I Get By With a Little Help From My Friends
Ok, first a little "real-time" info. Steve has read the screenplay all the way through and LIKES IT! Thank God! Of course, he has notes; I never met a creative person that didn't have notes, but he thinks we have a movie here and I am thrilled/relieved/over-joyed to get his approval. We are going to try to schedule a read-thru with the cast by the end of August at Steve's studio and we'll outline the production schedule and get a verbal committment from the cast then. I'm beginning to get excited.
Now, back to my historical discourse...
While I was working on the screenplay for "Garth", I was busy doing other things as well. After a two year break, I returned to the stage as an actor as "King Henry II" in "The Lion in Winter" at the Pensacola Little Theatre (one of the best parts ever written for an actor of my age) and "Smudge" in "Forever Plaid" at Stage Crafters in Fort Walton Beach. "Plaid", in particular took up a lot of my time, having to learn tight four part harmony to 22 different songs, plus lines and coreography. we rehearsed a brutal five hour a day, five day a week schedule and I was never so glad for a show to be over in my life! I also directed three mainstage shows in FWB, "Sylvia", "Never Too Late" and my current project, "Run for Your Wife". I was also trying to write during this time, not only working on Garth, but also finishing up "The Avalon Hills Trilogy", a trinity of one acts surrounding residents of a retirement home. "The Boys of Summer", the first part of the trilogy was the winner of the "Best One Act" in the Emerald Coast Literary Guild competition in 2002 . Parts one and two of "Avalon" were produced as a director's thesis (not mine) by my great friend Miriam Merriwether, who also directed me in "Forever Plaid" and the entire trilogy is being considered for the Studio 400 stage at PLT. I also knocked out this little piece of fluff called "Moments Like These" for an evening of one acts sponsored by the Santa Rosa Literary Guild and I'll be damned if it hasn't turned out to be my most performed work so far. I also wrote a monologue called "Broken", which hasn't been performed yet, but remains one of my favorite pieces. In other words, I've been busy.
In the middle of all this, I got a call from another good friend, Carol Kahn Parker, who runs the Carol's Curtain Call website, a repository of all things theatrical for Northwest Florida. Carol also is one of the female leads in in both "Run for Your Wife" and "Garth" and is one of the most talented actresses I know. Anyway, Carol calls and asks me if I intended to go to the 2nd annual writers' conference sponsored by the Emerald Coast Literary Guild. I tell her that I really hadn't thought about it, but probably not. Most of my experience with other writers and book people was that were 1) boring as hell and 2) not very good at networking, promotion or even throwing a party. I remembered the book conferences and signing appearances that I had to attend when I was stumping for "Lettres Acadiennes-A Cajun ABC", a children's book I wrote and illustrated that was published by Pelican Publishing back in '92, and they were, almost without exception, tired and dreary affairs. Carol assured me, however, that this didn't look like that would be the case this time around. The Guild had rounded up a decent slate of guest lecturers and she figured that I ought to be able to meet someone who could steer me in the right direction, even if it was by accident. I told Carol that sounded great, but the price for attending the confab was a little rich for my blood. And that, Carol said, is why she was calling. As a token of friendship and of her belief in my abilities as a writer, she was willing to pay for my registration. I was stunned. Not only had I not considered going to the conference, I would have never thought of asking someone to pay my way! After talking to Carol long enough to ascertain that this was, indeed, something she wanted to do, I accepted and sent in my registration. Carol and I had had a "Medici Moment".
NEXT: Producer with a Heart of Gold...I meet Thom Gossom, Jr.
Now, back to my historical discourse...
While I was working on the screenplay for "Garth", I was busy doing other things as well. After a two year break, I returned to the stage as an actor as "King Henry II" in "The Lion in Winter" at the Pensacola Little Theatre (one of the best parts ever written for an actor of my age) and "Smudge" in "Forever Plaid" at Stage Crafters in Fort Walton Beach. "Plaid", in particular took up a lot of my time, having to learn tight four part harmony to 22 different songs, plus lines and coreography. we rehearsed a brutal five hour a day, five day a week schedule and I was never so glad for a show to be over in my life! I also directed three mainstage shows in FWB, "Sylvia", "Never Too Late" and my current project, "Run for Your Wife". I was also trying to write during this time, not only working on Garth, but also finishing up "The Avalon Hills Trilogy", a trinity of one acts surrounding residents of a retirement home. "The Boys of Summer", the first part of the trilogy was the winner of the "Best One Act" in the Emerald Coast Literary Guild competition in 2002 . Parts one and two of "Avalon" were produced as a director's thesis (not mine) by my great friend Miriam Merriwether, who also directed me in "Forever Plaid" and the entire trilogy is being considered for the Studio 400 stage at PLT. I also knocked out this little piece of fluff called "Moments Like These" for an evening of one acts sponsored by the Santa Rosa Literary Guild and I'll be damned if it hasn't turned out to be my most performed work so far. I also wrote a monologue called "Broken", which hasn't been performed yet, but remains one of my favorite pieces. In other words, I've been busy.
In the middle of all this, I got a call from another good friend, Carol Kahn Parker, who runs the Carol's Curtain Call website, a repository of all things theatrical for Northwest Florida. Carol also is one of the female leads in in both "Run for Your Wife" and "Garth" and is one of the most talented actresses I know. Anyway, Carol calls and asks me if I intended to go to the 2nd annual writers' conference sponsored by the Emerald Coast Literary Guild. I tell her that I really hadn't thought about it, but probably not. Most of my experience with other writers and book people was that were 1) boring as hell and 2) not very good at networking, promotion or even throwing a party. I remembered the book conferences and signing appearances that I had to attend when I was stumping for "Lettres Acadiennes-A Cajun ABC", a children's book I wrote and illustrated that was published by Pelican Publishing back in '92, and they were, almost without exception, tired and dreary affairs. Carol assured me, however, that this didn't look like that would be the case this time around. The Guild had rounded up a decent slate of guest lecturers and she figured that I ought to be able to meet someone who could steer me in the right direction, even if it was by accident. I told Carol that sounded great, but the price for attending the confab was a little rich for my blood. And that, Carol said, is why she was calling. As a token of friendship and of her belief in my abilities as a writer, she was willing to pay for my registration. I was stunned. Not only had I not considered going to the conference, I would have never thought of asking someone to pay my way! After talking to Carol long enough to ascertain that this was, indeed, something she wanted to do, I accepted and sent in my registration. Carol and I had had a "Medici Moment".
NEXT: Producer with a Heart of Gold...I meet Thom Gossom, Jr.
posted by Don Goodrum at 6:46 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home