Thanks!

Thanks everyone for your condolenses, both public and private. We had a beautiful memorial service for my father in law, and it was a testiment to his life that folks came from far and wide to attend. We got back this afternoon and it feels good to be back in my own house. After eight days in a Castro Valley Holiday Inn (that was being renovated CONSTANTLY!!), it seems like we haven't been home in weeks.

But December means royalites, and I had a royalties check waiting for me when I got home. That was cool and provides a nice Xmas for all. I'm still waiting on decisions for Money Shot, both fiction and non-fiction versions. Either would be nice.

For UCLA, I missed the last class of the quarter, but the professors were super cool about it. My intro to screenwriting class ended with the professor deciding to give everyone credit. Aces! With my marketing class, Terry decided that we all did so well on our midterms that we'll simply have to answer a few questions for our final. Aces again! And for my 431 with Hal, we got notes back. Each time I get notes about my Act One, it continues to be answers to questions I can't see. I'm not skilled enough to recognize problems in my scripts, at least not yet. I continue to have problems with on the nose dialogue. I think I can work on that. My goal for my 431 script was to learn. Again, this is a form that I'm not familiar with, so I felt it a bit arrogant to think I could start running before walking. So right now, after one quarter, I feel that I'm standing up straight and learning to balance myself. I can walk pretty cool and but still a bit unsure. I'm going to take this winter break to work on the notes for my Act One, plus I'm going to send it to some friends for additional notes. After that, I'll keep rewriting it.

We start our advanced screenwriting course on January 4, and we have to pitch it to our professors. I have a story I'd like to write, so I think I'm going to do something different than what I did this first quarter. But at the end of this year, I want three complete scripts.

Still haven't heard about the Sloan, so if my story has been accepted.

On December 13th, I have a coffee meeting with an agent from Paradigm. As an alum from Loyola High, there are numerous connections with Hollywood, and some have been very gracious about meeting with me. I'm not bringing any writing samples because they aren't ready, but we're just going to talk about what I should do to grow my career in Hollywood. When a script is ready, then I'll schedule a second meeting. As part of a second contact, another Loyola alum who's a CAA agent has asked to see my script when it is ready. I will vet that script FULLY before I send it out.

But for now, it is rest on my oh so sweet couch. Tomorrow, Cal plays Kansas in basketball and then Loyola goes against Esperanza for the CIF Division One Championship. I'll be there watching them win at the Home Depot Center.