New Project: Washington

Adam’s recent cartoon, Greg Zoobro, inspired me to try my hand at animation again. My first attempt was created in Final Cut, using the basic motion graphics tools that come standard with the software. It was good enough to generate this. The principal lesson I learned from this exercise is this: don’t try to create a cartoon in Final Cut and lypsync the dialogue.

The new cartoon is about a talking chimpanzee named Washington, who escapes from the zoo and a belligerent and abusive zookeeper, Mr. Desmond. I’ve been focusing on learning the fundamentals of animating in Flash, so I haven’t really worked on the storyline, but I’m proud to say that Washington can walk.

I think animation is the way to go for several reasons. It’s much easier to draw an expensive set than to shoot at one (most of the time). Also, it’s always easier to get someone to say a few words into a microphone than it is to get them to show up in the middle of nowhere at 4 AM. Trust me on that.

The best part of all is the gratification you feel after finishing up a scene or a character. You, alone, determine when it has been fully realized, as opposed to the screenwriting process, which can go on literally forever without any payoff.

Semi-Accomplished

I didn’t make it to the gym tonight, but I managed to do a load of laundry and make it to a cafe, where I now sit, churning out words. Oh yeah – I also cooked dinner and made several meals that I can bring to work for the rest of the week in an attempt to save money and optimize my diet in an effort to get rid of this beer gut before my birthday.

I don’t know what it is, but I feel a renewed sense of vigor. I really feel like this screenplay might be the one that combines everything I’ve learned from writing the past ten. The second draft is a completely unique retelling of the story from the first, but there’s something so appealing about the premise. Normally, I’d be annoyed that it’s a page 1 rewrite after spending 6 months outlining and four months writing the first draft, but I really think the new approach serves the story.

Really, the benchmark of a story worth telling is the sense of excitement that the writer feels about discovering what his/her subconscious will come up with next.

New Project – Second Stab at Animation

The sudden boost in physical activity seems to have triggered a surge of creativity as well. Although I didn’t have the opportunity to write the 10 extra pages I was hoping to generate today, I did come up with an entirely new project that could potentially turn into something substantial.

The new project will require me enhancing my illustration skills and learning Flash animation from the ground up. I’m going to check out the tutorials on lynda.com for this, but if anyone has some other good sources of info on the Adobe Creative Suite, I’d love to hear them.

Motivation Found

Today is the day – the day when I get back on track and regain the momentum that has been lost over the past few months. Right now, I am sitting in the Santa Monica Public Library, listening to Wilco, and working on the second draft of the latest screenplay. This draft has turned into more of a page 1 rewrite, as I now have to shift the entire point of view from one of the protagonists (now a supporting character) to the other, so even if I can salvage scenes from the previous draft, I have to rewrite them.

The good news is that I can already see this approach working. The story flows much better and demands the reader’s/audience’s attention right from the start.

Enough procrastinating – time to pump out some more pages.

Same Old Song & Dance

Too many of my entries begin with: “It’s been a long time…”, but it really has. Four months and change is far too long to leave.

More entries this weekend. Promise.

The Purpose

At the core of a precious, quiet moment, I find myself blessed with the rare opportunity to think. I ask myself how long it’s been since my last thought, but the search for the answer brings about the beginnings of what will surely be an intense headache.

Instead, I’ll squander this gift of time, as so many others do, by transposing what should be expressed as gutteral growls and orgasmic screams into a tapestry of whimpers comprised of 1s and 0s.

All I want is to fill pages with ideas struggling to maintain some semblance of profundity, but it’s much easier to write this, jerk off, and call it a day.

Nagging Question

Last night I wrote 5 pages, getting me up to page 56 in the Vampire/Biker Gang horror script. I’m hoping to hit page 60 tonight before I relax, and hoping to do it before 11 PM. Will I accomplish this objective?

Let’s find out…

The Shape of Things

There’s something about the time that spans from the end of October to the end of January. Several friends and myself always seem to feel the brunt of life’s little surprises around this time.

Last year, I lost a childhood friend, had a death in the family, and begin to lose control of my life as the amount of overtime at my job steadily increased. This year, the less than amicable end of a tumultuous business partnership involving my brother and other longtime friends set off the chain of events that comprise the annual shit show.

Besides that, work (the new post-layoff job) has been a constant challenge and I have been completely drained on a daily basis for the past three months, preventing me from writing (hence the lack of updates here). In this economy, beggars absolutely cannot be choosers, and I wield little power in the job market.

To spice things up even more, my writing portfolio is in complete disarray, primarily because it’s taking me ten times as long as it normally does to complete the first draft of the latest screenplay.

This isn’t a rant, but more of an inventory of the facets of my life at the moment.

One more note – Call of Duty: World at War has hit stores, so getting anything done for the next few weeks is going to be even more of a challenge.

Square One TV

Please accept my humble apologies for failing to update this blog. The last few weeks have been action packed. Let’s begin…at the begiiiiiiiiin…

I have amicably split from my manager and feel conflicted about my current status as an unrepresented writer. It almost feels like a demotion – or a complete reboot – even though, to be honest, nothing was really accomplished during the three years that I was on his roster except a lot of wheels got to spin.

The new job has been tough. Part of me welcomes the challenge, but part of me longs for days when I rode the sofa at RZ and Nicky G’s spot in Burbank. However, I’m very grateful to be employed, given the current state of the economy.

Now, if only it would rain in L.A. so I could get a free car wash, that would be the ticket.

Switching Gears

Anyone who has taken the time to read the About section of this blog knows what the initial objective was. As few people have actually ever read this blog at all, I’ll summarize here:

L.A. wears down a man’s soul like a pencil. Just after the point breaks or is dulled down to the point of uselessness, the city grants a reprieve – just long enough to sharpen the point again. However, once the point is sharpened, the pencil is shorter, translating to the man’s diminished capacity for all things: perseverance, productivity, self esteem, etc.

After a strong start, the city even bled me of my inspiration to regularly update this blog, as things in my personal and professional life improved.

If I am an artist, I’m the kind that thrives on adversity and misery. As one of my friends put it, I’m a real minor chord kind of guy.

With things being so good right now, which is not a complaint, I can’t deliver hollow indictments or stoop to generating hollow gripes with Los Angeles.  Therefore, I think that the next evolutionary step of Man Vs L.A. will be to diversify the topics of these posts. Keep checking in, as I promise to update frequently and keep you entertained.