Progress, slow sweet progress

It was almost a year ago when Sonora asked to see my portfolio of scripts. It was back in April when I started writing the script. It was June when I sent her the first draft. It was September when we had our first table read. And now? Now it's November. But soon it will be December.

And in December it looks like we'll have a staged reading.

Yep. Another table read. But a little different this time. Okay, a lot different.

September was awesome. We had actors and friends sitting around Sonora's big dining room table she bought just for that night. We had champagne and good food and conversation. We had a reading. Scripts in hand, laughs produced, smiles brightened. It was awesome.

But over the last two weeks things have been happening. I've been rewriting, yes, I'm always rewriting. But we've also added another producer to the mix, involved Sonora's lovely wife Dasha and my lovely sister Angela, and we're a team. We're a team who've met each Sunday to brainstorm and plan and move forward with this. And it's exciting.

Again, I don't want to make major announcements here. Yet. We're still in the planning stages. We're calling theaters and contacts and friends. We're trying to get people to commit to reading the parts (all new cast members except Sonora) who have some name recognition. Like people you may have heard of. Like really exciting people. We're trying to get people to get people who have connections or deals or contacts at studios to come listen (again, some people you may have heard of or at least heard of their projects). And when I say we? I really mean Sonora and Devon (our new producing partner! yay!). Because my job is still to sit here, at the keyboard, and make the script better. Each and every day.

It's an interesting process. I know the script will change a million different ways in the future if this project continues. I know I may or may not be a part of that. I'm okay with that. But for right now? It's all mine. It's all me. And that's terrifying. And exhilarating.

I'm not changing huge chunks of the script. I'm finessing things. I'm making things funnier, better I hope. Because that's what rewriting is all about.

So...things are moving forward. And it's exciting. People believe in this project, in me. And I can't tell you what that means to me. After all these years, after all these hours alone here in front of this screen. It's amazing. It's amazing to sit in a room with people and talk about theaters and blow dryers (you'll see, I'm funny!) and talent (i.e., the cast) and Hollywood people. It's truly amazing.

But for now? For now I have to open up the file on my computer again and get back to work. Because without pages, there's nothing to read...