Comments

Well, even though I got a nice one from the mormons.....was hoping the Scientology lads were going to track me done, but I better earn a bit more first.....I am getting spammed more often.

Anyway, even though only about 2 people actually visit here, I am going to put that letter verification on comments.

Sorry about that.....bloody annoying crap!

I suppose if everyone does it, then eventually they will give up, or someone will track them down and Death Wish their arses.

cheers
Dave.

WOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOO

By that title you would think I finished something to do with the screenplay, well actually, no, but I have been having some break throughs lately with parts of the screenplay I am not happy about, that part that is in my head still ;-) but I finally figured out what was causing the sidebar to drop down to the bottom........Chris Parr was trying to help as well(again thanks for that!), but it was simply the links in the actual posts to websites, they were too long and pushing over into sidebar area, which by the looks of it defaults to bottom of page.

So there you go, you learn something new every day......damn will have to learn how to properly hyperlink in here, rather than full address.

That can wait, more writing to do.
cheers
Dave.

nothing to do with writing

To all the people affected by this latest hurricane, I hope everyone you love is safe, and that everyone gets the help they need asap.

On to something weirder.......this is when you are having a bad day. This pollie fucked up a few weeks ago, it came out last weekend. He was opposition leader in New South Wales, you might have heard of Sydney, that is NSW state capital, so it is the largest state population wise, he had good crack at winning next election to......then he imploded.

A writer could not have been believed(I think ;-) )

Bear in mind the person called Helena Carr, in the story, came to Australia in 1965, and is well respected by the community, well educated, etc, etc. not at all like described.

I do hope he recovers, and gets on with his life.

cheers
Dave.

Disgraced leader 'slits wrists'
By John Massoud and Simon Benson
31-08-2005
From: The Daily Telegraph
www.news.com.au


FORMER New South Wales Opposition Leader John Brogden was rushed to hospital last night after an apparent suicide attempt.

The disgraced Liberal Party politician collapsed at his electoral office in Mona Vale, Sydney. He was carried out on a stretcher by paramedics about 10.50pm. Today's Australian newspaper said he had slit his wrists.

The 36-year-old was unconscious.

Emergency calls to police were made by family members and friends.
Police last night said Mr Brogden was in a stable condition in Royal North Shore Hospital with "minor injuries".

Only four hours before the drama, he had been warmly welcomed home with a kiss from his wife Lucy - with whom he has a son - before he headed back to work. He stopped briefly at Sacred Heart church on his way.

Declining to respond to fresh allegations that he had harassed women, he had rushed into his office at the rear of the building, locked the door and refused to emerge.

Police arrived at the premises about 10.15pm.

The Daily Telegraph saw Acting Inspector Rick Janssen knock on Mr Brogden's door several times but there was no answer.

He then made a full inspection of the premises, including a search of the side and rear of the building. Mr Brogden's secretary helped police enter the building.

She raised her hands to her head and became distraught when Mr Brogden was found lying on the floor in the shower at the rear of the premises. It is understood he had been drinking heavily from a bottle of gin.

Minutes later two ambulances arrived and paramedics treated him with lifesaving equipment.

Paramedics covered him with a white blanket, with his face still showing and full of colour, before driving him to Royal North Shore Hospital.

His wife Lucy was by his side in the hospital's intensive care unit early today.

Mr Brogden was also visited in hospital by his deputy, Barry O'Farrell, about midnight.

Prime Minister John Howard, Premier Morris Iemma and Liberal colleague Peter Debnam were all advised of the developments last night.

Mr Brogden was forced to quit the NSW Liberal leadership after he admitted to sexually harassing two female reporters and making a racist joke about former premier Bob carr's wife Helena being "a mail-order bride".

Liberal sources had told The Daily Telegraph that, apart from these incidents, Mr Brogden had also decided to exit the leadership because a raft of fresh allegations of sexual misconduct was set to destroy his career.

They include propositioning women for group sex and harassing his own staff and other Opposition employees at State Parliament.

Despite spending the weekend denying the allegations surrounding his Helena Carr comment and his harassment of the female reporters after an Australian Hotels Association drinks function on July 29, Mr Brogden relented late on Sunday and confirmed everything.

Even with his admission, Mr Brogden did several radio interviews on Monday morning, when he again admitted to and apologised for his behaviour, but gave no sign he was going to quit the job.

Then, at 11am on Monday, he held a snap press conference, where he resigned.

This followed the loss of all support from Mr Howard, who made it plain in public comments that he was not going to assist Mr Brogden, saying his future was a matter for the NSW Liberal Party.

The Daily Telegraph can reveal today that Mr Brogden also exited the leadership in record time because the harassment of female journalists and his racist jibe were only a sample of his poor behaviour towards women.

It emerged yesterday that Mr Brogden had made inappropriate comments to other women in recent years.

Two women came forward yesterday with claims about a Christmas party in 2003, although they had not planned to go public until details of Mr Brogden's drunken behaviour emerged this week.

It also emerged that he was seen in the company of a blonde woman at an exclusive party for last year's David Jones spring fashion launch.

The fashion industry worker told friends she was romantically involved with Mr Brogden and paid him special attention at the party in August 2004, which was attended by supermodel Linda Evangelista.

The Daily Telegraph can also reveal that the father of Mr Brogden's wife, Lucy, had serious concerns about young female staffers.
Sources close to Mr Brogden said Lucy's father, former Liberal Party state treasurer Frank Hooke, advised him to move 25-year-old Suzanne Tulloch out of his office in 1999 because colleagues had begun to speculate about their relationship.

Ms Tulloch denied they were anything but friends.

When some people stuff up, they do it well!

Crafty Screenwriting

Well it arrived yesterday, about 2 weeks earlier than expected, can't have come UPS then!

I have read about two pages, and I must admit I am hugely disappointed already.....where is the centrefold girl? I reckon the customs guys took it.....don't all books have nekkid girls in the centre? If this is not a mistake, I have a suggestion for any follow-up book.

Okay, heading home shortly, will get to read some tonight, not too much, I have a Xmas deadline for one of my scripts.

Jay from http://jaybutler.blogspot.com/ and I are taking up my silly suggestion and are going to see if we can finish our own screenplay by Xmas. Winner gets to keep LA. His is Tidewater Bandits, mine is titled Desktop Soldier. Friendly competition is always good fun!

I will have to get one of those progress bars and after about a week shoot it up to 90% just to but the pressure on Jay ;-) Play with his mind(insert maniacal laugh);-)

cheers
Dave.

Commuting does this to you........

For once the screenwriter comes off best! ;-)

A screenwriter, sitcom writer, and copywriter for an ad agency are sitting discussing their sex lives over a few beers.

The screenwriter says, when I make love to my wife it is like one of my screenplays, over an 90 minutes long, with many different twists and turns and a climatic ending.

The sitcom writer responds, we have a couple of kids, so we normally only have 30minutes or so, but we have lots of fun in that time.

The copywriter says fuck off.

Best Blog Name

I love reading the screenwriting blogs, as I do find them funny and informative, however, I came across this blog yesterday:

http://damarisbsarria.blogspot.com/

The actual title of this blog........

"How I am becoming an Astronaut"

Is that a great title or what? I was actually expecting it to be some sort of false title.......but was pleasantly surprised to find out it was 100% true. She might not make it, but she is trying, and I reckon this young lady is on her way.....anyone who loves the Space program, drop by and check out some of the photos she has posted. Bloody fantastic blog.

cheers
Dave.

Playing around

Was fooling around with the html in the template. changed comments to Studio Exec notes for a laugh(I WISH I was at that stage....why does "careful what you wish for" suddenly spring to mind?)

Anyway, was going to add a section on the sidebar for links to various script sites, contests etc that I come across, and for some reason even though I got the section in there, (yay me!) it has suddenly pushed the entire sidebar thing to the bottom of the page.

Is there anyone who knows how to fix this?

I will name my next child after you if you are able to assist(bearing in mind I will be getting a vasectomy this year, the offer sounds better than it probably is ;-) ), and no, I will not rename any of my children, even the ones I don't know about.

cheers
Dave.

In your trackies

With a blog, I find it is like what you wear on the weekend around the house......I go casual, comfy, if the shirt is hanging out a bit....no problem. If the grundies are showing however, that is too far. We all have limits! ;-)

On the blog, if there is a funny little spelling problem or whatever I don't catch first time around, I don't worry about going back to change it if it makes no real difference to the sentence or story.

Anyone else like that?

When writing a screenplay however, I am fastidious and mentally whack myself when I find any errors. I obviously have a much higher standard when tackling something serious.

It is no slur on anyone that reads this blog.....it is sort of like hanging out with your mates......they don't give a crap, you can just be you.

cheers
Dave.

Back Again

Have just returned from my trip to Tassie. Hobart was interesting, very old world, slow, and lots of fun. Cold? Why yes, now you mention it, my balls are slowly thawing..just a few more hours with the blow torch should do it.

Okay, I live in Queensland, think Florida.....Tassie is the last stop on the way to Antartica from Australia. Antartica is that white place where if you arent wearing half(hell make that all of) a bear, things go wrong, quickly. Lets just say Tassie was cold to this Queenslander.

Have not had a cigarette for a few days now….trying to stop…..just woke the other day and did not feel like it anymore…..getting antsy now though…..hmmmmm wonder if that will affect the writing…….working on a script at present...next scene might go something like this........

CHRISTO
What did you say?

LONGSTORM
Whatever?

CHRISTO
(Producers M60 machine gun)
Fuck You!!!!!!!!

LONGSTORM DISAPPEARS IN CLOUD OF SMOKE AND BLOOD.


Hmmmmmmmmmm could add some tension to my writing…………….

cheers for now

Dave.

Crossovers

Been flat out at work, so have not written here for a while, but I have been having a lot of inspiration from reading the various blogs, that I have listed to the right, during my lunch. Again, thank you to all those pro’s and aspiring writers for your blogs, they are funny, fantastic and forthright….fffing good in other words.

Anyway, by not having much time to myself, means that when I sit down to write, I don’t have time to procrastinate…. damnit, it sounds like so much fun as well! No blog browsing, going to movies…just writing, and I have found it is actually fun having that pressure.

As an example, had to travel south today for a meeting, and had to hang around afterwards, to continue the meeting, after the bloke had seen his next appointment. I had 30 mins to kill, what to do, open email, call all the people I was supposed to, so that my company continues to profit from my sales ability, or open MMS and write the next Star Wars/Spaceballs? Opened up the old lappie in the middle of the centre I was in, fired up MMS and managed to get in nearly a whole page….closed up and moved on.

I wonder if other hacks like myself, do that, or do you write mainly at home and find yourself procrastinating? Just wondered.

I have been taking the advice of just write, even if it is crap (if? Yeah, definitely is more like it, but we persevere ;-) ) , and I reckon it is good advice. So, give it a go yourself, just write, the best thing is, you get to fix it before anyone else reads it!!

Also, quite often, I do most of my thinking about my writing whilst driving, and have some great ideas. When I sit down to write, it is nearly like saying to a comedian….okay be funny…..NOW! OK WRITE NOW!!!!! I am thinking of getting a little voice recorder and keeping it with me and trying to use that to record my thoughts, and playback later.

Does anyone else do this type of thing?

Moving on, many shows lately have performed cross overs, Buffy/Angel, Law and Order series, etc. I was watching House last night and it dawned on me……an episode I would love to see, House crossed over with Scrubs. I just see the potential for a Cox vs House showdown hilarious. I know it wont happen, but in my mind that would be one worth watching a few times. You nearly have identical opposites, the ditzy blonde, to the hard arse smart dark haired. This keeps playing on my mind…..and the more I think about it, the more I want to see it!

Anyway, back to sales plans, talking to my delightful moron customers, well not all are morons, most are okay, and some more writing. Off to a tradeshow on Saturday, hopefully I will have some time at night to myself, no kids or wife to entertain, wooohoooooooo alone time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Bring it On!!!!!

I have ordered Alex Epsteins book, Crafty Screenwriting. Once the moonsoons have gone, and it is the right time of year, and the boat has arrived with our supplies, I will finally get the book sometime in mid September. Looking forward to it. Will let you know what I think, ie did I find it helpful. I was fortunate enough to have chatted with Alex a couple of times, via email, about an interview I thought he might like, and discussed his book. I gave him a gentle ribbing that I hope he was not disappointed that the postage cost more than the book, after all the work he would have put into it(well, I hope he did put lots of work into it! ;-) ) I am down under so, yes, postage often costs more than the book from Amazon! I hope he understood it was just my dry humour, and did not take offence ;-) Can you offend people who live in Canada?

Have fun, everyone!
Cheers
Dave.