Final Decision!!!

I'm still not easy calling myself a writer!!! I have one, not very impressive credit on IMDB and a couple of scripts floating around like that famous plastic bag on American Beauty but I haven't seen that bag in any other movies lately have you?!!

I'm not a confident person about me, but throughout the writing process it is imperative that other people read your words. The only catch is getting someone to read that fills 2 important boxes.

1. They know what they're talking about!!!

2. The are willing to be brutal and honest!!!

I have my esteemed brother from Stinkbrown and he's a Gonzo Journalist for The Weekly Crisis to bounce ideas off and so far I have received invaluable feedback and he definitely knows what he is talking about! Being close brothers we have similar ideas and in my humble opinion we work well together. We have collaborated on one short script and managed to sell it to a producer who will hopefully start pre-production in the next few months. However he is a very busy writer with his finger in a lot of pies (He is a newly wed!!!! (.Y.)) I am trying not to draw that well dry so I need feedback and so forth from other avenues.

I met a young lady at my younger brother's wedding (he keeps paying out!) late last year who is an accomplished writer/producer/director and was lucky enough to have a bit of a chat and have since exchanged emails and ideas on each others work.

So I did the pushy writer thing and sent all my unsolicited scripts for feedback!!! No expectations but man did she pay off!!!!

The funny thing is I happened to be checking my emails yesterday and noticed there were 9 emails in my spam account so I entered with the intention of clicking on the helpful "Delete All" key but noticed one of the subject headings was 'Short and Feature Scripts'. This email bounty was sitting in my SPAM for exactly 1 month!!!

So after reading and rereading I sent Claire a thank you email and went to work on changing or not, parts of different scripts based on honest/knowledgeable comments/suggestions/opinions made by Claire.

Last night this made me think how helpful some people in the industry can be!! And more to the point how to surround yourself with these people!!

Another issue I faced during the process of reading the ideas was; what do I do if I disagree with an opinion/comment? Well that's easy. If you believe the character/dialogue/scene whatever deserves to be there keep it. But also think about how the story would change without it. If it's a cool scene/character that doesn't further the story then bin it!

NOW I have 2 short scripts that I am happy with, what is the next step? I've been told to shmooze with industry people at Film Fests etc but in Charters Towers it's all booze and no shmooze!!! So I guess I'll go back to what has worked the last 2 times. Cold Call, keep emailing producers and hope that if I get one to actually read the script we can work from there!!!

Anyone interested in reading unsolicited scripts (short and feature) can email me at jlind78@gmail.com

Speaking of Film Festivals, The Pessimist is screening at Byron Bay Film Festival on the 12th of March but still not sure what it is nominated for apart from Best Short. So fingers crossed!!

It's also my fathers 64th birthday today, so happy birthday DAD!!!! So here's a pic of your 3rd grandson Benjamin!!!

Until then hail to my decision!