Still cleaning out and working on Harlem Treatment...

I should have a treatment that should have been done months ago, finished by the end of the day tomorrow. I'm cleaning out my old writing projects that I started and didn't finish. It's a huge job.

Muddled...

I've been wondering why my interest in each writing project has been somewhat muddled, meaning that I'll write a bit on this, and write a bit on that, but not really get into the weeds with anything. I think I have my solution. For the next thirty days, I'm going to do a spring cleaning. I'm going to toss the things I've stopped and started, but never finished. Next, I'm going to list out the projects that I do want to write and go back over their stories. Strengthen them. Next, I'm going to really work on the beat sheets for all of my projects, scripts and novels. By doing all of this, I think I'll be much more productive.

Further Schools for September...

Right now, I have a number of schools that may book for September: Chapman University, Michigan State, Florida A&M, Northeastern and Hampton. I'll know more in the next week or so. The one thing I do know is that I'll be traveling a lot this year.

So what's next...

With THE BESTSELLERS done, I resolved that this is going to be the final non paid version. I've been working on it since March 07, so if it's not right now, then I'll put it in the pile of "coulda been a contendas".

I'm going to start working on DAISY SUNSHINE. I have the story all worked out, mainly because it's a remake of a forty year old film. But before I do that, I think I need to clean up all of the old fits and starts. For my scripts, I need to get on a concrete ten week schedule, replicating what I did in film school.

But before I do that, I'm going to finish SLAVERYLAND, a novel I began in 2005. It's time to finish it and send to my agent. Let's see if it's any good.

Script finished...

The latest version of The Bestsellers is done. I'm going to spend all day tomorrow going through it, and then send it to a friend to get an impression. She's going to read it over the weekend.

The Bestsellers script...

I turned off my phone today and got a lot of work done on the latest version of The Bestsellers. More than likely, I'll get mighty close to finishing either late tomorrow or early Thursday. After that, I'll do a once over and shoot it to a friend to evaluate. This draft took my eight weeks to finish and it was mainly because I wanted to think about how to make it better and closer to what the ICM agent wanted. I'll work on editing, the dialogue and any scenes that need redoing. After that, I'll send it to the ICM agent to see if she likes it.

After writing the same script over and over for more than a year, I'd definitely interested in working on something different. I have various scripts in states of completion, but I'm going to do a rejiggering of where I place my priorities.

Now that I'm away from Iconoculture, I can pretty much start thinking about my script career without being distracted. I had let that slip as the job took up my time, but I need to get back tied into the mindset I had at the UCLA film school. One step in that direction is my application for the Sloan/Sundance Foundation grant. Yeah, I know I'd said I'd never enter another contest, but this one gives a stipend and access to really good screenwriters who can help with your Sloan script. I could use that in 2009.

As for books, my current book proposal is still out there. My agent emailed me to say that things look positive. The summer is a slow period for editors, but one editor called Manie to say positive things about the proposal. More than likely, we won't know if the proposal sells until September.

At long last, I'm planning the first show from my development deal with TV One. The show will go on their websites first, to see if it gains traction. After that, we're looking to put it on their network schedule.

As for their competitor, BET, I have to check on a show that I pitched them. The person I pitched, SR. VP of Development, let BET, but they told me that they're considering it. We'll see.

Still booking more dates for my Divine Nine lectures. During September, I just might be on the road for two straight weeks.

Anyway, it's 2:30am and I need some rest. I'm going to plow ahead and finish this script tomorrow, so time to go to sleep.

My Raiders...

Is this the year that I can dream? I'm not asking a lot. Just the playoffs. That's all. Just win, baby so we can go to the playoff. We're young, talented, and Al can't move fast enough to mess us up. Come on boys.

TV One...

I'm prepping to shoot my book show for TV One. I want to start shooting in September, so I've been gathering crew and everything else needed to get this done. More later.