Update Time!

Hi mom, and anyone else who comes here to track my progress toward a career as a novelist and screenwriter. Screenwriting and novelisting are hard, and forward motion is rare. Nonetheless, there have been a few developments that I believe I've somehow neglected to share on here.

To wit:

• Hot bananas* manager and producer John Zaozirny was a judge for the Austin Film Festival's screenplay competition last year (my script MARLENE THE DIVINE was a semifinalist). He contacted me, we talked, I flew to L.A. in part to meet him, and now I have a manager. Zoom!
• John's been taking MARLENE out to the town, and while it's a weird script (and therefore kind of a hard sell), we've already had one fairly exciting nibble. I won't be celebrating until I've got a check in hand, but it's fun to get attention from some real Hollywood players.
• Also at A.F.F., I met with producer Chris Watkins of Catapult Entertainment, who upon scoping out my website found out about my treeplanting novel, POUNDERS. He read it, loved it, and optioned it. Now he and I are developing it into a limited-series television show.
• Chris introduced me to his superstar entertainment lawyer and all-around great guy, Bradley Garrett, of Cohen and Gardner Law. Bradley and I got along famously, signed a contract, and now I have someone I can confess crimes to without fear of reprisal (that's how it works, right?).
• My novel POUNDERS keeps accumulating five-star reviews on Amazon. You should check it out. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll be grateful to be warm and dry.
• Oh, and did I mention my script MARLENE THE DIVINE also took first place for comedy in the Page Screenwriting contest this year? Yep. That happened. 

In writing news, I just finished the first draft of my next feature-length spec script... but I'm not gonna tell you what it's called because it's about Donald Trump (sort of), and there's profanity in the title. 

Writing it was an immensely cathartic experience.

What's next?

I'm currently talking with a few different directors about writing features for them. Depending on how my own projects shape up (and when I'm ready to start banging away at that treeplanting TV show), I may tackle one of their projects, next.

I've had some general phone-meetings with a few Producers who dig my writing, but don't love my current scripts enough to send me envelopes full of money.

So that's it. 

Grinding away. 

Still writing. 

Doing the work. 

- - -

*I say he's "hot bananas" because John's company Bellevue Productions had SIX scripts on this year's prestigious Black List, and FOUR on last year's. Which, for a two-person company, is mind-boggling. Dude picks good material, what can I say?