It’s the Silly Season Again!

Hello fellow scribes – hope you all have been doing well and writing like crazy.

Down here in North Carolina we have survived yet another bad stretch of winter weather. Last week we had five inches of snow – ok, I can hear you northern types laughing, now stop it! – and it kept me from the coffee shop on both Saturday and Sunday. I now know how a junkie feels when he goes cold turkey. I do have an office at home, but, somehow, it just is not the same. But I digress.

I’m still sending out queries. Now that Sundance is over I have put my focus on production companies and will until, oh, say April. My scorecard for 2010 runs something like this:

Management firms: sent out sixty-eight (68) queries so far and have had three (3) bad email addresses; five (5) requests for scripts; three (3) rejects; two (2) still reading – or, maybe, it’s a NO and I will never hear from them (I will follow up in a week or two and just ask).

Production Companies: sent out twenty-nine (29) queries this week: four (4) bad email addresses; one (1) NO THANKS. Not done with these people just quite yet. Remember, I live by the Three Ps, my peeps: Perseverance. Perseverance. Perseverance.

Which brings me to what I call The Silly Season: screenwriting contests. Do you enter? Which ones? Have any of you had any success and if so, what did it get you? The reason I ask is this: every year I vow NOT to enter contests. I think – except for the Nicholl – they are a waste of time and a huge waste of money. Yet… Yet, I enter a few every year. I know. Practice what you preach, Scherer! But, like most un-produced scribes I am seeking validation.

Not only are we writers loners – writing is a lonely profession after all – we are needy people, too. We need/want validation. How else can we know how we stack up against the competition? How else can we know if we can write at all? Sure, Mom and Aunt Sally rave about our stories – they’re suppose to – it’s their job to encourage and nurture – but…. It’s not the same. So let me know if you intend to enter any contests this Silly Season and which ones. As for myself: The Nicholl; the PAGE International; AAA Screenplay; and Final Draft.

As for my writing? Well, I have put the Sci-Fi comedy tentatively titled Peter and Ba’al on the back burner for now. I intend to write the screenplay, but I don’t have the need to do it just yet. After a few weeks of character sketches, researching locations, etc. that burning need to write it hasn’t arrived. The story is already outlined, sort’a. I wrote this originally as a short story – so I know how it will flow and how it ends. I just don’t feel like writing it. I do, however, want to write a new script as yet untitled; a story based on the Prometheus Mythology. I’m excited about this baby and when I put this post to bed I will begin my research and collect copious notes and develop story ideas. More in the coming weeks.

Okay, my peeps, I guess that’s a wrap for this week. Stay warm. Be cool. And as always,

Keep Writing!