It’s late and I’m working hard on Blood & Mist. I only wanted to duck in here long enough to offer this as an explanation as to why I’ve been absent this week. I met with an exec at Maple Shade Entertainment last week. They had passed on Blood & Dust, which they read and liked very much, but were wary of thanks to the dismal showing of John Carpenter’s western-themed Vampires from a few years ago. After chatting with her about the scope of the Blood Trilogy and explaining my approach to the material, she (like Mosaic Entertainment) is back up on the fence.

So all of this is pending delivery of treatments to the two sequels. That means writing. And lots of it. I have to work out the plots of two whole movies and then present them again (perhaps with a rewritten Dust) as a whole package. Though Glass, which is the third (and most contemporary) of the trilogy can be more of a four page thumbnail, Mist has to be serious and complete.

Last week I set about mapping out Mist in earnest. I’ve worked through the first act in about five single-spaced pages. As I push through it, it’ll get tougher. I have a good idea what happens when, but the specifics will take time. I might be able to sum up the final act in a line or two:

EXT. ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI – NIGHT

St. Louis burns.

…but I’m going to have to earn that by telling a solid tale.

Work, work, work!

Sara and I were talking on the phone late Monday night. I don’t remember how we got on the subject but I was telling her about the time I saw the potato bug. I was in front of the television at home in Camarillo. This was years ago. I know, because I was watching the fall of the Berlin wall, bare feet pulled up under my on the couch, mouth agape, brain numb. A spot of movement caught my eye. Something was moving across the carpet. Even from far away I knew it was a fat potato bug.

Sara interrupted my story at this point.

This got her started on her own bug story. She told me that she saw a huge bug once, with her neighbor. It was night, and this bug was huge. She and her neighbor looked at it for, like, an hour. Black eyes. A smiling face. While she related her story I did a Google image search for ‘potato bug.’

Check out what I found. Excited, I looked through the gallery and described the big stripy beasts to her. ThenI sent her a potato bug e-card. The next day I got a notice saying my e-card was picked up. Mere nanoseconds later came Sara’s reply:

Woo-hoo! Yeah!!! That’s it, our mystery bug! Now I can rest in peace.

Man, we’re easily amused. But to make this all even more fun, why doesn’t everybody who reads this send ME a potato bug ecard? Let me know if you’ve heard of them before. And let me know if you like them!

Oh, and that potato bug I saw on the carpet while the Berlin wall was coming down? It turned out to be a scorpion–a realization that made my naked toes curl as I stooped over it in the semi-darkness. That was the original point of the story I was telling Sara. Before the potato bugs shanghaied it.

Seems the war effort is digging into the lives of the ordinary. The Army is recalling five Howitzers currently used by Mammoth for avalanche control for use in Iraq and Afghanistan. They must really need them if they’re actually yanking them back from Mammoth.

Click here to read the article, though you might have to register.

Mark asked me as we wrapped up the last of our tasks for the evening if I was going to write in my blog about how punchy he was this evening. I thought that was pretty funny because I had no idea he even thought about that. I guess maybe he saw the picture below. I assured him that it hadn’t even crossed me mind, and that he shouldn’t worry–I wouldn’t write anything about how life and circumstance had him worked up into a bitter froth all evening.

Okay, now I’m just teasing. Still, it was an oddly irritating night. There were a few customers whose personalities were like nails on a chalkboard. An example? Mark was chatting with one gentleman about Boston, where Mark has spent some time and he said something along the lines of, “I’d like to go back sometime.” The next woman in line, who had been blathering noisily on her cell phone (a brutally annoying peeve of mine) spoke up at that point and said, “Good. And when you go, take someone with you. This city’s way too crowded.” Man. I think I would have said, “Alright, I’ll take you. This city’s way too noisy.” To his credit, Mark exercised zen-like control and didn’t tie her ears together.

And while we’re on the subject of peeves, I’d just like to share one of mine. Actually, I think the cell phone thing, while certainly peeve-worthy, is pretty universal. It’s not one of those quirky peeves that you tell someone about and prompts a quizzical stare that says, “Really? That bothers you?” This is one of those peeves. I can’t stand those people who, while shopping for food in a grocery store, actually open their food before they buy it and start munching in the aisles. That drives me crazy. They pull open the bag of chips, the sack of carrots, the package of cookies, and just start munching away. They’re standing in line, smacking the grapes they haven’t even bought yet and pointing at the tabloids and talking about them to their friends with their mouths full. Related to that, I can’t stand the little crowd that gathers around the sample counter at Trader Joe’s where everybody has his or her little wooden spoon, digging into the tiny sample of lasagna, or fried rice or applesauce or whatever it is they’re giving away today, looking like they’re not even tasting what it is they’re supposed to be sampling, happy instead to just have their hands on free food.

Really? That bothers you?

Damn it, see? Mark’s mood rubbed off on me a little. But only a little. Mark’s got a right to be a little bent now and again. After all, he’s an actor trying to make it in this town. I don’t think I could tackle a challenge like that. Actors have it tough. Sure, writers have to struggle against a sea of competition, but when it comes down to it, a writer can set himself far ahead of the pack of fellow wannabes just by completing a single script. Actors have no such luxury. They have to look the part. They have to hustle about from audition to audition, constantly worrying about how they come across, how they should play the scene, how they should express themselves. You can have an ocean of talent and still lose the part to some actor with a BB for a brain because he happens to have the right physique.

Anyway, that’s good enough ranting for this evening. A dry wind rattles my bedroom windows. That’s gonna keep me up all night, unless I tuck little bits of carefully folded paper around them to keep them quiet. Either that or watch Monty Python until I pass out on the living room couch…

hmmm…

Things have been quiet around here for me. I haven’t been up to anything interesting, and the week has sort of just rolled by. I’m still hard at work on an assortment of script ideas. As mentioned below, some are huge. Some are quite small. But I keep moving forward. And I did talk to my manager today. He says another company has passed on Blood & Dust, though, as seems to be the pattern, they love the writing and they want to meet with me. I believe this particular company is called Maple Shade. They’re in the final stages of producing the new Catwoman movie. No news on when the meeting will take place, but, I’ll spill more beans when I can.

My friend Sara’s short film, Parallel Passage is reviewed at the Entertainment Insiders site. “Dark and delicious ‘Parallel Passage‘ is a path worth traveling.”

Sweet. Maybe this’ll help it get more recognition.

Here’s the einsiders link: Parallel Passage

I just tried to venture over to Gold’s Gym, but something’s going on. Both ends of my street (1300-1400 block of North Martel) are blocked by police cruisers and yellow tape. The entrance to the complex just up the street from me is cordoned off. A bomb squad vehicle is out front. Police are standing about. One holds a megaphone. It’s all terribly dramatic, and when I tried to dig up one of those websites that streams police scanner audio, I couldn’t find any. I hate not knowing the scoop.