365 Days to Fame

Failure

2008-11-12T05:01:00.000-08:00

365 days later and no fame. It's been a rough year, one of the worst in my life.

Election Day Has Begun

2008-11-03T21:01:00.000-08:00

History is about to be made.

Paul Newman

2008-09-28T05:06:00.000-07:00

America has not only lost one of its finest actors, the world has lost one of its greatest men. Paul Newman's life both on and off screen knows no rivals. The fact that all of these achievements could be found in one man is truly amazing.

I loved so many of Mr. Newman's films. He played the kind of roles that many actors were afraid of. He didn't want to be instantly likable. His characters would dare you to like them, make you work at liking them. Every character had a past that began way before the story began on film.

Off screen, his charity through his food line and his camps was amazing. For almost 20 years the "Hole in the Wall" camp has given hope and joy to thousands of families. Mr. Newman has given so much to so many.

My thoughts and prayers go out to his family.

Hurricane Coverage Reax

2008-09-05T05:04:00.000-07:00

I am not going to claim total victory, but the coverage went from: "We may see this storm strengthen up to a Cat 5..." to "Look what this strong Cat 2 has done to this stores awning and let get a shot of this garbage can rolling down the street." Thanks Geraldo.

Too much hype makes Jack a dull boy. Actually too much hype makes Jack not want to evacuate when a real hurricane comes because he's become callous to the steady stream of media exaggeration.

Hurricane Hype?

2008-08-30T05:31:00.000-07:00

If Hurricane Gustav actually does hit New Orleans I will be very surprised. As someone who works in the news industry its so easy to see the planets align on this story.

- A hurricane hits Mexico= yawn
- A hurricane hits Texas= Not bad
- A hurricane threatens New Orleans on the Anniversary of Katrina= Pretty good.
- A category 4 monster, causes a mass exodus mere days before it destroys the battered Big Easy forever= A mutli-day media ratings extravaganza!

I'm not saying that the hype might not be real. I'm just saying they need the hype. Be mindful.

A message to the members ofthe Media traveling with Sen. Obama

2008-07-24T05:58:00.000-07:00

Stop it!

The general public might not be able to see what you are doing, if they even care anymore, but I do. Your trying to create a legend which wouldn't be so bad if you weren't doing so for selfish reasons.

You're following Obama around like a bunch of love struck groupies. You want him to win and you're doing a horrible job hiding it.

Why might you ask? Look at the big picture. If McCain wins what happens, or rather what doesn't. First of it won't be historic and therefore not as interesting. Second regardless of how long John claims he'll live it won't be that long in legacy terms. He possibly might not even run for a second terms, strike three.

Senator Obama has it all. He's a first a trail blazer, schools all over the country are going to be buying new letters for their renaming ceremonies the day after he wins the election. He's young so his media darlings can milk him for decades. Finally he seems like an all or nothing leaders, he's either going to lead America to greatness or into the abyss. Great material for articles and books.

That's all the whores I mean members of the media seem to care about. They want to have interesting stories to tell at parties and be there on the ground floor to write countless books about how they were there with Obama in the struggle making history.

It is selfish and it's sicking.

Endings

2008-06-20T14:40:00.000-07:00

I rented an indie called "Player 5150" a tale about he perils of gambling. The film starts off rocky, low production value and lots of cliches about how loan sharks behave. Why do movie mobsters always have to be so cool and clever? Maybe I've just seen too many movies, but I would rather go subtle then over the top. Most criminals are blunt not witty.

As the story progressed I became interested and started rooting for the main character played by Ethan Embry. His performance took what could have been a flat and uninteresting film and really pumped it up a few notches. Kudos to Mr. Embry on what might one day be defined as his break out performance.

The movie kept building and raising the stakes, it had a great false "Rocky" moment where it looked like he was going to gamble his way out of the debt. At times I had to look away because I have has similar experiences on a much smaller scale. I've never gambled away my life saving, but I have walked into a casino with 200 dollars saying "I'm only going to play with 100" and driving away 4 hours later pissed.

My biggest complaint is in regards to the ending. This movie really has two endings. The real one that communicates the moral evils of gambling and the feel good nonsense that follows. The lives of compulsive gamblers end poorly, its pretty much a fact.

Still this film is certainly worth watching. B-

What is going on with NY?

2008-06-18T05:23:00.000-07:00

I was talking to another colleague in the media about this year and how news heavy it has been. In 2008 the following things have happened:

- A giant crane Collapsed
- Our Governor gettingg caught with a prostitute, one of may we're told
- We got the first blind and the first black governor of New York.
- The Pope came.
- Our junior senator came pretty close to becoming president.
- Bear Sterns melted down.
- Some one tried to curse the Yankees
- The Sean Bell trial.
- A second crane collapsed.

This is pretty impressive, but it's astonishing when you consider that that the year isn't even half over yet! Interesting times indeed.

Typey Type Type

2008-06-15T09:39:00.000-07:00

Now for something completely different. I'm actually going to talk about writing. My foolish belief that writing something and casting it off into the world would be all I needed to succeed is slowly dying.

Now all I want is for someone to call me up and say they read it. In fact if someone came to my house knocked on my door, told me they hated my screenplay, and kicked me in the pills I would prefer that over to silence of nothing. That's where I am right now.

I've decided to push on and write something else for people put onto a big pile and ignore. As writing for me goes, this one is flying by and I can honestly say its the best thing I have ever written.

Oh well, back to writing.

God Speed Mr. Russert

2008-06-13T18:38:00.000-07:00

Tim Russert was a true giant in this industry. The sheer joy that he experienced in the covering of politics was obvious to anyone who watched. In a time when political coverage has become tainted with hate and bias, Mr. Russert was a bastion of authenticity and fairness.

I never met the man, but one of my fondest memories of him as a viewer came on the morning after "Super Tuesday". I was having my breakfast and turned on MSNBC(Morning Joe) to hear the results. Tim came on to discuss the results and I noticed that he hadn't shaved and his hair was messy. It was then revealed that Tim never went to bed that night, he had been up all night reviewing the numbers. That's how much he loved that job, it wasn't work to him it was something he really cared about and enjoyed.

My thoughts and prayers are with his family.

You got to keep the devil,way down in a hole.

2008-06-10T19:41:00.000-07:00

I recently just finished season five of "The Wire" and all I can say is believe the hype. For years I have heard people go on and on about how amazing that show is so about a month a go I threw season one onto the ol netflix.

I couldn't get enough of this show. As soon as the disc came in I would bang it out. In some case it wasn't that hard considering that their was only two episodes on some discs. I understand the psychological value of selling a five disc set for eighty bucks, that people would feel ripped off if the only got three disc. Here's an idea, put three discs in a big box.

This series offers so much, interesting stories, dynamic characters that change and grow right before your eyes, constant action( not three episode of dream sequences like some other HBO programs).

The best thing I can say about "The Wire" is that it sparks conversation. The true measure for a show or film for me is its ability to generate debate and discussion amongst myself and my friends. This show has that in spades.

Rent it, you won't be disappointed.

100,000 miles!

2008-06-09T21:25:00.000-07:00

My Jeepster crossed the 100k mark recently, and it did it with out a single mechanical problem. I have a running bet with my friend Joe that my Cherokee won't make it to 150,000. We shall see.

Explain this to me please.

2008-06-08T11:13:00.000-07:00

I was listening to BBC on the radio yesterday and the topic of discussion was the conclusion of the democratic primary. They reviewed the entire ordeal from the beginning to Hilary's final concession. Strategies were analyzed, the mistakes, the strengths. All in all the coverage was pretty impressive.

Until the end when the announcer concluded that America has shown that it isn't ready for a female president. Is that it? America is just to sexist for Hilary Clinton? Is that the problem, bigotry?

How about this? Maybe, just maybe Hilary Clinton lost because of Hilary Clinton? Perhaps her husbands baggage was too much, or that many voters thought she was insincere, or that she pushed for socialized medicine and then pulled a 180 when the insurance companies threw enough money at her.

Was their some sexism, sure some men probably didn't vote for her because she was a woman. Of course that number would be nothing compared to millions of older women who voted for based primarily on gender. I love double standards.

I'm not an expert on the political sciences, but I honestly think that Hilary's loss can be attributed in large part to the content of her character. That and when most people look at her they see an asshole boss from a job that quit years ago, but still recall with intense hatred.

I didn't vote for Hilary, independent voters aren't allowed to vote in NY primaries. I guess I'll vote for Obama in November, I wouldn't want the world to think I was too racist for an African American president.

Suck My White Ass Big Oil!

2008-06-01T19:24:00.000-07:00

The point has finally been reached where it is financially detrimental for me to drive to work. My commute cost has literally tripled in the last 5 years. Tolls on the George Washington Bridge have spiked to 8 dollars, up from 6. The Tri-Borough has jumped a buck as well( I have to pay this toll twice a day.) And the biggest burden of all, gas has gone from 1.60- 3.85(Jersey gas is super cheap compared to the national average).

The time has come to take the train. Well, not just a train. A train, then a Jersey Train, and then a bus. Still even with all the switches and scheduling headaches I still end up cutting my traveling cost by more then half (and adding 45 minutes onto my commute time in some cases).

I had been shopping for a hybrid or a Mini, but the cost saving in the MPG difference is not enough to keep me in a vehicle. The only feasible solution would be an electric car that I charge with solar power from my home.

Perhaps in five years when I have a home I will save up the money to put solar panels on it and use them to charge my Tesla Roadster(bad ass). For now I will be rocking my portable DVD player, or reading, or staring out the window of a LIRR train as I try to figure out what to do with all the money that the Oil criminals and the toll trolls will no longer be getting from me.

1/2 Way to Nowhere

2008-05-31T09:43:00.000-07:00

This blog is 180+ days into its time frame and very little has happened. I could always hide behind the fact that I have to work to earn my keep, but like a good friend of mine loves to remind me, "Other people have achieved more with less".

To be completely honest, my biggest problem is that I don't know where to go. I'm like one of those space-walking astronauts, floating out there above the earth with no ability to control his/her direction.

I guess I'll do the only thing I can, keep writing.

NYC: The Riots Start When the Sun Leaves

2008-04-25T02:02:00.000-07:00

Sean Bell verdict today, I have a bad feeling.

All Your Friends are Going to Be Saying This.

2008-04-23T19:10:00.000-07:00

I coined a new phrase the other day.

"Falling Down an Escalator"- 1. An awful situation, that never seems to end. 2. An unpleasant experience that continues for a prolonged amount of time.

Go Curse Yourself Boston

2008-04-14T19:20:00.000-07:00

Only in New York!

A few days ago the NY Post broke a story that a construction worker, who was pouring the cement that will become the new Yankee stadium committed the greatest sin in sports. He tried to put a curse on the Yankees!

How? While the cement was pouring he threw in a Boston Red Sox jersey, specifically an Ortiz jersey. In doing so he hoped to desecrate one of the future great cathedrals of baseball and hex New York favorite sports team.

The story spread through the city like wild fire. Was it true? Could this bring on a curse, perhaps reverse the curse of the Bambino(I know they won the series, but they will always be the curse sox to me)? Should it be dug up? The outrage was incredible. A few days later I found out the Derek Jeter himself wanted the shirt removed.

So I shot the package on Friday, it came out really well, end of story.

I walk into work Sunday morning to get my story. Where'm I going? "Yankees stadium" my assignment editor tells me. Huh? No game today? "The Yankees are digging up the shirt and they want the press to cover it." Can you believe that? In a stadium that hasn't been completed, the Yankee organization is bringing in construction workers on Sunday (Big O.T.) to essentially destroy the stadium to get to a shirt in front of the entire NYC press corp so Yankee fans can rest assured that their team is not cursed.

My reporter and I get there and SWEET JESUS! Everyone is there, print, tv, radio, every station on the dial. I knew it was big but, there we are, about 25 media people huddle around a small hole while two guy with jackhammers and drills try to get at the shirt.

After about 15 mintues or so they dislodge the shirt, pull it out of the hole and show it to the world. The shirt was in surprisingly good condition. The Yankees plan to auction it and give the proceeds to charity, all class. Of course I hope whoever buys the shirt burns it and dumps the ashes at Fenway, making a super curse(Watch out Boston, its coming!)

After that we went to the perpetrators home. Where does Boston's #1 fan live, the Bronx. His mother answered the door, she's a Yankee fan, and a very nice woman. She said her son wasn't around. I have no idea why he would be hiding.

So that was that, curse averted.

Things that Make Me Laugh- AOL's Sense of Accomplishment

2008-04-04T09:38:00.000-07:00

I use AOL for some of my e-mail(I know, why don't I take off the training wheels already, FYI I've had this account forever and people know me that way) anyway, I use AOL and sometimes(when I don't walk my computer to lock up) I use AOL.com instead of the AOL software.

What always amuses me is when I send a message through aol.com it is immediately followed by a cartoon image of a stick figure jumping in the air with the phrase "Your Message......Was sent". Like its some type of big accomplishment.

AOL- Celebrating worthless achievements.

Could there be Blood?

2008-02-27T06:05:00.000-08:00

As I was watching the lowest rated Oscar telecast in history the other night a few things occurred to me. First off, no one has seen any of these movies. I am an avid movie goer and I had only seen four of the Best Picture nominees. I don't know anyone who has seen "There Will be Blood", and very few who have seen "Juno" or "No Country...".

I'm not saying that Hollywood should start pandering, but as the rating have demonstrated it is a big problem. If you look at years where the rating were high, 94, 97, 01 many of the best pictures were also box office smashes. This is actually a symptom of a bigger problem. Namely adults don't go to the movies any more.

The other thing that got me thinking was about the films themselves. If "There Will be Blood" was submitted by an unknown writer to a studio wold it get noticed? The complete lack of dialog in the beginning, the characters that don't seem to change at all over the course of the film, the abrupt ending...etc. Wouldn't these choices create red flags in the minds of the studio readers? Where are the three acts? This film doesn't fit into the checklist cookie cutter that so many films are measured by. Neither does "No Country for Old Men". Would these films get made in Hollywood with out big names behind them?

I say no and that's a big problem.

Listen very carefully

2008-02-25T05:34:00.000-08:00

Right now, as you read these very words, fingers are typing away on keyboards. The fact that they are typing is not as important as what they are typing. SCREENPLAYS! A wave of newly inspired Diablo Cody clones have decided that being a screenwriters seems like a cool thing to do. God help us.

If you go to any of the big screen writing comps websites and look at the amount of entries you will see a spike shortly after the year 1994. This is the year that Tarantino exploded into the mainstream changing indie film forever(it seemed like forever at the time, but I think its over now).

QT's love of cinema, his nostalgia for the 70's, and his amazing dialog spawned countless imitators(almost ass bad) and motivated thousands more (myself included) to sit down and write our own stories (All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy).

This is all well and fine, but here is the bad part. When the volume of anything goes from a trickle to a wave it becomes harder to stand out and make it. Screenplay comps jumped from 1200 to 4000 entries in a single year, cold calls and query letters came flooding into agencies and production companies, Hollywood was deluged with screenplays. Most of them awful.

If I can give myself credit for one thing its this, I never send out my stuff until it's ready. By that I mean, typo free, formatted, and with the approval of at least two other screenwriters. I don't just crank out half finished scripts and immediately start spamming them all over the place.

Until yesterday all of this seemed like it was slowing down. Over the last five years poker had turned into the big shiny balls that the get rich quick idiots liked to chase. Why waste your time with all that typing when you could sit at a table and win millions at cards. Hey once you won the world series of poker you could write a movie about that anyway. Screen writing wasn't hip anymore. Poker and hip hop was the dream of choice for the unwashed masses.

Until last night! The story of an ex-stripper who writes a screen play in a month and won the academy award is going to draw a lot of attention. Reams of paper are flying off shelves as we speak. An avalanche if quirky, pseudo-edgy, pop culture referencing garbage is going to crush us all.

What to do, What to do? Well as I see it, we only have one thing going for us, time. All of these Diablo clones are going to write 30 pages and get tired, they need to buy supplies and screen writing software. They are going to need at least three months to ramp up.

This puts them past all of the major screenplay comps deadlines. We have one shot to place in these contests and secure some type of attention(representation/deals). After that it will be 10 times harder to get anyone to read anything.

The count down has started, the ship has sounded its horn, in t-minus 90 days things are going to get really crowded around here. Best of luck to us all.

HD-DVD, you are dead to me.

2008-02-23T11:44:00.000-08:00

I just sold my XBOX 360- HD DVD drive on ebay for 50 bucks. Between that and the two discs I included, I wound up taking a 150 dollars bath. Until this very moment Sony hadn't won a format war EVER!

I really liked watching HD-DVD's and I think selling my drive was a mistake. Even if the format is dead, it was still a great up converting player.

I was going to use the money to buy a blu ray player, but they are too expensive and the current players(version 1.0) will not be able to play all the features on the new discs(version 1.1) that will be coming out soon. It's nice to see that Sony treats its early adopters so well.

Maybe physical media storage is dead?

STRIKE OVER!

2008-02-11T05:21:00.000-08:00

Woooo whooooo! I feel like the Ewoks after they saw the second death star get blown up. Except I don't suck.

Congrats to the WGA for taking a stand.

A "What the F*ck!" moment in my life.

2008-01-24T05:11:00.000-08:00

About two years ago, around this time of the year I was working a day shift and got a call from my assignment editor. "I need you to head over to "Times Square." When ever I get sent to TS all I can think of is the parking nightmare that awaits me. "What's going on?" I asked. "The Oscar statues are on display". he informs me. "The Oscar Statues?" I ask. "Yeah the ones they hand to all the winners, the actual statues." he tells me. "Awesome!" I shout. "Yeah I knew you would like that" he replies.

So I rush on over, park in a commercial zone and hoof it to the location. I walk in and across the room, near the window are the statutes. I was in awe. My awe was interrupted by a PR team. The same questions, where was I from, what was my name. I never understood why they try and get my information. I don't decide what airs or what future events we cover, why would you want to contact me? If you see me at your events the choice to cover it has already be made. After the inquisition is over I tell them I just want a few shots of the statues.

I walk over to the case and gazed in at a little army of golden boys. Oscars are much bigger in person. Which is kinda funny because movie stars are often smaller in person, a bit of a paradox. I pulled out all the stops and completely overshot the crap out of the little golden calves.

I left shortly before God made up his mind about whether or not to smite me. As I returned to my car I had one of those moments where you look at your life and wonder why it has deviated so far from your original plans.

Its not that things are so bad for me. I do ok. I live pretty well and most of the time I like my job, but it's no the dream. I had just walked out of a room holding 40 something dreams. Lifelong, hard fought, dreams were in that buildings and for 1/4th of the people in attendance that dream was going to come true.

Where was I? Taking pictures of other peoples dreams. That is a hard reality to face.

The Strike Hits Me Where it Hurts.

2008-01-09T07:42:00.000-08:00

My station like all or rather almost all T.V. stations is owned by a large network. This network has programs that have gone off the air due to the strike. No programs, less revenue. Less revenue= cuts. Those cuts have cut me. My hours are down, my overtime is gone baby gone. The hurt is certainly on.

I have to tell you though, I'm not mad. Well I am not mad at the writers. I am just as behind the WGA as I was when this started. I know that stakes and I respect the decision to strike. If my financial situation has to suffer as a result, then I'll make due.

It gives me more time to write anyway.

My Strike Solution

2008-01-01T19:37:00.000-08:00

One big word..... Google. If Google really wants to live up to its reputation as a radical outside of the box thinking tour de force they need to jump on the massive opportunity that is the writer's strike. Think about it, if Google took about 5-10 billion dollars(money they have, money they could lose and not even think about it) for that sum of money they could turn to the WGA and say, "Sure, we'll play ball." They could create all new shows, webisodes, and movies, content! Content is king and if Google bought the writers, all of them, they would send the entertainment industry into a frenzy . If Google even expressed interest in such an arrangement the strike would end tomorrow.

I know it's a radical idea, but if the whole this industry is eventually going to the internet any way why shouldn't Google lead the way. We(writers) would get in on the ground floor and reap the benefits. What if we established a 10 percent on the gross rule for writers, on every film? What would that do to the status and perception of the writer in the industry? Hey the first step into getting something is wanting it, badly.

So if anyone from Google is either one of my two readers please pass this up the ladder. Oh, and if this works out and Google does buy all of the writers I want a small finders fee. Let's say 1 percent of the grosses of all movies for the rest of time, or a billion dollars. I'm easy

Johnny Tits and Capt. Yonkers

2007-12-19T07:21:00.001-08:00

When I first came to college I arrived as a Psychology major. I enjoyed Psychology, in its own way it made sense to me and my grades were strong. However, deep down I knew that I did not want to be a psychologist. My major motivation for picking this career path was my parents. My father was a nuclear engineer, to him my choice seemed like a sound occupation with a good salary. If I would have told him I want to be a film maker(which I did later) he would have looked at me like I had said Mime or a ventriloquists(which he did). So for the first half of my freshman year I was a Psychology major.

That all changed and one of the major influences in this shift in direction came from two guys who lived on my floor. Dean and John, who would later be referred to as Capt. Yonkers and Johnny Tits. Johns nickname came from the fact that he worked out a lot, had huge pecks, and always walked around without a shirt on. Dean's came from the fact that he is from Yonkers, always mentions that he's from Yonkers, and a single event of Beer Pong where he declared that he was "Captain of this table!" and I yelled back "Captain Yonkers". It wasn't well thought out, it didn't make sense, but it stuck, at least for me it did.

So even though I was a psych major I still wrote. John lived across the hall and he wrote too. We quickly became friends and would talk about films and writing often. Dean had never written, but he wanted to and we kinda pulled him into the fray. We weren't the closest of friends ,but we stayed in touch and senior year we all marched towards graduation determined to be filmmakers. I still have a great photo of the three of us with our cap and gowns on.

Well a short two years out John makes a sale, a b horror film. This is pretty awesome, but he follows it up with another sale to Columbia for about 300k. Home run! Johnny tits made it. Dean and I can't be far behind. John will pass on our stuff, everyone wins.

Survey says? XXX! John disappeared like a thief in the night or rather a screenwriter into Hollywood. Now John and I weren't super close, but Dean and I were and Dean and John were. Calls were made, favors were asked and neither were returned. We were really pissed man.

I remember a few months after John disappeared I was covering a massive winter storm. In NY snow is giant ratings so every station explodes into a news orgy, wall to wall coverage. I worked 34 hors in two days, standing next to my camera in a blizzard trying desperately to keep it and my hands from freezing. The whole time I remember thinking, "If fucking Tithead had been a stand up guy and helped me a long I might not be here standing in a blizzard!"

It has been a few years since graduation and I have to be honest it still bothers me. I feel bad for Dean, he and John were suite mates, good friends. The day before his script was taken to the higher ups at Columbia John called Dean and told him. He was the only person he confided in. That was the last time they ever spoke.

When Dean first sent me that link to John's article in Variety I felt energized. I used to picture the bunch of us on the cover of EW- "The Next New York Wave" or own movement a return back to the streets, back to the 70's gritty and real. It was exciting.

Dean and I still talk. We still write and we still read each other's work. As for John he hasn't made it yet, that sale never got made. He still writes b-horror, enough to live well. I'm not knocking it. I made that variety article my home page. I won't forget what John did, but more importantly I won't forget Dean

"The Insider"

2007-12-05T16:00:00.001-08:00

The other day I was watching the Michael Mann film "The Insider". I first saw it in the theater and really liked it, but seeing it again really made me realize the genius of this film. Two things have caused me to view "The Insider" in a wider context. First I started working in the media and second I became aware of the massive corporate monolith that is crushing our culture.

The film deals with a former tobacco executive who turns whistle blower and grants an interview to 60 minutes detailing the evil that is big tobacco. I think that was the films big problem. Big Tobacco is such an easy villain. If you focus too much on the specific industry you lose sight of the big picture. The real villain is the American corporation. Back in 1999 I couldn't see that, all I saw was a man being destroyed by a single company.

R.J. Reynold's has and will behave like any modern American corporation. They are faceless, interchangeable, money making machines. Money, money, money. That's all they care about, that is all they are interested in. Jeffery Wigand made a choice and that choice hurt the bottom line of a very powerful company. Their response was to quickly and ruthlessly destroy him.

The greatest thing about this film is that it captures the demise of journalistic integrity in this country. Every major media outlet in America is now owned by a large corporation. These corporations want revenue generating assets, they don't want costly lawsuits from other corporations. Sixty Minutes caves in, betrays its legacy, destroys its integrity, because its corporate parent told it to. That was the beginning of the end of journalism in this America.

Without a objective media, a watchdog for the American people, anything is possible. In 1998 they started injecting cows with hormones, those hormones are now in your milk. In most cases the increase is 300 percent! Did you know that? Have you ever seen it on television or in the paper? Did you know that 70 percent of the corn in this country is genetically modified? Do you want to eat it? Guess what, you are. Did you know that only 94,000 dollars of your salary is taxed for social security? That means that if I make 94k, you make 180k, and Bill Gates makes 33,000,000 dollars or 33,000k we are all paying the same in social security taxes. If the politicians really want to save social security like they seem to like to tell us so much, why not raise the tax on million and billionaires? The corporate owners of this country down want that. They're not interested in saving social security. They don't need it. What they need is for us to keep doing as we're told and they will crush anyone who says otherwise.

Jeffery Wigand was the last one to take a real stand, risk it all for what's right. That's why I love "The Insider."

Viewing: For those of you that want to know more about what I was referencing in my post, you might want to check out the following films: "The Corporation" "The Future of Food".

You Wake Up, Thrown on Some Shoes, and Walk Out the Door

2007-11-27T04:54:00.000-08:00

I've covered a lot of stories. They run the gambit from mega boring(like standing outside of a courthouse waiting for whoever) to really interesting (Did you know that if everyone in America replaced five of the light bulbs in their house to CPF bulbs it would have the pollution removing effect of taking 9,000,000 cars off the road.), to memorable in a way that haunts you. Here is one such tale.

About two years ago a reporter and I were sent to East New York. Most of you probably haven't been there, but it's a lovely place to visit if you ever want to get an up close view of a drug war. Our story for that day involved a robbery gone wrong.

We arrive on the scene, a corner bodega. The incident in question happened in the early early morning so the police are long gone. The only ones around a the local residents and the media. A weird thing that people outside of my business don't know is that in NYC the media share information. You wouldn't think so, that we would hide things from each other and lie to one another, but we don't. I guess the print guys do, but not the TV and radio people. This is most true across mediums, radio people are more willing to help TV people, rather then other radio reporters and vice versa.

We spoke with the guy from 880 and he gives us the run down. A guy walks into a store pulls out a gun, demands money. He is given the money but for some reason he shoots the clerk in the shoulder. He runs outside and is gunned down. The last part is the twist. No one know who the other shooter was. Another criminal? A vigilante? A resident who had enough?

We go inside the store and speak with the day clerk. He tells us the night guy was his brother. He recounts the story from what he knows. His brother was shot and ran into the back room. Another worker mops up what's left of the blood trail that goes from the counter to the back of the store. We interview the clerk and he illustrates for us what happened. He tells us his brother is ok, and should survive.

Outside the residents are not interested in talking. "No Snitching" as the song goes. Don't talk to the media and never talk to the police. Good idea, keep that up, I'm sure your neighborhood will turn around in no time. After numerous attempts we finally get an older woman to talk about the situation. It isn't safe, drugs, too much violence, etc.

After we finish at the scene we go to the dead man's house. The police released his information, name, age, last known address, etc. It turns out the guys was 23, only a few years younger then myself at the time. It always strange when the person in your story is close to you in some way. We throw his address in the GPS and realize that its only two blocks away, in fact you can see the apartment complex from the bodega.

We go into his building and up to his floor, I think we got his apt number from the mailboxes in the lobby. We knock and no one answers, which is not that uncommon. We try a few neighbors, one of them said he seemed like a good boy. Everyone says that when you die. If you die your great, if you commit a crime you always seemed strange. In this case it was both so I guess the woman decided to throw the seemed into cover her bases.

As we left the apartment building and walked back to our truck I could see the bodega down the block. Walking the guys path made me feel strange. When you think about the moments leading up to this death, he threw on his coat, grabbed his keys and walkout the door. Down the stairs and onto the street, he walked to a place he's been to hundreds of times. Three minutes after he left his home he would be dead.

For some reason that story always haunts me. I think it has to do with the randomness of life and things not turning out the way we plan. One second your saying good by to your family, the next you are lying face up on a freezing Brooklyn sidewalk watching a street light fade to black.

Strange.

The Present Dave

2007-11-25T06:23:00.000-08:00

So Dave, What do you do for a living? The answer is tricky. Its not that I don't have a job, I do. The explanation is difficult. According to my company I am an ENG Photographer. This title was changed from cameraman, which was doomed because it had the world man in it making it sexist and evil. Yeah, but in my case it still applies. I am a man and I use a camera. Most of the time I still say news cameraman. The next question is usually, "Oh, for the Post?" I tell them I work in television; to which they ask "Oh, inside the studio?" Nope, outside. Most of the time I say that I am a television news cameraman and I work in the field, which is still easier then saying Electronic News Gathering (ENG) Photographer, which makes me sound like a robot.

At some point in my lifetime there was a meeting that I was NOT invited to and everyone decided "Hey let's change the names of all the jobs in the world". So stewardesses became flight attendants and garbage men became sanitation workers. Even waitresses have gotten in on it, they now they want to be called "servers". You went from waiting to serving, passive to active. Who cares? If you hate your job so much, instead of changing titles, why not change jobs?

Anyway, so I am a field cameraman and that field happens to be New York City. Gotham, the Big Apple, the New Rome as John Lennon once described it, NYC is the biggest city in America, the center of the business and finance world, a leader in fashion, and one hell of a sports town. Every day(the days I am working) I load up my truck and drive under, around, and through the biggest media market in America.

Which by the way the NYC media loves loves loves to tell that to outsiders. The second you get called up from Philly or Miami, or wherever to work here, you will get bombarded with the fact that you are now working in the biggest and most important news market in the world. It's a badged of honor here, its a silver star that you actually take out of the velvet lined case and wear, it's the Oscar that you walk around with months after the ceremony has ended. This city knows what it is and it demands respect.

So I work in New York. Everyday I meet between 5-50 strangers and talk to them about whatever part of their life is interesting enough to go on television. Did they kill some one in a DWI? Did their son? What is going to happen with the housing market? (by the way, we're fucked) Are gas prices coming down? (No.) What caused the fire? Are they going to raise the awful starting salary for police officers? Everyday we drive out and try to find the people who can answer these questions. That is what I do, for now.

Query letters or as Iike to call them GARBAGE!

2007-11-18T13:30:00.000-08:00

In my quest for greatness I have come to the conclusion that I need and agent or a manger. I am guessing that all non-professional writers think this. Validation through representation. Every time I hear an A-list writer speak, they always play down the agent card. For them its all craft craft craft, but I can promise you that every aspiring writer looking back at them is just waiting for that Q and A to start so they can ask the time old question, "How do I get and Agent?"

I guess I would liken it to sex. Remember when all of your friends started having sex and you would talk about it. The ones having sex would carry on about how it isn't a big deal and the virgins would look back and think "Dude it so is." I remember it like it was yesterday, second grade was great (I'm kidding).

Anyway, I can think of only 6 ways to get an agent.

- Be related to a rich or famous person.
- referral
- work for an agency
- win a contest
- save an agent or his/her family from peril (stop a home invasion, pull them out of a burning car seconds before it explodes, shoot a charging rhinoceros that is about to trample them etc.)
- query letters

Most of us don't fit into 1. I am trying 2. 3 isn't happening for me(I suck at answering phones, kissing ass, and remembering things that mean nothing to me). I will get to 4 in later posts. I live in NY so 5 is very remote and highly unlikely.

That leaves us with query letters. You get a massive list of agents write a generic letter that seem personal and flood the postal system with request for people to read your script. Here is my problem with that. Have you ever been walking along the sidewalk, minding your own business when some guy covered in a billboard tries to hand you a flyer? Do you ever take it? Do you ever envy that guy? Well when you send out letters like that you become that guy.

Not that I have any particular problem with that guy, but to be honest he is not very effective. In fact I will bet you that the guy handing out flyers on the side of the road has a higher rate of success then your query letters.

But Dave? How do you know this?

Good question. I know it primarily because I know people and people hate junk mail and that is what those letters are. In fact they are actually worse because you can't get sued for opening junk mail. More proof? On the wordplayer website there is an article about query letters. I encourage you to read it, but to sum it up the article claims that no one in Hollywood knows anyone who has ever gotten in through the use of query letters. And those guys know a lot of people.

Second example: On another blog that I was reading an aspiring writer was talking about how he sent out 200 query letters. TWO HUNDRED! He heard back from 2 and they didn't respond after getting the script, 200 to 2 to ZERO.

That is why query letters suck and I will not be sending out any.

Every Single Day!

2007-11-13T12:29:00.000-08:00

Waiting. Waiting is the worst possible thing an aspiring writer can do. Well, maybe not the worst. Punching the Pope is certainly up there on the list, but waiting is still pretty bad. Why? Well if you are waiting then you are not doing and if you want to get something done then you better start doing.

I made this mistake when I started submitting my script. I thought I was done, I thought it was only a matter of time. Sure it could happen, one of the people I sent my work out to might love it and offer to buy it (after the strike ends). That would be super, I would be very happy. I would put on the "Peanut Butter Jelly Time" song or the "Hamster Dance" and jump about the room.

OK, but what if nothing happens? Then all of that waiting would have just been a waste of time. Weeks, maybe even months lost into the abyss. Bad move. I should have(and presently am) used that time to create other opportunities. make connections, network, build my career.

With this in mind I have made a promise to myself. Everyday, I will do at least one thing that advances my career as a filmmaker. It could be enter a screen writing competition, contacting other writers, join a writing group, etc. Every day I will make it a point to do one thing.

Example? Very well, the other day I reached out to the LIFILM group(my local film community). I contacted them and told them that I was a young writer looking for any advice or assistance. In the following days a got a few replies, mostly just words of encouragement or vague suggestions, like join a writers group. It wasn't a home run, but I will continue to correspond with some of these people and see what happens.

The journey continues.

Where he at, where he at.....

2007-11-09T07:49:00.000-08:00

It's not peanut butter jelly time yet, but I hope I'm getting there.

About two months ago I completed a screenplay that I felt was ready to be seen. I promised myself I would never contribute to the massive wave of rushed, underdeveloped, unprofessional screenplay that drown Hollywood on a weekly basis. I'm not saying that I am the greatest, but 60 page, typo filled scripts with glossy covers are no good for anyone.

I completed my script and sent it out to five friends. Three of them were just proofreaders, the other two were people who worked in the film industry in some capacity. Energized by positive feedback I felt confident enough to make my move.

Unfortunately my mother is a nurse and my father is a nuclear engineer. Failures! Since I am not a descendant of Hollywood royalty I have to do what 99 percent of us would. I contacted my mother's coworker's brother who knows a guy at a studio, the ex-finance of one of my coworkers who is a big wig at another studio, a guy I kinda knew from college who writes direct to video horror films, my father's second cousin(I think by marriage who I have never met) who is a producer at a television network for kids, and the son of an ex-coworker's good friend. These are not exaggeration, these are real people.

So calls were made, favors were called in, and script were mailed out. Some of these people choose to act as gate keepers; asking to read my stuff before they passed it on. I felt pumped up when they liked my script and agreed to help.

Four-six weeks later...... nothing. I have to be honest, it bothers me. I realize that I am at the bottom of a very big pile. I understand that my script might not have even been read yet. I get it, but it still bothers me.

Here's to hope.

And So it Begins

2007-11-07T19:27:00.000-08:00

The time now is exactly 10:35 on the Seventh of November. I have one year to sell a script and in doing so make the switch from the day job to the dream job. This blog will record that journey.