A few weeks back, I took a little hiatus. It wasn't just from blogging, but from IMing, Consumating, MySpacing, Facebooking, the whole spiel. I actually used my computer to...wait for it...
Write.
I wrote a pilot. Scratch that, I wrote a spec pilot, meaning no one asked for it but I did it anyway. Ideally you use a spec pilot to showcase your "voice" "or "point of view" because you rarely just up and sell one unless you're Someone. But I did it because for the past few years I've been creating pitches based on what networks have asked me to create. You sit in meetings and you'll be told "We want Different! We want Big! We want Outside the Box! We do not want cartoons about flesh eating monkeys from outer space who speak six languages!" So then you ask for an example of something they're developing that fits this Different-Big-Out-of-the-Box paradigm and they say "currently in development we have this brilliant piece about flesh eating monkeys from outer space that speak five languages!" and then you nod and to come up with something that you send to them and you never hear form them again.
(It's sort of like dating.)
Anyway, this process has gotten me precisely nowhere. And while a spec pilot might not get me anywhere either, at least it's something that I like. And I had fun writing. I sent it out to the few contacts I have left with a long-winded yet hopefully humorous note that compared my career of the past few years to getting on the Hindenburg to go to the SleepShop and discovering I've crash-landed on the Titanic. But who doesn't like a good comeback story?
In the meantime, I continue to look for paying work and thinking about the Next Project, which is not script related at all. However, if you ever wondered what the slackmistress writes like, my script is available for download in .pdf format. Pop me an email and tell me who you are and how you found me (while the script WGA registered so you can't be a stealerpants, I'd like to know who's reading) and I'll send you the link. If you actually Know Someone Who Knows Someone Who Knows The Guy Who Handles Fred Savage's Money (true story from SlackDad) he probably can't help me out. But if you Know Someone, well, Karma's a Beautiful Thing. And I bake a mean cookie.
And yes, I do turn 35 on Monday. Thank you for asking.
Hearts,
the slackmistress
