I've been looking back on my adventure in Hollywood, culling pages from my journal...
Great vacation! Disney World with my wife and daughters. Along the way, I got to see an old friend who used to be with our old comedy troupe, Style Without Substance. He was (and is) working down in Florida at the vacation resorts. I write in the journal that I’m “green with envy,” but don’t mention what he’s doing. Here’s what he was doing: Mark was one of the bright spots of Style, but after a while he dropped out and headed to Florida. There he was performing on Disney’s Pleasure Island, their “grown-up” part of the park with liquor and where every night was New Year’s Eve (Usually around 10pm). The island has since been re-purposed a couple of times (Personally, I was suspicious of a resort island named after the donkey-inducing utopia of “Pinocchio”). But this early version of the island, this site of bars and restaurants, included a comedy club and Mark was part of the troupe that performed sketch and improve comedy. It was very impressive.
I wrote nothing else about the vacation because it wasn’t that kind of diary...
I wrote nothing else about the vacation because it wasn’t that kind of diary...
While away, Kevin called work only to learn I’m out. He said it’s nothing important, but asked if anyone knows where I’m staying. No one does; I don’t tell co-workers that kind of stuff, and it’s not like I’m a world-class surgeon going away here leaving a coma patient. Anyway, once back, I spoke to Kevin and he tells me everyone loved the outline (“My pages”). But, seriously, they’ve loved everything up to this point, until someone else didn’t (“Love comes cheap”). They want me to start on the script proper, even without Kimberly’s input.
Kevin also mentions he read “Like Magic.” It’s more or less an Abbott & Costello movie with wizards and magic. Basically he liked it. Some problems: feel the lead characters relationship isn’t as clearly defined (for him). I write: “Can be fixed with Benny making an entrance” (I have no idea what that means). Doesn’t like the name Chaz (can be fixed with search & replace). Doesn’t like the ending (well, now he’s a jerk). Too much like “Ghostbusters,” he says. Apparently I’m the only one who can’t rip off other movies. They can feed me the plot of “Santa Claus: The Movie” but I can’t (unconsciously) borrow from “Ghostbusters?” And besides, it’s nothing at all like “Ghostbusters.”
Kevin also mentions he read “Like Magic.” It’s more or less an Abbott & Costello movie with wizards and magic. Basically he liked it. Some problems: feel the lead characters relationship isn’t as clearly defined (for him). I write: “Can be fixed with Benny making an entrance” (I have no idea what that means). Doesn’t like the name Chaz (can be fixed with search & replace). Doesn’t like the ending (well, now he’s a jerk). Too much like “Ghostbusters,” he says. Apparently I’m the only one who can’t rip off other movies. They can feed me the plot of “Santa Claus: The Movie” but I can’t (unconsciously) borrow from “Ghostbusters?” And besides, it’s nothing at all like “Ghostbusters.”
We’ll talk later, he says.
Four days later. Just having begun the rewrite, Kevin calls. Kimberly has the notes. He says it didn’t sound promising. During a follow-up call, it turns out Kimberly has problems with the Anti-Claus stuff. (Apparently some kind of throw-away thing I had in the outline. She got hung up on it). Wants the lumberjack camp back. Needs it as a “red herring.” The camp is next to the North Pole, which, of course, is known for its forests. The lumberjacks covet Santa’s Christmas Tree farm (what???). Make sure there’s a Tweedle/Trinket payoff (okay, I had forgotten about the elven couple in the outline). Something about Trinket being Santa’s secretary. Fibber the elf is a cliché. Trinket knows about Shifty the elf. She’s bothered by the stolen sleigh thing. This is all stuff lost to my memory now. But I write: “I’d go off and write my own script but frankly I’m afraid to. These people are nuts.”
It never did get easier.
Four days later. Just having begun the rewrite, Kevin calls. Kimberly has the notes. He says it didn’t sound promising. During a follow-up call, it turns out Kimberly has problems with the Anti-Claus stuff. (Apparently some kind of throw-away thing I had in the outline. She got hung up on it). Wants the lumberjack camp back. Needs it as a “red herring.” The camp is next to the North Pole, which, of course, is known for its forests. The lumberjacks covet Santa’s Christmas Tree farm (what???). Make sure there’s a Tweedle/Trinket payoff (okay, I had forgotten about the elven couple in the outline). Something about Trinket being Santa’s secretary. Fibber the elf is a cliché. Trinket knows about Shifty the elf. She’s bothered by the stolen sleigh thing. This is all stuff lost to my memory now. But I write: “I’d go off and write my own script but frankly I’m afraid to. These people are nuts.”
It never did get easier.
