Monday, June 16, 2008

Promotional Feedback

In my profession, the work is either feast or famine. There are weeks on end where I put in 60 to 80 hours and develop amusing little facial tics, and there are weeks where I show up for 32 to 35 hours and act as a security blanket for my managers.

The last couple of weeks were a time of feast and now we are hitting a week-to-two time of famine. This is my opportunity to catch up on sleep and maybe write something on the ol' blog.

The first thing I feel compelled to do is follow up on all of the shameless self promotion I did here last week.

The scene reading went even better than expected. The actors really sank teeth into their parts and knocked it out of the park (how's that for a mixed metaphor?). It is one thing to have voices in your head to tell you what to write; it is quite another to hear people lend their voices to the ones in your head, and do a better job than your brain does.

Afterwards, I had several people tell me that I needed to bring the next ten pages to the July 8th scene reading because everyone wants to know what happens next. It made me feel all warm and gooey inside. Expect me at the scene readings for the next nine months (approx) so I can finish this screenplay.

I attended two sessions of the writer's workshop at the Trinity Arts Conference and presented two films (which you can read about here and here). I did not realize that there was a three-page limit for the writer's workshop and brought an eight-page short film screenplay for the workshop attendees to scrutinize. Fortunately, this blog entry from a few months ago counted as less than three pages. The other workshop attendees seemed to get a kick out of it and for the rest of the conference people kindly reminded me that meat is murder.

The film presentations went well, too. I wound up giving out this blog's URL to someone so he could read my introduction for one of the films, which was a little surprising and humbling. (I had to write it out, because, let's be honest, the blog's URL is an alphabet soup that is hard to remember.) PLUS someone was kind enough to ask me if I would be willing to speak to his screenwriting class in Houston sometime. That blew me away because most of my life people have been trying to keep me AWAY from impressionable young minds.

We had interesting discussions after the films, too. Some people were taken aback by the 1940sness of Sullivan's Travels - let's just say there is some racial humor in that film that is way uncool. (I forgive it because I believe the film it a relic of its time and we should accept it as such. Some people didn't share my opinion and that is perfectly fine.)

Afterwards I spoke to someone about how people from our grandparents' generation had no problems with cruel racial stereotypes but had issues with an occasional f-bomb, and how now the situation is reversed. "I wonder what people will hate about our generation years from now?" the person asked.

"Bet you anything it will involve Jim Carrey."

7 comments:

NoRegrets said...

What's wrong with Jim Carrey?

M. Robert Turnage said...

I don't know. It is for future generations to decide.

Courtney said...

Congratulations on all the success! Hope you can use the famine time to do more writing. Those events sound SO FUN.

Also, and most important, you said "I did her last week." Heh-heh.

M. Robert Turnage said...

Ok. Fixed the typo. It now says "here" instead of "her." I may shamelessly promote myself from time to time but not in the "I totally did her" locker room way.

Because everyone knows the way I can ultimately satisfy my wife is to make sure the dishes are clean, the trash is taken out, the gutters are emptied, the bathroom tile is regrouted, and the house exterior has a fresh coat of paint.

heather said...

why wait for future generations? just hate him now. ;-)

oh, and don't forget to clean the screens and make sure the storm windows are in good repair before putting them away for the summer.

Tera said...

I remember when I bought my computer that after I got finished cussing those fuckers out at Best Buy, Geek Squad was making a house call to fix my shit!!

P.S. Um, I like Jim Carrey...don't hate!

M. Robert Turnage said...

I was at an arts conference, so Jim Carrey jokes are accepted.

I will say to you re: Jim Carrey the same thing that I say to everyone who feels bad about disagreeing over a movie - If it made you happy, then be proud. I am so happy that you found something that gives you pleasure.

And I currently have two Larry the Cable Guy films in my collection, so I am in no position to make people feel bad about liking Jim Carrey.