My 2006 Schedule:

As I looked over what I have to get done in the next year, I realized that I have to do something I really hate doing. I have to create a schedule. The problem is not having enough time to do everything, but I just need to get a bit more disciplined. I have grad school with at least two scripts to write, a book to write, and then a documentary project. I can't "luxuriate" anymore by getting started with my day at 10am. And, I need to get in shape. The belly is getting swelly (as my six year old likes to say) as a result of a ton of travel and bad meals (and king sized snicker bars). So that means 6am wake ups and everyday workouts. The goal is to lose about thirty lbs. between now and 2007. I'll feel better, which means that I will concentrate better. And that means I will write better.

I've been writing a few scenes for my Sloan script. The script, tentatively named LATIMER, is about the African American inventor Lewis Latimer. It's starting well. I will begin work on MONEY SHOT, a name by the way the publisher wants to change, after the New Year's. My first task is to go to the Adult Video News Award in Las Vegas this January. For three days, I will be interviewing every black porn star, business person, etc. in the industry. My plan is to do all of my interviews and research between January-June, and write the book during the summer.

Annie Hall...

As I've stated, I have to work at learning the language of film. I've never been a huge film buff. So I'm watching movies. And one of the movies I'm watching is Annie Hall. A great movie, it is also instructive in one great precept when it comes to scenes. The idea is: Get in late and leave early. Annie Hall does it great and I think I'll watch it over and over to make sure my own scenes are this tight.

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and Happy Kwanzaa!

Tomorrow, I'm shopping all day, so I wanted to make sure I said Happy Holidays to everyone before I forgot!

Back From Vegas...

Hey y'all,

Just spent three days in Las Vegas to watch Cal wax BYU. A good time was had by all, but the old school Tropacana had no internet access, so I'm just now answering any posts. Check ya later!

Nine Months...

2006 is going to be the Year of Writing for me. I talked to my new editor, Anita Diggs, and my next book has a September deadline. That's nine months, kids. Oh well, JGTSD.

Finalist for Sloan Foundation...

It is official. I'm one of ten screenwriters at UCLA who's a finalist for the Sloan Foundation script contest. So that means a few changes. I have to write this script for my advanced screenwriting class next quarter. So I need to get cracking with my research. The script is due in April and there's a $10,000 prize.

Act One...

So for our advanced screenwriting course in the winter, we have to pitch. For one professor, he wants ten pages of your script instead of the verbal pitch. Fine. So I went over my ten pages with a fine tooth comb and discovered something. I like working on my script in ten page chunks. My Act One needed work because as one of my classmates correctly noted, it was too long. So I started cutting. Anyway, the effects of the flu are starting to wane, and now I can concentrate on working on it. Our classes begin on January 9th, so I have time get my Act One tight.

This Week...

Well, the Ross family is down for the count with the flu. And it hit us all at once. Where it came from, I have no idea. Maybe it was from the airports or hotels? Anyway, the wife is knocked out, I'm delirious, and my son was so sick that he crawled up into our bed. If you know my son, who is damn near hyper, that tells you something. What else could happen this month? Death, flu, maybe locusts? But for all that, things are looking up.

1. My agent sold my non-fiction version of Money Shot on Monday. Not a lot of money for the advance, but it is a go. Plus, my agent was able to get a nicely sized kicker put into the contract if I reach a very obtainable number of books sold. That was nice. I sort of felt like I was an athlete who had to run for X amount of yards for a bonus! And for the first time in three books, I have a new publishing house and new editor. That's both exciting and scary. The tricky bit will be writing it while in school. But then again, I wrote my first book while working full time. JGTSD* is my mantra.

2. Grades are in for two classes, Hal and Richard: A's in both. I just turned in my final for my film marketing class. I'll find that one out later.

3. Met with the agent from Paradigm and had a GREAT meeting. He was REALLY cool, and I told him I'd send him my script this Spring. Next quarter, we write our full script in our advanced screenwriting course. I'm going to take the script I was writing in Hal's course, the agent liked the idea and even noted that he'd been reminded of my script's main character the day before, and then finish and polish it. My goal in Hal's course was to learn the fundamentals and not try to get cute with my writing before I knew what the hell I was doing. As I've been rewriting, I've gained more confidence that I know where I'm taking my script. But that's just Act I. I have Act II and Act III to write. Before I start writing those, I'm going to re-read Hal's book about those Acts.

4. BTW, we have to pitch our scripts to our perspective professors. That shouldn't be a problem for me since I talk alot, but I need to be precise about what I'm saying, and not rambling. So I've got to practice.

5. I'm still waiting on word for the Sloan, but I'm going to start work on my research anyway. My story is based in the 1920s and I need to do some research on Flushing, Queens and Harlem before starting the script. If I'm going to do a period piece, I want to see a photo of what a particular area looks like. I need to know what was in the neighborhood and what wasn't. I like accuracy.

6. UCLA MFA writer, MK Asante and UCLA MFA producer Ben Haaz (who is a dynamo) and I are working on a documentary proposal for next summer. We just got good news and it had nothing to do with Geico. We were looking at two directors for our project and we've just begun talking to them. One is a heavy hitter with NFL films and the other has won two Academy Awards. Ben and MK know them both and we found out that the NFL guy is interested in our project. Ben is contacting the Oscar winner during the break. It's a great project about sports and race.

Okay, time for Thera-ful and some chicken soup (I made it homemade. Remember, I can burn)


*Just get the shit done

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.

Bad News...

My father in law passed in his sleep last night, and so we're heading to Oakland. He was truly a great man, and I'll miss him like a best friend.

re: Hal's Class...

Yesterday, I wanted to test out an alternative opening for my script. I have an opening scene that I'm pretty sure works (1b), but I wanted to see if I made my main character really vulgar, would it work. I think I confused my poor classmates. The idea was to make my main character vulgar, a bit blase about his subject, and a little above the frey. But it didn't go over well. Oh well, that's why you try it out in a workshop. But from that convo, I knew that I had to make his antagonist this vulgar character as a direct contrast to my hero. So those lines will be heard in Act Two. I'm going to send Hal opening 1b to make sure it works. Our first acts are due next week, so I'm not going to chance it. But I'm pretty sure that this first act will work.

What I'm noticing in our workshop is that there are quite a few scripts I don't get, but it seems like most of the other students get. Not that it is bad or good either way, but I'm wondering if each workshop will be like that? We get along pretty well, but I can see that our interests are widely varied.

Anyway, back to writing. I'm going to polish up my first act over the next few days. I want it nice and shiny by Friday.

Full Metal Jacket...

I went to see Jarhead this weekend. Hated it. But it made me remember how much I LOVE Full Metal Jacket. Here's what I tell my six year old, which is paraphrased from FMJ.

"Son, all I've ever asked of you is that you obey my orders as you would the word of God."

Classic.

New Savoy Magazine Goes on "Hiatus"

Well, it looks like I'll get paid when the moon turns to cheese...lol

Lawrence
--------------------------------------------------------

New Savoy Magazine Goes on "Hiatus"

November 14, 2005

Underfinancing Halts Black Lifestyle Monthly

The new Chicago-based incarnation of Savoy magazine, which debuted in February, is on "hiatus" and unable to pay its contributors, but plans a Web edition in December, publisher Hermene Hartman told Journal-isms.

"I was underfinanced from the get-go," said Hartman, Publisher of the Chicago weekly N'Digo. "I'm waiting on some dollars to come in." Savoy's last issue was dated June/July.

"I can't pay writers and I can't pay staff. Advertising is wonderful; reader response is wonderful," Hartman said Sunday. The lifestyles publication had an unaudited circulation of 325,000, she said.

Savoy, which aspired to be a "black Vanity Fair," was the flagship publication of Vanguarde Media, whose publications were auctioned in bankruptcy proceedings last year. Others in the Vanguarde stable were Heart & Soul, a health and fitness magazine, and Honey, which described itself as "a fashion and entertainment magazine aimed at stylish urban women."

Hartman bought Savoy for $600,000 from the Jungle Media Group, a small New York publishing house that won the magazine at auction in May 2004 for $375,000 plus the assumption of consumer liabilities. Hartman hired as editor Monroe Anderson, a Chicago-based veteran journalist who had worked at Ebony, Newsweek, the Chicago Tribune and Chicago's WBBM-TV.

Hartman said the publication ran into higher-than-expected postal expenses when it failed to qualify to mail at magazine postal rates. "We missed it by a month. We were out of publication for a full year," she explained. "We were mailing out at full postal rates, and magazine status is half of that."

Hartman's debut issue in February featured Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and his wife, Michelle Obama. It ran 116 pages and carried 14 articles, features and columns. It planned to publish 10 times a year, with combined issues for June/July and December/January, as Target Market News reported then.

Anderson is editing the online edition of Savoy, which will be posted at http://www.savoymag.com, Hartman said. Writers who are owed money will be paid when "some dollars come in," and subscriptions will be honored, she said.

Of the other Vanguarde products, Honey was bought at auction in May 2004 by a company headed by Philmore Anderson, a former record company executive who has not yet relaunched the magazine, and Heart & Soul reappeared on Oct. 7. [Added Nov. 17: Anderson said he was still assembling financing for the magazine and "we'll be publishing in '06."]

The health and fitness publication had been purchased at auction by Baltimore-based Twenty-First Century Group. Publisher Edwin V. Avent told Journal-isms Sunday that "we had similar issues" as Savoy with its postal costs, but "you have to have enough capital to deal with it. It's something you have to budget."

The next Heart & Soul issue is scheduled for February/March, and after that it will publish every other month, Avent said. As reported last month, Yanick Rice Lamb has returned to the publication as editorial director.

Posting of material below was delayed until Nov. 16:

Savoy...Still No Pay...

Ah, it's been months after I was supposed to be paid by Savoy magazine, and still nothing. About two months ago, I began calling the editor, the one Hermene Hartman, who also publishes a weekly Chicago rag called N'digo. Now, my dealings with Ms. Hartman have been comical to a certain extent. The first time I talked with her, she said that I would be paid by the end of the week. Two ends of the week passed and I decided to give her another call. She couldn't remember having said that. Okay, common mistake. So I gave her another month and then decided to find out when I would receive my check. She then gave me a long explanation about how she had been paying high postal rates and now she was hoping to get a rebate and THEN pay me. I said, okay.

Two months go by, and not a peep. So, I decide to call again. Now this time I think she mistook my name, she called me Mr. Harris a few times. Mr. Harris must be an important person because she was extremely apologetic, which was a change. Normally, she was extremely abrupt and acted like I was really taking a lot of her valuable time from her. But when I corrected her on my name, she went back to her abrupt self. Again, I received the postal excuse.

I got off the phone the last time and became curious. One of the photographers for the Savoy issue is pretty much world famous. I sent him an email and he said that he hadn't been paid and didn't think we'd see a dime from Savoy.

Now this is the point where most folk would say, hey, chalk it up to experience and don't think about it. Write it off as a tax loss and move on. And since I'm a daily advocate of black business (I've kept a weekly journal since I was 15, detailing when and where I spent my money, and how much went to a black business), I would normally do that. But here's the thing. Freelance writers get JACKED all of the time, and we're constantly told to just lump it. I don't think I'm going to do that this time.

As I noted before, Ms. Hartman also runs a weekly. I may send every last one of her advertisers a letter about how financially unstable her publication is. I'm also going to send a letter of protest to the National Association of Black Journalists, which I'm a member. I may also talk to the Chicago Sun-Times and Tribune about this situation. Lastly, I may take her to small claims court and then immediately go to her offices and enforce the judgement.

In plain terms, what Ms. Hartman is doing is stealing. She is promising to pay for work, and once the work was done and used, she is refusing to pay. That's sad. What do y'all think?

My New Website...

Hey all,

I've finally put up a website. Check it out at www.lross.net and let me know what you think.

Lawrence

Kid in a Candy Store...

One of the great things about film school is that I get to listen to experts outside of writing. I love the business side of things, and one place I get to learn the biz is in a producer's class. Terry Press, Director of Marketing at Dreamworks, is a funny, gruff, and highly intelligent teacher of marketing, and she's been showing us the ropes of what it takes to market a movie. The woman can literally tell you how much any given movie is going to make before it comes out. She KNOWS her shit, and I like people who KNOW their shit. Today, she brought in Laurence Mark, producer of movies such as Jerry Maguire and As Good As It Gets. This is why I went to film school. He was great. He explained how African American movies are marketed and his movies in general, from the best to the worst. He's on my list of people to call once I have scripts ready.

Hal's Class Today...

We didn't have anything due today for my screenwriting class, but we watched the first acts of three movies: The Professional, Tootsie, and A Walk on the Moon (which was written in Hal's class). It was very informative as we watched how writer's wrote off the nose dialogue and how conflict was the center of every line, scene and the act itself. Again, it makes you very cognizant that you need to know your characters REALLY well. Right now, I'm doing a character sketch for my characters, and it's really making them come to life. Last week, I rewrote my story and started two scenes from Act One. But over the next couple of days, I'll first flesh out the characters, and then start writing better scenes.

Called Karen at Kensington to see if they were going to buy Money Shot. I sent an email to my agent, but I haven't heard back. Turned in my story idea for the Sloan Foundation ($10,000 prize) and I really like it.

Tomorrow begins my workout schedule. My knees are at 85% and I can walk straight without pain. Cutting, like a football player, is out of the question. But Lifecycle, here I come.

That's Better...

Sent my newly revised story to my professor and we both agree that it works much better. Still has some problems, but not huge. It's more writing this weekend, unless I go up to the Cal vs USC game.

Paul Haggis and Crash...

I went to see a screening of CRASH as presented by Creative Screenwriting magazine, and the writer Paul Haggis was in attendance. It was cool listening to someone rather than being on the stage myself. Anyway, each time I see CRASH, the more the impact lessens, but then again, that may simply be the nature of the movie. The plot twists, the emotional moments, the coincidences, are all known, so the surprise is gone. But still, I'm not sure that it's going to hold up over the long term. But I could be wrong. It wouldn't be the first time.

I have done a third revision of my Hal's class Project X and I like it. I threw away a LOT and I think I have a better, more logical story. I'm really getting into this throwing shit away. I'm not wedded to anything in my scripts, so I feel nothing if something doesn't work. Keep trying.

I also did a sketch of ACT ONE, and tomorrow, I will do a finish our assignment, which is to tell the story in the first person from our characters perspective. That'll help me understand my characters and their motivations for what they do.

One of the fortunate things about having paid for high school is that your fellow alums are extremely generous with their time and are willing to listen to you. Two of my high school alums are agents in this town and they've graciously agreed to meet with me once I have a script done. Remember, I want to learn the fundamentals, write a good solid first script, get representation, sell a script, and then begin to experiment while in film school. So this first script may not have many Charile Kaufaman moment, I'll save those for 434 advance screenwriting, but it will be solid, even if I have to re-write it over and over.

Revision...

Had Hal's class today and we had to present a synopsis of our script. My synopsis showed flaws, such as folks were unclear as to where the story was going. Not too good. But that's what this is for. I look at each session as molding my clay project. So I'm going back over and throwing some stuff out, changing the direction in other ways, and then coming up with a better reason for telling the story in the first place. One thing though. I'm loathe to criticize the work of others unless I truly believe what I have to say helps. So, although I didn't say it today, I feel like some of the work read was a bit literary, when I am trying to move in the opposite direction. When I say literary, I mean a lot of description that could be action. I see some of the works as novels, but I'm going to be interested in seeing how they translate it to a script. My strategy is to take each and every description I write in a script and see if it can best be done as an action instead. So my descriptions aren't as long or flowery. Three words are my goals. Describe characters in three words. But make them good words.

More movies watched:

Mystic River
Catch Me if you Can
Wonderland

Projects to finish:
1. Revised synopsis and then continue working on Act One of Hal's Project X.
2. Work on the treatment for the Sloan Foundation: Due November 18th