Monday, January 19, 2009

Almost 31

In the words of the brilliant Hensleigh...  

"You're fuckin' young man.  My career didn't start till after 31.  You're doing fine."

But you wrote the frickin' Rock man.  I hope the career starts this year.  

Friday, January 16, 2009

Life as we know it, Arguing with Clint Eastwood's manager & some actress with cancer.

2008 pretty much went out with a whimper and 2009 roared in.  I actually survived the year by writing & getting paid for uncredited work...i.e. THUNDER ROAD 2010 or 11.  All is forgiven on that in regards to working with the talented Hensleigh on that.  I learned from his anecdotes of doing uncredited work on THE ROCK.

What I am grateful for is connecting with one of the most important people in my life; Amanda Loncar.  From Facebooking her in transit to the airport for my Xmas vacation back to Minnesota to our initial phone date the next day.  One should always embrace what they do in life, and I will never be one to not get a bit geeky around those with whom I respect in this industry.  I will admit to purchasing Amanda's tv series THE LOOP and enjoying it tremendously.  I devoured that series in one sitting.  FUNNY.  The one word that sums it up.  

Back to chatting with her, I slipped her a pilot I co-wrote about a year ago.  She loved it and immediately said she wanted to do it.  From here is where our friendship took off.  Checking in daily to see how her cancer treatment was going, making sure she was feeling okay and having my mom mail her christmas cookies to Arkansas for her recovery.  

I was blessed this past week to have been able to finally meet her face to face when she flew into LA for her follow-up at Cedars.  Having never met before, I strolled down the sidewalk with a sign that read FAMOUS ACTRESS as an icebreaker (strange is the situation, never having met, was me picking her up).  Dinner at Sushi Dan's followed by drinks at the Newsroom.   The next day was an early rise, going to pick her up and take her to Cedars.  Snapping pictures in the hospital and MRI room.  Waiting for her results.  Almost a year to the date of her initial diagnosis which was terminal.  Loncy has defied the odds and is on the road to remission.  God bless her.  I'm not one to preach, but thank God for this.  
A clean MRI was announced followed by tai from Toi, champagne and meeting her co-star from The Loop.  Laughter ensued and a meeting later that night with Richard Zelniker- the director of Timbaland's VINYL due in 2010.  

The next day was a short day, breakfast at Hugo's where she met Jeffrey Reddick followed by a stop at the Grove on her way to the airport.  I was sad to see this girl go back to Arkansas but happy she's healthy again.  I can't wait to start the development process on our pilot which she's producing (this hopefully will protect me from getting fired by the network since she has more clout than me...)

A few hugs and a blown kiss from her later, I unloaded my new friend's luggage and drove away.   Within 10 minutes of leaving behind this whirlwind 48 hour odyssey, I was on the phone arguing with Clint Eastwood's manager over the page length of a project my manager submitted to them.  He called me out on irresponsible writing.  Any other day, I would've made a big deal of this, but for the first time in my life, I actually fought for the vision, held my ground and didn't back down.  One cannot manipulate history, in this context the true story at hand, and editing just seemed to short change the concept.  I will eventually budge when the chips are down on this, but for now, thinking back to being in the MRI room with Amanda, life's too frickin' short to settle.  

Godspeed.