Rewriting...

I met with Tim Albaugh and he's going to guide me through my rewrite of The Yardies. Tim is cool because he give you the unvarnished truth about your shit. If your characters are flat (mine) then he tells you. If the second act is crap (mine) then he tells you. But more importantly, Tim is not only a writer, but also a producer. I've said this film school is divided between those who write scripts for contests and those who write to make films. There's big difference. Dave Johnson told me this last spring, and I took it straight to heart. From that point on, I stopped patting myself on the back on being a film student and started prepping to make writing scripts a revenue producing activity. Writing books produces revenue, and that's why I explore various topics in book form. Since last year, I've been working to make scripts the same thing.

Since we don't have an official rewrite course at the film school, I made one myself. It is very important that I understand what a script that is ready look like. Tim made a good suggestion. Find three people who you trust, folks without an agenda, and have them read your stuff. Then take or leave their suggestions. I'm going to do that. Folks who know what a good screenplay looks like, and will give honest opinions.

Speaking of writing...

I've got to turn in my copyedit for the non-fiction project, and then get the photos in by next week.

After that, I need to begin on my Divine Nine update. One other thing, my agent Manie Barron told me about a possible book project that has me pretty excited. I'll find out on Friday.

On Imus: proud to be a National Association of Black Journalist member. The NABJ was in front in putting pressure on MSNBC to get rid of Imus and his moldy act. When people tell me to get over stuff like Imus, or they use modifiers like "jerk" "idiot" etc, instead of saying that he is a racist, then I ask them to tell me what they think is the physical equivalent of racism. Rape? Assault? Stealing candy from the story? To me, racism is like having someone come into your house, slap your wife, and you can't do anything about it. And not only that, he keeps doing it and people who like him tell you that "oh, that just what he does". The powerlessness would piss you off, and then you'd try to react. That's what NABJ did. It reacted. No more slapping around our Rutgers sisters.