Fever

Boy, was I thinking of Peggy Lee last night.

John picked me up at the hospital at 4:00 late yesterday afternoon. I felt absolutely fine and we joked on the way home. But twice on the way home, I told John I was cold.

At around 6:00, my friends Ryan came by and I met him in the lane because he wanted to drop something off for me. Waiting in the sunshine was lovely. I was hyper-aware of the wonderful warmth.

Everything was normal. I was thrilled to have the procedure over and behind me, so I decided to get comfortable on the couch with Leon. We love cuddling and watching TV together. But at 7:20 I started trembling. By 7:30 I could not hold onto anything in my hands and breathing was really hard. I felt so cold I could not stop shaking uncontrollably.

Get this: I live in a commercial building so our hot water is scalding. Last night, as the shaking got worse and worse, I got into a scalding bath. and found relief. I had the phone with me so I called 411 and the nurse said I had the fever that often accompanies the procedure I had. I may never forget the fear and shaking of the walk from the bathtub to my bed where my winter comforter held in all the heat in my flesh from the bath.

I woke up at 10:30 in a soaking wet bed. Now I was burning up. The nurse asked me to take my temperature but I was too cold too get out of bed and go back to the bathroom to get the thermometer. I went back to sleep at 10:30 and slept deeply until 5:00 am this morning.

Now… back to work on my script. But f-ck. What a night.

One Smaller Lung

Re: Praxis
How great is serendipity? My friend Stephen called last night and I told him about our plans to submit the screenplay of Knock Knock to Praxis and he made me call a guy who I have known of for decades but never really known. He is a fine guy and he ran Praxis for over ten years. And Stephen was a juror, so I learned many things. Michel told me things to put into our application letter and he said we'd be competing with between 70 and 100 scripts. Stephen said a lot of the scripts are duds. And since Stephen saw  Knock Knock, his assurance that my story is stronger than many scripts he has read was reassuring.

Re: Health
Well that is over. After all the words, it was not really more than a lung biopsy. But it was a doctor I was not expecting and I was thrown by some issues, but once the sedation hit. It was over. I got a good dose of some medication that begins with "M" that makes you forget everything. Awesome!

Experiential Learning

Scene view of Mockingbird script.
Click to enlarge.

There's nothing like it. (Read the post title.) I've been doing it all my life. I built a theatre armed with only confidence and an honours English degree. I founded a photography gallery that continues to do well (critically) armed with nothing but a short lifetime (at the time) of looking at images. The first book I wrote became an official best seller and my first play got me a commission to write a second that is soon to be produced. All good eh?

I love learning by doing new things. Everything above, I undertook with naive confidence as I have undertaken the script of Mockingbird. Today I had a very encouraging conversation with the former head of Praxis, the producers of the scriptwriting competition to whom Warren and I are submitting our script.

My fabulous schedule: Wake up at 5:00; at work by 5:30.  Focused work until anywhere between noon and 2:00. Lunch and a break or a walk. Warren arrives at 3:00 and stays until 6:00. Dinner. The two more hours of work. Saturday and Sunday, I am going to rehearsal with Warren so that when he is not needed, we can work.

Best thing about today: Movie scripts are 110 pages long or less. It seems to be a rule of thumb. I am on page 52. I think our script will likely be 85 - 90 pages and that seems good to me because we have a narrator that has a heavy load of dialogue and the voice of a narrator creates far less length than dialogue…. short, for us, is okay.

Place Your Bets...

Friend, Beth, (wisely) cautions me to be prepared for rejection at Praxis.

Warren expresses concerns about how much time we have to work on the script.

I tell Warren, who is busy with rehearsals and other projects, that we can ignore Praxis and I mean it. I do not want to push this project, but Warren wants to go for it.

I am glad he wants to go ahead because his conviction in Mockingbird got me to invest hundreds of hours to get this far. But to continue to work this hard would be easier and more rewarding were we to get objective and experienced encouragement for the script and Praxis seems like a perfect opportunity.

Meanwhile… Wednesday I have to eat light, Thursday is surgery, Kim is reading draft #2 of HoMe and I await word from Toronto about a revision/re-write of Artist Survival Skills.

FUCKING PINCH ME!!!

Warren was here for a couple of hours yesterday. We sat down to work and he pulled out his stack of yellow file cards. He had one for each scene in the screenplay; each bore a title and purpose and he had re-arranged my order of the scenes.

It was truly humbling to see so profoundly talented a man so engrossed by my story and so incredibly invested in it. He knows what we are doing and how to do it better than I do. He sees the structure of the story and knows the language of film.

We had a great session that will serve for a model for future sessions and we will meet regularly—perhaps twice a week—to move through my first draft to our first draft BECAUSE God sent me a message last night. Here are God’s words:

Canadian screenwriters are invited to apply to the WFF Praxis Screenwriters Lab, an intense five day workship presented by the Whistler Film Festival and Praxis Centre for Screenwriters.The program will be held from December 1 to 5, 2014 during the Whistler Film Festival + Summit.

Designed to advance Canadian creative talent, the WFF Praxis Screenwriters Lab focuses on strengthening feature length scripts by facilitating feedback and mentorship from veteran screenwriters and story editors.

Up to 8 screenwriters will be invited to participate in the 2014 Screenwriters Lab.

The benefits:

·      Writers receive targeted feedback on the screenplay with the guidance of a carefully selected Creative Advisor

·      Writers participate in individual and group meetings with the Producer-in-Residence

·      Writers receive an industry pass to the Whistler Film Festival, having the opportunity to network and connect with other industry professionals

·      Writers leave the workshop having charted a course for a rewrite and further development
Warren was here for a couple of hours yesterday. We sat down to work and he pulled out his stack of yellow file cards. He had one for each scene in the screenplay; each bore a title and purpose and he had re-arranged my order 

And how do I know it was God speaking?  The Praxis deadline is June 30th.

UBC Botanical Garden

Today, dear, dear friends Lydia and David and their daughter, Martha (whom I have known all her life) went to the UBC Botanical Garden. It was stunning in every way and perfect weather. They arrived yesterday. Martha lives in Richmond, Virginia and L&D live in Kennewick Washington. We have a long fabulous history together.

Fabulous Flame

The Flame, as we were about to start.

The fabulous, the most wonderful Deborah Williams who started The Flame and is its host.

Last night was my sixth time telling a story at The Flame, a storytelling forum I just love. And being a stunning day, I walked from home to the Cottage Bistro where the event is held. (Excellent War Wonton Soup!)

That meant walking Main Street, from Science World to 30^th. It was the second day in a row I had done the same walk because Main Street is by far the most interesting street in the city. There are lots of funky (and clean) restaurants and scores of boutiques in which you meet the charming and unique owners.

My friends Dianne and DR came to watch and so I asked Dianne (who is about to retire and is the former film commissioner for British Columbia) to read and comment on my screenplay and give me any feedback that might occur to her.

There’s been fewer posts because I am almost finished draft two of play #2: HoMe.

And, I found a great new person to do my renovations. It is a wonderful experience to be working with someone I trust and who is true to his word. I have complete faith in James and my new kitchen cabinets are already underway.