October Rain

This entry will not be in chronological order. My brain is mushy, like my grandfather’s tatters. Which also means my brain must be tasty and most likely submerged in unhealthy amounts of buttery goodness.
It’s a little nutty how precious time gets.

First off, young Izzie Rain reached the one year mark without her mother and me causing any major damage, be that physical or emotional. Some, knowing Mel and I for years, might find that shocking. But what’s more shocking to us is that it has already been a year.
If you dig your leisurely existence, don’t have kids. We love’er. Decided not to sell her and all that. But we never got the memo alerting us to the fact that time accelerates when children are involved.
It’s crazy.

Last week she was born. 11.10 pounds of rip-momma-a-new-one glory.

And this week she’s standing and stringing together complex sentences: “Does my tushy look fat in this dress?”
I’m thankful that I get paid to do what I love to do. It’s a good gig if you can get it. And I’m an extrovert so I even enjoyed the guhzillion meetings that come standard with getting a job. Now those meetings annoy me. I don’t mind one or two. Meet and greet, shoot the poo, see if we, as a group, can actually tolerate one another long enough to see a screenplay from start to finish. And I realize I’m the only one to blame for my living six hours North of LA but spending 12 hours on the road for a one hour meeting that could have been accomplished via a 45 min conference call…eh…you get the idea.

A 12 hour round trip completely kills the day. The only work I get done will be that which exists in my head. Which isn’t a horrible thing. Most of what I do happens in the head first anyway. But I can also do that work while pushing the creature along the ocean.

But I accept the trade off. We chose to live in a small town with fresh air, friendly neighbors and a minute’s walk to an unpolluted ocean. What I refuse to tolerate when it comes to wasted time is Bill Gates. Bill, you’re a dick. You have been friends with Steve Jobs for how many years? Learn 2 do better.
I’ve written the pilot for a 30 minute animated series based on a popular video game. The game launched in September and wasn’t available on the Mac. So, I booted up the PC so that I could play the game. The time and energy it took to load the game was nothing but misery. First the PC demanded I do a string of Windows updates. Meanwhile ZoneAlarm and Avast are screaming that they need to be updated as well. And with each update there are string of questions to answer, downloads to confirm and it goes on and on and on. Then after hours and hours of updating I’m ready to download and the PC tells me the network doesn’t exist. Which is laughable since every Mac in the house can not only see the PC on the network but can grab and snatch any file from said PC. So while the Macs are rooting around inside the PC making fun of it, the PC retardedly insists that no network exists.
Turns out the PCs wireless software needs to be…you guessed it…updated. This turns out to be a nightmare because Linksys is demanding the installation CD. Why?? Well, this is a security measure…at least that’s what they tell you. Not true at all. It’s actually because Bill Gates is a dick. Which means, PC software is so easily pirated that Linksys wants to make sure you paid for your wireless software. By the way, is this my fault that PC software is so easily cracked and pirated? Why in the world do I need to prove that I’m legit when the security issues are due to faulty programing?
Thus begins the hunt for the original CD. I’ve moved twice since we bought the Alienware and the Linksys wireless. The CD could be anywhere. Anywhere but here as it turns out. So, what am I supposed to do? I got a seven thousand dollar Alienware just sitting there insisting that 2 + 2 = 11. So, I called Linksys. Some joker in Indonesia tells me they are willing to send me a replacement disk for both proof of purchase and money for shipping. I could, of course, buy a brand new wireless usb. Or, I can download the hack from a pirate site. Ten minutes later the PC is proudly boasting that 2 + 2 = 4. Thus, their attempt to defeat pirates has forced a legit consumer to become a pirate. Nice work, Bill. You dick.
Of course, when I launched the game the PC informed me it couldn’t allow gameplay until both the video and sound cards received updated drivers.
I used to wonder why Mac users were so arrogant. I used to think, “The Mac can’t be that much better.” I was wrong and I’m now an arrogant Mac user. If you are a PC user, do yourself a favor. Use a Mac for two months. It’ll take a month to get used to it. It’s different. No getting around that. But just like anything else it will all become second nature and then you’ll wonder and kick yourself for not switching sooner. It’ll change your life. More importantly, it’ll save you time.

So, several months back I met with Ghost House to discuss the possibility of writing a sequel to The Messengers. It was an odd journey because even though I was the original writer on The Messengers, Ghost House had never actually read my draft. My manager sent it to J.R. Young who read it and pitched the idea or rewriting it as a prequel. One script enters, two scripts leave.
I always loved that original draft and it was a little disheartening to watch it vanish piece by piece until hardly any of it remained. I didn’t hate The Messengers but as a writer, part of the fun is seeing your story made into a movie. That will finally happen. Now there was a big twist in the original that had to go. Sad about that but in the end I’m really happy with where the story ended up. In Mid-October I meet with the players at Raimi’s office on the Sony lot to discuss notes and hopefully have the thing in production by January.

In early September the Bad Planet/Alien Pig Farm crew met at Del’s Dark Delicacies in Burbank to shoot interviews and commentary for the digital formats of said comics. Big thanks for Sue and Del for giving us the space and putting up with us so late. 2am found us standing in an hour long line at Pink’s to take part in burgers and dogs.

It has been crazy busy lately but we still sneak out when we can and make the ocean walk. Sometimes we are joined by Jacob, Holly and young Duran.
One of the crazy busy elements adding to the crazy busy life was a rewrite of a six issue comic book series based on a popular video game. The idea was to turn out a story connecting game 4 to the coming release of game 5. The game developers had written the original comic story and I was brought in to polish, tighten and help out as best I could. I turned in Issue 1 a couple of weeks ago and am waiting to hear if I should continue or if I’m hated.

Tuesday evenings Alvarado Street in Monterey shuts down for the Farmer’s Market. We haven’t been in over a month but I’d like to head back there next week. Great food and goofy trinkets you can only find at a Farmer’s Market.
I finished what could only be called a TV show bible, consisting of pilot, town history, backstories, extensive character breakdowns as well as a very detailed first season break down with A,B,C and D storylines and an overall season to season story breakdown. I started this adventure six months ago (no, longer than that) with Benderspink. It’s a great show and the plan was to get out there before the pitch season ended but everyone’s schedule has been nutty. Not just mine. Currently we’re waiting for Fox’s reaction to the heafty document sent their way.

Izzie and Duran have become fast friends. Although lately we’ve kept the kids apart due to Izzie’s first runny nose which she sweetly shared with her mother and me. I, of course, got the worst of it. Turns out I was slowly ODing on cough syrup. At least I wasn’t coughing. But 12 hours after I started sipping the tasty grape flavored stuff I thought I was going to die. Everytime I stood up my head felt like it was about to explode and I would get dizzy, naseated and feel the urge to hurl. Finally I did. I was the Exorcist…well no…actually I was the possessed little girl. Mel started reading the bottle and asked me how much I’d been taking. Two tablespoons every four hours. Turns out I should have been taking one teaspoon. Oops. But I’m better now so mine enemies must wait a little longer for my eventual demise to bless the Earth.
Of course, during my runny nose I’ve been writing a pilot for a TV show that Michael Goldstein and I created years ago. We had the whole story mapped out, 22 episodes of season one and had the series mapped out through season 5. Writing the pilot has and will be pretty easy. Time has been the real issue. I’m writing it on spec so paying gigs keep bumping it aside. But I’m back on it for the moment.

Tomorrow I hit the road for LA where I’ll meet with Kevin Cornish and Zanne Devine at RKO. This will be the last story meeting before I dive into the script. It’s a twisted little thriller with the theme that promises one should be careful what one wishes for.
In my absence Mel and young Ms. Izzie Rain will attend their first official class at Parent’s Place. It’s something we regret not being a part of earlier. We’ve basically made it through year one alone. Our family is more or less East Coast. Mel’s been breast feeding so leaving Izzie with a formula packing babysitter was never an option. And although we have some great friends out here it’ll be nice to get around other parents and allow Izzie to mingle and assert her dominance on the lesser humans of her generation.
Actually the only time we’ve been away from Izzie has been our trips to the club to work out. They have a fantastic day care. We assumed young Izzie would complain at being away from mumsy and papa but she adapted with no problems.

Friday and Saturday I’ll be in San Jose for Silicon, a down home comicbook/horror/scifi convention. Tomorrow I’m going to drop by Dean’s house to confiscate his old Macbook. I could take my PC laptop but is there really any reason to explain why I don’t want to?
A few weeks back I drove into LA for Dean’s first official book signing at Carr D’Angelo’s Earth2Comics in Encino.

It was a great opportunity to see some of the old clan. The Handmans dropped in to show their support. They sent young Izzie a great little stuffed crab book (see first photo in this entry) for her one year birthday. And a big congratulations goes out to Mr. Handman for winning his first Emmy for editing.
We actually received some fantastic gifts from friends and family all over the country and it made for a great first Izzie Rain birthday. Being out here in the middle of nowhere we forget that people out there actually like us…or at least like Izzie.
Dean’s book is selling great and if you haven’t picked up a copy you should. He finished his drafts of the screenplay and the new writer (the guy who wrote Finding Nemo) has been hired. Those of you unfamiliar with the inner workings of Hollywood might think this is a slap at Dean. Not at all. Quite the opposite. Could they have shot Dean’s draft? Of course, but that ain’t how Hollywood works. Every screenplay gets rewritten. The Messengers got rewritten by eight different sets of writers. If you are going to be rewritten (and you will be) you want to be rewritten by the best. By the guy who will give the studio even more confidence to make the movie and make it right. Finding Nemo will deliver. I wish I’d been rewritten by Finding Nemo.

And in other baby news (far more important than Brit’s losing custody), Natalie and Patrick had their second bouncing boy, Jessica and Christine, their second little girl (gift baskets are bundled on the couch and awaiting our walk to the post office for proper shipment). And Mark and Christine have their third bun in the oven. Congratulations to all.
So, from Pacific Grove we wish you all a thanks for a wonderful year one. Work hard, laugh more and get some sleep.