over the top of my book and over the rims ofContinue reading “Hurricane Lili: Chapter One”

Disappeared: Prologue

When death came to Angel Hervias on a rock outcropping seven miles north of the border, he barely recognized it. It wasn’t a jaguar’s cough. It wasn’t an owl perched on a limb alongside the path. Nor was it the vision of his sister dressing his own grave with pine boughs on the Day ofContinue reading “Disappeared: Prologue”

The Last Ramble of Wolf 18

A century after timberwolves had been officially declared extinct in Missouri, one wolf traveled 460 miles with hopes of recovering this lost frontier. This article originally appeared online in 2002. WHEN WALKING AT NIGHT, I’m tempted to howl. I have a feeling that a wolf might respond. That’s a strange impulse in central Missouri. HowlingContinue reading “The Last Ramble of Wolf 18”

Back from Ciudad Juarez

Spent a few days on the border. The border patrol didn’t believe me when I said that I was, “just walking around.” I suppose there aren’t many gringos who just wander the back streets of Juarez unless they’re looking for drugs or sex or some sort of nastiness. But the residential districts close to theContinue reading “Back from Ciudad Juarez”

Still all about the content

It’s funny, after years designing for the web, how often I forget the old mantra: content is king. This site is proof. It’s a simple concept (the best concepts always are) where folks send in anonymous postcards revealing a secret. The best are posted to the web. It doesn’t get any more basic…it’s a virtual corkboard.Continue reading “Still all about the content”