The Screenplay Diary: "Between Love and Orgasms"... Just Keep Writing

A couple of days ago, I got an exceptionally nice mention in a blog post written by a very dear friend, in which she mentioned my ongoing efforts at writing a screenplay.  After reading the post (and spending another day mulling over the idea that sometimes people recognize you as much for your attempted accomplishments as they do for the ones that you have actually accomplished), I realized that it had be months since I posted my own article on where I am in the process of taking an idea, and turning it into a finished, 100 plus page manifestation of the original spark inside my dimly lit writer’s mind.

My conclusion (after the day of mulling) is that, while life can be life’s own biggest ball and chain, there comes a time in the writer’s life when he just has to take the advice of his 9^th grade typing teacher and (thank you Mr. Wanous), “Just keep typing”.  There will never be a better time for putting your story on the (computer) screen, than the moments you have right the hell now.  It doesn't matter if it’s a few words out of a character’s mouth, scribbled in the margin of a work report from the night job you blame for keeping you from writing in the first place... it doesn't matter if it’s an illegally thumb-typed (remember that texting to yourself while driving is also a finable offense in California) memo on the notepad app on your cell phone.  And it sure as hell doesn’t matter if it’s one brilliant plot twist that you have on a wallpaper post-it on your laptop.  Script is script.  And writing is writing, even when it doesn’t feel anymore like writing than Cheetos feels like food.

“Just keep typing”.

As always, I will leave you with a small portion of the unfinished script of Between Love and Orgasms.  In this scene, between Robbie, the main character, and his best Tagalog-speaking, Filipino work friend Buddy (a character I always see being played by the one and only Ken Jeong), Buddy is attempting to explain why the only thing worse than sex with your next-door neighbor’s Russian wife is sex on the internet.


                                                                                               BUDDY
                                               Paano ko ito sinasabi? It's kinda like bragging
                                               about a  3 inch penis in a roomful of porn stars,
                                               and getting away with it... until you decide to
                                               meet for real, and then Ikaw ay fucked sa 
                                               pamamagitan ng hindi pa fucked.


                                                                                               ROBBIE
                                               Google translate that one for me please.


                                                                                                BUDDY
                                                You get fucked by not getting fucked.

So, I'll keep typing... and see you next time.

Copyright © 2012 Bill Friday

Bill Friday To Be Inaugural Guest On Expats Radio

(BIG PRESS RELEASE KIND OF ANNOUNCEMENT!!!) 

It's Always Friday, in cooperation with Expats Media and BlogTalkRadio, presents... "Expats Radio talks with Bill Friday".  Hosted by writer and activist and Publisher of Expats Post, Dean Walker, Expats Radio will feature authors and artists seen on the pages of Expats Post.

This Friday, May 11, at 3 p.m. Pacific Time, It's Always Friday's own Bill Friday will appear as the first guest on the inaugural broadcast of Expats Radio, live on BlogTalkRadio.  The show will also be taking your phone calls live for Dean and Bill by calling 1 (646) 200-4691 or 1 (646) 200-GO 91.  

The program will also be available to hear 24 hours a day at BlogTalkRadio's Expats Media - News and Entertainment page, where you can find links to all things Expats, including Twitter, Facebook, RSS subscription, and how to get Expats Radio for your iPhone from the iTunes store.  

See you then.

(the) Philosophy Of Shit

Think... or get off the pot.

I wrote the following words this past week, and posted them on Facebook, during a time of emotional upheaval... 

Philosophy of Shit. 


“Taking shit from somebody indicates a felt need for more shit in one’s life… Giving a shit indicates a history of needlessly taking shit from others… 


To say that I no longer give a shit, or take shit, from anyone, anymore, about anything, indicates that my personal shit levels are finally right where they should be… 


No shit.”

Sometimes Love Can't Shut Up

A spoken word reflection on love...

Sometimes love can’t shut up.  It’s a bad habit that love can’t seem to break... not that it ever tried.  Love always seems to talk at the worst possible times.  Like when other much more deserving emotions wish to say their peace, and walk away.  I swear there are times that love, if it was smarter, would save itself the ass-whuppin’, and just move along.

The Screenplay Diary: "Between Love and Orgasms"... Taking a Turn for the Words

My favorite story (out of many) about the bringing of story to screen is the story of the 2005 Academy Award nominated film Sideways.

The film was an adaptation of the novel of the same name, written by a relative failure by Hollywood standards (author Rex Pickett), ironically about a man who is a failure as novelist. The story also mirrors Pickett’s life as a quasi-alcoholic in search of success in mid-life, after years of failed attempts to break through to mainstream industry acceptance.

Sometimes lost in the story of the making of Sideways is the tucked-away fact that Pickett’s novel was still unpublished at the time it was being turned into the surprise hit of 2004. Director Alexander Payne “discovered” the story, reading the novel in waiting on a flight from Edinburgh to Los Angeles. But for me, the part of the “lost in the story” story that influences me the most is that a finished, but unsold, story served as an industry “calling card” to get the story of Sideways in the hands of the right person to make Rex Pickett’s words make it to the big screen. Which led me to this conclusion...