Thursday, September 06, 2007

This might work out

Once in a while, I have moments of doubt about this whole screenwriting thing, and then a week like this comes along.

Alex E. told the scribosphere that he's working on a series. As his man Friday, I get his treatments and scripts and send notes back. That's not so unusual; I've been doing that for several projects over the last two years. The difference this time is that I'm a line in the development budget.

I've done editing and reading of scripts before, sometimes even for change, but we're talking income so significant it's declarable for taxes. It's a sweet pat on the back. Let's hope the show gets picked up. I won't say much about it here, but it is something I'd watch, which is saying something because I'm picky.

In a similar vein, I spoke on the phone with a real Hollywood producer yesterday - and he has been trying to reach me rather than the other way around. He's familiar with my 101 Squadron work and he wants me to work on a documentary about the squadron. He'd love to do a feature, but he thinks the documentary would have to come first. It doesn't matter to me. I want this fascinating story out there. It deserves to be told. He thinks so too, and we had a fruitful discussion.

That project is separate from Lou Lenart's, in personnel and in focus. The Lenart project also wants my input, although in a research capacity rather than as screenwriter. After all these years of failures, it's possible that two documentaries on the early Israeli Air Force may get made.

The Miami PBS affiliate aired a talking-head documentary in 1999 titled "Israel's Forgotten Heroes". The film covered American volunteers in all branches of the Israeli armed forces in 1948 and had some air force members in it. While it was a fascinating show, it just didn't aspire to the level of elaboration that the current documentary projects do.

So screw those moments of doubt. Things are happening. I have always assumed that I'd have to work my way up with other scripts before I would be in a position to get this story told, but maybe I was wrong.

Bonus fantasy baseball update:

I'm still in first - tied for first - but I occasionally bounce down as low as third for a day or two. We two in first have 54 points while third place has 50, and candidates for money finishes lie as far back as sixth (46.5 points). All the contenders are competing head to head in at least one category. I'm one home run ahead of my co-leader, two wins back (I'll pass him there), and two saves ahead (he'll catch me). This will go down to the wire.

My team continues to rake the ball, with a .315 batting average over the last four weeks (and that includes Miguel Cabrera's .220 over that span).

My pick-up for September was Jason Bergmann. I was on a plane at the alloted time and so my pick was determined by a dumb list. Looking at the picks of other teams, I might have been better served by taking Rajai Davis for his steals, but I can't complain about Bergmann's two starts so far: a win, 0.92 WHIP, and 2.77 ERA.

.274 batting average (4th)
224 HR (3rd)
877 RBI (2nd)
101 SB (tied 8th, 2 SB out of 7th)
3.95 ERA (2nd, 0.06 out of first)
1.27 WHIP (1st)
67 wins (tied 6th, 2 wins out of fifth)
25 saves (7th)

1 Comments:

Blogger Naila J. said...

If you're looking for an assistant, you know where to find me!

September 7, 2007 12:00 PM  

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