I was bored and I changed the look of the blog page. I'm not sure the yellow works but it's definitely a sunny, bright and happy colour. I wish I could add a graphic or two, but I don't think I can do that while my blog is on blogspot.com. Oh well, yellow is okay I guess for now. I wanted to add a turquoise colour too since turquoise as you know is so in right now.

I went to my regular informal Tuesday screenwriting group tonight. I usually just sit by myself and write, while the rest of group discusses their plans for when they sell their first screenplay, which camera angles to add, indie versus commercial mainstream Hollywood films, etc.

I'm so new at the screenwriting thing that I never feel like I have anything good to add to any discussion. Plus, I know I'm a total scumbag when it comes to money. I'm like, I'm selling my screenplay to the highest bidder and that usually means Hollywood studios, who will probably never ever make my script into a film, but may pay money just to have it as a future project. Hell, I'd even sell into television since one of my reviewers said my script felt like a TV script. You know, unlike most writers who write screenplays, I still have fantasies about writing a TV movie of the week or Hallmark family drama or Lifetime movie. God, I love these kinds of movies and watch them all the time. I would be so proud to have one of my scripts be accepted by any of these television companies.

So I've been going it on my own, which feels kind of lonely and antisocial, but tonight when I stopped by to say Hello to the bigger group, I found out that a fellow screenwriter was told to write the backstory for each character in his screenplay. I felt so damned validated because that's exactly what I've been doing. And backstory for each character in your movie no matter how minor takes alot of time. I can only do one a day and I'm doing it for every character even the minor ones who have only two or three lines. I thought I was going to start writing my screenplay on Sunday August 11, but these character interviews are taking way longer than I thought they would.

So I'm thinking maybe my gut instincts about my screenplay and what to do aren't so off base after all. Plus that book I've been reading by Richard Walter, who teaches UCLA, has been invaluable. I mean Richard Walter should know about screenplays since some of his students have written scripts like Highlander, Backdraft, etc. In the interview I heard with him a few months ago, Walter said that he taught screenplay writing to at least half the screenwriters that have movies out this year.

I really like Richard Walter and plan to follow the advice in his book. In the book, Walter says to read Aristotle's Poetics, which I bought a few month ago on a recommendation from some other website about screenwriitng. I read Poetics in college years ago, but don't remember any of it. I guess I'll be ploughing through Aristotle for the next month. How fun. Maybe reading it wil make me feel like a shallow and vapid 18 year old space/basket case again. Maybe not.