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Status Quo update

It’s been nearly a month so let’s play catch up.
I didnt get The Mask II. I’m told they passed on all three pitches. So, thats the end of that.
Made yet another pass through “Riddle Me This”. Lockett is now the killer. It works. I suppose it works far better than any other pass, although I was reluctant to take a happy ending and turn it into something darker. Both Dean and Mark read it and again signed off on it, but then they signed off on it drafts ago.
I spoke with Nicole. She was excited but seemed perhaps a little surprised that I’d made a pass without checking with her first. They got the copy Friday morning so I’m hoping to hear from her Monday with her thoughts, although I’m not holding my breath. Please, God, let it go out this time. I don’t think my sanity can handle another rewrite of the ending.
As for “Full Moon Dick”. Sci-fi East and West read it some three weeks ago and we are awaiting word from the lady at the top. We are also waiting to hear from Bruce Campbell. He’d agreed to read it without an up front offer, which I’m told is a good thing. He and Sci-fi would be a great combo.
Dean has taken a job working on Damon Wayans show “My Wife and Kids” as writer/producer. He structured an impossible deal. He’s only required to work on 11 episodes with an option to leave before the back nine if he desires. “Full Moon Dick” was also listed in first position thus if it goes forward and he so chooses then he can leave “My Wife and Kids” in order to run FMD.
My insurance was cancelled on the 1st. I made 14K and I needed to have made 17K. Doesnt matter what I made the year before, you gotta qualify every year. Bummer.
Riesner’s been sending Mel Love letters again. Old bastard would have me killed if he knew who to call. We’ve had lunch a few times this month and he started pulling out his WGA checks again. The old fart loves to boast about how much money he’s got and I don’t. But don’t get any of this wrong…we’re pretty fond of each other.
Jim Isaac is up for two movies: “Final Destination II” and a movie called “Wrong Turn”. Sort of a remake of Deliverance with teens. Both sets of producers went to New Line last week for a screening of Jason X in order to check out Jimmy’s latest work.
David Handman (Jason X’s editor and friend) says he took a horrible job. Worse than his “Carnival of Souls” job. He took it for the money but would really like to move on to better stuff.

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EverCrack

Well, our trip to Varant was a joke. What a bozo company. Well, I take that back. The newbies or lowbies at the company take their jobs way too seriously. The joker assigned to take us around was clearly a hall monitor in his high school. He wouldn’t let us anywhere near Star Wars Galaxies. And made us turn our backs constantly. But we out ran his stamina…we stayed and stayed and stayed. Finally he made some excuse and pawned us off to some other lowbie. Fortunatly she was impressed that we wrote movies and took us anywhere we wanted. We ended up talking to a few of the producers and that was freaking fun.
Yllo.jpg

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Assorted crap

Still no word on the Mask II. The meeting to make a decision on a writer has been pushed back a number of times.
I’ve made at least two passes through the ending of “Riddle me This”. The Reader liked it but hated the ending. Sigh. Then Nicole sent it to a Producer friend of hers at Sony. He didn’t like it. He doesn’t like serial killer flicks because Se7en did it so well. I suppose he doesn’t like gangster flicks because Godfather did it so well. He also hated the ending.
I’ve thrown three other possible endings out to Nicole. She hasn’t sparked to any of them yet. I’ll keep thinking. I trust her judgement.
From what friends are telling me, Nicole is a very unique agent. She’s very hands-on. Most agents wouldn’t take the time to actually read a script. But she’s already read a dozen different drafts of Riddle. I can see the pros and cons but right now I’m sticking to the pros.
Dean and I go to San Diego to meet with Verant tomorrow. The company that makes the game EverQuest.

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The Old Man didn’t like it

Riesner read “Riddle Me This”. I don’t think he liked it…or perhaps he just didn’t get it. He gave me his white hat/black hat speech. I’ve heard the speech a dozen times before but it’s always good to hear it. Basically he likes his movies to have clearly defined good guys and bad guys. Which is funny when you take into consideration that he’s responsible for “Dirty Harry” and the Drifter in “High Plains Drifter”. However, in his defense, his good guys are clearly the “goodest” in his movies — even though they may be hardasses.

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Another day…another draft…

Sent another of pass of “Riddle” to Nicole. Her plan is to send it to a reader for feedback.